Moviefone Editorial

Tag: chloe-coleman

  • ‘My Spy The Eternal City’ Exclusive Cast Interviews

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    Streaming globally on Prime Video beginning July 18th is the sequel to 2020’s ‘My Spy’ entitled ‘My Spy The Eternal City’, which was once again directed by Pete Segal (‘Tommy Boy’).

    Reprising their roles in the new movie are Dave Bautista (‘Guardians of the Galaxy’), Chloe Coleman (‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’), Kristen Schaal (‘Toy Story 4’), and Ken Jeong (‘Crazy Rich Asians’), and joining the cast are Craig Robinson (‘Dolemite Is My Name’), Flula Borg (‘The Suicide Squad’), and Anna Faris (‘Lost in Translation’).

    Related Article: Anna Faris will Appear in ‘My Spy’ Sequel ‘The Eternal City’ Opposite Dave Bautista

    Dave Bautista, Chloe Coleman and Ken Jeong talk 'My Spy The Eternal City'.
    Dave Bautista, Chloe Coleman and Ken Jeong talk ‘My Spy The Eternal City’.

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dave Bautista, Chloe Coleman and Ken Jeong about their work on ‘My Spy The Eternal City’, reuniting with the cast, reprising their roles, and how the characters have changed since the last movie.

    You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Bautista, Coleman and Jeong, as well as Flula Borg, Anna Faris and director Pete Segal.

    Chloe Coleman and Dave Bautista on the set of My Spy The Eternal City.'
    (L to R) Chloe Coleman and Dave Bautista on the set of My Spy The Eternal City.’ Photo: Graham Bartholomew. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

    Moviefone: To begin with, Dave, what was it like for you to return to this franchise and work with Chloe again, and how has JJ changes since the first film?

    Dave Bautista: Well, first, JJ is in total dad mode. In this film, it’s all about being a dad. His mission in life is to be a good dad. As far as coming back and stepping back into the role, it was just effortless. I knew who the character was. We’ve been friends for so many years now, and so it was very comfortable. There was no anxiety about performance. We were all so comfortable with each other. So, this one, it was just easier. It was effortless. Everything about it was. We shot the first one in the winter in Toronto and this film, we were in the summer in Cape Town and Rome. Everything was bigger and it was better, and it was fun. It was like being on vacation and it was like being on vacation with family. So, it was effortless. And it’s really cool because the kids who fell in love with the first ‘My Spy’, they’ve grown up too. They’ve grown up with Sophie.

    Chloe Coleman as Sophie and Dave Bautista as JJ on the set of 'My Spy The Eternal City.'
    (L to R) Chloe Coleman as Sophie and Dave Bautista as JJ on the set of ‘My Spy The Eternal City.’ Photo: Graham Bartholomew. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

    MF: Chloe, can you talk about returning for this sequel and working with Dave again, and how has Sophie changed since the last time we saw her?

    Chloe Coleman: Sophie is grown up. She’s a teenager now, which is kind of crazy to think about. I think it was bittersweet aging her up, honestly, because I feel like I’ve known her forever as this sassy little girl. So, I think it was important to keep her personality from the first film, but also bring her into this new world of high school and how the dynamic has changed with her and JJ of her wanting independence. She really relied on him a lot in the first film, but now she has friends, and her world has becoming bigger and it’s a lot for her to deal with. Then at the same time, she’s trying to save the world and doing all this awesome action stuff. So, it’s a lot but it’s cool.

    Ken Jeong as Kim and Dave Bautista as JJ in 'My Spy The Eternal City.'
    (L to R) Ken Jeong as Kim and Dave Bautista as JJ in ‘My Spy The Eternal City.’ Photo: Graham Bartholomew. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

    MF: Finally, Ken, can you talk about how your character fits into the story this time around and what was it like to work with Dave and Chloe again?

    Ken Jeong: It was all the superlatives apply. It was just again, fit like a glove, so easy to come back. Then just so grateful to everyone and to Pete (Segal) for expanding my character and almost have a parallel story between my character and my character’s son, Colin. It is almost like a mirror to Sophie and JJ. I really believe the purpose of our dynamic is to just highlight and impress upon the deepening bond of Sophie and JJ. So, it was just an honor to be a part of that storytelling. I think that, and Dave and I always talk about this, we’re storytellers and just to contribute on that side of storytelling and giving you that mirror lane highway to Sophie and JJ, I was tracking while filming in it and it meant a lot that they trusted me to be a part of it.

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    What is the plot of ‘My Spy The Eternal City’?

    JJ (Dave Bautista) is persuaded to accompany Sophie (Chloe Coleman) on her school trip to Italy, where they become involved in a terrorist plot.

    Who is in the cast of ‘My Spy The Eternal City’?

    • Dave Bautista as JJ
    • Chloe Coleman as Sophie
    • Kristen Schaal as Bobbi
    • Ken Jeong as David Kim
    • Anna Faris as Nancy
    • Flula Borg as Crane
    • Craig Robinson as Connelly
    Dave Bautista as JJ in 'My Spy The Eternal City.'
    Dave Bautista as JJ in ‘My Spy The Eternal City.’ Photo: Graham Bartholomew. © Amazon Content Services LLC.

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    Buy Dave Bautista Movies on Amazon

  • Movie Review: ‘Pain Hustlers’

    Chris Evans as Brenner, Andy Garcia as Neel, and Emily Blunt as Liza in 'Pain Hustlers.'
    (L to R) Chris Evans as Brenner, Andy Garcia as Neel, and Emily Blunt as Liza in ‘Pain Hustlers.’ Cr. Brian Douglas/Netflix © 2023.

    Opening in theaters on October 20th before premiering on Netflix October 27th, ‘Pain Hustlers’ purports to offer a stylish and snappy look at pharma company workers looking to score off of greedy doctors and desperate cancer patients.

    Yet despite a decent cast that includes the likes of Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Andy Garcia and Catherine O’Hara, it never quite comes to life in compelling fashion, and no number of flippant music cues or breezy transitions can make it work.

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    Is ‘Pain Hustlers’ a good treatment of the opioid pain-pushing crisis?

    Chris Evans as Brenner, Andy Garcia as Neel, and Emily Blunt as Liza in 'Pain Hustlers.'
    (L to R) Chris Evans as Brenner, Andy Garcia as Neel, and Emily Blunt as Liza in ‘Pain Hustlers.’ Cr. Brian Douglas/Netflix © 2023.

    ‘Pain Hustlers’ suffers somewhat from being just the latest take on the ongoing opioid prescription drug crisis in the United States.

    We’ve already had the likes of the award-winning ‘Dopesick’ on Hulu and even Netflix has previously gone to this well for ‘Painkiller’, which arrived fairly recently. All that somewhat saddles this new attempt with baggage that it never asked for; and it feels like we’ve seen a lot of this story before.

    You have the down-on-her-luck hero (Blunt’s Liza Drake) struggling to survive financially, juggling being a single mother to a troubled child (Chloe Coleman’s Phoebe) that has recently been suspended from school.

    Trying to make ends meet by waitressing in a sleazy gentleman’s club, she meets ambitious drug rep Pete Brenner (Evans) who spots a real talent for reading people in his chance first encounter with Liza.

    Soon, he’s recruited her for pharmaceutical company, Zanna, where he’s been trying to hit it rich even as their sales slide and the reputation nosedives. Yet when they crack the market and start earning big money, it all seems very familiar.

    And it’s not just the drug crisis stories that taint how you watch this one –– even ‘Dumb Money’ was more of a watchable narrative than ‘Pain Hustlers’. The movie mostly comes across as a cheaper version of previous hits that aims for the same targets but usually misses the mark.

    ‘Pain Hustlers’: how are the script and direction?

    'Pain Hustlers' director David Yates.
    ‘Pain Hustlers’ director David Yates.

    Adapted by Wells Tower from Evan Hughes’ book ‘The Hard Sell: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Startup’, the movie suffers somewhat from a predictable and labored script.

    There are only so many times that the cast can creatively swear, or the film can throw in some zippy footage of things going right before you’re starting to become tired of it all.

    Before too long, you are guessing what the next twist will be, or how Liza and Pete will react to, say, being promoted or facing heat from the Feds.

    Emily Blunt as Liza and Chris Evans as Brenner in 'Pain Hustlers.'
    (L to R) Emily Blunt as Liza and Chris Evans as Brenner in ‘Pain Hustlers.’ Cr. Brian Douglas/Netflix © 2023.

    Even with David Yates in the director’s chair, a filmmaker clearly relishing the chance to make something other than a film about witches and wizards (he’s directed every ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movie since 2007), the movie just comes across as tired and desperate, tap dancing away to try and distract you from the fact that it is following some very well-trod paths.

    Even cutting to documentary-style soundbites from some of the characters isn’t enough to hold the interest, and in the early going even deflates the story to a degree.

    Yates throws plenty of stylistic tricks at the screen, looking to dress up the fact there’s not too much to the concept, nor are the characters all that watchable. Which is even more surprising considering the people playing them.

    Related Article: Director David Yates Talks ‘Pain Hustlers’ and Working with Emily Blunt

    How are the performances in ‘Pain Hustlers’?

    Amit Shah as Paley, Emily Blunt as Liza and Chris Evans as Brenner in 'Pain Hustlers.'
    (L to R) Amit Shah as Paley, Emily Blunt as Liza and Chris Evans as Brenner in ‘Pain Hustlers.’ Cr. Brian Douglas/Netflix © 2023.

    Emily Blunt and Chris Evans are naturally the focus here, the biggest names on the roster (with apologies to Garcia) and producers behind the scenes.

    Blunt plays it mostly straight, while Evans chooses to crank up his native Boston accent for a showier performance, which initially makes sense. As their fortunes rise and fall, Blunt makes sure that Liza seems grounded, but neither of the leads is particularly worth focusing on.

    When they’re sharing the screen, they’re both perfectly fine, but they rarely rise above that level. Blunt’s chemistry with Coleman is solid and she raises her game whenever she is opposite O’Hara (who plays Liza’s ditzy mother Jackie, a woman with dreams of running her own homemade cosmetics business).

    To add to the issues, Blunt sometimes seems miscast, her acting dimmed through the not-always-convincing American accent she adopts as Liza.

    Emily Blunt as Liza in 'Pain Hustlers.'
    Emily Blunt as Liza in ‘Pain Hustlers.’ Cr. Brian Douglas/Netflix © 2023.

    Evans has no such issues, but he’s burdened with a character arc that rarely convinces, and it’s increasingly looking like he needs to make better choices since hanging up Captain America’s shield. Pete Brenner isn’t charismatic enough to make us want to follow his story, and the actor rarely finds much shade outside of the single gear he’s in.

    Around them, there are moments for the supporting cast to find a foothold, including Garcia as Dr. Neel, the cuddly-yet-ruthless rich guy at the center of Zanna, Jay Duplass as the slimy head of marketing at the company and Brian D’Arcy James as the sweaty Dr. Lydell, who becomes Liza’s first mark.

    ‘Pain Hustlers’ needed to show the same creativity that Liza and Pete unleash to score their first successes, and unfortunately it never stands out in an increasingly crowded pack.

    ‘Pain Hustlers’ receives 5.5 out of 10 stars.

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    What’s the story of ‘Pain Hustlers’?

    Liza Drake (Emily Blunt) is a blue-collar single mom who has just lost her job and is at the end of her rope.

    A chance meeting with pharmaceutical sales rep Pete Brenner (Chris Evans) puts her on an upwards trajectory economically but dubious path ethically as she becomes entangled in a dangerous racketeering scheme.

    Dealing with her increasingly unhinged boss (Andy Garcia), the worsening medical condition of her daughter (Chloe Coleman), and a growing awareness of the devastation the company is causing forces Liza to examine her choices.

    Who else is in ‘Pain Hustlers’?

    The movie’s cast also includes Jay Duplass, Brian D’Arcy James, Amit Shah, Valerie LeBlanc, Aubrey Dollar, Alex Klein, Britt Rentschler and Bella Winkowski.

    Catherine O'Hara as Jackie and Emily Blunt as Liza in 'Pain Hustlers.'
    (L to R) Catherine O’Hara as Jackie and Emily Blunt as Liza in ‘Pain Hustlers.’ Cr. Brian Douglas/Netflix © 2023.

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  • ‘Pain Hustlers’ Interview: Director David Yates

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    Opening in select theaters on October 20th before premiering on Netflix October 27th is the new crime drama ‘Pain Hustlers’ from director David Yates (‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’ ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’).

    Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director David Yates about his work on ‘Pain Hustlers,’ what interested him about the subject matter, humanizing the characters with humor, and working with Emily Blunt.

    'Pain Hustlers' director David Yates.
    ‘Pain Hustlers’ director David Yates.

    You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Yates and producer Lawrence Gray.

    Moviefone: To begin with, what interested you about this subject, and was it difficult humanizing characters whose actions are hurting other people?

    David Yates: First of all, I come from a country that has a public health system that’s universally accessible and free at point of use, and is geared towards helping people stay healthy. So it’s fascinating to me that a system exists that operates in a slightly different way. We knew nothing about the opioid crisis in the UK. I read Evan Hughes’ article, it was my introduction to something that had been going on for years and years in America. So it was shocking to me, and it felt immediately compelling to craft and build a story around Evan’s article. Secondly, I think it was really important, as we created our characters inspired by the story, to introduce the audience to characters that we could still empathize with and understand. A case in point is Dr. Lydell, who’s the dodgy doctor who writes all those prescriptions, and effectively kills a large number of people in doing so. But we didn’t want to fashion a monster, someone who just seemed like a villain. So Brian d’Arcy James plays him in such an interesting way. He’s a lonely guy, he’s going through a difficult divorce, and he doesn’t have many friends. So, we kind of have this portrait of a lost, middle-aged man who’s desperate for connection. But really, he’s doing tremendous harm. But there’s something poignant, quite broken and quite sad about him. That was what we wanted to do with most of our principal characters, to not turn them into villains or monsters. And Emily (Blunt), who plays Liza Drake, we love that character because she is ultimately aspirational, ambitious, a little bit greedy, but she has dreams. She wants to do the right thing, and she wants to do the right thing for her daughter. She wants to follow the path of the American dream, which we’re all presented with, to get us through the gates of the castle, to get us safe, secure, and successful. But in doing it, when the rules are broken, things can go wrong. So, we like the fact that Liza Drake is flawed. We like the fact that she is a little bit shady. That appealed to all of us, especially Emily, in creating that character.

    Related Article: ‘Pain Hustlers’ Teaser Trailer

    Emily Blunt as Liza in 'Pain Hustlers.'
    Emily Blunt as Liza in ‘Pain Hustlers.’ Cr. Brian Douglas/Netflix © 2023.

    MF: Finally, what was it like collaborating with Emily Blunt on set and what does she bring to a project like this?

    DY: She came to set every day absolutely prepped for the role. She knew exactly the corners of the scene that she really wanted to get underneath and find. She’d already sort of triangulated each moment before we even got to set. So she’s super prepped, which, for me as a director, is amazing because you’re ready to go on take one, to see a really fully composed performance. Then after a few takes, you might calibrate slightly and change slightly, but she’s super prepped and a great ambassador for the film. She’s a great supporter of the film, outside of the fact that she was carrying it in terms of an acting role. She was also championing what we were doing with our financiers, with Netflix, and with everybody else. She was a real asset to the movie in every sense. Not just carrying the film as an actor, but in just being by our side when we navigated the film through the inevitable hurdles that you have when you make a film.

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    What is the plot of ‘Pain Hustlers’?

    High school dropout Liza Drake (Emily Blunt) lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical start-up in a yellowing strip mall in Central Florida, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy with deadly consequences

    Who is in the cast of ‘Pain Hustlers’?

    Chris Evans as Brenner, Andy Garcia as Neel, and Emily Blunt as Liza in 'Pain Hustlers.'
    (L to R) Chris Evans as Brenner, Andy Garcia as Neel, and Emily Blunt as Liza in ‘Pain Hustlers.’ Cr. Brian Douglas/Netflix © 2023.

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    Buy Tickets: ‘Pain Hustlers’ Movie Showtimes

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  • Anna Faris joins ‘My Spy’ Sequel

    Anna Faris in 'The Dictator,' from Paramount Pictures.
    Anna Faris in ‘The Dictator,’ from Paramount Pictures.

    Released in 2020, ‘My Spy’ represented a key stage in Dave Bautista’s career, particularly as a wrestler-turned-actor. Several of his tough guy antecedents had clocked in for a big-guy-cute-kid film, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger with ‘Kindergarten Cop’, Vin Diesel in ‘The Pacifier’ and Dwayne Johnson’s ‘Tooth Fairy’ and ‘The Game Plan’.

    But unlike most of those, ‘My Spy’ is actually getting a sequel, with casting now announced for ‘My Spy: The Eternal City’. Anna Faris, Craig Robinson and Flula Borg are among the new faces joining the ensemble.

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    What happened in ‘My Spy’

    The first ‘My Spy’ –– which had been intended for theatrical release by STX Entertainment but was moved to Amazon when the pandemic closed cinemas –– starred Bautista as JJ, a CIA agent who is assigned on an undercover mission to surveil and potentially protect Kate (Parisa Fitz-Henley) and daughter Sophie (Chloe Coleman) when the former arms dealer partner of Kate’s dead husband suspects he may have smuggled the plans for a weapon back to his unsuspecting wife.

    But while JJ and tech specialist Bobbi (Kristen Schaal) set up their operation in Kate and Sophie’s building, the precocious nine-year-old girl figures out exactly what JJ is up to and makes a deal –– if he’ll teach her spy craft, she won’t blow his cover.

    JJ reluctantly agrees, and finds himself bonding with Sophie, and eventually falling for her mother, as the threats mount.

    Chloe Coleman and Dave Bautista in 2020's 'My Spy.'
    (L to R) Chloe Coleman and Dave Bautista in 2020’s ‘My Spy.’

    Related Article: Movie Review: ‘Knock at the Cabin’

    What’s the story of ‘My Spy: The Eternal City’?

    The follow-up concerns a now teenage Sophie convincing JJ to chaperone her school choir trip to Italy where they both unwittingly end up pawns in an international terrorist plot targeting CIA chief David Kim (Ken Jeong) and his son, Collin –– who’s also Sophie’s best friend.

    Schaal and Jeong are back for the new movie, while Nicola Correia-Damude, Noah Dalton Danby and Devere Rogers are all reprising their roles.

    Faris, Billy Barratt, Taeho K, Borg and Robinson are new to the story, but Amazon has yet to reveal the roles they’ll play.

    Pete Segal, who directed the first movie, is back behind the camera, having worked on the script alongside writing duo Jon and Erich Hoeber. The cameras will be rolling this month.

    “We were so delighted with the success of ‘My Spy.’ It is an absolute privilege to reunite with Pete Segal, Dave Bautista, Chloe Coleman, and the rest of the talented cast and filmmakers–along with some very exciting additions,” Amazon and MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke said in a statement. “With the sequel, our Prime Video customers are in store for another dynamic story, complete with twists, hilarious performances, and even a little romance.”

    Chloe Coleman, Parisa Fitz-Henley and Dave Bautista in 2020's 'My Spy.'
    (L to R) Chloe Coleman, Parisa Fitz-Henley and Dave Bautista in 2020’s ‘My Spy.’

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