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Second Acttells the story of Maya ( Jennifer Lopez ) , who creates a fake persona for herself in an effort to climb the incorporated ladder in an effort to prove that it takes more than a fancy arcdegree to make it in the world of clientele . Of course , once her lie begin to run , chaos and mirth inevitably result . Co - starring Leah Remini , Vanessa Hudgens , and Milo Ventimiglia , Second Actwas a strong performer at the box office , gross $ 72 million worldwide , more than four times its budget of $ 16 million .
While kick upstairs the habitation video release ofSecond Act , director Peter Segal address to us about making the film , the comparisons toWorking young woman , work up off the material - life friendship between Lopez and Remini , and why he dislike when the film is call a " read-only memory com . " He also shares stories from his former days as a film director , work under comedy legend David Zucker forThe Naked Gun 33 1/3 : The Final Insult .
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Screen Rant : I ’m such a immense fan of your movies . You make spectacular movie funnier than the consultation is have a bun in the oven , and you make comedies with more marrow than the audience is bear .
Peter Segal : I appreciate that , it ’s a gracious way to put it !
Screen Rant : It ’s balanced , but that balance is experience an imbalance . I do n’t know if that ’s what you ’re prepare out to do when you ’re making movies , but I love that approach .
Peter Segal : I appreciate that . You put that in a way I ’ve never take heed , but I like it . I care straddling tone . I think that , my first movie , Naked Gun 3 , I would call a " Joke Book Movie . " You ’re not sample to have a draw of nerve in a motion picture like that . You have to take the history seriously , but you ’re really all about the jokes . There are other comedies that I ’ve done , like , for example , my second movie , Tommy Boy , had a lot more heart mixed with the comedy , and I think , you have intercourse , those are the variety of movies that I ’ve gravitated towards in different forms , whether they ’re political comedies or romantic comedies . Things that have a niggling bit more of an emotional spinal column to them . I imagine those movies come across a minuscule bit more .
Screen Rant : A peck of people have been comparingSecond ActtoWorking Girl . Was that intentional when you were frame the movie together ?
Peter Segal : It was n’t designed , but I definitely resemble the interchangeable DNA when I take the script . Working Girl is from Mike Nichols , a director who is one of my dearie , and I matte like we could live in that world . It ’s a sort of movie that has not been done lately . Right now , we were categorize as a read-only memory com , but I do n’t really conceive that ’s as exact as it could be . We ’re more of just a comedy that has some love affair in it because we ’re about more than just the male / female relationship in this story . I by all odds felt , like I said , there was exchangeable desoxyribonucleic acid to Working Girl , and that kind of story , combine with Jennifer Lopez , who I have make love in promiscuous comedy transportation that she has n’t done in a number of years ; I opine it was a very fun opportunity , plus the fact that there are definitely differences in this story from Working Girl . I cogitate Working Girl is almost a Cinderella - type story . There are many like that , where you have to presume an identity under fictive pretenses to get in a new human race , and then those relationships are always balancing on the unraveling of that lie as you ’re get an opportunity that you would n’t otherwise have had to search .
Screen Rant : I love that you aver it ’s not a read-only storage com . I love how female - centric this moving-picture show is . Yeah , we ’ve get Milo Ventimiglia , he ’s gorgeous and grotesque , we loveThis is Us , and , ooh , Rocky Balboa , aGrudge Matchconnection !
Peter Segal : Yes , exactly .
Screen Rant : But I ’m so happy that it does n’t sprain into that , quote - unquote , " typical read-only storage - com , " since , you know , Jennifer ’s already done that . The closest you ’ve come to that isFifty First Dates , but nobody would call that " distinctive . " Can you separate me a little chip about being a man directing a female - lead movie and not devolve into any of the traps I imagine might be so easy for a male director to descend into ?
Peter Segal : I think , because I ’m a fan of rom - coms … And they have not been as present recently , I need to steer unmortgaged of any of the typical tropes . As you referred to Working Girl originally , had we gone down the more typical track , we would have been way too alike . We screw there were certain mile marking on our journey on this story that set us aside from that movie and from other romanticist clowning in oecumenical . My matter is to always endeavor to subvert expectation . When you think you ’re about to hit a trope , you either have to recognize it and own it , or you have to channelize clear of it . I conceive , sometimes , people can fall into a trap of just running right over the trope as a pep pill blow and the hearing , I suppose , senses that familiarity , and that ’s where you ’ve got to be careful .
Screen Rant : I believe the X - factor in this movie is the interpersonal chemistry between Jennifer and Leah Remini . I sleep with they ’re good admirer in real life , and you may just see that inSecond Act . I think there are so few chance for female role player to be paired up the room they are in this pic . I mean , there are some , but not about as many as for guys . Can you peach about the Department of Energy on set with their scenes together , directing them together ?
Peter Segal : First off all , with Leah , we got built - in fairness of a kinship that already live . There ’s no way you may teach alchemy . It ’s either there or it ’s not . So , the fact that Leah , who in the first place lives in television system , wanted to come play in the sandbox with Jennifer in this characteristic , was an opportunity . When I really understood what that mean was when I went over to Jennifer ’s apartment in New York to understand through the handwriting with her and Leah . That ’s when I hear that chemistry in full force , right before my eyes . They act like sister . in reality , like pretty jejune sisters at times . Leah would poke her and labor her and , you know , tell a sight of jokes that were kind of tough ! Jokes you would n’t hear around the dinner party mesa , but they were hilarious ! Seeing Jennifer kind of getting picked on by her big sister , so to verbalize , I thought was a really interesting dynamic . I thought , hey , we need to bring this to the tale , convey this to the exercise set . This is awesome ! I do n’t think Jennifer is as used to ad - libbing as much as Leah is , because Leah live in the drollery earth . Leah asked me if it was hunky-dory if she extemporize a picayune . I said , absolutely . Let ’s get one as script for my editor program so he does n’t kill me , and then let ’s have some fun ! She kind of , I think , threw down the gantlet to Jen , who said , alright , come on , bring it ! Almost every scene , we played . I would always waffle to say " cut , " because they ’re kind of like an railway locomotive . They keep sputtering and sputtering , and then something suspect would happen , and then funnier , and then the other would pick up on that . Sometimes I just would wait until they ’d go , " Alright , are you gon na call cut , Pete ? "
Screen Rant : I want to need you about going way back to you ZAZ days . work with Zucker / Abrams / Zucker . They ’re iconic in clowning , and you ’re part of that pantheon . How did you get involved with them and what did they instruct you that you ’ve carried with you since directing Naked Gun 33 1/3 ?
Peter Segal : I owe my starting time in this business to David Zucker , one hundred percent . He had seen some HBO specials that I did with Judd Apatow , with Chris Farley and Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey , and he gave me a injection . I had no estimation what I was doing . I never dream I would become a movie theatre director . The first couple of calendar week on the bent of Naked Gun , there was this guy sitting behind me in a chair . Very nice guy rope , but we did n’t really address much . I pronounce to David Zucker , " who ’s this guy that ’s been sitting behind me these retiring few days ? " And he assure me , " Oh , that ’s Peter Farrelly . He ’s about to direct his first picture , and he want to observe what it ’s like to channelize . " I innovate myself , asked what he was working on , and he pronounce , " I ’m doing this pic called Dumb and Dumber . " I think , ooh , that ’s coolheaded . I thought to myself , I do n’t reckon he ’s gon na gain much from ascertain me ; it was my first motion picture , I was just stumble through it . But David Zucker taught me everything . People do n’t clear how hard it is to do a moving-picture show like The Naked Gun . It ’s such a ballet of foreground jokes and background jokes . It ’s so disciplined , there ’s almost a mathematics to the storytelling . Those picture , in peculiar , like I said earlier , are all about the jest . The playscript are very boneheaded . The script for that motion picture was about 135 Thomas Nelson Page , and yet it had a very little running game time . That ’s because there ’s no such matter as clowning omniscience . Nobody fuck what ’s go to work every individual time . We in the business concern might have a slightly good batting average than an uncle at the dinner mesa order jocularity , but we still ca n’t be one hundred percent . So , the jest that do n’t work on , we skip them out . That variety of bailiwick , I bring to all my other comedies . That was really " drollery boot camp , " working under David .
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2d Actis out now on Digital , and releases on Blu - ray and DVD March 26 .
