Jake Johnson immediately improves any film or show that he is a part of.
That’s why it was such a disappointment to learn that the “New Girl” star wouldn’t be appearing in “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,“ especially as his role as the comedic relief Lowery Cruthers helped to make the the 2015 installment such a blast.
I recently had the chance to speak to Jake Johnson about his part in “Tag,” the uproarious comedy that revolves around a group of friends playing the beloved, titular childhood game for 30 years every May.
During our discussion I decided to quiz Johnson about his decisions to star in “Jurassic World” and “The Mummy,” and whether he had any interest in reprising those roles, which provoked him to reveal that he only ever signs up for one movie at a time.
“I am not part of the universe. I didn’t have a contract that was more than one movie. That would be a question for the leads of that. I am not in ‘Jurassic World 2’ either. The way my contracts work is I do one movie at a time.”
I responded to Johnson with, “You’re like, ‘You can’t tie me down’,” which provoked him to joke, “Yeah, ‘I have to go make a weird little indie called ‘Win It All’,’ a reference to the Netflix comedy drama he co-wrote with Joe Swanberg.
But what is it that Johnson looks for in a project then? “It is always different. It is the team that is assembled. And, at that period in my life, if I want to go and do that job.”
“For ‘Tag,’ we were shooting in Atlanta for 2 months over the summer, I really wanted to work with these actors, there were a lot of different people that I was fans of and seen for years and didn’t know. I wanted to see what it was like to work with everybody.”
Johnson is just as erratic when it comes to his future projects, too, as he insisted that he is “not really sure” what he wants to work on next.
“I have some projects I am developing. I am honestly trying to spend some time doing some passion projects.”
“I am really interested in this era, where there are so many different outlets and ways to make stuff. So I am really hoping to spend the next couple of years and make things I can be really proud of when I am all said and done and out of this business.”
In the meantime, make sure to check out Johnson in “Tag,” which also stars Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Ed Helms, Isla Fisher and Hannibal Buress, and is in cinemas on June 15.
