How a night out with Keanu Reeves helped the vampire movie day shift catch a flight
Is there anything Keanu Reeves can’t do? According to the people behind the new action-horror-comedy Day Shift, the Matrix star played a role in getting the Netflix title, and he’s not even in it.
Day Shift stars Bud Jablonski as Jamie Foxx, a vampire-hunter who works as a pool cleaner in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley for a bloodsucker’s den. The film is directed by stunt coordinator-first time filmmaker J.J. Produced by Chad Stahelski, director of the Perry and John Wick films (and a former stuntman himself).
“You have this average Joe, Bud Jablonski, trying to make a living for himself, trying to make ends meet,” Stahelski says. “The way he’s doing it is pretty extraordinary: by hunting vampires. This is your working-class guy trying to keep his family together, trying to pay the bills, rather than some super-glorious vampire hunter saving the world. This is. A guy who He just wants to get braces for his kid, he just wants to pay for her school, he just wants to fix his truck. Every one of us can relate to that.”
Director Perry, an Army veteran, has a long friendship and professional history with Stahelski and served as supervising stunt coordinator on 2017’s John Wick: Chapter 2.
“Chad Stahelski was one of the first people I met when I got out of the military,” says the day shift helmer. “We got into the stunt business together in the ’90s and I helped him [on] action with John Wick 1, John Wick 2. After John Wick 2, a ton of people started throwing scripts at me. They were like, ‘Hey, you direct. Have to, you’re next.’
If Day Shift is well received, don’t be surprised to see Perry and Stahelski team up again for a sequel or two.
“Well, it’s the day shift,” Perry says. “You know we have to do the night shift. And then we have to do the graveyard shift, baby. Come on, bro!”
The cast of Day Shift also includes Dave Franco, Snoop Dogg and Carla Souza. The film is now available to watch on Netflix. Watch the trailer below.
