Vampire hunting is more than just a call Day shift. It’s a job that pays. The action-comedy film centers on Bud (Jamie Foxx), a San Fernando Valley pool cleaner and father of his daughter Paige (Zion Broadnax). However, it’s at his side gig where things really get messy. Bud hunts vampires and collects his fangs on the black market for a good amount of money. Nearly broke and in dire need of $10,000 to keep his ex-wife and his daughter from moving to another state, Bud works his way back into the vampire hunters’ syndicate. When he takes down an elderly vampire grandmother, he and his family soon find themselves in the crosshairs of a horde of pissed off vampires. Saddled with Seth (Dave Franco), a nerdy union rep who wets himself under pressure, Bud must stake the bloodsuckers before his loved ones become blood banks for the undead.
Foxx and Franco recently spoke with CBR about injecting new blood into the vampire genre, the comedic energy between the two actors, and which Hollywood-inspired creature of the night should tangle with Bud or Seth.
CBR: There have been so many vampire TV shows and movies over the years. Dave, you were in the wonderful fright night Redo. How Day shift bring something new and fresh to the vampire genre?
Jamie Foxx: Well, the fact of how it’s set up. I’m in a vampire union. I get money for fangs. That is so working class and so realistic in the sense, in this high concept. That is the first thing that differs from everything else. The second part is I don’t know how many vampire movies where you see practical fights. Usually it’s the “Ahhhh!…” We’re like, “No, we’re about to pick ’em up.”
That, and then the stunt work. I was just told that our trailer was viewed 29.9 million times in less than 24 hours. Well, 30 million times. It’s because when you see me with the shotgun, I shoot this old white granny up in the air and into the kitchen. People say: “What is this world?” She says that our world is going to be fun. There will be a lot of action and a lot of things you haven’t seen in the same mix.
Dave, you’re kind of comic relief in this movie. How fun was it to play against each other? Instead of a buddy cop movie, it’s a buddy hunter caper.
fox: I’ll take that.
david frank: It was so funny. It was a lot of fun for many reasons. Our manager, JJ [Perry] — from the beginning, he gave us the freedom to do whatever we wanted, just get off the book, say whatever we wanted and find that natural chemistry. working with this guy [Foxx], is so selfless as an actor. He just wants everyone around him to succeed, so he comes with this energy and enthusiasm every day that we all feed off of. Then when we’re in scenes together, he’s really fast. He is so talented. I went in, and I went in with all these ideas that he was going to throw at him, try to keep him on his toes. Anything I would throw at him, he is throwing back. We would keep going back and forth. Every day we tried to make each other laugh. There is nothing better than that.
fox: I couldn’t have made this movie without my good friend, Dave. I said I wouldn’t do this movie unless he’s in it. I knew he was going to bring something to the table that was going to be amazing. When you see the fruits of his artistic labor… We project it in the cinema. It’s going to be streaming on Netflix, but seeing it in theaters and people laughing at those moments that he created himself… I was trying to top it in one scene. I said, “Let me hear what the squirrel sounds like.” He makes this chipmunk noise. He said, “Oh man, this guy here is off the chain.” I am happy that everything turned out well.
As hunters, if you had to face a famous vampire in any TV show, franchise, or movie, who would it be and how would Bud and Seth fare?
fox: we would face vampire In Brooklyn, against Eddie Murphy, take off his wig.
Frank: I will fight those vampires of What we do in the shadows. Go ahead. We’ll play pranks on each other. We’ll see who wins.
Day Shift is available to stream now on Netflix.