ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Reunion stars Lil Rel Howery and Michael Hitchcock about the murder mystery comedy movie. The two actors discussed the film’s talented ensemble cast, their characters, and more. Directed by Chris Nelson, Reunion is out June 28 on digital via Republic Pictures (a Paramount Pictures label).
“Lil Rel Howery (Get Out), Billy Magnussen (Game Night), and Jillian Bell (22 Jump Street) star in a wild ride of twists and turns where a high school reunion gets cut short by murder,” says the synopsis. “Trapped in a snowbound mansion, they race to uncover which one of their old classmates is the killer before they’re all iced out for good. Also starring Jamie Chung (Grown Ups), Michael Hitchcock (Veep) with Nina Dobrev (Sick Girl) and Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl).”
Tyler Treese: Lil Rel, you have this great back-and-forth with Billy Magnusson here. How was it establishing that chemistry and really feeling like friends throughout this film?
Lil Rel Howery: Me and Billy actually became friends while doing this movie and producing partners. So, just us talking everything through, even just the other day, we were texting each other. You know what’s crazy? Even after doing this movie and all of us got tight while we were doing this, I became a bigger fan of literally everybody. I was already a fan, but I watch everything everybody’s doing. Michael, everybody. I watch everything.
So when I go back and think about how much fun I had working with Billy, and I see all the other stuff… Billy, especially Billy, be playing some dark stuff, you know what I’m saying? So to bring out the comedy with him and show the friendship with the comedy was so much fun, and also was cool for people to see that side of him too.
I love hearing about those bonds that extend far past filming. Michael, you’re, you’re playing a fun role here. You’re the former teacher. He shows up at the reunion. Life hasn’t really gone as planned. He didn’t get to retire. What about Mr. Buckley really stood out and interested you about this role?
Michael Hitchcock: Well, for me, what’s fun is when I look back at high school, I remember the teachers I loved and the teachers that I did not love. I wanted to sort of take the teachers that I did not love and put them all into a little character and figure that out so that he’s not just one-dimensional. He does love his booze, for sure, but he wants to be liked. He really does. But he’s that guy that no one really ever liked me that much, so I don’t like them either. So he’s a little bit combative, and that was really fun to play.
Lil Rel, your character, Ray Hammond, he’s dressing like 2004 Kanye. There’s this element of him that’s stuck in the past, and that naturally comes up when you’re at a reunion. What about that character did you really latch onto and kind of extrapolate for your performance?
Howery: Well, what’s funny, the costume was so important, right? I remember me and Chris were talking about it, and I was like, “Yo, he gotta dress like … Let’s just look up Kanye’s outfits.” Even coming up with this, with the double polos, like two polos, it was crazy because I thought I was dressing like Ye at that time back in the day. Then, when I had to get ready for this movie, I was like, wait a minute. He wore two polos. That’s crazy.
But just having that guy who’s still kinda living in the past because he’s not necessarily happy with what his present is, right? So everything from the outfit, from the look, he’s the only one at the reunion that looks like literally the outfit he had only graduated, you know what I mean? Hoping that will help bring up those good times he had in high school because, once again, he hasn’t necessarily enjoyed where his life has gone since then. Him running into his ex and all those different things.
But that’s what made me love this character too. I don’t mean to laugh at people that do that, but I got friends and people that just cannot get past high school. They remember scores of basketball games. They remember weird roast sessions. It’d be like, “Yo, you remember that time?” Like, no, I’ve lived life since then. I do not remember what we did in fifth period in 1998.
Michael, you mentioned the booze problem that your character has. What I liked about your performance is you’re constantly playing with your hands. You’re pouring alcohol into his coffee. You’re always doing something. How was it kind of putting that into all these little scenes? I loved just watching you in the background because you’re always doing something
Hitchcock: Well, in real life. I have sciatica, so I have to scratch. No, I’m kidding. I don’t really.
A lot of times, [with] tightly wound people, something is giving it away. Even though they think that they’re in control, something isn’t in control. I think part of that was my hand. The hands were the part that were about to give out a bit. That was sort of his tell, a little bit, that he was nervous,
Howery: Mike, you would do stuff that would have us dying laughing. Because it could be the way he would walk away. His reactions to everything. He may do a full spin. It was tough. A lot of those takes we couldn’t even get through just laughing at what Mike was doing.
Hitchcock: We definitely were biting our tongues a lot with performances for sure. Lil Rel made me laugh so many times with his improvs, you never knew what was gonna come out of his mouth, and it was fantastic.
You can feel that in the film too. It’s so much fun to watch.
Howery: He’s the king of just… he could just do something so random and so fast.
Hitchcock: Well, you’re nice to say that.
Howery: Honest to God truth, it makes me laugh. I think about it all like… I forget what was happening. Your reactions… you just kept doing it and it was so funny, so funny.
Hitchcock: We had a good time.
Lil Rel, one of my favorite moments is when you kind of rock up to Cassandra Blair’s character, and you just pull out these very cool dance moves. She tries to stab you with a shoe afterward. She wasn’t as receptive. But were there moves all you? Did you come up with those?
Howery: I am definitely the choreographer of everything. You ever seen me dance in anything? I am. That’s one of the skill sets people don’t know I have. Me and Fatima Robinson. No, I’m joking. No, but it was my choreography. It was.
Hitchcock: Yeah. She really went after you. She did not care for you.
Howery: Look, the shoe thing now, that was kind of real. She was in character full-blown a couple of times. I was actually scared for real.
Michael, this is such a fun murder mystery whodunnit. What do you like most about acting within that genre?
Hitchcock: I think that the fun thing about that genre is the guessing game that the audience is playing. That at any time, you can go, “Oh, it’s that one for sure.” And then it’s like, “Well, wait a minute. Maybe it’s that one.” Then, as the character yourself, I liked the thinking of, like, who is it? Who is it? Who is it? And could it be me as well? But yeah, I love it when audiences can think they know who it is, and then they switch because, “Oh no, now I know some new piece of information that I didn’t know a minute before.”
Lil Rel, you and Jillian Bell worked together again on Good Burger 2, which was filmed after Reunion. So clearly, you guys got along, but what really stood out about her comedic ways? She is hilarious throughout this,
Howery: Jillian is so, so, so naturally funny. We worked on a random project first, like a pilot. Then we did Brittany Runs a Marathon and that’s where we became friends. What’s crazy because she had to be more dramatic in that movie, you know? Watching somebody who’s so hilarious do that was even crazier. But working with her on Reunion and Good Burger 2, I just loved Jillian Bell. She’s one of my favorite people, to be quite honest with you.
She just got engaged, which is very exciting. It was so funny when we were doing Good Burger 2, we both were talking about getting engaged and now we both are engaged, which is so crazy. We just talking about it at PF Chang’s about getting engaged. I just think she’s such a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant actor, man. I can talk about Jillian all day. She’s so funny. 22 Jump Street people don’t talk about it much. It’s so funny to me. She’s so funny.
Hitchcock: Yeah, she’s great, and I second everything. I know Jillian from the Groundlings comedy group, and she, in real life, is fun. She’ll get a group of maybe eight people together, and we’ll have a movie night. She’ll show a really terrible great movie like Troll 2 or The Room, and everybody just has a great time. She’s just so fun. The best. You’re always gonna smile when you’re around her.
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