Relentlessly maintaining a brazen and confident personality is a key component for women to achieve and preserve a successful business. Embodying that assertive approach is a key element in forming compelling female characters in films. That endearing characteristic is compellingly personified in the lead female characters in the new comedy, ‘Amateur Night,’ which was written and directed by Lisa Addario and her husband, Joe Syracuse.
The movie is based on Syracuse’s experiences when he and Addario first moved to Los Angeles to pursue careers in filmmaking. ‘Amateur Night,’ which Cinedigm distributed in New York and Los Angeles theaters this weekend, showcases how a man who’s desperate for a job unknowingly agrees to drive prostitutes around the Southern California city. When he finally realizes that the women he’ll be driving are owners and operators of their own prostitution enterprises, and are in control of their schedules, clients and fees, comedic mayhem ensues. The women in the movie, which is set to theatrically expand nationwide, and also debut on VOD and Digital, next Friday, August 12, are finally the ones who are unapologetically in charge of the business, and are at peace with the lifestyle they have chosen to lead.
‘Amatuer Night’ follows Guy Carter (Jason Biggs), an award-winning graduate student of architecture. He has a beautiful wife, Anne (Jenny Mollen), who’s pregnant with their first child. However, he’s contending with feelings of self-doubt over whether he’ll be a good father, as he doesn’t have a job; he’s been trying to find work in his field for a year, without any luck.
At her wit’s end, Anne finds her husband a job as a driver on Craigslist. Guy, who shows up for the interview thinking he’ll be delivering pizzas, quickly realizes he’ll actually be driving prostitutes. With money too scarce to turn down, he decides to take the job. His first job involves driving the tough-as-nails, unapologetic Nikki (Janet Montgomery), and her two hilarious and foul-mouthed cohorts, Jaxi (Bria L. Murphy) and Fallon (Ashley Tisdale). As the women’s reluctant driver and protector, Guy experiences a wild and sordid night, during which time he proves to Nikki and himself that he does have what it takes to be the responsible father his family deserves.
Tisdale, Montgomery and Murphy generously took the time recently to talk about co-starring in ‘Amatuer Night’ together during a phone interview amid the comedy’s Los Angeles press day. Among other things, the actresses discussed how they were interested in playing Fallon, Nikki and Jaxi in the comedy, as they all were not only drawn to the script, but they also admire Biggs and each other’s work. The actresses also mentioned how they enjoyed working together to build their characters’ relationships, backstories and assured personalities together.
The actresses began the conversation by revealing what interested them about their characters of Nikki, Fallon and Jaxi, as well as ‘Amateur Night’s overall script. The English-born Montgomery revealed that she read the script for the film when she was in L.A. for a few weeks. She added that “I had just finished watching ‘Orange is the New Black,’ and loved Jason’s work in that. So I was excited to work with him. I also met with Joey and Lisa, the film’s directors, and did a chemistry read with Jason for them. I then got the job!”
Tisdale then added that she also read the script, and then “auditioned for Joey and Lisa. I think I was then cast the following week. I was also super excited to become involved in the film, as I’m also a big fan of Jason’s work.” The actress laughed as she then added, “I also heard that Janet and Bria were also involved, so I said, ‘I’m in!'”
Murphy then chimed in on how she became involved in portraying Jaxi, and described the process as a funny story. “My stylist was assisting the costume designer on the film, Johnny Blue Eyes. So she just had me in mind for this role. She told me, “You’d be perfect for it. Do you want to see if you can meet with the directors, and audition for them?’ We then set up the audition, and went from there,” the performer explained.
Since ‘Amateur Night’ is based on some of the experiences Addario and Syracuse had when they first moved to Los Angeles, the actresses collaborated with the filmmakers on creating and building their characters’ backstories and arcs. “We had a bit of time to work on our roles before we began shooting,” Montgomery explained. “We had some dance rehearsals, which were helpful.”
Montgomery also revealed that she felt there was something really nice about working with two directors. “They were really united together, so it was like we had an extra set of eyes. That was really helpful, since we only filmed for 17 days.” The actress added that “Joey and Lisa also showed us photos of the real girls. Joey would also talk about his experiences. So it was interesting to see the real story, and how they influenced our characters, while we were also putting our own stamp on them.”
The performer also discussed how she enjoyed working with two directors who are married. “They were really united together, so we had an extra set of eyes. Since we only have 17 shooting days, it was nice to have the two of them working together,” Montgomery explained.
When then discussing the experience of collaborating with not only Addario and Syracuse as co-helmers, but also with the cast, on the set, Tisdale described the process as being “a lot of fun. From the start, I think we all had really great chemistry. Lisa and Joey let us improvise a lot. Our car scenes together were so much fun. The car was hooked onto a rig the entire time we were filming, so each time we would shoot a new take, we would add something new.”
Murphy also chimed in on the experience of the cast improvising together while they were filming. “Improvising was something that was new to me, but I really like it. If you ever forget your lines, improvising is great! If I ever forgot my lines, I would improv, and it totally worked.” The actress added that she thought improvising helped make their scenes more interesting and authentic.”
When then discussing the approach to creating the looks for their characters, Murphy added that she, Tisdale and Montgomery were all involved in choosing their costumes. “Joey and Lisa made sure we were all very comfortable with what was going on, and that we were all part of the creative process with Johnny. So we all had our own looks.”
Murphy also pointed out that the roles of Jaxi, Nikki and Fallon were all new for her, Montgomery and Tisdale, as they “have never played anything like these characters before. I think the characters and storyline were different for us.” The actress added that they didn’t focus too much on the role reversal of Jaxi, Nikki and Fallon embracing their work, while Guy has reservations about their lifestyle choices.
While then discussing the experience of filming ‘Amateur Night’ independently, Montgomery mentioned she and her co-stars didn’t take a different approach to their acting styles while making the comedy, as opposed to when they make bigger studio films. The performer explained that while they had less money and shooting time for ‘Amateur Night,’ she found that “there was something really useful about that. We shot the movie in 17 days, so we became like a family. Everyone was working just as hard as everyone else. But on a studio movie, you can take weeks just to shoot one car scene.”
Tisdale then discussed how she felt that the physicality of their roles influenced the characters. “From the beginning, we were in rehearsals, in order to work on the dancing. Due to our characters’ work, their physicality was such a specific thing,” the actress explained. She further explained how shooting the car scenes in ‘Amateur Night’ was different than filming a car sequence in a studio movie. “Since this is an independent movie, we didn’t have certain rigs, so some aspects of those scenes were very real. So I think that helped us with our physicality in those scenes. Since this is a comedy, there is some physical comedy, as well.”
Montgomery then delved into explaining the process of revealing the female characters’ backstories. “Nikki has a backstory that’s more on the page than Jaxi and Fallon, which was a little easier for me. But as Jason’s character, Guy, got to know our characters better, more was revealed about them, which helped inform that part of the movie,” the performer explained.
While also discussing the experience of shooting ‘Amateur Night’ on location, Tisdale revealed that she thinks there’s something “useful about going to an actual place, as it really puts you into the scene more. We shot a lot of the scenes in the hallway on the way to the bachelor party at the Avalon Hotel (in Beverly Hills). The whole vibe of that location really helped us get into the scenes more, versus acting on a studio set.”
Tisdale also mentioned that she would be interested in filming a sequel to ‘Amateur Night,’ as “I love working with these girls. But if we don’t make a sequel, we’ll totally work on something else together.”
Watch the official trailer for ‘Amateur Night’ below.
Written by: Karen Benardello