‘Vacation Friends 2’ Interview: Director Clay Tarver

What is the plot of ‘Vacation Friends 2’?

Picking up a number of months after the conclusion of ‘Vacation Friends,’ the sequel finds newly married couple Marcus (Lil Rel Howery) and Emily (Yvonne Orji) inviting their uninhibited besties Ron (John Cena) and Kyla (Meredith Hagner), who’re additionally newly married and have a child, to hitch them for a trip when Marcus lands an all-expenses-paid journey to a Caribbean resort. His motive for touring there within the first place is to fulfill with the house owners of the resort to bid on a development contract for a resort they personal in Chicago. But when Kyla’s incarcerated father Reese (Steve Buscemi) is launched from San Quentin and reveals up on the resort unannounced on the worst attainable second, issues get uncontrolled, upending Marcus’ finest laid plans and turning the holiday associates’ good journey into complete chaos.

Who is within the forged of ‘Vacation Friends 2’?

Moviefone lately had the pleasure of talking with director Clay Tarver about his work on ‘Vacation Friends 2,’ bringing the characters again collectively for a sequel, how their friendship has grown for the reason that first movie, why John Cena and Lil Rel Howery are so humorous collectively, Meredith Hagner’s wild efficiency, introducing Steve Buscemi as Kyla’s shady father, and the remainder of the supporting forged.

Director Clay Tarver on the set of ‘Vacation Friends 2.’ Photo credit score: Katrina Marcinowski.

Moviefone: To start with, are you able to discuss creating an natural motive for these characters to reunite collectively on one other trip on this sequel?

Clay Tarver: It was actually attention-grabbing to convey everybody again collectively bodily as a result of I believe all of us knew that we had a very particular sense of chemistry, as a result of finally this film, like the primary one, was about friendship. I believe all of us collectively wished to do one thing that was about the place the friendship went, and the way it grew in sudden methods with new developments of their lives. They know one another now, so what might go mistaken? Rather a lot does. The problem is once you’re directing and attempting to sort out one thing like this, for me, I did not wish to make it really feel prefer it was only a repeat of the primary film. But it wanted to alter just a little bit, and it’s totally different. The first film, you did not actually know who Ron and Kyla have been, and in order that was the factor that held the story collectively was that you just saved ready for the opposite shoe to drop with them. Who are they? Are they loopy? Are they drug sellers? Are they con artists? It was a refreshing finish to the primary one after they have been none of that. They have been simply good individuals who have been a multitude. So I discovered the storyline attention-grabbing about, “Oh, they have a baby now. How does that change them? Marcus and Emily are thinking about having a baby now. Well, what does that mean for them?” Everyone’s lives have taken one other step. I believe as a longtime fan of comedies and sequels, I would like it to go to someplace new, however I do not need the core characters to alter a lot that they don’t seem to be recognizable, they don’t seem to be the folks I fell in love with. But I wished to take it to someplace new. I believe all of us did, and it was necessary to us to not simply retread the primary film, however take a danger just a little bit and attempt to take it in a brand new path.

MF: Can you speak in regards to the concept of introducing Steve Buscemi as Kyla’s shady father?

CT: There’s one joke within the first film, I believe Kyla says, “Oh, I’m so sad my dad never got to meet Ron.” Then Emily says, “Oh my God, is he dead?” But she’s like, “No, it’s just that San Quentin is so far,” which I really did not write. Someone else wrote that and I assumed it was actually humorous. But there was all the time this looming, what are Kyla and Ron’s background? What have they got to cope with and what’s of their lives past the individuals who we meet? For all of us, that appeared like a pure, attention-grabbing place to go. Then after I was fortunate sufficient to get the respect to forged Sir Steve Buscemi, I really feel like if we had knights in America, would not he be Sir Steve? He’s a nationwide treasure. So I used to be thrilled when he got here aboard as a result of I’m going to inform you if you do not know, he is the nicest man on earth. Having somebody on set that was so properly revered and beloved as Sir Steve was, it elevated the proceedings and everybody actually simply was thrilled to be round him. You can not discover a nicer man and a extra implausible actor. After every scene, I might say, “Steve, it turns out you’re really good at acting. I think it’ll go okay for you.”

(L to R) John Cena as Ron, Steve Buscemi as Reese and Ronny Chieng as Yeon in 20th Century Studios’ ‘Vacation Friends 2.’ Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Related Article: ‘Vacation Friends’ stars John Cena and Yvonne Orji talk about their new comedy

MF: Can you talk about Marcus and Emily and Kyla and Ron’s friendship, and how that’s grown since the first film?

CT: The first story was about new friendship and it was about people that you met on vacation and how weird that conversation is and how you cross boundaries too quickly over a week, some boundaries that you probably shouldn’t but you’re in the mood. What happens, and then how that can boomerang to echo back onto your real life, whether or not you’re really friends. Now I feel like what’s great about it is that they, and what was fun for all of us to explore was the idea of where does the friendship go and how do adult friendships mature? How much do you trust somebody? Because some friends you say you trust, but you don’t. You wouldn’t hand them the keys to your car. Ron and Kyla, all those things that make you love them so much are the same things that you are like, “Uh-oh, unhealthy issues might occur simply because they’re round.” The first movie was really about these people who were ultimately harmless. I thought with the introduction of Steve, especially casting him, it was just interesting to see, “Oh, this can be a man the place he is not innocent. So what does that do to their friendship?” Ultimately they bicker, and I think that’s part of the fun is the conflict. I always love Marcus yelling at Ron because Lil Rel and John Cena are amazing together. Even though it stretches to the breaking point, it never does, and it’s really about friendships growing in unexpected ways.

(L to R) Lil Rel Howery as Marcus, Yvonne Orji as Emily, Meredith Hagner as Kyla, and John Cena as Ron in 2021’s ‘Vacation Friends.’ Photo: Jessica Miglio/20th Century Studios.

MF: Did you have any idea how funny John Cena was when you cast him in the first film?

CT: I was amazed. No, I didn’t know. When he first signed on to do the movie, I probably shouldn’t say this, but I will tell you this story. Ike Barinholtz who was in ‘Blockers,’ which was a movie I really loved, I’d never met him before, and somehow I got his number and I called him up to ask him how it was working with John Cena. He got quiet and then he almost got angry and he was like, “I believe he may be the nicest particular person I’ve ever met.” He just sang his praises and he said, “He’s implausible and you are going to love working with him.” He was just so good. He does all of these things that are so hard to do so easily. He really listens and plays off other people, and there’s a lot of his improv in it. I was just amazed and felt blessed and lucky to have him around on set every day.

(L to R) Yvonne Orji as Emily and Lil Rel Howery as Marcus in 20th Century Studios’ ‘Vacation Friends 2.’ Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

MF: Lil Rel Howery is also a very funny comedic actor, but in this movie plays the straight man a lot. What was it like directing him in those scenes?

CT: He’s a straight man who also, he’s really funny when he is back on his heels, when things get too chaotic and he loses it completely. So on the one hand, he is the straight guy, but he’s the guy that loses his mind quicker than anybody else. So just trying to embrace that and make sure there were moments where he would make some assumption and completely freak out and just play to all of those strengths with him. It was really fun to direct a movie with him a second time around, because I think the first movie we shot entirely, except for the first two weeks, through the pandemic. This time we just knew each other a lot better. He’s just an amazing person to do a movie with. Both of those guys are, and Yvonne and Meredith too, there’s just not a weak link in the cast. They’re all so good at what they do, and they all do completely different things.

MF: Meredith Hagner, who plays Kyla, has really created a loveable cinematic character over the course of these two movies. What has your experience been like working with her and does she improvise a lot on set?

CT: They all do improvisations. They all improv, I think I can say. She always makes it better. She will go left sometimes when the script says right. She just has this instinct for making everything lift up. She just adds life to it and makes scenes work. The same for Yvonne who just in a certain way has one of the hardest jobs as her character is the sensible center of this comedy. She is still so funny and so good at it, and just the way that she plays off of all of them together and off of each other, it’s a really difficult job and she’s just incredibly talented in that way.

(L to R) Meredith Hagner as Kyla and John Cena as Ron in 20th Century Studios’ Vacation Friends 2.’ Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

MF: Can you talk about Ron and Kyla’s parenting skills?

CT: Well, I found it funny that at first you might think that they would be people who would be these ultra-protective parents. We all know people who are wild, and then once they become parents, they become these helicopter parents. But instead, they’re people who think they are and have not changed at all. So they’re still the wild people, but they talk as if they’re these careful parents. But at the same time, everything always works out for them. It always gets to the precipice and they get way too close to the edge that would make someone like me comfortable, and yet it always works out. As a parent myself, sometimes I think a lighter hand might be a good thing every once in a while. Maybe not as light as they do it, but I really enjoyed as a director playing around with them about their attitudes of parenting because I think they’re both characters that you don’t want to see them change. You don’t want to see them suddenly stop being who they are.

MF: Finally, can you talk about filling out the supporting cast with excellent actors like Ronny Chieng, Jamie Hector and Carlos Santos?

CT: Well, I was really blessed because all of them, I mean it when I say there was not a weak link in the bunch. They’re all so good from top to bottom and they all do really different things. Carlos was in maybe three scenes in the first movie, and he just came on and killed it. Everybody loved him. He made everyone on set laugh the entire time. He was just a joy to work with. Jamie Hector, I’d been a fan of many years from ‘The Wire’ and ‘Bosch,’ and it was just an honor to get to work with him. He’s also the world’s nicest guy, despite how scary he looks sometimes when he’s acting. Ronny, I’ve known for many years and been a huge fan of. I had actually written the part with him in mind and it was just a joy to get to work with him on something. I hope to work with all of them again.

John Cena as Ron in twentieth Century Studios’ Vacation Friends 2.’ Photo courtesy of twentieth Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

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