IT'S A REAL OPPOSITES ATTRACT SITUATION WITH THEM

Action comedy Jackpot! imagines a future in which lottery winners can be hunted down for their winnings. Director Paul Feig and star Awkwafina tell RACHAEL DAVIS about the movie's premise and her double act with co-star John Cena

- RACHAEL DAVIS

IN a near-future Los Angeles, a down-on-her-luck former child actor who is trying to make it big in Hollywood has, quite literally, won the lottery.

When we meet her in Paul Feig's Jackpot!, Katie, played by Crazy Rich Asians' Awkwafina, has accidentally acquired the winning ticket for the multibillion-dollar Grand Lottery - but unbeknownst to her, there's a catch.

Lottery winners have a target on their back, because anyone who kills the winner before sundown can claim the prize money for themselves. There is only one rule: guns are not allowed.

After Katie begins to be attacked by seemingly anyone and everyone, with a drone tracking her every move as she runs for her life, she reluctantly agrees to employ the expertise of amateur jackpot protector Noel, played by Argylle star and professional wrestler John Cena, and his egotistical rival Louis Lewis, played by Shang-Chi and Barbie's Simu Liu, who promise to fight off her killers in exchange for a cut of her prize money.

What follows is a fast-paced action comedy romp from Bridesmaids, The Heat and Spy director Feig, with high-stakes hilarity in a world which, its star notes, feels barely dissimilar from our own.

"I thought it was very wacky," says Awkwafina, 36, of her first impressions of the script for Jackpot! "But I think there's a deep allegory somewhere in there, about a near future that is not very far away, you know what I mean?" "It's funny so many people, when they see the movie, go like "That feels like that's gonna happen!," adds director Paul, 61.