Netflix's upcoming action comedy Thunder Force, arriving on the streaming platform April 9, marries girl power with super powers. Starring Melissa McCarthy (Life of the Party) and Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures), it tells the story of two estranged best friends who wind up taking on the miscreants of Chicago's streets with their newfound powers.
One of those miscreants is none other than William Stevens (Bobby Cannavale, Tom and Jerry), known as "The King" because he has the business world, the political world, and Chicago's underworld wrapped around his finger. He runs his own Rogues Gallery - including writer and director Ben Falcone (Tammy) - who bring a great deal of comedy to the film as well as a wild array of powers.
The two stars spoke to Screen Rant about their lifelong friendship and chemistry on set, as well as the collaborative process with Falcone.
You've worked with Ben and Melissa on multiple occasions before. What's that environment like on set?
Bobby Cannavale: It's terrific. As you can imagine, right? Anytime you get to go to work and work with your friends, it's very rare thing in any business. It probably happens maybe more often here than others.
But we really are good friends, and we've now made four things together. So, there's just a shorthand and there's an ease with which we work. I know for those two, they really want to have a nice work environment, a pleasant work environment, and they don't want to work too many hours. They want people to be able to go with their family.
They work with the same crew all the time, and there's not a jerk in the group. So, it's a real nice reflection on them and their humility. That's not always the case, as humility is not a big quality in this business. It's nice to work with people who've got it in spades.
I imagine that they help you hone your comedic craft, but how do you feel that you've grown?
Bobby Cannavale: Well, yeah, there's that too. Absolutely. I'm always learning, so every job I do, I learn something.
I think Melissa is one of the great, great, great actors that we have working today - male, female, or otherwise - and together, the two of them, they're really so talented in their writing skills. They're writing partners, and with that comedy, they know what they're doing. I'm not a writer, and comedy - while I can do it, it's not something that I do every day.
I feel like I'm just great hands with them, especially on the comedy front. I trust them, and I trust that they're gonna pick the funniest takes. And for improv that we do, I'll get outlines from them all the time. They just never fail to kill.
Speaking of never failing to kill, from the moment The King came on screen, he was the perfect smarmy politician, and yet he's pulling the wool over everyone's eyes at the same time. What can you tell us about your character?
Bobby Cannavale: Well, he's a real rarity in the political world. He's a thin-skinned egotist; an overly sensitive egomaniac. So, I really had to dig deep to find him. There's so few examples of that kind of person out there.
No, all kidding aside, I really just started from his sensitivity. What's fun about playing a villain for me is I get to tap into my own insecurities, and really the things that I maybe can be ashamed of, or that I try to keep a lid on. You can exploit all those things. I mean, that's the way I work, at least. I try to exploit all those things as much as I can. And with a villain, you can exploit those things that I would never probably show to people. It's just not the way I operate.
I think everybody feels like they've been aggrieved on some level. This guy just feels palpably from moment to moment that he's being aggrieved, and I think that's funny. I think that kind of character can be can be very funny, and I like the fact that he just keeps wasting everybody on his team. He's just running out of henchmen, because he keeps killing them. That was a funny bit.
I really enjoy your dynamic with Laser and The Crab. Can you talk about that chemistry on set?
Bobby Cannavale: Yeah, it was terrific. And don't forget Kenny, played by Ben Falcone. It was great. I've never worked with [Jason] Bateman before, and I've always wanted to work with him. That's a guy whose career is so fascinating. He's been around for a very long time; he's played everything, and his evolution into this really tremendous, serious actor is just a delight to watch. You want to work with great people like that, so I was really thrilled to work with him.
The other thing about Jason is he just takes it all so seriously, the characters. He's not winking at you ever; he's playing it really straight. He just happens to have crab claws, so it's hard to keep a straight face. But I managed my best. Pom, I'd never met before as well, and the seriousness with which she took her character - everybody did the right thing. With comedy, especially high comedy and genre comedy, I think the more serious you play it the funnier it is. And everybody was on the same page there. I was fortunately surrounded by a group of comedy pros.
Thunder Force arrives on Netflix April 9.
