{"id":117061,"date":"2025-09-03T15:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T15:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/117061\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T15:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T15:53:11","slug":"aziz-ansari-keanu-reeves-seth-rogen-on-making-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/117061\/","title":{"rendered":"Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen on Making Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tSeveral weeks into filming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/good-fortune\/\" id=\"auto-tag_good-fortune_1\" data-tag=\"good-fortune\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Good Fortune<\/a> \u2014 a low-key comedy written by, directed by and starring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/aziz-ansari\/\" id=\"auto-tag_aziz-ansari_1\" data-tag=\"aziz-ansari\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aziz Ansari<\/a> \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/keanu-reeves\/\" id=\"auto-tag_keanu-reeves_1\" data-tag=\"keanu-reeves\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Keanu Reeves<\/a>, legendary action star of the Matrix and John Wick movies, threw the production into complete chaos.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIn the film, Reeves plays a bumbling, low-ranking angel who swaps the lives of Ansari, a down-on-his-luck L.A. gig worker, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/t\/seth-rogen\/\" id=\"auto-tag_seth-rogen_1\" data-tag=\"seth-rogen\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Seth Rogen<\/a>, a wealthy tech exec living the good life in the Hollywood Hills. The three actors were filming a lighthearted scene, shuffling excitedly between a hot sauna and cold plunge, when Reeves\u2019 foot caught on some flooring.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/24cov_TIFF_hi_res-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"435\" width=\"336\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Paola Kudacki<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cMy knee went,\u201d Reeves, 60, recounts on a recent Sunday morning, seated beside his two Good Fortune co-stars at the colorful Whitby Hotel in midtown Manhattan. (He\u2019s currently in town rehearsing with his Bill &amp; Ted\u2019s Excellent Adventure co-star Alex Winter for a Broadway production of Waiting for Godot.) \u201cI snapped my kneecap vertically, like a potato chip. As the pain was coming up, I was like, \u2018Oh fuck. This is not good. This is quite bad.\u2019 There was a lot of blood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAnsari took in the unfolding nightmare and began to panic. Good Fortune was his plan B. Plan A had been a very different film, a passion project about aging and death called Being Mortal, which was shuttered three weeks into production after its star, Bill Murray, was found by Searchlight Pictures to have engaged in \u201cinappropriate behavior\u201d with a female assistant, a stroke of bad luck that painfully echoed Ansari\u2019s own brush with #MeToo allegations some years prior.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIn any case, Ansari had no plan C.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cIt still feels like something from The Studio,\u201d he says, referring to Rogen\u2019s hit Apple TV+ comedy \u2014 a show fueled by behind-the-scenes Hollywood mayhem. On cue, Rogen, 43, slips into his Studio character, Matt Remick, frazzled head of Continental Studios: \u201cKeanu broke his kneecap! He can\u2019t walk! What can he do? Can we prop him up? Can we hang him from wires? We\u2019ll marionette him in the scene!\u201d Then the famous Seth Rogen laugh: \u201cHeh heh heh heh heh!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAnsari also laughs about it \u2014 now. \u201cKeanu could have easily been like, \u2018Hey man, I\u2019m so sorry. I\u2019m out,\u2019 \u201d he says. Raised on Reeves\u2019 films like Point Break, Speed and The Matrix, his star was so much more than just another actor \u2014 he was a screen god and, as far as Ansari was concerned, a major casting coup. Minus Reeves, his dreams of a career as a movie auteur were spiraling down the drain once more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tBut Reeves pushed through the pain to film whatever they could on schedule, then stuck around for reshoots once the cast came off. The results of all that literal blood, sweat and tears will finally be unveiled Sept. 6, when the film premieres at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, just weeks before opening wide Oct. 17 throughout the U.S.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tFor Ansari, the stakes for his little angel movie are of biblical proportions. A gifted observational stand-up and sketch comedian who found stardom playing the smarmy Tom Haverford on NBC\u2019s Parks and Recreation, it\u2019s been a full decade since the launch of his Netflix show, Masters of None, a television groundbreaker that ushered in a new era of diverse storytelling, cracking the doors open for a wave of lauded series like Insecure, Atlanta and Ramy. It\u2019s been nearly eight years since an anonymous woman accused him of unwanted sexual aggression while on a date, kicking up a fierce debate about the growing power of the #MeToo movement, a devastating blow to Ansari\u2019s sterling image as comedy\u2019s \u201cwoke bae,\u201d as one website dubbed him in 2016. And it\u2019s been three years since the shock of Searchlight Pictures pulling the plug on Being Mortal, the project that was supposed to launch his feature film directing career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tSo, yes, how audiences receive Good Fortune means a great deal to Ansari. It means everything.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/TLC57395-_PK-00010_011_R2.1_SW3_SWOP-EMBED-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"1250\" width=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tRogen wears a Brunello Cucinelli suit, shirt,\u202fbelt. Ansari wears an Isaia polo; Brunello Cucinelli pants; his own Cartier watch, his own ring, necklace. Reeves wears  a Frame shirt, tee; Brunello Cucinelli pants.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Paola Kudacki<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t***<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tTwo mornings later, Ansari occupies a corner table on the terrace of another swanky hotel in lower Manhattan \u2014 this one to remain nameless, as it\u2019s his favored pied-\u00e0-terre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tHe has, since 2019, headquartered himself in London, where he lives with his wife, Serena Skov Campbell, a Danish forensic data scientist. But he\u2019s frequently in New York and Los Angeles, he says, as well as on the road doing stand-up. His current Hypothetical Tour, which explores married life and his hopes to become a father, featured a date at Radio City Music Hall in April and was recently extended into\u00a0November.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1369480641-EMBED-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"341\" width=\"435\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tAziz Ansari with his wife, Serena Skov Campbell, a Danish forensic data scientist whom he first met in London in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRodin Eckenroth\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tUp close, Ansari appears younger than his 42 years, although a bit spent. He only orders coffee. He had a late dinner, he explains, and the restaurant\u2019s signature dish of sheep\u2019s milk ricotta and honey on toast isn\u2019t exactly calling his name. \u201cIt has truffles in it,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t like truffles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAnsari saw Weapons over the weekend, the blockbuster horror film about a classroom of missing children. \u201cIt\u2019s cool, it\u2019s sophisticated and it\u2019s interesting. I was really glad it did well,\u201d he says. \u201cZach Cregger, the writer-director, he was in my generation of comedy. He was in the sketch group The Whitest Kids U\u2019Know. We were friends in the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe scene he refers to is the underground New York comedy world of the early aughts. Ansari grew up in South Carolina, one of two sons to immigrant parents from India, both doctors. (They\u2019d later dabble in acting, playing his mother and father on Master of None.) He moved to New York in 2000 to attend NYU\u2019s Stern School of Business and immersed himself in the city\u2019s thriving improv and stand-up culture, where he quickly became a standout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cI have been a fan since I saw him play a Criss Angel-type magician on Human Giant,\u201d says Judd Apatow, referring to the MTV sketch comedy series that ran from 2007 to 2008. \u201cWhen you see him at a comedy club, he will do a set and kill, then immediately sit down, put in ear buds and listen and take notes about how it went. Nobody works harder than\u00a0him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tApatow cast Ansari as Randy Springs, an obnoxious comic, in his 2009 film Funny People. It was on that set \u2014 and the set of that year\u2019s much darker comedy Observe and Report \u2014 that Ansari and Rogen first developed a kinship and comedy shorthand. \u201cAziz and Seth have always been way more than comic actors,\u201d says Apatow. \u201cThey are both unique comic forces of nature who have unique visions all their own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-89123872-EMBED-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"294\" width=\"435\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tAnsari, Eric Bana, Judd Apatow, Leslie Mann, Adam Sandler, Aubrey Plaza and Rogen at the Funny People premiere in 2009.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKevin Winter\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tYears later, that vision was what would draw Reeves into their sphere. \u201cWhen you have the chance to work with two comedy masters,\u201d he says, \u201cyou go for it.\u201d Back then, though, Ansari was still learning from a crew of other comedy masters \u2014 Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Adam Scott, to name a few \u2014 when he was cast in 2008 on Parks and Recreation, the follow-up sitcom from the showrunners of NBC\u2019s The Office. Ansari\u2019s character became an instant fan favorite \u2014 an aspiring entertainment mogul with his own bizarre patois (his personal mantra, \u201cTreat yo\u2019 self,\u201d launched itself into the popular lexicon).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tIt was on Parks that Ansari encountered a writer named Alan Yang. \u201cWe were both very young, and we just got along very quickly,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhat happens on those shows is you get along with one of the writers and then maybe you go off and do your own show together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThat indeed is what happened. Ansari still remembers sitting in Ted Sarandos\u2019 office in late 2014 when he and Yang pitched Master of None as a modern, ethnically diverse take on the \u201cyoung people living in New York\u201d genre. There were three posters on Sarandos\u2019 wall: Orange Is the New Black, House of Cards and Lilyhammer. \u201cThose were their only shows at the time,\u201d Ansari recalls. \u201cBut they just seemed to really get it. Ted was like, \u2018We will go with this right away.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cIt was initially a little bit more skewed toward the dating angle, following a young single guy in New York,\u201d recalls Yang, 42, now a producer on Good Fortune. During one particularly frustrating writing session, Yang mentioned how their stress \u201cwould never rival the struggles my parents had when they were younger. My dad didn\u2019t have enough food to eat as a kid \u2014 he had to kill and eat his pet chicken just to survive. Aziz really responded to that and started sharing stories his parents told him. We then broadened the scope of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/TLC57395-_PK-00070_011_R2.1_SW3_SWOP-EMBED-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"1250\" width=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tCaruso suit; Isaia shirt; vintage Missoni tie.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Paola Kudacki<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAlong for the ride was another gifted young writer from Parks and Rec: Harris Wittels. In early February 2015, Ansari informed Wittels \u2014 whom he describes as \u201cone of the funniest people I\u2019ve ever met\u201d \u2014 that he wouldn\u2019t just be writing on the show, he\u2019d be starring on it as Ansari\u2019s best friend. Wittels, who had been open about his addiction issues, fatally overdosed on heroin six days later. \u201cI thought he\u2019d been dealing with this stuff,\u201d says Ansari, wiping away a tear. \u201cI was very naive about addiction. I thought, \u2018Well, if you decided you\u2019re getting help, everything\u2019s fine.\u2019 And then you get that phone call \u2014 and it\u2019s a complete shock.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe show went on, however, and to great acclaim, with the second season\u2019s \u201cThanksgiving\u201d widely considered a series high point. It features the lesbian character played by co-star Lena Waithe \u2014 who along with Ansari took home a comedy series writing Emmy for the episode, making her the first Black woman to win in that category \u2014 coming out to her family at Thanksgiving dinner.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/MON_303_Unit_00177RBW-EMBED-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"807\" width=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tAnsari on the set of Master of None.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCian Oba-Smith\/Netflix<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cAnd then the third season I turned into a lesbian drama,\u201d he deadpans. Indeed, Ansari blew up his show\u2019s winning formula and focused season three \u2014 filmed through 2020 and 2021, with COVID interruptions \u2014 on Waithe\u2019s character and her breakup with her wife (Naomi Ackie). At the urging of mentor Apatow \u2014 who advised him to \u201ctry to direct as much as you can\u201d \u2014 Ansari helmed all five episodes of the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cThere were so many of those kinds of shows on the air at that point that I didn\u2019t want to do it anymore,\u201d he says of the creative overhaul. \u201cI had this aggressive idea of like, \u2018Let\u2019s do the show again, but take away everything people like about it. Let\u2019s really challenge ourselves.\u2019 It was fun, and we pulled it off, but I also do understand why people were like, \u2018Hey, what did you do?\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tBetween the show\u2019s second and third seasons, Ansari was thrown yet another curveball. On Jan. 13, 2018, accusations of sexual misconduct were leveled at Ansari on a little-known website \u2014 the now-defunct Babe.net, which billed itself as being \u201cfor girls who don\u2019t give a fuck\u201d \u2014 in an instantly viral account titled, \u201cI went on a date with Aziz Ansari. It turned into the worst night of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe anonymous accuser detailed meeting Ansari at a 2017 Emmys afterparty, where he was celebrating his \u201cThanksgiving\u201d writing win. That led to a dinner date, which soon redirected to Ansari\u2019s Tribeca loft. There she was \u201cpressured\u201d into having sex with Ansari, who behaved, she said, like a \u201chorny, rough, entitled 18-year-old. \u2026 I cried the whole ride home. At that point I felt violated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe story lit a firestorm over the power and reach of #MeToo as well as becoming a flashpoint in journalistic ethics with regard to the movement. In a New York Times op-ed, Bari Weiss declared the story \u201cthe worst thing to happen\u201d to #MeToo since the movement ignited with that paper\u2019s reporting on Harvey Weinstein in October 2017.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAnsari issued a statement, saying he took the encounter to be \u201ccompletely consensual\u201d and was \u201csurprised and concerned\u201d when the woman told him the following day that not all \u201cseemed OK\u201d with what transpired. \u201cI took her words to heart and responded privately after taking the time to process what she had said,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tHis next public remarks on the matter came in his July 2019 Netflix comedy special, Aziz Ansari: Right Now. \u201cThere\u2019s times I felt scared, there\u2019s times I felt humiliated, there\u2019s times I felt embarrassed, and ultimately I just felt terrible that this person felt this way,\u201d he told the audience at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. \u201cI always think about a conversation I had with one of my friends where he was like: \u2018You know what, man? That whole thing made me think about every date I\u2019ve ever been on.\u2019 And I thought, \u2018Wow! That\u2019s pretty incredible.\u2019 If this made not just me but other people be more thoughtful, then that\u2019s a good thing, and that\u2019s how I feel about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAnsari drew some criticism for not addressing the accuser directly in his special, to which he responds, \u201cI mean, I apologized to the person personally, right? When it happened.\u201d And he rejects the notion that he took a hiatus in the wake of the controversy, saying, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t really a break, per se. I did that tour, and I wanted to address it in the special because people were curious about how I felt about the whole experience. So I felt like I had to talk about it in the special.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tRogen has not been shy about taking public stances with matters of sexual misconduct \u2014 most notably with his onetime cohort and collaborator James Franco, who in 2018 was hit with his own long list of accusations. In 2021, Rogen confirmed in an interview with The Times of London that those accusations \u201cchanged many things in our relationship and our dynamic\u201d and that \u201cI have not and I do not plan to\u201d work with Franco again, a pledge he thus far has kept.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAnsari has drawn no such rebuke from Rogen. On the contrary, the two had been planning to collaborate for some time \u2014 and finally got their chance with Being Mortal, in which Rogen played the son of a dying Murray. Keke Palmer, who plays Ansari\u2019s love interest in Good Fortune, was cast as Rogen\u2019s wife in the film. \u201cShe\u2019s so funny, but there\u2019s also a depth to her,\u201d says Ansari, and cites her viral 2021 Met Gala red carpet interview of Megan Thee Stallion as having won him over to her idiosyncratic charms.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/TLC57395-_PK-00050_244_R2_SW3_SWOP-EMBED-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"1250\" width=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Paola Kudacki<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAnsari had about three-quarters of Being Mortal in the can when a female production assistant accused Murray of climbing on top of her in a bed and kissing her through their COVID masks. The studio launched an internal investigation, found the claim to have merit and canceled the shoot. Despite the implosion, Ansari still holds out hope that he one day will be able to complete his vision \u2014 with Murray intact. \u201cHe was devastated,\u201d he says of his star. \u201cHe couldn\u2019t believe it happened. I think this movie meant a lot to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tWhen the story broke in the media a few weeks after production shut down, Ansari\u2019s phone blew up. \u201cEverybody\u2019s texting me, \u2018Oh, Aziz, I\u2019m so sorry,\u2019 \u201d he recalls. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018Oh God, I can\u2019t live in this woe-is-me moment.\u2019 \u201d He had a rough version of Good Fortune sitting on his laptop. \u201cAnd so I called Seth,\u201d he continues. \u201cI said, \u2018Hey, I know you\u2019re supposed to be filming Being Mortal, so you\u2019re free today. This is a shitty day for me. If you want to help me, read this, tell me if you want to do it.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tRogen called him two hours later and said he was in. It was, the actor says, an easy decision. To Rogen, the script wasn\u2019t just funny, but it put a spotlight on a new breed of working-class Americans. \u201cWe were saying as we were making it, \u2018If this movie does nothing else, I hope maybe people tip their DoorDash a little bit more after they watch it,\u2019 \u201d Rogen explains. \u201cBecause one bad review \u2014 someone\u2019s annoyed that they didn\u2019t put the sauce in the thing \u2014 can really fuck your shit up. We found very comedic ways to do it, but it\u2019s very real, and you haven\u2019t really yet seen something from that person\u2019s perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tGood Fortune follows Ansari\u2019s character, Arj, a documentary editor living in Los Angeles who is failing to keep his head above water. When we meet him, he\u2019s essentially homeless, sleeping in his car and showering at the YMCA while shuffling between gig-economy jobs that require him to do demeaning things like standing in line to buy someone a trendy cinnamon bun. (That scene was shot on the same L.A. block as Courage Bagels, where people regularly queue up for their wares.)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/fortune-unit-240216-01532rc-EMBED-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"667\" width=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tAnsari encounters Reeves at Denny\u2019s in Good Fortune.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEddy Chen\/Lionsgate<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tOne of Arj\u2019s first lines of dialogue is, \u201cThe American dream is dead.\u201d It easily could have served as a downbeat tagline for the film. \u201cI think my character represents a frustration that a lot of people feel right now,\u201d Ansari explains. \u201cA lot of people are working two or three jobs, and rent and everything else has gone up so much, but wages have not. People are struggling so much just to get by, and there\u2019s a frustration of, \u2018How is this the\u00a0deal?\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe kernel of the film came to him when he imagined two contrasting Angelenos of the same age: \u201cOne guy is the guy that\u2019s been screwed by the past 20 years, burdened with student debt, doing anything he can to scrape by. And then there\u2019s the other guy, who works in tech and has investments and lives in this giant house with a pool. In L.A., those people cross paths all the time. That was interesting to me. What happens if their worlds collide \u2014 and where does it go from there?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThat second character, the one played by Rogen, is Jeff, an entitled, selfish and mostly unlikable venture capitalist. Still, both Ansari and Rogen admit they are a lot closer to Jeff than they are to Arj.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/TLC57395-_PK-00060_020_R2_SW3_SWOP-EMBED-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"1250\" width=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Paola Kudacki<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cThat is us making fun of ourselves, no doubt about it,\u201d Ansari notes. \u201cWe are Jeff. We are a little bit more thoughtful than he is. But do we have a cold plunge and a sauna? I think we both do. I wanted to make us uncomfortable. Because you can watch Succession and be someone like me and be like, \u2018Hey, that\u2019s not me. That\u2019s crazy.\u2019 But a lot of the people I know have cold plunges. When I gave the script to Evan Goldberg, Seth\u2019s writing partner, he was like, \u2018Oh, this is uncomfortable \u2014 I\u2019m reading this in my\u00a0sauna.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAnsari attempted as best as he could to accurately capture the complexities of economic struggle in 2025 America. \u201cIt\u2019s such a sensitive thing, you don\u2019t want to get this stuff wrong,\u201d he explains. In researching the script, he consulted with experts like Matthew Wolfe, a sociologist he worked with on Being Mortal, as well as economist Juliet Schor and Brian Goldstone, author of the new book There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tWhen the angel idea came to him \u2014 he cites everything from It\u2019s a Wonderful Life to Wim Wenders\u2019 Wings of Desire as inspiration \u2014 the plot clicked into place. He had originally pitched Rogen on playing the winged part, but Rogen gravitated to the rich tech bro. And so they batted around a few names. \u201cWhen Keanu came up, I just was like, \u2018Keanu Reeves? Really? That\u2019s possible? That would be incredible!\u2019 \u201d Ansari says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tReeves was impressed with the script and, after meeting with Ansari in London, agreed to sign on for one of the most playful roles of his career (a scene with Rogen at a burger joint in which the angel learns to eat for the first time is an inspired bit of physical comedy). Still, Reeves didn\u2019t just play the part for laughs. He came into it knowing this was a movie with a message and he literally broke a leg doing justice to the role. And \u2014 who knows \u2014 perhaps that snapped kneecap somehow enhanced his performance, helping him find the tortured soul of his demoted angel, who takes up drinking and smoking once he finds himself stranded on Earth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\t\u201cThere are sociological, cultural, wage-disparity and status questions being investigated in the film with a really delicate hand \u2014 but a hand,\u201d says the actor, his knee now fully recovered. \u201cI think that\u2019s what elevates the film. It hopefully brings around some kind of understanding, compassion and empathy. I think that\u2019s what makes it a work of art.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/TLC57395-_PK-00050_171_R3.1_SW3_SWOP-EMBED-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-lazy- data-lazy- height=\"819\" width=\"1000\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhotographed by Paola Kudacki<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/  a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThis story appeared in the Sep. 3 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. <a href=\"https:\/\/subscriptions.hollywoodreporter.com\/site\/thr-subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Click here to subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several weeks into filming Good Fortune \u2014 a low-key comedy written by, directed by and starring Aziz Ansari&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[15892,49,48,75,15893,15894,337,4426,26295,58854,2559],"class_list":["post-117061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-aziz-ansari","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-good-fortune","tag-keanu-reeves","tag-movies","tag-seth-rogen","tag-thr-cover-story","tag-toronto-2025","tag-toronto-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}