AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
In the new movie "Idiots," a couple of down-on-their-luck - we'll call them knuckleheads - go on a disastrous road trip. Recently fired from their jobs, these men are hired for a new gig, transporting a teenager to rehab.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IDIOTS")
O'SHEA JACKSON JR: (As Davis Hench) Don't worry about Sheridan. He's in great hands.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) I would advise you, be very careful.
JACKSON: (As Davis Hench) Oh, we treat all of our clients with the utmost care and respect.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) I mean careful of him.
RASCOE: This is no ordinary teenager. He's the heir to a massive fortune and an influencer with a huge following whose claim to fame is behaving badly. O'Shea Jackson Jr. stars as Davis, one of the two well-meaning but utterly incompetent characters at the center of "Idiots," a new raunchy comedy out in theaters now, and he joins me now. Welcome.
JACKSON: Thank you. I appreciate it.
RASCOE: Tell us a little bit about your character, Davis. Like, who is he? And how did he end up with this sketchy job?
JACKSON: He's just a guy who can't get out of his own way. You know, he's not a bad person. He just makes bad decisions. He can't quite put the fires in his life out. And he works for this lady, Dorindo, and yeah, she has this service where, if you need it delivered, we're your company. But on this go-around, he runs into the new guy, Mark, played by my buddy Dave Franco.
RASCOE: And Mark has his own issues and can't hold down a job. He's in some shady stuff, too.
JACKSON: Mark could be the logo of the movie.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
JACKSON: I'll put it that way.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: Well, and then talk to me about Sheridan 'cause that's the teenager you're transporting to rehab. A billionaire background, not your average troubled teen - do you think this movie is kind of lampooning the rich a bit?
JACKSON: It's definitely just speaking on the generation that, through technology, might be running circles around the older group a little bit, and Sheridan does everything in his power to make this the worst trip possible.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
JACKSON: And the worst part about it is that he's really, really good at it.
RASCOE: He - well, that's the thing. Is he a villain? Or is he supposed to be the villain?
JACKSON: Listen, he is the villain.
RASCOE: OK, he's the villain (laughter). OK, so he's the bad guy.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: You know, obviously, this film reminds me of some of those modern comedy classics and really raunchy movies like "The Hangover" and "Pineapple Express" and "21 Jump Street." What are some of your favorite comedies? Like, are those the types of comedies that you love? Like, what do you think makes a good comedy?
JACKSON: The realer the situation. You know, the realer the situation - as soon as the - a situation that everyone can relate to kind of automatically puts the audience there, and then it becomes a sandbox for you to play with. My favorite movie of all time is "The Big Lebowski." It's a simple premise that turns haywire, you know? If Jeff Bridges would have just got his rug back or would have just got $200 to get a new rug, the movie's over in 15 minutes.
RASCOE: (Laughter) Yeah.
JACKSON: If Sheridan would just be chill and let us take - all we got to do is drop him off, like, drop him off at a rehabilitation center - the movie's over. And he does everything in his power - and being the son of a billionaire, he has a lot of power.
RASCOE: There's a fine line between pushing the envelope and overdoing it. How do you decide how far you can take a joke?
JACKSON: We treat every scene as serious as you would a dramatic scene. Keep the situation real, and the funny will find it. And as far as, you know, pushing the boundaries, you got to have those moments that people are still talking about in the car ride home.
I'm a big wrestling fan. I don't know if people know that, but you know, in wrestling, there's what you call spots, and those are the big moments that happen throughout the match. You know, people aren't going to remember every single detail of the match, but those spots burn that image into your mind. And that's the same thing with film, those crazy moments - Jim Carrey yelling in the dude's ear in "Dumb And Dumber" - flashes of moments that you just never forget. And comedy - that means you got to push the envelope a little bit.
RASCOE: Well, I mean, you know, your breakout role was in the blockbuster film "Straight Outta Compton," which was very different, obviously - a biopic. You played your father, the rapper Ice Cube. He's a notoriously kind of tough but extremely shrewd businessman. In "Idiots," you play a completely opposite character.
JACKSON: Yeah. And, you know, it was a major challenge for me because every tear you see in this film is really me. I couldn't have played this role at any other time in my life. I went through real loss. You know, I lost both of my grandmothers. I lost my uncle who I used to take to every single movie set.
RASCOE: I'm sorry.
JACKSON: Before, I didn't have anywhere to go to. You know, there was nothing that I could pull from to get that raw emotion. And so I had a hard time kind of finding Davis. Like, you know, everybody's being so funny around me, and I kind of have to be the straight man and, at the same time, be emotional in some scenes that are really ridiculous, and I really want to laugh, but, like, I have to draw from something. And playing polar opposites like that - I have had a chip on my shoulder for 11 years now when it came to acting because when "Straight Outta Compton" was coming out, I was in the middle of college. I was going to USC.
RASCOE: You were planning on being an actor at that point?
JACKSON: No, I wanted to be a screenwriter. I didn't want to be on this side of the camera because I wanted my privacy. I didn't have the dad who could just spontaneously take you to an amusement park without having it be some circus. My privacy, I took very serious. So I did not want to be on this side of the camera.
But "Straight Outta Compton," it was an opportunity my dad needed me, you know? And he's never asked me to do anything. So it was just like, I stepped up for my guy, and I left school. I had to audition for two years to get that role. I'm watching my friends graduate without me on Instagram. I felt like I made the wrong decision.
And then when I get the part, articles and everybody said, well, obviously, it's nepotism. And then when the movie comes out, and I crush, then they say, oh, well, of course he could play his dad. And that bothered me. So I told my team, every single role that we take has to be different from the last thing they saw us in just so they know that, like, I take my acting serious. I - you can't put me in a box. I can do all things.
RASCOE: At this point, though, do you feel like, I don't have to prove anything to anybody, or they'll never be satisfied, but I am satisfied?
JACKSON: I mean, I feel like the only genre I haven't tackled is maybe horror. Like, you know, "Cocaine Bear" kind of fits under there.
RASCOE: OK. And is that what you want to do next?
JACKSON: Maybe, but I don't know. I did step into my first voiceover role. I have a cartoon, "Patrick Foxy." It's on YouTube. It's an indie. We're trying to get it off the ground. And that's my first time in a voiceover, and that's something I've always wanted to do, as well.
RASCOE: That's O'Shea Jackson Jr. He plays Davis in the new comedy film "Idiots" in theaters now. Thank you so much for joining us.
JACKSON: Thank you for having me.
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