“We all sleep in a triple bunk-bed”: Jake Jonson, Mary Steenburgen, and Aaron Chen talk on-screen nonsense and off-screen chaos behind their new film The Dink
A Slam Dink
If there’s one thing we’re always in permanent need of (other than an Aperol Spritz on a sunny beach) it’s comedy. Specifically, comedy films which offer two hours of pure, silly escapism. Sure, we have the police dramas, the true crime spin offs, and tense family dramas, but sometimes nothing beats a good comedy – and a sports comedy at that too.
Luckily, Jake Johnson is here to fill the void with his new film The Dink. Written by Sean Clements, directed by Josh Greenbaum and with Ben Stiller on board producing, it follows in the fashion of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, bringing a ridiculous sports framed comedy to our screens.
The Dink follows Jake Johnson as washed up former tennis prodigy Dusty Boyd who has been reduced to coaching unruly children at his father Chuck’s (Ed Harris) suburban country club. Desperate for his father’s approval, Dusty blindly supports Chuck’s vendetta against the new craze taking over the club: pickleball. But when Dusty re-aggravates an old injury, taking away his ability to play tennis, he resorts to the unthinkable in the name of rehab. He not only tries pickleball, but, thanks in part to his enchanting new partner, Candace (Mary Steenburgen), he finds himself actually enjoying it. Torn between two worlds, Dusty is forced to finally face the ghosts of his past athletic failures, including his childhood nemesis, Andy Roddick (Andy Roddick). Ultimately, Dusty is drawn into a desperate battle for the future of the club, his father’s affection and his very identity.
Over Zoom, we chatted to the film’s leading trio – Jake Johnson, Mary Steenburgen, and Aaron Chen – about the new film, and got them to play a little game to put how well they know each other to the test.
SL: Hello from the UK! So we’ve got a game for you three, it’s called Virtual Strangers and it will hopefully take your friendships up a level. We’ve got some of the most random fun questions you can ask to bring you closer together – how do you feel your knowledge of one another is at the moment?
Jake Jonson: High
Aaron Chen: 100%
JJ: The three of us are best friends, we travel together, we live together, we’ve only been separated four fourteen hours since we filmed
AC: We have a triple bunk bed
JJ: And this is the order [Aaron, Mary, Jake]
Mary Steenburgen: These two keep me up all night
JJ: We’re debating major topics!
SL: Obviously. So we’ve got our work cut out for you to feel closer at the end of this than you currently are. What is your least favourite household chore?
JJ: I’m going to go putting dishes away from the dishwasher
MS: Putting clothes away after they’ve been washed and dried
AC: I’d say changing the sheets – it’s the hardest one, it’s technical
SL: Do you get confused turning it inside out?
AC: I turn it inside out
JJ: In our apartment - where we all sleep - it’s just sleeping bags, and we all have little flashlights so we can all read and stay up late
SL: I hope you’re reading to one another
AC: Oh yeah, usually Mad Max
SL: Q2, what is the best pasta shape in your opinion?
MS: Cavatelli, because I make it by hand. It’s like a little curly Q, like a spiral. I have a little board and dowel and you roll the pasta off it
AC: That’s a fancy shape
MS: I’ll make it for you next time you’re round
AC: Mine’s a fusilli
JJ: I think my favourite is a Luca Del Trecce
AC: Is that a friend of yours?
JJ: He’s the writer of Sunset PI…
MS: Are you promoting your next show??
JJ: Yes
SL: What fictional detective do you think you’d make a good duo with?
JJ: [Since you bring it up] I think Sunset PI… A PI show I’m doing that’s coming out soon
AC: Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed if you watch that show…
MS: Stop promoting his other stuff!!
JJ: Come on that was a good one
MS: Mine would be Happy Doll – there’s books about him, he’s a character in Jonathan Ames detective novels which I love
AC: Mine would be Inspector Rex, do you know that guy?
MS: IS that a T-Rex?
AC: He’s like a dog, but we’d watch his TV show in German class to learn German but sometimes there were nude scenes and the teacher would have to come and cover the screen
MS: How’s your German then? Come on, let’s hear some
AC: *mumbles in German * I stopped in eighth grade…
SL: Next up, do you guys ever get shows you’ve been in come up on streaming platforms as part of you ‘For You’ algorithm? And do you ever watch them?
MS: Oh it’s definitely happened – I don’t usually watch them though. I usually watch things I've been in once and then don’t watch them again. Apart from Step Brothers. I do like to occasionally indulge in. And Elf at Christmas. May have to watch The Dink more than once…
JJ: None for me, I’m not my own demo. I never come up on my own algorithm
AC: You’re lying, this is a lie detector test now
JJ: And I just failed. I watch all my own shows, they’re the only shows I watch. Home videos, anything
MS: Old podcasts?
AC: I will actively look for it each morning which definitely affects the algorithm
JJ: [To Mary] Wait speaking of podcasts you just passed on my podcast
MS: No I didn’t!!
JJ: You were supposed to come in person
MS: I am going to come in person, I worked it out with Natalie – you’re so behind. See women run things. You have no clue what’s going on
[*Everyone communally makes clock it snaps*]
SL: I think that’s all we’ve got time for, but do you feel like you know each other any better?
AC: A lot better
MS: I think it’s more the living and sleeping in the same room and hearing them snoring
JJ: It’s the bunk beds, but also this
SL: We'll take it
The Dink starring Jake Johnson, Mary Steenburgen, and Aaron Chen is streaming on Apple TV from Friday 24th July.
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