{"id":42452,"date":"2026-04-06T02:53:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T02:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=42452"},"modified":"2026-04-06T02:53:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T02:53:00","slug":"mike-nick-nick-alice-director-on-doubling-vince-vaughn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=42452","title":{"rendered":"‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’ Director on Doubling Vince Vaughn"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

BenDavid Grabinski<\/a> has written for television, film<\/a>, and video games, and no matter the media, sometimes the answer to making something better is to make it a little bit dumber.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Well, dumber isn\u2019t quite right \u2014 and is only meant affectionately by Grabinski himself. The writer recently partnered with Bryan Lee O\u2019Malley on \u201cScott Pilgrim Takes Off<\/a>,\u201d the alternate universe TV continuation of \u201cScott Pilgrim vs. the World.\u201d He also pitched the concept for the even more out-there game, \u201cScott Pilgrim EX,\u201d and<\/em> created another tale of genre-savvy time-travelers: his latest film, \u201cMike & Nick & Nick & Alice<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\"The<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Grabinski\u2019s second directorial effort follows Mike (James Marsden) and Nick (Vince Vaughn<\/a>), partners for a gangster organization, in what starts as a buddy comedy. But the movie throws in one added complication: a time-traveling Nick from the future (Vaughn) who arrives to prevent present-day Mike from being killed by the very organization they\u2019re all working <\/strong>for, after their boss (Keith David) is lead to believe that Mike is a snitch, responsible for sending his son (Jimmy Tatro) to prison. Also wrinkling matters is Eiza Gonz\u00e1lez as Nick\u2019s wife Alice, who also happens to be Mike\u2019s secret lover.<\/p>\n

For Grabinski, what unites all of these projects is the fine art of creating a world that is emotionally smart yet deeply silly, fun, and expressive. <\/p>\n

But Grabinski always wants the heightened comedic beats and the action setpieces to reflect an emotional reality underneath. \u201cI find musicals and action movies, sometimes, kind of interchangeable in terms of how they\u2019re constructed. Choreography is choreography,\u201d he told IndieWire. \u201cSometimes, a big Jackie Chan fight is similar to a dance sequence, to me. So this movie also has that feeling to it. Part of the reason I cast Marsden is because I watched \u2018Hairspray.\u2019 I think that if you can do a really good dance number, you can do [action].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pulling off a really good dance number or a really good action sequence is a trick in and of itself, but for \u201cMike & Nick & Nick & Alice,\u201d there was a constant high-wire act of \u201ctwinning\u201d Vince Vaughn<\/a>, which made even simple shots complex to achieve. The math for a bog-standard walk-and-talk through a hotel hallway between Nick and Future Nick is staggering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MIKE
\u2018Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice\u2019 \u00a920th Century Studios\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou want to get a steadicam dolly, handheld, two guys talking, we\u2019re covering the thing. But it\u2019s the two Vinces, so I have to have a motion-control camera. It has to be a computer-controlled rig, so it has to be on a crane. So I have to build that hallway on a sound stage, and I have to figure out how big is the sound stage? Where can I put the crane? How much track can I build so I can have this whole crane move back so I can repeat the motion with the second Vince, when we reshoot it?\u201d Grabinski said. \u201c\u200aAnd on the day, Vince might say, \u2018What if I stop here and turn and look at that guy when I\u2019m talking?\u2019 What if that\u2019s a great idea? What if that makes the scene better?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The fun of directing for Grabinski, though, is in problem-solving. \u201c\u200aI love prep. I love solving the issues of \u2018how much time do we have in this location versus this one? Can we combine this with this?\u2019\u201d Grabinski said. \u201cThe more you solve that, the more you also discover things about the scene and what\u2019s important to you and what\u2019s necessary. There\u2019s like a feedback loop between the practical logistics stuff and then creative intention and tone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With that kind of engineering work, it\u2019s only fitting that Grabinski rewards himself with \u201cfun dumb gangster guys\u201d who spend most of the movie partying before they confront the time-travelers and their friends. \u201cIt\u2019s both a combination of chasing every creative idea that is exciting to me, but also creating rules for myself because it\u2019s supposed to be a really fun ride that maybe ends up being more emotional than you\u2019re expecting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMike & Nick & Nick & Alice\u201d is now streaming on Hulu.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BenDavid Grabinski has written for television, film, and video games, and no matter the media, sometimes the answer to making something better is to make it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertaonment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}