‘Jackpot!’ stars Awkwafina and John Cena discuss dystopian LA lottery comedy

In the new action comedy “Jackpot!,” stars John Cena and Awkwafina find themselves in fight after fight in which they and their attackers are bonked on the head, biffed in the nose, and bounced through windows and walls.

Chairs crash over heads. Sharp objects are hurled. Nunchucks get chucked.

It goes without saying that many, many people are kneed, kicked, and kapowed in the crotch.

“First of all, it’s very universal,” says director Paul Feig of the physical comedy of the movie, which asks what if a billion-dollar lottery had the stakes of the Hunger Games. “I think we always find something – as long as they don’t get catastrophically hurt – somebody getting hurt is really funny to us.

“I mean, YouTube was built on that,” he says. “Nothing I love more than watching people get hit in the (soft bits) and fall over stuff, again, if they’re OK at the end of the day.

“I think when you put that into storytelling, and it becomes part of the stakes, there is a danger there, but since it’s comedy it’s also something freeing,” says Feig, director of movies such as “Bridesmaids,” “Spy,” and the 2016 remake “Ghostbusters.” “It’s like watching the Three Stooges. It’s just funny to a lot of us to watch Moe hit somebody in the head with a hammer because we know it’s a safe space.”

“Jackpot!” which arrived on Prime Video on Aug. 15, is set in a slightly dystopian near-future Los Angeles. There’s no money to run things, so the state of California is in economic ruin. To raise money, and give residents just a smidgen of perverse hope, the new Grand Lottery offers one lucky winner a chance at millions, even billions of dollars.

But there’s a catch: The holder of the winning ticket has to survive until sundown to collect. Until then, anyone willing to murder for millions can off the winner and without consequences claim the prize as their own.

Awkwafina, the stage name of actress, comedian and rapper Nora Lum, plays Katie, who accidentally ends up with the winning ticket. Cena plays Noel, a former mercenary who works as an amateur jackpot protection agent to atone for the warfare he came to regret, who offers to keep her alive for 10 percent of the money. Simu Liu is Louis Lewis, Noel’s rival, and the operator of the biggest jackpot protection group in Los Angeles.

In interviews edited for length and clarity, Cena, Awkwafina and Feig talked about what attracted them to the story, their early inspirations for physical comedy, what their different but equally unattractive costumes implied, and more.

Q: When you first read the screenplay was there a moment when you paused and thought, ‘I’m going to do this one’?

John Cena: I kind of have a litmus test with scripts. When I can read it in one shot, I’m interested. Or if I have to step away because I’m being called to something and it’s very tough to put down. This was one where I read cover to cover, man, in less than an hour. The movie flows fast, is high stakes, high anxiety. I get the point. I think it’s a concept the audience can understand. It just read incredibly well on the page.

Awkwafina: It was a build-up of moments. I think the elevator pitch, I didn’t really understand the world and more of the layered aspects of Katie’s character. In the script, the thing that really stuck with me is the kind of dystopian world it predicts. There was something about that that just really sat with me. I think it all came together when Paul came on board. It was like Christmas Day, man. Because John and I were already attached, and we were kind of looking for a leader.

Paul Feig: I kind of resisted reading it, because I wasn’t told they were attached right away. I was just given this script called ‘Grand Theft Lotto,’ and I was like, that sounds really stupid. So I actually kind of put it on the pile and wasn’t going to read it. It was my producing partner, Laura Fischer, who called up and said, ‘Just read it.’

So I picked it up, I got about 40 pages in – it was right when we got to her fighting in the dojo and then going into the yoga room – I was just like the opportunity for physical comedy is so big. This is the Jackie Chan movie I always wished I could make. I called her back 40 pages in and said, I didn’t care how this ends, I am in.

Q: The physical comedy in this is terrific – so many people getting thrown around and hit in entertaining ways. Why are we so entertained by that?

JC: I think physical performance transcends language. I think that speaks volumes to the global popularity of WWE. You can turn it on no matter where you are in the world and decide who you like and who you don’t based on their behavior. Now, it’s tough to do physical comedy in the WWE, because the stakes are wanting to be the best, wanting to be the champion.

But when you have a winning lottery ticket and I have to make it to sundown to claim my prize or the penalty is death, that’s not a sport, that’s a story. So in there, again, physical presentation is a universal language.

PF: It’s like watching a horror movie. You go, OK, I know nobody really got killed in this so I can kind of enjoy everybody’s misery, and, you know, everybody’s fear and panic and all that. So I think it’s very freeing for an audience.

Q: When you were young, before you were a performer, what kinds of physical comedy made you laugh?

JC: Oh my God, like Tom and Jerry, all the Warner Brothers cartoons. Anything that was larger than life and could be exaggerated. The Saturday morning cartoons. That is the wheelhouse and those lean so heavily on physical comedy.

A: I grew up absolutely worshipping Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett. I feel like they were two women that were really able to harness it in a very visceral way. And then I like Mr. Bean. I would love the Three Stooges. I think it’s something that it’s hard to do. Like, if you’re not really willing to commit and really to also possibly fail. I think that kind of defines physical comedy.

Q: We love the gross scenes in “Bridesmaids” but it’s also a very heartfelt movie, too. Here, there are all these fights but there’s some sweet emotional moments. What does that bring to a movie?

JC: I just think it’s the commitment to story. A punchline comic can be very successful. I’m a fan of Jimmy Carr and Rodney Dangerfield. I love me a punchline comic. But the storytelling comics, they let you in on their lives and are vulnerable, and talk about things that frustrate them or a difficulty in their lives. I think when you’re trying to do comedy, if you can allow people to attach to your character and either want to root for or against your character, then when they go through comedic situations, we laugh along with them.

I think that’s where Paul’s strength is. He has punchlines for days, but he doesn’t lose sight of the characters and their development. And he won’t punchline himself out of character development. He stays true to the story.

Q: It’s clear from the outtakes in the credits that there was a lot of room for improv on this shoot. What was that like?

JC: Please, if you’re watching ‘Jackpot!’ stay for the credits. It really was fun. Awkwafina’s never short of material. She’s always got a joke. Then you add in Paul running in jokes every five minutes. Comedies are supposed to be fun. The great Pete Farrelly said that and he was not kidding. Both Pete and Paul make it a fun set.

PF: Yeah, the most dangerous thing you can do if you’re making a comedy is to only shoot the script. Because we can sit around all day and say, ‘That’s really funny, that’s really funny.’ Once it’s in the air and it’s being said by people, and then it’s in the context of the movie, it might not be funny. I can’t tell you the number of jokes that I thought were gonna destroy in a test screening that just get nothing. And then a joke that I was like, ‘That’s stupid,’ that just goes through the roof.

So I just want to make sure I’ve got the biggest amount of ammo going into the editing room. We go, ‘Take that one out, try this. Try this.’ Because as a commercial filmmaker, I need to make sure that the majority of the audience is going to always find this funny. So having the skill and talents of these amazingly funny people to add into that, and make it even better, that’s everything to me.

Q: John’s costume is a drab suit with white socks. Awkwafina’s is a flashy gold number. What’d you think about the clothes you wore in this?

A: I mean, at a certain point it just feels sort of like a uniform. It was definitely spray-painted gold.

PF: It was heavy. [laughs] I know just from picking it up before she put it on. Our costumer was like, ‘She’ll be fine.’

JC: Every project, people can can get their own perspective. You noticed the color scheme (of the movie) and you also noticed Noel in a drab color scheme. I don’t want to tell anyone how to feel. I want them to see ‘Jackpot!’ and enjoy it. But my perspective of that is we’re in this dystopian society where everyone wears bright and vibrant colors, but they have little faith in humanity.

And the one symbol of faith in humanity is the one person who doesn’t appear bright and vibrant. That’s only my perspective, but little things like that are a way to make the character stand out.