Today, Collider is inviting audiences to buckle up and prepare for the ride of their lives courtesy of an exclusive batch of first-look images forShawn Simmons’ (Wayne) feature-length directorial debut,Eenie Meanie. StarringSamara Weaving(Ready or Not), the film is overflowing with high-octane sequences and stunt work that will leave viewers on the edge of their seats. In addition to debuting the film’s first lineup of stills, we also caught up with Simmons to chat with him about what audiences can expect from the movie, which is set to speed ontoHululater this summer.
Describing the production as something that will make you“feel like you’re watching this small, ‘90s indie, and then it blows up into this massive story,”Simmons provided a synopsis of the plot at the center of the movie, revealing:
“[Eenie Meanie is] a story about a former getaway driver trying to save the life of her chronically fucked-up ex-boyfriend who can’t seem to get it right. The challenge was how do I make this a more emotional journey inside of what we expect to be a thrill ride genre getaway, and I think it’sthe best of both worlds.”
To land that perfect balance, Simmons looked no further than signing on an absolutely dynamite cast. Along with Weaving, who has landed herself the title of scream queen thanks to performances inReady or Not,Azrael,The Babysitter, andScream VI, the call sheet also includes the likes ofKarl Glusman(Watcher),Marshawn Lynch(Bottoms),Steve Zahn(Silo),Randall Park(WandaVision),Jermaine Fowler(The Blackening),Mike O’Malley(Glee), andAndy Garcia(Ocean’s Eleven), with Simmons hailing the latter’s work in the project as his“best role sinceThe Godfathermovie.”
Revealing how the cast came together, Simmons told me:
“There’s a guy named Mike O’Malley in the movie; I’ll put him in everything I do for the rest of my life because not only is hethe funniest person on Earth, but he’s just so likable and a great writer himself, so he’s really helpful on set. He was always in it, but he was in a different role in my head.
Samara is someone who I’d been watching for a while. I really loveReady or Not… It’s so funny and so dark and so exciting and thrilling, and I felt like she played a really great hero in that movie in a way that was fun.She had the comedic stuff in that movie, little bits of it throughout, and I felt like that was going to be great. She’s excellent in the movie. I learned writing for a long time on TV shows thatit’s all 85% casting…Then Karl Glusman I had seen in stuff before, but in a way where I was like, ‘Oh, that guy!’ I hadn’t really locked on yet. He hadn’t done a lot of comedy before, so that was my first question, because I’d seen him do good emotional work.”
The Unbelievable Stunts of ‘Eenie Meanie’
Any story that centers around a getaway driver is going to be overflowing with somewild stunts, but one particular scene inEenie Meanieis going to kick things into overdrive. The sequence in question takes place in the middle of aworking casino— yes, you read that right. Explaining how the team pulled it off, Simmons started with the early stages, from the script to the “nos” he had to go through before landing a “yes”.
“I wrote it and went, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna have to change this to something else.’ But the heist all takes place in a working casino.People were gambling on the other side of the room. It was insane. Every other casino said no to us… But this Hollywood Casino in Toledo said yes, and I just kept going, ‘This isn’t going to work. What are we talking about here?’ And every week,I would just wait for something to drop, like we weren’t getting to be able to do it, and they just kept saying yes. They were so excited. By the end of it,it was like the best day of their livesover there. They were having a blast.”
With a full “it takes a village” mentality, Simmons revealed how the stunt team pulled the incredibly complicated scene off:
“You can’t have a car with gasoline on a casino floor, so we had this guy,Trevor Mann, who is this genius. We all treat these car guys that build these cars like grease monkeys, but these guys areextraordinary, scientifically-minded human beings. He built a battery for the back of this car because we couldn’t use the gas. It was insane what it had to pull off. All the things these cars had to pull off were kind of a miracle, and these guys did it all.”
Check out the debut images forEenie Meanieabove and see it on Hulu later this summer.
