Seann William Scott Talks 'The Wrath of Becky' and 'Grand Death Lotto'
Moviefone speaks with Seann William Scott about his work on 'The Wrath of Becky.' "I really enjoyed playing something darker," Scott said of his character.
Opening exclusively in theaters on May 26th is the new action thriller ‘The Wrath of Becky,’ which is a sequel to 2020’s ‘Becky’ and was written and directed by Matt Angel (‘Hypnotic’) and Suzanne Coote (‘The Open House’).
What is the plot of ‘The Wrath of Becky?’
A sequel to 'Becky,' 'The Wrath of Becky' takes place two years after Becky (Lulu Wilson) escaped a violent attack on her family, and follows her as she attempts to rebuild her life in the care of an older woman, a kindred spirit named Elena (Denise Burse). But when a group known as the “Noble Men” led by Darryl (Seann William Scott) break into their home, attack them, and take her beloved dog, Diego, Becky must return to her old ways to protect herself and her loved ones.
The Wrath of Becky
Who is in the cast of ‘The Wrath of Becky?’
‘The Wrath of Becky’ stars Lulu Wilson (‘The Glorias’) as Becky, Seann William Scott (‘American Pie,’ 'The Rundown,' ‘Role Models’) as Darryl, Denise Burse (‘Manifest’) as Elena, Jill Larson (‘Shutter Island’) as Darryl Sr., Courtney Gains (‘Faster’) as Twig, Michael Sirow (‘Fortress: Sniper's Eye’) as Anthony, Aaron Dalla Villa (‘Alpha Rift’) as DJ, Matt Angel (‘All About Sex’) as Sean, and Kate Siegel (‘Ouija: Origin of Evil’) as Agent Kate Montana.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Seann William Scott about his work on ‘The Wrath of Becky,’ joining the cast of the sequel, playing a villain, the Nobel Men’s agenda, working with Lulu Wilson, the challenges of being cruel to an animal on screen, the film’s directors, and his upcoming work with filmmaker Paul Feig on ‘Grand Death Lotto.’
Seann William Scott as Darryl Jr. in the action/thriller/horror 'The Wrath of Becky,' a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch the interview.
Moviefone: To begin with, were you familiar with ‘Becky’ when you signed on for the sequel?
Seann William Scott: I hadn't seen the first one when ‘The Wrath of Becky’ script was sent to me. What I actually did was just watch the trailer before I even started reading the script, and it was like, oh, this is very cool. So it's like, let's start reading this sequel script. I loved the script and I really enjoyed the part. I had some ideas of maybe how to build on the character a little bit and really just almost make him more grounded, and maybe even a little bit darker. The directors really liked my ideas and we really kind of collaborated. Then I watched the first ‘Becky’ and thought, this is fantastic. Lulu Wilson is an incredible actress, who plays Becky. Then I think it was two or three weeks later that we were on set shooting this thing. So it came together really quickly. It's one of the good ones. You never know. There's been a lot of stinkers on my end, but I love this movie actually.
MF: You are probably best known for your comedic work, but in this movie you play a really menacing and evil villain, and are virtually unrecognizable in the role. What was it like for you to play this role and create a character that is different than anything we’ve seen you play before?
SWS: I don't know what it says about me, but I slipped into the character pretty easy, it was pretty seamless. I really enjoyed playing something darker. I think what was fun with this movie too, because it was a smaller budget that you don't overanalyze with decisions you make as an actor, you just commit to it because you don't have that many chances. So I had this idea of how I wanted the character to be portrayed, and then it worked out. I just saw the movie a couple days ago with an audience in the theater, and it was really rewarding to hear them kind of reactions when the character does something pretty violent. It was almost the same as when I remember going into the theater when ‘American Pie’ came out and hearing people laugh at an improv line, but in a completely different way.
Seann William Scott as Darryl Jr. in the action/thriller/horror 'The Wrath of Becky,' a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.
MF: Tell us about the Nobel Men, their agenda, and did you draw any inspiration from real life radical groups that we saw at the United States Capital attack on January 6th?
SWS: To be honest I didn't. I did some research and some reading, which I thought was important. But for me it was mainly the character's military background. He's a former Army Ranger, and that is what I kind of leaned into the most. Really for most of the movie, he is thinking he's up against this 16 year old badass who's far more capable than the guys he has around him. So it was more just thinking military strategy and how would this guy respond based on his background. So I did spend a bit of time just trying to understand that side of things. But it was more just like, how does this guy with this military background respond to this insane, crazy, badass 16 year old?
MF: Can you talk about how Darryl deals with Becky when she comes looking for revenge?
SWS: Well, things happen so quickly in this movie, which is, I think one of the reasons why it's awesome. I mean, I think it's an hour and 24 minutes long. So he doesn't have a lot of time to really respond. He's taking everything in. All of a sudden these guys in his group show up and they have a dog. He's trying to figure out where this dog is coming from? Then out of nowhere, somebody leaves a phone and then he finds out it's a 16 year old girl, and why is she here? So he is processing everything and then things go bad. I mean, she just gets the upper hand and kind of slaughters all of them. So things don't go really well for my character. Let's just put it that way.
Lulu Wilson as Becky in the action/thriller/horror 'The Wrath of Becky,' a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.
MF: What was it like working with Lulu Wilson?
SWS: It's funny because I think in a lot of ways we're very similar because we're really nice and pretty down to earth. So we would do a scene where my character is really violent and pretty brutal, and she would be emotional and terrified and then they'll cut. She would say, “That was really good. You did a great job.” So she's a big sweetheart, but I mean, as a performer, she's incredible. I can't do what she can do and I'm 30 years older. She did that at 16 when she really goes to every single emotion in one movie. So I think she's a big star.
MF: You have a scene in the film where your character is physically cruel to a dog. Was that a difficult scene for you to preform personally?
SWS: Yeah, I love animals. That's one of my biggest things is this dog was so sweet too. I was like, excuse me, how are we going to do the thing with the dog? Or I'm supposed to squeeze his head because obviously that's not happening. I was holding this dog all day. He was a monster sized dog, but he was drooling and so sweet and looking up at me. I'm like, “Don't you worry, buddy. It's just a movie. It's fake.” So I'm supposed to put my hand on top of his head and kind of squeeze. But the breed of doggie he is had all these big fatty wrinkles, so you could just push lightly and for him, it was a little bit of a tickle. But when you see it on screen, it looks really mean. But no, I wasn't going to hurt him.
(L to R) Filmmakers Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote behind the scenes of the horror/thriller, 'The Wrath of Becky,' a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.
MF: Can you talk about collaborating with directors Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote on this project?
SWS: I really mean this, especially after seeing the movie. I think they're phenomenal. This was one of those experiences, and I’ve done a few smaller movies, but with this movie, it just was different being on set. It was that kind of experience where you hear actors talk about like, “Oh man, shooting a smaller movie. You get really close with the crew. It's just something totally different and really special.” That's what the experience was like. Then when I watched the movie, I was like, oh, these guys are the real deal. They are incredible. It's funny because I think that they were approached to make the movie like five months before we ended up shooting it, something like that. Matt wrote the script in three weeks. The fact that they put it all together in that amount of time with a limited budget is amazing. When you watch the movie it looks much bigger than it really was. I think these guys, they're going to make some incredible movies.
Paul Feig attends the World Premiere Of Netflix's 'The School For Good And Evil' at Regency Village Theatre on October 18, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix.
MF: Finally, while we are on the subject of directors, you just reunited with Paul Feig on ‘Grand Death Lotto.’ What was it like working with him again on his new film?
SWS: It was awesome because I worked on a TV show that he produced called ‘Welcome to Flatch.’ So I already felt like I had bragging rights saying that I got a chance to work with him on that show. Then he offered me this amazing part in this movie and it was so much fun. I play a totally different character. I don't want to give too much away because it's kind of a surprise, but he's like an action badass, and maybe a bad guy. I’m not in a big part of the movie, but it was really fun. It was a big movie to work with him on again, and I felt really grateful.
Seann William Scott as Darryl Jr. in the action/thriller/horror 'The Wrath of Becky,' a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.
Other Movies Similar to ‘The Wrath of Becky':
- ‘John Wick' (2014)
- 'The Equalizer' (2014)
- 'Atomic Blonde' (2017)
- ‘John Wick: Chapter 2' (2017)
- 'Peppermint' (2018)
- 'The Equalizer 2' (2018)
- ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum' (2019)
- 'Becky' (2020)
- 'Wrath of Man' (2021)
- 'Nobody' (2021)
- 'John Wick: Chapter 4' (2023)
- 'The Mother' (2023)
Buy Tickets: 'The Wrath of Becky' Movie Showtimes
Buy 'Becky' On Amazon
'The Wrath of Becky' is produced by Post Film, BoulderLight Pictures, Media Finance Capital, RainMaker Films, and Yale Productions, and scheduled for release on May 26th.
