CS Interview: Nick Swardson on The Wrong Missy

ComingSoon.net got the opportunity to catch up with stand-up comic and Happy Madison regular Nick Swardson (Sandy Wexler) to discuss his role in the latest comedic joy ride from the Adam Sandler-owned studio and Netflix, which premieres today!

As with many comedy films with talented performers, the cast were allowed to improvise a number of scenes throughout the film and in looking back at the group he got to work with, Swardson warmly recalled how he “loves that stuff” and building the needed connection with his co-stars.

“That is where I excel and why I get hired for stuff, because they know I’m just going to bring in so much to the part,” Swardson explained. “When I did Reno 911! that was seven years of completely unscripted everything, there was nothing written ever on that show, it was just locations and possible scenarios, so I just live for that. It’s a blast when you’re doing it with people that you already know and can trust, anybody that’s an improviser, they’ll all say the same thing, it’s all about trust. When you know people who can do that, it’s great.”

Though he finds it hard to recall every moment he improvised, as he gave them “so many different options,” he did find one of his favorite moments came during a scene in which his character is emceeing the corporate event in the hotel ballroom, during which he “went fucking nuts” and did “so many different takes” and had “a blast.”

“Sandler wasn’t there, he was a producer, but he wasn’t there, so that’s another thing that’s tricky,” Swardson described. “At this point I know what Adam likes and wants, but I also know what I enjoy so I was kind of trying so many different options to kind of see what would stick, but I did some that were fucking so far out there. [laughs] Where I was accusing half the company of doing coke and it was awesome, just so much fun. It wasn’t in the script to play it hammered and I was like, ‘No, my character is such a fucking loose cannon he should be drunk,’ and they were like ‘Wellllll’ and I went, ‘Dude, I’ve seen this a million times. When I travel doing stand-up I stay in hotels or resorts and I see these people from corporate retreats and they get fucking annihilated. This is what guys do in this scenario.’ They were like, ‘Oh yeah, I guess you’re right’ and I was like, ‘No trust me, I’m right,’ so I made the choice to just play him like a complete train wreck. It was funny too because while we were shooting there were people like that, so when were at the resort filming I was like, ‘Go to the fucking bar in the lobby and ask anybody there what they’re doing, if they’re not there for their honeymoon they’re there for some company thing and they’re going to get fucking blasted.’”

The film not only marked Swardson’s return to the world of Happy Madison, but also to the sunny islands of Hawaii where he previously filmed the Sandler and Jennifer Aniston-starring romantic comedy Just Go With It, and while many people might think it would be a vacation, he found the need for production to keep up “continuity” to interfere a bit with his relaxation.

“The movie opens in Portland, so we’re all like pale and shit like that, so it wouldn’t work if all of a sudden we now just had glowing Hawaii tans, so that was kind of annoying that we couldn’t do anything,” Swardson noted. “I had to wear a hooded sweatshirt, I looked like a fucking psychopath. Have you seen the show The Outsider on HBO? That’s essentially what I looked like. [laughs]. People always go, ‘It must be such a blast and such a party,’ but filming is filming, so you have to work. So at the end of the day it’s great going to work with everybody that you know but outside of that, I don’t really like party or get into anything when I’m filming, so I would just wake up and try to do any kind of activity not involving the sun and the highlights are basically getting dinner with everybody and stuff like that. But it was funny I went to a surf competition because I have a lot of friends in Hawaii on Oahu, but I went to this outdoor surf thing and I was sitting there and I had a full hooded sweatshirt, tons of sunblock on and I was standing under a tent and I just looked like such a weirdo. My friends were like ‘Dude what are you doing, don’t you wanna get in the water?’ and I was like, ‘I CAN’T!’ It was just even funnier just out in that context and having to be like that.”

In The Wrong Missy, when Tim Morris meets his dream girl and their relationship quickly escalates through texts, he throws caution to the wind and invites her to his company’s corporate retreat on an island resort… However, when a past blind date from hell shows up at the airport for the weekend getaway instead, he learns too late that he’s been texting “The Wrong Missy.”

The film stars David Spade (Tommy Boy, Grown-Ups), Lauren Lapkus (Orange is the New Black), Geoff Pierson (Dexter), Sarah Chalke (How I Met Your Mother), Molly Sims (The Benchwarmers), Nick Swardson (Blades of Glory, Just Go with It), Chris Witaske (Love), Roman Reigns (Hobbs & Shaw), and Rob Schneider (50 Fifty First Dates).

The film is directed by Tyler Spindel from a script written by Kevin Barnett and Chris Pappas. It is produced by Kevin Grady, Allen Covert and Judit Maull with Barry Bernardi, Edward H. Hamm Jr, Raymond Mansfield, Sean Mckittrick, Chris Pappas, and Kevin Barnett serving as executive producers.