Aziz AnsariFeature Directing debut, “Good luck“Don’t be meant to be his first effort as a filmmaker: it would have been” to be deadly “, called the middle of the shooter 2022 in the middle of Prosecutions of Misunderstanding against Bill Murray. So it was inevitable that next to TIFF premiere of ”Good luck“A comedy with Keanu Reeves and the” Being Mortal “star Seth Rogen, he would need to address the interrupted film. And it turns out that they share thematic DNA.
The South Carolina-born Indian-American actor, author, director and stand-up comedian is known by the audience all over the world as the serial entrepreneur Tom “Treat Yo Self” Haverford on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation” and as the more Somber, lover of none.
Could “Happiness” and his debuts have debuting “to be deadly” to have changed titles? After all, in the TIFF premiere, Keanu Reeves plays Gabriel, the angel for SMS and driving – in LA, yes, City of Angels, where angels in this comedy are – and are demoted to man of his angel boss (Sandra Oh). Thus, he becomes fatal. “Whoa!” Ansari told IndieWire in Toronto. “I have to process it,” when I am asked.
When the news of “being fatal” cancellation broke in April 2022, Ansari said he got a river from “I am Sooooooo Sorry “texts. He remembered that I thought,” I can’t deal with this. I don’t want to be in this Woe-Is-me moment. “Ansari said he then called Seth Rogen, also a star in” being deadly. “He told Rogen,” Hi, I know you are free and would work today. If you want to make this day less shit for me, can you read this script (for “happiness”)? He said, yes, and he called me in two hours and said, “I’m in, let’s do it.”
It was so “happiness” began. Ansari had a basic version of the story Ready, where he plays Arj, a down-on-his-Luck Documentary Film Editor who lives out of his car and was forced to participate in the playing economy as a worker and home improvement store. Through the latter, Arj meets a union organizer (Keke Palmer, also a “who is deadly” star), which he starts dating. Through the former, Arj Jeff (Seth Rogen) meets a Venture-capitalist angel investor in technology companies. When Gabriel (Reeves) intervenes because he can’t help but a pity for Arj’s Lost Soul, Gabriel decides to change Arj and Jeff’s life. There you have it, a “Prince and the Pauper” -Sque fable, touched by an angel, with a rebellious and playful line of working class consciousness.
Empathy for the working class really feels like a far from Tom Haverford and Dev Shah. When Asked about shifting from Narratives about the Middle Class-Ansari Co-Created “Master of None” with his longtime collaborator Alan Yang, Also a Producer on “Good Fortune”-and from TV to Film, Ansari Said, “‘MASTER OF NONE’ WAS WAS ALMOST THE WAS ALMOST THE ALMOST THES ALMOST THES ALMOST THE GOIN WAS ALMOST THE PREE OF NONE. There was an Episode on Season 2 Called ‘New York, I Love You’ and Another Episode in Season 3, Where the Character Played by Naomi Ackie (GO) through IVF. It is about seeing things from other people’s perspectives.
Anasri Said, “So for ‘New York, I love you,’ there was a segment about a cab driver, a doorman, and a woman who was deaf. This guy stefano and i did a doordash ride-along, and then in took over his account and didthr. Fortune ‘), Where He Ends Up Doing Doordash. In Also Spoke With This Guy, Vincent, WHO Tried to Unionize a Hemdepot in Philadelphia.
Ansari said that the script’s notion of angels really began to hit home when he pulled off a casting coup with Keanu Reeves. That Ansari himself is an actor and a stand-up comedian helped him figure out comedy of “happiness”, plus the fact that he was back in the familiar way to act and direct to the same extent as he had in “Master of Nobody.” (On the other hand, in “being deadly,” Ansari said he had a much less role.)
“” Being Mortal “is based on a book by Atul Gawande that deals with life (and death),” Ansari said. “It was sometimes quite heavy, and it was a heavy shoot. So I was happy to do something that was much more simple comedy. When Keanus’s name first came up, I started watching all his films like” Point Break “and” Speed ”, but I went back to the comedies as he had done, like” Bill and Ted’s Excellent, ” (Laughs)“
When he thought of Reeves when he looked at the script, Ansari said that he could “just imagine that he had this light -eyed wonder about the internet, he is this angel thrown into the deep end of being a human being and struggling in LA, but having the attitude he does. I had just a feeling that it would work.
How the dating scenes between Arj (Ansari) and Elena (Ackie) are blocked give the idea of the “Master of None’s” method for the same thing, and Ansari agreed. He said when he planned to shoot the romantic moments for “happiness” that he and Alan Yang realized that this is their “bread and butter.”
Ansari also edited the film while he shot, which is a bold choice. “This notion of looking at the rough cut is a nightmare. You’re so scared. If you edit when you go, minimize it a bit,” Ansari said. “You are just starting to feel the rhythms of the movie, and you are beginning to understand what works camera in the cinematic language.” Oh, these types of pictures feel good, “or” Oh, let’s stay in these singles a little longer. “Whatever it is, you just learn what your movie is, (and) you can lean on things. Ansari credited his editor, Daniel Haworth, with whom he also worked with” Master “. When Haworth was on a set, Ansari would run in to look at the diaries and the developing average.
“Master of None” fans will be happy to see the director’s father (Shoukath Ansari) appear in special performances, although Ansari’s mother (Fatima Ansari) is not in “happiness” as she did in that Netflix show. Ansari said his mother hate to act, but it was very fun to have his dad around, too much of the story is about the need for family in a place that la
“Parks and rec” fans will also notice Joe Mande, who played Morris for some episodes on NBC -Sitcom and served as a writer. In the film, Arj Joe’s character meets while working in a row in a Cinnabon. The casting of secondary and tertiary characters feels very intentional in this movie, which adds to the foundation of a movie as much about Los Angeles as it is there.
“We had a fantastic role director, Carmen Cuba. A role that was very fun to throw was Felipe (Felipe Garcia Martinez), who plays a dishwasher that Keanu works with,” Ansari said. “We had read these people, and none of them really felt like the real guy who would be on the back of the kitchen with Keanu. So me and my producer Kelsey (Comeau) went down to his restaurant, and he came out, and we did some of the scenes.”
He added, “then I called Keanu and said,” Hi, I have this idea for that character. Would it be cool if we used a real guy, because I think he would give some authenticity to the role? “He said,” Yes, I’m down. “So we use Felipe, and he shows up, and he is the only person I met who does not know who Keanu Reeves is! He was there. And they are like,” Oh yes, he has told us all the time. Yes, Felipe is big. ”
If Ansari was an angel, what would his department be? Ansari said, “Maybe the scriptwriter’s angel? I love to help writers stuck in jam.”
“Good Fortune” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2025. Lionsgate releases the film in theaters on Friday 17 October.
