O’Shea Jackson Jr. Interview: The Now

The Now centers on Ed Poole, a man suffering from depression ready to take his life, only to stop short upon learning that his brother has committed suicide. In the wake of his death, secrets from Ed’s past and his family begin to come out and he must find a way to ignore the past and start living in the present with the help of his friends.

Ahead of the show’s premiere on the streaming platform, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with star O’Shea Jackson Jr. to discuss The Now, the project’s transition from Quibi to Roku following the former’s shutdown, making the jump from film to TV and building a rapport with his co-stars Dave Franco and Jimmy Tatro.

Screen Rant: The Now is such a fun show but also a really insightful one. What about it really drew you to it?

O’Shea Jackson Jr.: How crazy it was. [Laughs] It was just like, “Yo, this is nuts.” Also, to work with the Farrelly brothers, at the time they were coming off of Green Book, so it was like, “This can’t be bad for the career.” Then at the table read, it kind of made me feel like, “This is going to be something special right here.” Dave and Jimmy, those guys are some of my best friends that I’ve made working on a project and I love to be able to talk about something that might make people uncomfortable, but at the same time make people think.

With The Now, we talk about such a dark subject, but at our core, we do everything we can to uplift and give people a way out and that’s important. When you could do that through art, art is the most inspiring thing that we have, so when you have something like this, you kind of have to jump on it.

Since you mentioned Dave Franco and Jimmy Tatro, your guys’ chemistry is a vital aspect to much of this show working, so what was it like building that off-camera?

O’Shea Jackson Jr.: I’m gonna credit Dave a little bit for that, because Dave was the one who, once we all got to Vancouver, was like, “We should go out to dinner.” At the time, I’m like, “I don’t want to go out to dinner with guys from work.” But then I was like, “Alright, I’m gonna be a team player, let me get up” and I had the time of my life with those guys. I can talk to those guys for days and we went every week, every week it was, “Where are we going this week? Where are we going tonight?”

We built such a camaraderie that we were a real team before we heard the first “picture’s up” and that is something that I’ve never had. The closest thing would probably be Straight Outta Compton and that was because we were all so nervous to be in a movie that we just kind of locked in. But with those guys, it was a real friendship and to this day, we’re in a group chat right now and those are my guys. Other projects have taken us away, but we know we got to get back to each other because the squad is deep. [Chuckles]

You also mentioned the show delves into some really serious topics, what were some of the biggest creative challenges for you and these topics?

O’Shea Jackson Jr.: I never choose a character that I don’t have a connection to and when it came to Coop, Coop was kind of the friend with the head on his shoulders. He’s got the government job, you know, he’s the cop, he’s this straight-edge guy and he was kind of the rock of the crew, the shoulder to cry on, and it kind of hurt his feelings that Ed is going through these things. It went under the radar and he feels that he should have spotted those things and he kind of judges himself a little bit for not being more aware and that’s something that I’m sure a lot of us have had happen to us before.

We have so many things going on in our individual lives that we forget about the other individuals that are in our lives and we forget to check on friends. We just think everybody’s okay because they don’t ask you for something and it’s such a brick wall to the face when one of our friends is going through a serious depression and, in Ed’s case suicidal thoughts. So it does break your heart and I felt like that was so relatable, that’s so humanizing that he goes through that. At the same time, though, he puts up this front, he’s got things in his life that aren’t under control and so I just felt Coop was so relatable and his arc is so great.

Did you have a scene in particular that you really loved filming, whether it was serious or funny?

O’Shea Jackson Jr.: There’s a pretty funny scene where I pulled this girl over, we had a great day on set with that scene. There’s a scene where Jimmy Tatro has to go get some ice out of this bar because things have gone awry – I don’t know how much I can say – there’s some pieces missing off someone. [Laughs] We got to get it on ice and Jimmy just does such a great job with that scene, that is by far my favorite scene.

The Now is interesting in that it is technically your first show, having been made before Swagger, what was that like making that jump from film to television for this one?

O’Shea Jackson Jr.: It was weird because it felt like a movie. The way that we shot it was, at first, to be episodic, but if we wanted to, we could form them all into a two-hour movie. When you see the Farrelly brothers and you see their setup and their crew, there’s nothing really different from a big-time movie. So it was a blend of a little bit of both.

I like how fast-paced it was, if there’s one thing about my man Pete, he’s gonna get the shot and we’re gonna get out of there real quick. As an actor, I love that, I love a director that knows what he wants. It was fun; it was a good time. They had such a relaxed environment for us, everybody on the crew and cast got along with each other and that’s super important. Great morale makes great projects.

With Pete wanting to get the shot done so fast, were you guys allotted the opportunity to improv at all, or was it just all on the page?

O’Shea Jackson Jr.: Oh, no, Pete allows you to talk to him, he’s so approachable and he likes that collaborative effort because he knows he chose you for a reason. He chose you for what you can bring, what you got, and he would never want to hold that part of you back, it’d be purposeless. If that was the case, you’re just a face, you’re just a puppet, so he understands that; he understands collaborating with his performers and that’s a dream.

This almost had an unfortunate fate with Quibi shutting down, what was that like for you when that word first came out about all that going on?

O’Shea Jackson Jr.: It sucked. [Laughs] I hated it. First of all, I was like, “Oh, this is a dope concept, this is a good idea. I like thinking outside of the box of watching shows on the go.” And then the pandemic happened and nobody’s on the go, nobody’s going anywhere. Nobody’s on buses, nobody’s on walks. So it was just a perfect storm for things to go wrong, so for a while, we were talking about, me Jimmy, and Dave in our group chat, “Is The Now The Never?”

We just started calling it “The Never” and then we were just waiting for something to happen with it because we know how much work we put in. It was almost like it was just some summer camp we went to for a couple of months. We had no idea of footage, no idea if people liked it or anything like that. It was almost like a dream and to have it finally be here this Friday, it’s kind of insane, it’s a great feeling. I’m excited to see it, it’s about time and hopefully, people really enjoy it so we can keep the story going.

Do you think there’s room for another season to bring back the show?

O’Shea Jackson Jr.: Bro, they’ve made sequels of things that I think didn’t deserve sequels, so I’m sure they could think of something for The Now. [Chuckles]

So I know you can’t really give me too many details on your character, but I’m curious what it’s been like for you to join the Star Wars universe with Obi-Wan Kenobi?

O’Shea Jackson Jr.: Man, it’s a dream come true. Ewan [McGregor] is so damn cool and being on set as a nerd, you just can’t believe it. Every day, I was excited to go to work, I hated leaving work. Everything that I saw just made me feel like little kids Shea. Back then, watching the movies, little did I know that if I’m just a little bit more patient, I’m gonna be right there. It’s just about staying patient and Ewan is such a cool guy, I love that I got Obi-Wan’s number in my phone, but I’m gonna call him Ewan, I’m not gonna be weird about it. [Laughs]

It was a dream come true, the best job I ever had and I cannot wait to just talk about it. I can’t wait for Mickey to just give me the green light, so I can speak freely. But yeah, I can’t wait for people to see it, can’t wait for the trailer too.

I was about to say, what is that like for you as a Star Wars nerd having to hold back on just let loose on all the secrets?

O’Shea Jackson Jr.: It’s so hard, it’s so hard because like anything that I’ll read or see on the internet, I just want to just be like, “You don’t even know, you don’t even know what’s gonna go down!” All these guesses and people going down the wrong rabbit hole, it’s funny to watch. But as soon as I get the green light, I might do a two-hour special talking about everything.

The Now is available to stream on Roku.

About The Author

Grant Hermanns
(1574 Articles Published)

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Grant Hermanns is a News Writer, Interviewer and Hiring Manager for Screen Rant, having joined the team in early 2021. Way back in 2015 while still in his college days, Grant got his start in the entertainment journalism industry with creator-friendly site Moviepilot until it shuttered nearly three years later. From there he joined the staff at ComingSoon.net and was its Associate Editor prior to coming over to Screen Rant.

To say he’s a lover of film and television would be an understatement and when he’s not mass consuming either you can find him exploring the world of Dungeons & Dragons with friends or slowly making his way through his gaming backlog.

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