While the big news this weekend is the release of Lionsgate’s controversial Michael Jackson biopic, IFC is putting out a little counterprogramming with their action-comedy hybrid Over Your Dead Body. A remake of the darkly humorous The Trip, this stars Jason Segel and Samara Weaving as a couple in crisis who take a trip to a remote cabin in order to patch up their relationship. However, each is secretly planning to kill the other in order to collect a rather large insurance settlement, and once they discover each other’s plans, it becomes all-out war. Yet, rather than become a kind of War of the Roses-type film, a twist happens when it turns out there is an even bigger threat facing them in the guise of a trio of killers hiding in their cabin—meaning they now have to team up in order to survive, rediscovering the missing spark in their relationship along the way.
It’s a tough balancing act for two stars to pull off, with Segel and Weaving having to spend the first half of the film as near-villains before unexpectedly morphing into heroes as it goes on. The fact that both are able to make you root for them is a tribute to their talent, so it was exciting to speak to them about the movie recently when I caught the film at SXSW (read my review HERE). In the interview, they talk not only about the acting challenges, but also the surprisingly intense action sequences, with the fights being designed by 87North (the team behind Nobody), with action an especially new experience for Segel.
I also had the chance to speak to the movie’s director, the awesome Jorma Taccone, who memorably mixed action and comedy with his classic MacGruber before making one of the best comedies of the 2000s, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. Check out the interviews above and go see Over Your Dead Body when it hits theaters this weekend.
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