Nothing goes better with a convention than a movie screening. At this year’s Rooster Teeth Expo (RTX), con-goers got the chance to attend an advanced screening of Stuber, directed by Michael Dowse and written by Tripper Clancy. With Dowse and star Kumail Nanjiani in attendance, the packed Paramount theater got the chance to ask questions and learn more about the process of making the new action-comedy, in theaters later this week.
Stuber follows a mild-mannered Uber driver named Stu (Nanjiani) picking up Vic (Bautista), a veteran detective who is hot on the trail of a sadistic, bloodthirsty terrorist named Teijo (Iko Uwais). Quickly, Stu finds himself thrust into an action-adventure all while trying to get to the girl that he’s in love with while maintaining a high customer service rating.
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During the Q&A, Nanjiani explained the importance of tackling the subject of masculinity in the film. Because what better place than an action movie? Throughout the film, Nanjiani’s character Stu is belittled and told to man up by Vic, but instead of being a film where the two men drastically change, they individually deal with their own identities in unexpected and dynamic ways. But, that exploration comes with loads of physical comedy, dirty jokes, puppy love, and even a strip club scene, which kept the crowd laughing.
In addition to talking about the larger theme in the film, Nanjiani and Dowse spoke on how they wanted to capture the feeling of traditional buddy cop films while flipping it and using the actors’ comedic strengths to stand out. This led to a lot of physical comedy to which Nanjiani explained – he isn’t Tom Cruise. The Q&A isn’t the most intricate, but it is a laugh. Nanjiani is a ray of sunshine and dark humor in one go that played off of the crowd’s questioning in the best ways.
Click play on the audio to listen to the full Q&A from RTX 2019.
