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Jason Bateman (Zootopia<\/a>) and Rachel McAdams (Doctor Strange<\/a>, A Most Wanted Man<\/a>) team up in New Line Cinema\u2019s action comedy GAME NIGHT as Max and Annie, whose weekly couples game night gets kicked up a notch when Max\u2019s charismatic brother, Brooks, arranges a murder mystery party, complete with fake thugs and faux federal agents. So, when Brooks gets kidnapped, it\u2019s all part of the game\u2026right? But as the six uber-competitive gamers set out to solve the case and win, they begin to discover that neither this \u201cgame\u201d\u2014nor Brooks\u2014are what they seem to be.<\/p>\n Over the course of one chaotic night, the friends find themselves increasingly in over their heads as each twist leads to another unexpected turn. With no rules, no points, and no idea who all the players are, this could turn out to be the most fun they\u2019ve ever had\u2026or, it\u2019s game over. Jason Bateman and Oscar nominee Rachel McAdams team up in New Line Cinema\u2019s action comedy \u201cGame Night.\u201d\u00a0 John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein are directing the film, marking their second film as co-directors, following \u201cVacation.\u201d<\/p>\n What drew you to GAME NIGHT?<\/strong><\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: It was a very smart script with some great plot twists.<\/p>\n We both loved that it was a different kind of comedy, in that it wasn\u2019t purely a comedy. It gave us an opportunity to do something that was a mash-up of genres, and we keep talking about the film as a comedic thriller. We wanted to try and reinvent the genre a little bit.<\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: We\u2019re big fans of twists and surprise endings in films, and we haven\u2019t seen that very often in the comedy genre. So, it was a fun chance to flex not only the humor muscle, but the surprise one, as well.<\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: We wanted to keep the audience off-balance \u2013 beginning with the way we play with the Warner Bros. logo at the beginning of the film. Right away, audiences will sense that they\u2019re watching something that\u2019s, surprisingly, a little ominous. They might start wondering, \u201cOh, I thought this was a comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n Do you have any touchstones \u2013 other films that you\u2019ve enjoyed over the years that you had in the back of your mind when you began work on GAME NIGHT?<\/strong><\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: We tried to make GAME NIGHT what we call \u201cDavid Fincher Lite,\u201d in that it evokes the moody and edgy lighting he uses in many of his films. We are also huge fans of the Coen brothers\u2019 Fargo, which is darker than our movie but blends traditional humor and black comedy in a skillful way.<\/p>\n Do you split up directorial duties?<\/strong><\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: Because we\u2019ve been writing together for over ten years, we kind of do it all together. Sometimes we wish we could split it up; we\u2019d probably get more done. But we tend to do it all in the same place and do a lot of preparation before we ever get to set.<\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: We largely come from the same position and have similar ideas on how things should go, but we often disagree and that\u2019s actually where some of the best ideas come from, because it\u2019s nice to have a sounding board and someone you can bounce ideas off of and create something more refined than it would be if it were coming from one brain.<\/p>\n How do you resolve conflicts?<\/strong><\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: Whoever wins the fistfight [laughs].<\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: You know, it gets pretty bloody.<\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: We have them pad every director\u2019s trailer that we work in so that we can pummel each other without anyone knowing.<\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: Seriously, the best idea wins. With comedy, it\u2019s always good to have a lot of alternative ideas you can play with in the editing room and sometimes something that you\u2019re so certain is going to work doesn\u2019t actually work when you see it in the cut. It\u2019s always good to have multiple options.<\/p>\n Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams portray a married couple in the film, and are at the heart of the comedy and action in GAME NIGHT. What was their dynamic like?<\/strong><\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: They complement each other so well. It was refreshing to see Rachel in a comedy, because she hadn\u2019t done one in years. They had very different energies that fit together really nicely.<\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: As different as Jason and Rachel are from one another, they share an understated acting style. We recently saw Jason in the television series Ozark, which highlights his skills as a dramatic actor. And Rachel has always been a naturalistic actor. You put those two together and it really feels like they\u2019ve been a couple for many years.<\/p>\n What was your approach to casting the other actors \u2013 and the department heads?<\/strong><\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: We cast people who you don\u2019t often see in comedies, like Rachel, Kyle Chandler and Jesse Plemons.<\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: Our main note with all the actors was don\u2019t play for the comedy. Treat GAME NIGHT as though it is a thriller. And the humor inherently comes out of that because you\u2019ve suddenly raised the stakes and you\u2019re not betraying the stakes with jokes.<\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: We cast our department heads like we cast the actors \u2013 they\u2019re best known for their dramatic work. Our composer Cliff Martinez made his comedy debut with GAME NIGHT. He\u2019s scored several of Steven Soderbergh\u2019s films.<\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: We just listened to the final mix of Cliff\u2019s score. We knew from the get-go that we wanted almost entirely a synth score because it evokes the moody fun of 1980s movies that take place in one night. Hearing him go in that direction with this modern slant was one of the most exciting parts of making GAME NIGHT.<\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: We had long conversations with our director of photography, Barry Peterson, about visual comps of films that we loved and inspired us. Our production designer, Michael Corenblith, who has worked mostly on dramas, had a great line that we embraced, which was, if you were watching this movie with the sound off, you shouldn\u2019t know it\u2019s a comedy. That informed a lot of what we did.<\/p>\n GAME NIGHT is about competitive people. Who\u2019s the more competitive between you two?<\/strong><\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: Don\u2019t ask us that, because we\u2019re both so competitive that we\u2019ll start fighting! [Laughs]<\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: I am definitely the most competitive and I don\u2019t care what John says.<\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: Jonathan\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n In the film, there\u2019s a strong element of sibling rivalry between Jason Bateman\u2019s and Kyle Chandler\u2019s characters. Did you ever engage in those kinds of games of one-upmanship with a brother or sister?<\/strong><\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: Well, I have a brother who is three years older than me and he was not easy on me when I was a little kid. We did play a lot of games together but his age advantage allowed him to almost always win. Some of that comes across in the movie\u2019s notion that Jason\u2019s Max never beat Kyle\u2019s Brooks, at anything.<\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: I\u2019m an only child, but that has probably made me more competitive in some ways, because you start to have a high opinion of yourself. So, I started hosting game nights every week with our most competitive friends and it would often become ugly between us because we took it all so seriously. What\u2019s fun and relatable about the concept of game nights is that it\u2019s a way of letting off steam. They usually happen at the end of a long week of work and it is a chance to really flex that competitive muscle.<\/p>\n What is your favorite board game?<\/strong><\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: I am a huge fan of Stratego. It\u2019s only a two-person game, but it\u2019s like a combination of Guess Who? and chess, which I think is a cool mix.<\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: I always loved the game of Life because it\u2019s so unfair. Basically, your fate is determined in the first five minutes of the game. You\u2019re either a doctor or a lesser-earning person.<\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: Which is pretty accurate.<\/p>\n What do you hope audiences take away from GAME NIGHT?<\/strong><\/p>\n JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: The biggest compliment we got from the early screenings of the film was people saying, \u201cI\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d in a good way. And if most people who experience this movie come away feeling like it was unique and different and special, then we\u2019ve accomplished what we set out to do.<\/p>\n JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: This film is very much a ride in that it\u2019s relentless in the way revelations unfold in almost every scene. There are jokes that are funny because you don\u2019t see them coming. We really tried to make it look different from traditional comedies, and that was one of the more challenging and gratifying experiences.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/GameNightPoster.jpg?resize=320%2C474\")
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