There’s no doubt that stuntman-turned-director J.J. Perry had a blast making Day Shift. The movie is packed with an all-star cast and production team, and it lives in one of the most-loved genres of all time: comedy-horror.
With a screenplay by first-timer Tyler Tice and Shay Hatten (Army of the Dead), the Netflix movie stars Jamie Foxx as a seemingly-average dad who just wants to raise his daughter and work at his pool cleaning job. However, it turns out, his main source of income is actually hunting and killing vampires. In addition to Fox, Day Shift also features Dave Franco, Karla Souza, Snoop Dogg, and Steve Howey.
Perry, who made his directorial debut with this project, is best known for working as a stuntman/stunt coordinator in a bunch of Hollywood favorites, like Blade, John Wick, and Django Unchained. While searching for his next big move, he found himself immediately drawn to the Day Shift script. “After I did John Wick 2, a lot of people were bringing me scripts about traumatized soldiers and PTSD, and John Wick-type movies."
He continues, “As soon as I read Day Shift, I started pacing around my house. It reminded me a lot of the movies I loved when I was growing up. The script was brought to me by Shaun Redick and is written by Tyler Tice, as soon as I read it, I called and said, ‘We got to do this!’ So, Tyler and I started working on it, and we made it a much bigger action movie.”
Game Rant spoke with Day Shift Director J.J. Perry about his vampire inspirations, balancing the comedic and serious aspects of the storyline, allowing the actors to improvise, and more.
Game Rant: Who are some of your vampire inspirations?
J.J. Perry: I was a big fan of Lost Boys and Fright Night—Fright Night is still one of my faves. “You have to have faith for that to work. Mr. Vinson." Remember that? I mean, it was funny, weird, and trippy. I'm not going to make a period piece like Bram Stoker's Dracula, they're probably not going to hire someone like me to do that. I'm an action guy. I'm looking for things that people will enjoy. The world is dark right now. There's a double feature of COVID and Monkeypox out there. I just want to do fun stuff that will help people escape for a minute and have a laugh. Having those three elements of action, comedy, and horror, I can get them to jump, I can get them to laugh, and I can get them to go “Oh shit!” when the action happens.
GR: I'd like to hear a bit more about that. How did you use comedy and action as a way to alleviate the serious things going on in the movie? How did you balance these elements while still making sure it's a genuine story?
Perry: I have a nine-year-old daughter, that’s why Bud Jablonski has a nine-year-old daughter. My wife is an attorney. That's why Bud Jablonski was married to Jocelyn Jablonski, who's the King Kong of arguers. I'm on the road with all these stuntmen and women who are millennials, and I'm Gen X. I love them, and we're doing dangerous shit all the time, all over the world, but I don't understand a word they're saying. Snoop Dogg’s character reminds me of my old platoon sergeant. So, I brought things that would make the movie feel familiar to me.
I was worried about the comedy, but when I cast Jamie Foxx, I didn't have to worry about the comedy anymore. And then when I watched the read-through between Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco, and the whole cast, we all were like texting each other "Oh my god, this is happening.” It was the perfect storm, and it comes from being in this business for 32 years and working on 150 features and over 300 episodes of TV. That's how many directors and crews I've worked with. When you're watching and learning from what the greats do right, you get a very strong opinion about what you want to do.
GR: Was there a lot of improv in the movie?
Perry: I would say they used improv in every scene. I was counting on that. I have an obligation as a director to sign off on the script and shoot the script. I did my diligence, but then let it roll and let my Oscar-winning actor and my tremendous comedians do what they do.
GR: It sounds like they really embodied these characters. What was your reaction when this all star cast came together?
Perry: When Jamie signed on, it just all happened. I'd worked with Jamie before, we're the same age, we're both from Texas, and we listen to the same music. I’m just a huge fan of him as a person. He was really excited about it because if you think about it, he's done some action movies, but he hasn't really ever done something like this. We were very clear that we're not making John Wick with vampires, we’re not doing that. We're making an action comedy-horror throwback to the mid 80s.
GR: Did you two stay in contact throughout the years? How did he come on board for the movie?
Perry: He expressed interest with Netflix, and then they came to me. After it got greenlit by Netflix, they gave it to Fox, and he bought it. As soon as we got on Zoom, he went, "Hey, man, we got to do this,” and I was trying not to geek out.
GR: What do you see next for the Day Shift story? Do you see this franchising?
Perry: I'm not supposed to say, but I would love to make Night Shift and Graveyard Shift, and then spin Snoop off into his own show. I’ll do Day Shift until they put me in the dirt.
Day Shift is currently streaming on Netflix.