How high is too high? Find out in Nima Nourizadeh's AMERICAN ULTRA – a fast-paced action comedy from the warped mind of Max Landis, writer of CHRONICLE – where a small town stoner comes face to gun with his own unlikely past as a covert government sleeper agent.
In the film, Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) – an ill-fated burnout – and his live-in girlfriend, Phoebe (Kristen Stewart), are about to have their lives uprooted and changed forever. Unbeknownst to himself, Mike is an expertly trained, totally deadly sleeper agent. When his former handler, Lasseter (Connie Britton), visits the Cash & Carry where Mike works as a register clerk, and recites the phrase that activates his dormant skills, secrets from his past start coming back to haunt him. Mike must embrace his inner-Jason Bourne-like persona if he and Phoebe hope to survive his latest assignment: to stay alive.
This is Nima Nourizadeh's latest directorial effort since the release of PROJECT X (2012) for Warner Bros. Pictures. I sat down with Jesse Eiseneberg and Kristen Stewart to talk about learning how to kick ass from stunt coordinator Robert Alonzo, the thrill of acting amidst multiple explosions, the truth about government conspiracies, the mind of screenwriter Max Landis, and more!