With director Jay Chandrasekhar’s Easter Sunday arriving in theaters tomorrow, I recently sat down with comedian Jo Koy to talk about making the movie. During the wide-ranging interview, Koy talked about where the idea came from, what it was like being number one on the call sheet, the importance of representation, what people would be surprised to learn about the making of the movie, working with Tiffany Haddish, test screenings, and the church scene. In addition, he reveals the project he’d love to make, what someone should watch if you’ve never seen his work, and why he loves performing at the Los Angeles Forum.
As you’ve seen in the trailers, Easter Sunday is Koy’s love-letter to his family and the Filipino-American community. Playing a fictionalized version of himself, the film has Koy returning home to his supportive yet demanding family to celebrate Easter festivities. As you can imagine, chaos ensues. Easter Sunday also stars Jimmy O. Yang, Tia Carrere, Brandon Wardell, Eva Noblezada, Lydia Gaston, Asif Ali, Rodney To, Eugene Cordero, Chandrasekhar, and Lou Diamond Phillips. The film was produced by Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich.