ROLE PLAY: Director Thomas Vincent Chats About His New Action/Comedy Starring Kaley Cuoco

Cinema Scholars interviews Thomas Vincent, director of the new action/comedy Role Play. The film stars Kaley Cuoco, David Oyelowo, Bill Nighy, and Connie Nielsen. Role Play premieres globally on January 12, exclusively on Prime Video.

Introduction

Fascination with the underground crime world never gets old. From traditional mobsters to international crime syndicates, stories about the various characters from the seedy underbelly are as popular as ever. While audiences like to disconnect from the real world through these types of films, it’s always intriguing when the protagonist is a relatable everyman or woman.

When a viewer can see even a little bit of themselves in such provocative circumstances, the story is elevated from by-the-numbers action to high-octane endearment. In Thomas Vincent’s latest action/comedy Role Play, the director combines Kaley Cuoco’s inherent likability with the allure of the crime world to create a shoot-em-up with a heart.

By day, Emma is a doting wife and mother, living the suburbia dream. With household responsibilities, mom duties, a demanding boss at work, and a lull in the romance department, Emma’s “dream” seems very familiar to most parents juggling it all. Soon, however, it is revealed that Emma’s demanding boss is actually her contact in an underground network of professional assassins.

That’s right. When she’s not navigating school drop-off, marking chores off her list, or trying to spice things up with her husband, Emma is a cold-blooded killer for hire. Though she is ready to leave that life behind for good, Emma must face the past that led to her duplicity in order to save her precious current life that hangs dangerously in the balance.

Cinema Scholars’ Rebecca Elliott recently had a chat with Thomas Vincent about the making of Role Play. They discuss transitioning between TV and film, working with a screen legend, and Cuoco’s unexpected news on set.

Interview

Rebecca Elliott:

Hi, Thomas. Thanks for joining me today to talk about your film, Role Play. There’s been this surge of films that are about the underground crime world. And of course, there’s always been films about duplicity and people with double lives. In Role Play, you have a character who is a mom and has a normal life, but she’s also an assassin on the side. Where do you think the appeal of these kinds of stories comes from?

Thomas Vincent:

It’s difficult to tell for people. I’m only a director. What I can tell you about is why it appeals to me. I think this story is wrapped in a very entertaining way. A way to talk about modern couples. I think it’s couples altogether, but it’s a story about a couple. They’ve been together for seven years, and they dearly love each other. Plus they’ve got these great kids, this great life. Everything is good, but a little boring. And that’s when you start scratching the surface of the other. Secrets appear. I’m sure everybody has the same experience.

The minute you get close to anyone, like intimate with anyone, you find out that there’s nothing normal about the world. Like, everybody is completely messed up. Everybody has a terrible history. Every single one of us has terrible secrets that he’s afraid of. And so in this instance, it’s the story of a woman who’s a suburban mom who’s moonlighting as an assassin. But if you take the assassin part out of the equation, it’s just the story of a couple. They love each other, and, well, she has a double life. And then they’re both struggling to save their family, their couple. She’s trying to deal with what made her who she is in the first place. And everybody can relate to that. I sure can.

Rebecca Elliott:

Yeah. It’s like, to the extreme.

Thomas Vincent:

Yeah, to the extreme. Of course, that’s what makes movies fun. It’s always that thing. It’s got to be fun. But it’s got to be relevant. Otherwise, why watch it also? So it’s a bit of both.

Rebecca Elliott:

Absolutely. And of course, anyone who’s a parent and watches it…I’m just totally cracking up because there’ll be, like, this big dramatic action sequence. But then she’s still worrying about, do you have your jackets? And what are we going to eat next?

Thomas Vincent:

She’s a working mom with working-mom issues.

Rebecca Elliott:

Exactly. Mom-ing never stops. And speaking of “her” you get to work with the great Kaley Cuoco, who is amazing. And I noticed she also picked up a producer credit on this. Can you talk about bringing her into the film, or was she there before you?

Thomas Vincent:

It’s not the other way around. She was there first.

Rebecca Elliott:

Okay then!

Thomas Vincent:

To me, it was a bit impressive to work with her because she’s an icon. It’s a funny clown, serious clown couple. And she’s rather the serious clown. I mean, they change, they swap from time to time, but mostly she’s the serious clown. So I said, are you sure you want to do a dramatic role? And she says, yeah, that’s exactly what I want to do. She has a very clever understanding of her career and how it evolves.

And she wants to move step by step towards different things to broaden her choices. Which I absolutely understand. She was very clever in that process. And at the same time, she knows herself. She knows her strengths and her weaknesses extremely well. Better than anyone. And that makes it very impressive. Most of us don’t know ourselves so well. She does. It was very impressive to work with her.

Rebecca Elliott:

And she’s such a professional also, right? She totally understands the assignment and she’s just so cool. I imagine she had to go through quite a bit of prep and training for this role. Can you talk a little bit about what she had to go through to prepare for Role Play?

Thomas Vincent:

Being a badass assassin was part of what drew her to the role, and she really wanted to show that she could do it. She trained a lot. Learned to shoot a gun. She trained a lot for the fight scenes, but then she was pregnant during the shoot. No one was supposed to know it, but of course, it’s impossible to keep a secret on the film set.

So as the shooting evolved, and progressed, there was a little buzz on set. And then one day at the end, when she had to run up and down stairs, which is the one thing that you don’t really want to do. She called me to her trailer and said, “Thomas, I’ve got something to tell you. I’m pregnant.” So I had to fake it. “Oh, my gosh, you’re pregnant!” I already knew it, actually. She had to deal with it, but she was really brave because she was really sick in the morning.

Rebecca Elliott:

Wow! She pulled it off really well because I had no clue that she was pregnant during that. I can’t imagine taking all of that on and growing a human inside of me at the same time! And you’re no stranger to the action genre with Reacher and various other projects under your belt. I’m always fascinated with the nuts and bolts of how you coordinate all of that. Because, I mean, there’s car chases, there’s gunplays, there’s fight scenes. And of course, it takes place across multiple locations. Tell me how you work with your team, and all your different coordinators, and how you hone it and make it all work together.

Thomas Vincent:

Well, I’m going to be very honest on this. Action scenes are very much logistics. Firepower and production speak a lot. Not as in, that’s how you should shoot it. But as in, if you’ve got the right production behind you, it works. If you don’t, it does not work. Hollywood is so good at these because there is a lot of money to spend on action scenes, and it’s really very much a question of money.

It’s easier for me as a director to take credit for drama scenes or comedy or what’s really directorial for action. Of course, I direct it and I’m part of every choice. And I must have to say about all of this, and I wouldn’t let anyone else do it. But in the end, whatever I say can only be translated into a beautiful action scene if there is a very strong production behind you to back you. Otherwise, it’s just a lot of work.

Rebecca Elliott:

I can only imagine. And just coordinating all those people. I’m just amazed by the whole process and how it comes off so seamlessly. You also have an incredible supporting cast, including screen legend Bill Nighy. He doesn’t have a large role, but it just packs such a punch. He has such a presence and charisma about him. Can you talk a little bit about working with a screen veteran?

Thomas Vincent:

First of all, originally, the part was not written for someone like him. It was written as more of a midwestern, a big dirty guy. And then, well, casting is always a process. We ended up like, hey, why not Bill Nighy? And the first thing you have to know, when Bill Nighy turns up on set, every single female from 7 to 77 goes [makes doe eyes]. He’s 71 now. So he’s not exactly a young man, and he has a charm that works even on men. I think he is an incredibly charming human being. It’s completely unjust to everybody else.

When you work with such actors, you always dread, like, I hope he’s what I hope he is. Because sometimes it’s not the case. And he is. He is every bit of what you can imagine Bill Nighy is. He’s such a gentleman, such a beautiful actor. So committed, and humble. As a director, you have to support him because he’s so insecure. And then sometimes it’s like, you’re Bill Nighy. Come on! There’s nothing to prove anymore. No question. It’s like, you’re going to be great in this. But no, for most artists, it’s that complex of being an imposter is never solved.

Rebecca Elliott:

Even in your seventies after you’ve done a million projects and are adored worldwide. Wow. Amazing. So you’ve obviously worked on episodic projects before. And of course, Kaley is one of the most adored sitcom actresses of all time. Do you think that working in an episodic style informs your features?  And in working with Kaley too, since she also works in both worlds.

Thomas Vincent:

To start, what series taught me is to rely on your instincts because you have less time. Because scripts change all the time, turn up new pages in the morning. Like, that’s the thing. So when I was a young director, I was prepping a lot. Because I was very anxious not to have the right ideas at the right moment and so on.

And it taught me a lot to rely on myself, to rely on my instinct. Which, it’s not everything. But when you have it, it’s great to know you can come up with ideas. And the ideas you come up with in the moment can sometimes be the best because you don’t control, you don’t think, you don’t overthink it too much. You just do it. And sometimes the best comes out right.

Rebecca Elliott:

Right, right. I think I have time for one more. And I always like to just throw out a silly one at the end. So what would you do if you found out a longtime partner of yours was a hired gun?

Thomas Vincent:

I’d be so afraid. I would be. I would not be as brave as Dave [Oyelowo]. That’s for sure. I would take my kids to a safe place and maybe try a call. And maybe when you’re done, call me back. That’s it.

Rebecca Elliott:

I’ll always empty the dishwasher! I promise! Well, thank you so much for your time today. I really enjoyed Role Play and I look forward to spreading the word about it.

Thomas Vincent:

Thank you.

Role Play premieres globally on January 12, exclusively on Prime Video.

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