“Let’s Be Cops” is the ultimate buddy cop movie except for one thing: they’re not cops.
When two struggling pals dress as police officers for a costume party, they become neighborhood sensations. But when these newly-minted “heroes” get tangled in a real life web of mobsters and dirty detectives, they must put their fake badges on the line.
Read our exclusive interviews with the film’s stars Jake Johnson & Damon Wayans Jr.
Can you speak about working with director Luke Greenfield and what you loved about the script. Would you like to go first, Jake?
D: How was it working with Luke?
J: Annoying.
D: How was the script?
J: Bullsh*t.
(Laughter)
D: No, I’m kidding. It was great! It was a great experience—super appreciative to have been a part of it. I really liked working with Jake [Johnson], liked working with Luke [Greenfield], liked working with Nick [Thomas], and things were real good.
J: Luke and Nick Thomas, the writers, gave us a lot of freedom to improvise and have a lot of fun, and we had a good time doing it.
Can you speak about working with each other?
J: Well, we work together so much, so it’s weird … we’ve gotten to the point where we know each other’s answers and where we’re going comedically, so it’s really nice, you know. We did the pilot of New Girl and we did this movie cause we agreed to do it together.
And would you each like to share a fun moment from set?
D: A fun moment from set…
J: For me it’s … where the guy rubs his genitals on Damon’s face.
D: It’s near my face. He doesn’t rub them on my face. It’s just—they’re near my face.
J: That was my favorite moment.
Is that your moment too, Damon?
D: Honestly—it was a similar moment. It was when they were supposed to grab me from under the fat men, but instead they chose to be funny—Rob Riggle and Jake Johnson chose to grab the fat man’s legs and bring them closer to my face—to bring his body closer to my face. That is pretty funny.
Was there a lot of improv on set?
D: Oh, tons. It was—probably 60 to 70 percent of the movie was improvised.
And what do you love about that process?
D: It’s just easier. You get to speak, kind of, the way that you speak in real life, and you’re not really pigeonholed to tell any joke, if a joke doesn’t quite work—we get to rework it or see if we can find something to top it … funnier.
J: And also really, it depends on the script. On certain scripts, you wanna just deliver it how it is, cause it seems to really work. On a project like this, I found it was built for improv because the situations were really funny, and then it was kind of made to open it up.
D: And there were so many different ways to play the scenes that were written.
Can you each speak about working with Nina?
J: Yeah, I really liked Nina. I thought she was great. She added a lot to her character, she was really fun, and she was, you know, kind of our tour guide in Atlanta, but Damon obviously had more to do with her.
D: Very, very soft lips. She was very down to do anything actually … when it came to comedy. There was no vanity in her, and that was very cool that somebody who looks like her was willing to embarrass herself her first comedy so … I think it was great.
J: Damon … got an erection during the kissing scene, which he likes to brag about.
D: I didn’t get an erection.
Can you speak about working with Andy Garcia, each of you? Legendary actor.
D/J: Andy Garcia.
J: Andy was really great. I was so excited when he agreed to do our movie. He’s a guy I really respect a lot. He really didn’t disappoint. He was phenomenal on set, and just a great guy off set as well. He took us out to a Cuban restaurant in Atlanta and I just really enjoyed my time with him.
D: He was cuban … I mean, I unfortunately—I didn’t get to do any scenes with him, but just having him be a part of the movie just completely grounded it, and made the bad guys real bad guys, you know?
And Damon, you’ve worked on a lot of TV shows, you know, New Girl, Happy Ending. What do you love about each of the mediums (TV, Film), and do you prefer one?
D: I love television because you get to explore the characters over a longer period of time. I like movies because … it’s like a project. You get to go from 0 to 100 in like a two to three month period, and you get to read what your character turns out to be, you know, in one sitting, as opposed to television, which is like you figure it out along the way.
Jake, do you have any other comments on your love of TV versus film—vice versa?
J: No, I think Damon kind of nailed it. You know, they’re both really fun for what they are.
And Jake, you went to NYU. I just wanted to know how you transitioned from writing to acting, and are you still writing?
J: Yeah I am. I just wrote a movie this summer—co-wrote it with Joe Swanberg—called Digging for Fire, which we shot and that I’m really proud of. And I transitioned easily because I wasn’t getting any work as a writer. You know, I was getting hired to do commercials, so I kind of just went with it with it work-wise. I really love writing and hope to do more in the future.
Each of you: what was the biggest challenge of shooting this film?
D: One was having it during the hot, hot summers of Atlanta.
Did you like Atlanta? Was that a fun place to shoot?
D: I mean, I had never been there before, so it was kind of like my first time.
And there’s a very fun extended fight sequence at the end. I just wanted to know—how technical was that?
D: The fight scenes are always very technical; we kind of leave that up to the director and the stunt team. We haven’t done many projects where that’s required of us. It was our first time doing an action movie as well. We had to stand back when it came to that.
As you know, The Source is an iconic hip-hop magazine. Can you each can share your favorite hip-hop artists?
D: Jake loves Shaggy.
Shaggy’s awesome! How about you, Damon?
D: Me, right now, I like Drake.
Cool! Think you might act together in something one day?
D: Who? Me and Shaggy?
You and Drake
D: Me and Drake? Oh, I mean, if he’s down, I’m down.
And to wrap up, what’s coming up next for each of you?
D: I’m doing an animated movie—I’m voicing a character in an animated movie called Big Hero 6—Walt Disney movie … comes out November 7 of this year.
Jake?
D: Jake’s doing Jurassic World. Comes out 2015.
J: Yeah.
And how excited are you to join that film, Jake?
J: I feel really honored! It’s directed by the great Colin Trevorrow, written by Derek Connolly and Colin … they co-wrote it. I’m just really excited. It’s great!
“Let’s Be Cops” hits theaters on Wednesday, August 13, 2014
-Ziye Hu
