Interview: Director J.J. Perry Calls Day Shift A 'Throwback to the 80s'
There’s no doubt that stuntman-turned-director J.J. Perry had a blast making Day Shift. The movie is packed with an all-star cast and production team, and it lives in one of the most-loved genres of all time: comedy-horror.
With a screenplay by first-timer Tyler Tice and Shay Hatten (Army of the Dead), the Netflix movie stars Jamie Foxx as a seemingly-average dad who just wants to raise his daughter and work at his pool cleaning job. However, it turns out, his main source of income is actually hunting and killing vampires. In addition to Fox, Day Shift also featuresDave Franco, Karla Souza, Snoop Dogg, and Steve Howey.
Related: Day Shift Review
Perry, who made his directorial debut with this project, is best known for working as a stuntman/stunt coordinator in a bunch of Hollywood favorites, like Blade, John Wick, and Django Unchained. While searching for his next big move, he found himself immediately drawn to the Day Shift script. “After I did John Wick 2, a lot of people were bringing me scripts about traumatized soldiers and PTSD, and John Wick-type movies."
He continues, “As soon as I read Day Shift, I started pacing around my house. It reminded me a lot of the movies I loved when I was growing up. The script was brought to me by Shaun Redick and is written by Tyler Tice, as soon as I read it, I called and said, ‘We got to do this!’ So, Tyler and I started working on it, and we made it a much bigger action movie.”
Game Rant spoke with Day Shift Director J.J. Perry about his vampire inspirations, balancing the comedic and serious aspects of the storyline, allowing the actors to improvise, and more.
Game Rant: Who are some of your vampire inspirations?
J.J. Perry: I was a big fan ofLost Boys and Fright Night—Fright Night is
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