Summary

• Quiz Lady is a family road trip comedy with a quizzical twist, centering on estranged sisters trying to rescue their family dog held for ransom.
• The movie features an ensemble cast including Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, Jason Schwartzman, and others, with hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt performances.
• Stars Awkwafina and Sandra Oh discuss their interest in the script, playing against type in their roles, and their positive experience with the movie's production team.

The family road trip comedy gets a quizzical twist in Quiz Lady. The movie centers on estranged sisters Anne and Jenny brought back together when their mother leaves town to escape a loan shark's debt and tries to use Anne's love of a game show to make enough money to rescue their family dog as it's held for ransom.

Awkwafina and Sandra Oh, who also produced the comedy movie, lead the ensemble Quiz Lady cast alongside Jason Schwartzman, Holland Taylor, Tony Hale, Jon "Dumbfoundead" Park, Will Ferrell, and the late Paul Reubens in a posthumous role. With its two stars playing in against-type roles and off one another in an entertaining fashion, the comedy proves to be one of the funniest and surprisingly heartfelt of the year.

Following the movie's well-received Hulu premiere, Screen Rant interviewed producers and stars Awkwafina & Sandra Oh to discuss Quiz Lady, how they resonated with their characters, why they're not fully playing against-type and the former's thoughts on a Marvel Cinematic Universe return.

Awkwafina & Sandra Oh Talk Quiz Lady

Screen Rant: I'm really excited to talk with you both about this movie. What about this sparked your interest to want to be a part of the movie?

Awkwafina: Well, I knew that Jen D'Angelo is a really talented screenwriter, she kind of just sent me the script and what piqued my interest — because there would still be some work to it — was the idea of a sister relationship. Immediately, I kind of thought, "This has to be Sandra, there's no one else." And then Sandra obliged, so that was very cool.

Sandra Oh: Yeah, for me, it was when Nora approached me with the script, I was surprised when they told me it's to play Jenny and Nora was gonna play Anne. And then they said very quickly, "Oh, no, no, sorry, you play Anne, and Nora is gonna play Jenny." And I thinking, "That's not as funny. It's not as funny." [Chuckles] So, I talked to Nora, like, "Nora, what do you feel if I played Jenny?" And she was just like, "No problem."

Awkwafina: I think I was like, "I don't care who you play, as long as you are in." [Laughs] Yeah.

Sandra Oh: Yeah, that's what you said. [Chuckles] And I wanted to be able to work with her, and then to be able to play this kind of outrageous character and to see Nora in a much more subdued [role as] kind of a young woman who's struggling and who's obsessive and who's awkward. I was like, "That is more interesting to me."

I love that, we see some of that in Nora from Queens, but we see a much more reserved side of you, in this movie, in comparison. What was it like playing sort of against-type for this movie, even though there may be some parallels between those two characters?

Awkwafina: Yeah, thank you for watching Nora from Queens, that is true. I feel like I feel like Anne sometimes, and I think I've been waiting to play a kind of person like that. Someone who, you know, it's kind of all up here, and is quiet and shy. I definitely have those qualities, so it's like, in that way, it wasn't against-type because I've felt like that. But it was also really nice to kind of just observe what Sandra was doing, too, because I feel like it balanced out in Anne's character, too, in Jenny's kind of unhingedness.

I love that you got to have that experience in this movie, because it is such a great dynamic to watch. Now, one thing I find interesting about this movie is that it was initially set at Netflix before moving to 20th Century and Hulu. Since you both are producers on this project, what about that move do you feel benefited the movie in comparison to maybe hurting it, like some projects would see during that kind of shuffle?

Awkwafina: I mean, that was very, very early on. I think that, obviously, things move, things shift out. I'm just so grateful that it ended up where it did, because I think that we had amazing execs, we had obviously our producers, Gloria Sanchez, that we really trusted. So, I'm just grateful that we ended up somewhere and that they were also, in turn, a really great team to work with.

Sandra, it's crazy to see how much physical comedy is in this movie from you and from Jenny, and it's something that audiences are not generally used to seeing you take on. What was it like really diving into this character and holding nothing back for some of her antics?

Sandra Oh: Oh, fun! So fun. You know, I come from a theater background, and one of my classmates is a clown teacher. That's one of the ways that I started getting into and trying to define Jenny physically was hiring him to help me in clown, because also I come from that place, so I know that language, and I just thought her character's right to kind of explore in the realm of clown, so working with him was terrific. It's just really, really fun. I don't know if anyone has ever seen any of the show I did on HBO called Arliss, there is some physical comedy in there.

Actually, there's a lot of physical comedy in there, and I actually really like it. I really liked doing it. I just have not had the opportunity, let's say, to be able to [explore that more]. You can't do it, necessarily, in every single thing, every single project that you're in. But, basically, Jen D'Angelo wrote one of the best entrances for a character ever, which is, you see Jenny enter into the back of Anne's frame, and just there is a tornado coming at her. She's hit by a car, then gets back up and starts slamming on the door. I just thought, "I have got to nail that entrance," and that is as broad of physical comedy as you can get. It was great to do.

Awkwafina: You're very good at physical comedy. She's very talented at the physical comedy.

I adored that introduction to your character in this movie, I was dying laughing when it happened. Now, another thing I love about this movie is the twist that you are trying to win back Mr. Linguini, and that dog is just absolutely adorable. What was it like working with the dog on set for this movie?

Awkwafina: I think for his age, because he was kind of an older dog, it was a chill job. All he really needed to do was sleep and stuff like that. He also had kind of a double where when he needed a break to relieve him, and I think her name was Harriet or something like that. But, it was a pleasure to work with pugs, and yeah, he was a great guy, I hope he's doing well [Laughs]

Sandra Oh: [Laughs] I am deathly allergic. So there was a lot like the dog is on set, and I cannot be on set, and yeah, there was a lot of that management. Oh my gosh, a friend of mine, she goes, "Oh, my God, when I saw you as Jenny running with the dog, I thought, 'Oh my god, what's going to happen?'" We planned it out, like when I'm running with Linguini, Linguini is in a blanket. But then it was like so many wipes to wipe me down. But, I mean, you can't beat a pug, you just cannot beat a comedy pug.

Before I let both of you go, Awkwafina, I'm a huge fan of Katy in Shang-Chi, and I know you can't say anything per se, but I'd love to hear what you're looking forward to potentially exploring in the future in Shang-Chi 2 or anything else?

Awkwafina: If it does happen, I'm just really excited to see where Katy will go. I think Destin is such an amazing filmmaker, working with him was incredible on the first Shang-Chi. I really think that he might have something exciting, so I'm very excited for that.

About Quiz Lady

Anne, a tightly wound, game show-obsessed woman, must come together with her chaotic sister Jenny in order to help pay off their mother's gambling debts. When Anne's beloved dog is kidnapped, they will have to set off on a cross-country journey in order to get the money they need. In order to do so, they will have to tap into Anne's skill set by turning her into the game show champion she was always meant to be.

Check out our other Quiz Lady interviews with:

• Writer/Producer Jen D'Angelo
• Director Jessica Yu

Quiz Lady is now streaming on Hulu.

Source: Screen Rant Plus