Netflix 'Players': Gina Rodriguez rom-com started with one messy, outrageous Liza Koshy moment
"It was everybody's first impression of me and it was drunken," Koshy said
In her new rom-com movie, star and executive producer Gina Rodriguez is bringing the casual one-night stand playbook into relationship territory for Players (now on Netflix), with costars including Damon Wayans Jr., Tom Ellis, and Liza Koshy.
Where to watch Players: On Netflix Feb. 14
Cast: Gina Rodriguez, Damon Wayans Jr., Tom Ellis, Joel Courtney, Joel Courtney, Liza Koshy, Ego Nwodim, Marin Hinkle
Director: Trish Sie
Runtime: 105 minutes
What is 'Players' on Netflix about?
Players has that typical rom-com formula, where you can kind of figure out where the story will end when it starts, but that definitely doesn't mean you won't be incredibly entertained all the way through this film.
Mackenzie "Mack" (Rodriguez) is a sports writer for a local paper in New York. When her colleagues and friends, brothers Brannagan (Augustus Prew) and Little (Joel Courtney), and Adam (Wayans Jr.), get together at bars at night, they've established a series of "plays" to attract their next one-night stand. Oftentimes, Mack is the one making the calls for the perfect play for each scenario.
But when the award-winning international correspondent, Nick (Ellis), makes a visit to the newspaper's office, Mack wants to take these plays to the next level. She doesn't just want to hook up with Nick, but she wants to establish a relationship. Specifically, the goal is to get to the point where Nick gives Mack a drawer at his place.
Bringing in a strong reinforcement with office manager Ashley (Koshy), the five of them try to execute the ultimate play.
Liza Koshy was a drunken one-take wonder
One of the great thing about Players is that it leans into the being outrageously funny, while also packing an emotional punch at the perfect moments.
"My favourite rom-coms are grounded in reality," Rodriguez told Yahoo Canada. "So it doesn't matter how far you stray away from that, the foundation of it is this person's really going through it, it really matters, everything is going to affect this person, whether it is light or heavy."
"I mean, everything in your life matters, right? And so that's how my characters hopefully will always feel."
But the comedy was at the forefront of the project right when it began. The very first scene shot for the film was a wacky, hysterical and messy moment where, as part of a play, Ashley has to pretend to be drunk and throw up all over herself, forcing Mack to leave a movie in the park event Nick was attending, just as they run into each other.
"That chaos was construed by myself, [director Trish Sie] and Gina, and fun fact it was the very first scene of the entire movie that we ever filmed," Koshy revealed. "So it was in front of I think 300 extras in that park, it was everybody's first impression of me and it was drunken."
Augustus Prew added that it was also the hottest day of the summer.
"It just played into the delusion and into the drunkenness too, it made me all the more loopy to be a little dehydrated, and also a little too hydrated," Koshy said. "But really went in with Trish to figure out how ... I'm acting as a character that's acting drunk, so it's a little like drunk inception."
"To create that Trish was nutty because I only had one take, I could only destroy that outfit once. So that one take that you saw was the one take that I had to throw up on myself."
Speaking about what it was like to watch that moment from behind the camera, Joel Courtney stressed that it was the perfect start to the whole production, to see how far the comedy was going to go in this story.
"You set the tone for the movie, because that was day one of filming," Courtney said about Koshy. "Watching you do that was incredible."
'Mayor' of 'Players,' dubbed 'Genius Rodriguez,' created a collaborative, creative set
But Rodriguez's costars in the film were all in agreement that this fun, charming, outrageous, and also emotional story, wouldn't have been told so effectively without Rodriguez as both the star and executive producer. In fact, Koshy refers to her as "Genius Rodriguez."
"All the extras, all the crew, to everyone, it was just like, 'We're a team. We're collaborating If you need something, just say, we're all a part of this. Good ideas come from everyone,'" Prew said, describing how Rodriguez was on set.
Rodriguez's commitment to making sure everyone felt like a valued part of the team, creating a great environment to collaborate within, was echoed by Damon Wayans Jr., who said she was like "the mayor" on set.
"She knows everybody's name, she says hi to everybody, from the boom operator to the grips, everybody feels seen by her," he said.
From Rodriguez's point of view, her goal on any set is to create a space where people feel "worthy," so they can be their best, creative selves.
"The only intention I bring to each set is to make sure that everybody feels seen and heard, they have their space to be their most artistic, creative self," Rodriguez said. "I do not step in the way."
"I've been blessed enough to be able to tell stories like this in the past and I've always found that what's best for me has always been great community, making sure everybody feels just as worthy, because they are, if not more worthy, on every set that I'm on. So what's best for the team is what's best for me, always."
