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Jason Segel’s New Thriller Remake Director Really Wanted To See Him “Get Beat To S–t” In Over Your Dead Body

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Jason Segel’s New Thriller Remake Director Really Wanted To See Him “Get Beat To S–t” In Over Your Dead Body


Two-time Emmy nominee Jason Segel got really physical for Over Your Dead Body, and his director was more than happy to put him through the wringer.

Serving as a remake of the Norwegian film The Trip, the dark comedy thriller centers on Dan and Lisa, a couple who take a trip to a remote lakeside cabin in the hopes of reconnecting and saving their marriage from collapsing. However, unbeknownst to each other, they’re each planning to murder the other, resulting in an all-out brawl between them and those unlucky to be in the vicinity.

Segel and Ready or Not vet Samara Weaving lead the star-studded cast of the remake, with the roster also including CSI‘s Paul Guilfoyle, UFC-fighter-turned-actor Keith Jardine, The Trip‘s André Eriksen, Alien: Earth‘s Timothy Olyphant, Alan Wake‘s Ikka Villi, By Design‘s Juliette Lewis and Iina Kuustonen. Helmed by The Lonely Island’s Jorma Taccone, the film has garnered generally positive reviews from critics following its SXSW world premiere, currently holding a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In honor of the film’s festival debut, ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan interviewed Jorma Taccone, writing duo Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney, Paul Guilfoyle and Keith Jardine in our SXSW media suite to discuss Over Your Dead Body. When asked about his thought process on filling out his cast, Taccone — who returns to the feature directorial chair for the first time in a decade after his group’s cult favorite comedy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping — began by asking everyone in the room if they have Hollywood actors who they “really want to see suffer and get beat to s–t,” which he opines comes from “their stature” in the industry.

Before the group could answer, Taccone pointed to Segel as being “one of those people” that he wanted to see put through the wringer, while also praising the Emmy nominee for being “not only willing to do it, but really go there,” even revealing there was a scene that “everyone wanted out” that Segel argued to be put back in:

Jorma Taccone: It’s the scene in the basement. The fact that he not only wanted to go, but he gets slaughtered in this movie, like really f—ed up, and it’s really fun.

Brian McElhaney: And he also understands what you said about how people perceive him and how, because of that, you can push him into these spaces and people will go there or not go there. He knows that there’s a built-in anticipation with that.

Jason Segel’s Dan looking shocked at something in Over Your Dead Body

Taccone further praised Segel for being “really funny,” acknowledging he’s “made a career out of being very funny” thanks to his work in everything from Forgetting Sarah Marshall to How I Met Your Mother and Shrinking. More notably, the director was impressed by Segel’s “nice blend of being such a committed actor” with his comedy, further praising McElhaney and Kocher’s script for giving the star “humor and lines that are funny coming out of either place of panic or commitment.”

Kocher concurred that Segel is “such a lovable guy,” which made it even more fun “making him s—ty and not a good guy” in Over Your Dead Body‘s story, even while leaning into some of the more likable qualities of the star:

Nick Kocher: One of the fun things that we all really liked exploring with this character when we’re writing it is him being a guy who is planning to kill his wife, but he wants to do it in the nicest way possible. It’s so funny because trying to convince yourself you’re a good person when you’re planning a murder is a level of mental gymnastics that’s incredible.

Jorma Taccone: There are so many tones to thread in this movie, and to start with your lead character doing something so awful and such a sin — and to feel for him, because you do. You really do feel for him. But he clearly needed to suffer for his art.

Taccone & His Over Your Dead Body Writers Wanted To Retain What Worked About The Original

ScreenRant: Just tell me who the character you play is and how they fit into the puzzle that is this movie.

Keith Jardine: I think I’m like a relationship therapist.

Nick Kocher: Oh boy, Keith had a really different understanding. [Laughs]

Keith Jardine: I don’t want to give anything away.

ScreenRant: What can he say?

Jorma Taccone: I mean, Keith [Jardine] is also incredibly funny and charming in this movie, which is a very funny thing to say, because he’s also a neo-Nazi. [Laughs] No, but he’s incredible. He’s a trained MMA, incredible fighter, too, and there’s a lot of action in this movie. So it was really cool to not have to use stunt doubles with the guy.

ScreenRant: How was that for you, doing it in the acting sphere? What was your favorite stunt or thing to do on set?

Keith Jardine: Charades.

ScreenRant: That scene is so funny.

Nick Kocher: It’s also so fun to talk about this movie without spoiling anything, because it’s essentially impossible.

ScreenRant: I love any movie where somebody’s talking about something, and then it goes to something else, and it comes back and they’re still doing it.

Samara Weaving’s Lisa looking angry and aiming a shotgun toward the camera in Over Your Dead Body

Jorma Taccone: I mean, it’s a real testament to the original movie, too, because it has so many twists and surprises in it. As these guys said, we kept all of the stuff that we were just like, “This works incredibly well.” When you’re making a remake, it’s hard not to want to throw your stamp on something when it doesn’t need it to. So it was always that balance of what do we want to keep, what do we want to honor? And then, honestly, to make Tommy Wirkola [The Trip director and writer] proud. I think that we made those guys proud, the original writers.

Brian McElhaney: Yeah. That’s a great point. You don’t want to put your stamp on it if it doesn’t need it. We always wanted to put ourselves into it, and our sensibility, but so much of it really worked and to try to dismantle that just for the fun of it would be unnecessary.

ScreenRant: Tell me about your character.

Paul Guilfoyle: Oh, well, I liked hearing Jorma discuss Keith’s character. Maybe you can discuss mine, too. Because it’s easier to have it come from him. He’s a little more intimately related to it. I haven’t seen the film or the credits, so I forget my character’s name. I think it’s Bob. Jorma does so well with it. [Laughs]

Jorma Taccone: You actually had the hardest scene in the movie to edit, Paul. There’s a scene in the beginning of the movie where so much needs to be set up, and it’s so nice when an actor is as good of an actor as Paul is, to be able to have things feel like they are natural coming out of your mouth while setting up stuff that is necessary for the movie. I’ve been a fan of Paul forever, he’s been in so many things, and I do feel like this is a different turn for him. He gets to kick a– so hard in this movie. There’s a sequence that he’s in that is one of my favorites in the movie, but it is raucous. To see him throw it down in this way was really exciting. But you’re amazing, you’re an amazing dad.

ScreenRant: I love whatever is wrong with you. [Laughing] We are at SXSW. We are intersecting music and film this year more than ever. What is your favorite movie soundtrack of all time?

Paul Guilfoyle: The Revenant.

Brian McElhaney: We were like 17 when Garden State came out and that was so [formative].

Nick Kocher: I’ll go to even younger and say Batman Forever was one of the first CDs I bought.

Jorma Taccone: I feel like a lot of people had that CD. Working with Seal, that guy is real handsome in real life.

ScreenRant: Are you working with him again or are you talking about Popstar?

Jorma Taccone: Popstar.

ScreenRant: Oh my God. That’s also one of the best soundtracks ever. My dad and I sing “Mona Lisa” all the time.

Jorma Taccone: Oh, thank you. Well, that does make me really happy, because I think with these guys doing Pizza Movie, we’re very like-minded in terms of how much attention to detail we put into the edit of movies. I put in so much attention to audio and enhancing, and Popstar we edited for seven-and-a-half months. It was 400 hours of footage, which is actually the same amount that you would have for an actual documentary. A normal movie is around 120 hours.

Paul Guilfoyle: It’s like The Revenant.

Jorma Taccone: Yeah, exactly. It was our Revenant.

ScreenRant: Before I let you go, is there anything that you want to say or express about the film that I have not touched on that the audience should know?

Nick Kocher: Go see it in a theater. It’s going to be so fun in a theater. It’s a roller-coaster ride. There’s a lot of blood.

Brian McElhaney: Yea, a lot of laughs, a lot of gas, things that just work well as a big audience.

Jorma Taccone: Oh, I have one thing. My phone number is in the movie. Look out for my phone number and I promise I will talk to you for at least five minutes. If you write down my phone number, it is my actual phone number.

Paul Guilfoyle: Be careful.

Jorma Taccone: It’s a second phone number.

Over Your Dead Body premieres on Prime Video on April 24!


over-your-dead-body-poster.jpg


Release Date

April 24, 2026

Runtime

165 minutes

Director

Jorma Taccone

Writers

Nick Kocher, Brian McElhaney, Tommy Wirkola, Nick Ball, John Niven

Producers

Aram Tertzakian, David Leitch, Guy Danella, Kelly McCormick, Lee Kim, Nick Spicer


Be sure to dive into some of ScreenRant‘s other SXSW coverage with:



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