With directorJay Chandrasekhar’sEaster Sundayarriving in theaters tomorrow, I recently sat down with comedianJo Koyto talk about making the movie. During the wide-ranging interview, Koy talked about where the idea came from, what it was like being number one on the call sheet, the importance of representation, what people would be surprised to learn about the making of the movie, working withTiffany Haddish, test screenings, and the church scene. In addition, he reveals the project he’d love to make, what someone should watch if you’ve never seen his work, and why he loves performing at the Los Angeles Forum.
As you’ve seen in the trailers, Easter Sundayis Koy’s love-letter to his family and the Filipino-American community. Playing a fictionalized version of himself, the film has Koy returning home to his supportive yet demanding family to celebrate Easter festivities. As you can imagine, chaos ensues.Easter Sundayalso starsJimmy O. Yang,Tia Carrere,Brandon Wardell,Eva Noblezada,Lydia Gaston,Asif Ali,Rodney To,Eugene Cordero, Chandrasekhar, andLou Diamond Phillips. The film was produced byDan LinandJonathan Eirich.
Check out what Jo Koy had to say in the player above, or you may read our conversation below.
COLLIDER: Let me start by saying congrats on the movie.
JO KOY: Thank you.
Representation matters, and I’m very happy that you are the lead in this movie and this movie was made.
KOY: Thank you.
So I have a few curveballs before I get into the actual making of the movie. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about this, but if you could get the financing to make anything you want, what would you make and why?
KOY: Oh man, that’s a great question. Oh, man. A B-Boy movie, because it’s really expensive and that’s a part of my life, and it’s a part of my culture. And I mean that as the dancing aspect, it was a big part of my life and I love that culture. And a lot of B-Boys never gotten their flowers, and it’s an expensive, expensive event, just because of the music alone. So that would be on my wishlist to make the sickest B-Boy movie ever made. By the way, they’re finally getting their flowers because they’re going to go to the Olympics. Yeah. It’s finally an Olympic sport.
If someone has actually never seen anything that you’ve done, what is the first thing you want them watching and why?
KOY: First thing that I ever …Live from Seattle.Live from Seattlebecause to me, that was my heart, my everything because I wore every hat. The risk was extremely high and the reward was zero because no one wanted it. And even though everyone said no. And I mean, everyone. Everyone said, no, they didn’t want my special, and I didn’t care. And my manager and I decided to shoot it, and we used our money. And even up until the day we had all the cameras inside the venue, we get another phone call saying, “We don’t want it. And that was Netflix that said, “We don’t want it.” And I still proceeded to shoot it. And there was a part in that special, where I ad-lib something. And at that moment I knew I had … I knew it was the one. At that moment when I ad-lib this one line in that special, where I go, “Elevate the beat.” I’ve never done that before in my life. And when I said, I go, “Well, I got myself a winner right here.” And literally, that’s what happened. That changed my life.
I can’t imagine because putting your money on the line is like … They tell you do never do this, right? But what was it like for you right before you’re stepping out on stage to do this special? How nervous are you about, “Oh my God, it’s like make or break?”
KOY: I was crying. I was crying upstairs in the green room. I was so mad. My agent was back there. My manager was back there. My son was asleep, and I was 30 years into standup. And it was just like, how many “nos” am I going to get? I didn’t understand it. I’m breaking records. I was selling out improvs three weeks in a row, like six months in advance. But for some reason, they didn’t want to make my special. And then guys that were opening for me were getting specials. It didn’t make any sense. There was a point where I wanted to quit, but I had to do it.
You’ve performed at many locations. Is there one that you especially get nervous about when you’re about to step on stage because of the history of the place or some reason?
KOY: I don’t get nervous anymore. I don’t care where I go up, but I get excited, overly excited to step on the stage. It would be the Forum. I’ve done four in a row now, and sold out every single one. There’s just something about when you walk in. There’s that hallway that you drive in when you drive in, and you have every name that’s performed on that stage. And to see my name painted next to Led Zeppelin, Jackson Five, James Brown, Bruno Mars, Journey, and then Jo Koy, Motley Crue. Like what, what’s going on? So I pinch myself every time
I’ve walked that area that you’re talking about, and it’s crazy.
KOY: It’s nuts. Yeah.
Jumping into the movie. How long had you been thinking about doing a movie? How long had this been, you know what I mean, in development?
KOY: Yeah. I love the art of storytelling and that’s my favorite style of standup and my intentions were always to be able to have you see it when I do it on stage. In your head, you can already visualize it. You can see that situation in your head. And so I’ve always wanted these characters to come to life. So it was always in me, no matter what. And then forEaster Sunday, it was on tour. I was on the tour bus and I literally came up with this idea of one day, love, life and chaos. What day would that be? And I said, “Easter Sundaywould be the best way to tell my story about my family and my culture.”
What was it like for you being number one on the call sheet?
KOY: That was nuts. You want to hear crazier is how does it feel to be called by Steven Spielberg? That was the craziest part, getting a call from Spielberg’s people, called from Amblin. And as I walk into Amblin, everyone kept saying, “Steven loves your work. Steven can’t stop talking about you. Steven watched your special.”
I tell this joke all the time, but it’s the truth. I really thought it was someone that worked there. I was like, “You mean Steven from accounting? Who are you talking about? It can’t be Mr. Spielberg. There’s no way it’s Mr. Spielberg.” And it was him. And from that day to where we’re at right now in front of you, it’s been his hand involvement inside this project. It’s incredible.
I said at the beginning, and I’m very sincere about this, representation matters, and I’m so happy with the last few years in Hollywood. I feel like more voices have been getting out there. Do you think that it’s getting better?
KOY: We’re moving, we’re moving and the door’s finally open. And with this movie, I’m going to do my hardest to keep it wide open, because we need more of this. There’s a lot of people that live here that aren’t seen, and they aren’t heard, but yet, for some reason you work with them, you hang out with them, you’re best friends with them. But for some reason on the big screen and on the small screen, they have no voice, and they’re not heard, and they’re ignored, and it’s not fair. It really isn’t because you get it, you understand their life, you know who they are. And that’s what this movie is. You get a chance to get inside my family, but then when you leave the movies, when you lead the movie theater, you’re going to be like, “Oh, okay. His family’s just like my family.”
From when you first started on the project to what people are going to see on screen, how much actually changed along the way in terms of the story, the script?
KOY: All of it, all of it. Yeah. I mean the original screenplay to the final edit, I mean, final script, completely changed. 100% changed. That’s what we wanted. We wanted it to be loosely based, but also an embellishment of my life and then still represent the culture.
You have a son in real life. You have a son in this movie.
KOY: Yeah.
I wanted to know what does your son think of his character, if you will, in the movie.
KOY: My son has not seen the movie yet.
Oh, really?
KOY: No one in my family has seen the movie. They all want to see it at the premiere. They all want to be surprised and experience it with everybody else. So I can’t wait. He’s going to love it though. He’s going to love it.
I love learning about the behind-the-scenes or the making of films, TV, whatever. What do you think soon-to-be fans of the film would be surprised to learn about the actual making of it?
KOY: That we shot this during the height of COVID. Literally, that was the only place that was willing to shoot it, which was Vancouver. It was extremely mentally and physically strenuous. I hope I’m saying the right stuff. But yeah, it was mentally just strenuous. Physically, it broke us down because we couldn’t be next to each other. So we had to walk and be far away from each other. It was like a lot of stuff where you could have just been hanging out in the corner in between takes, we had to separate ourselves and go to a trailer and isolate. It started to wear and tear on you. It started to break you down a bit, but we still pushed through and made it.
What was it like? Because were you very much like the night before you’re filming a sequence, were you in your brain just thinking about alts and things that you wanted to do? How much pressure did you put on yourself as you were filming?
KOY: I put all the pressure. I was on the phone with my acting coach every night, running my lines, figuring out alts, where to ad-lib, and the presenting those ad-libs to the director. You know what I mean? And also with whoever I’m acting with. And that was a lot of fun, just being able to sharpen that skill set.
The stuff with you and Tiffany, when she pulls you over is obviously, it’s very funny. And the dynamic between the two of you, how much was that scripted? How much was that you two just in the moment?
KOY: We had the script, but Tiffany and I, that’s how we talk. That’s just us. We literally banter like that, so that was easy. And then, of course, it’s Tiffany. It’s so easy with her. I don’t think she even knew her lines anyway. Literally, she walked up, and it was like, “Okay.” And then ran with it and whatever she did was the take.
Sure. You were basically filmingCurb Your Enthusiasm.
She had an outline of what was going to-
KOY: She’s so good, man. She’s really that good. And our ad-libs were so good. It made the movie legit. That was so cool to see something that we ad-lib make the trailer.
I laughed a lot at Jay’s lines about, “I’m losing you, I’m in the canyon,” And that repeated joke. Who came up with that?
KOY: That’s Jay.
KOY: Yeah. Jay came up with all of that. Jay, I mean, he’s a genius. I mean, you know Jay’s work. Just as a director alone, but then also the stuff that he’s written and shot, he’s incredible. And that was a joke that you give most agents. Right? That was also my manager. Not my new one, my old one, where he would act like he was just too busy right now. “Let me call you back. I’ve got a bad signal.” It’s just like, “No, you’re just a bad manager.” So yeah. That’s what that was all about. It’s so funny. Because Jay got some shit from his agent. It’s like, “I don’t do that to you!”
I’m sure you showed the movie to friends and family, maybe some audiences. What did you learn from some of those test screenings that impacted the finished film?
KOY: What we love the most is that people were just really, really relating. It was so cool. People got emotional when it was emotional. And I was just like, “Whoa, this is cool.” Moms were relating. It didn’t matter what ethnicity they were. They were just getting it and understanding and feeling from my mom in this movie. That was the coolest thing that I got from that movie from test screening. I also noticed that some of the things that they were not liking, I didn’t like, and I was like, “Ooh.” Yeah. So it is an honest opinion. I get it now. I see why they do the test screenings.
I’ve spoken to a lot of directors, and they say it’s brutal sometimes, but it’s very informative.
KOY: Yeah. Very informative.
So there’s a scene in the church where you take the stage. In the script, did it just say, “He takes the stage and goes off”? You know what I mean.
KOY: That was Jay because no one really wants to put a standup comedian character in a movie. It’s just like, “Ugh, it’s been there, done that.” It’s like, “How do you do it?” You know what I mean? And never looks good. You know what I mean? No matter how you shoot a standup performance, it looks like you’re shooting a standup performance. You know what I mean? It looks staged. So Jay was the mastermind behind that. He came up with a great idea. It’s like, “Hey, you and you and the priest have a feud, or have some type of tension. And this is his way of getting back at you, getting you in front of people and that’s going to be your standup moment.” He wrote and I wrote this cool little stand-up sequence, but then I literally just ran with it. So I adlibbed that damn thing.
Which was the scene that you had the most fun shooting, and which was the scene that was the biggest pain in the ass?
KOY: Oh, the biggest pain in the ass scene would have to be … Oh, what was it? Okay. The hardest scene for me to shoot-
KOY: Is that what your question was?
KOY: Was when I cried at the dinner table. I shot it twice. I got it on the first take, but emotionally it was the hardest thing. And I don’t wish it on any actor. And any actor that’s really good at crying in a scene, hats off, because I pulled from so many emotions. There were trigger words that got me to cry where I was just … Emotionally, it was hard to stop. You know what I mean? And then you also have to read your lines. It was not fun mentally. There was a point where I was exhausted and then all the actors hugged me. You know what I mean? We were all involved in it. We were all crying together. It was just like, that’s a tough scene, man. That was a really, really tough scene.
Pain in the ass scene would have to be … God, I can’t think of any. Oh, when it rained that was a pain. I don’t know if it shows, but it rained during one of our scenes and it was killing us. It was killing us. You know what I mean? It was when we saw Lou Diamond for the first time at his house. It started raining and we didn’t know what to do, because we could not shut down. And so we were waiting for the rain to stop and then we’d start shooting again and then it would rain again. We’re like, “Oh.” So that was a pain in the ass.
On that note, I’m just going to say I’m really happy you got to make the movie and I hope it’s a huge hit for you guys.
