“Kaley and David have very different processes,” beamed director Thomas Vincent of watching Kaley Cuoco (The Flight Attendant) and David Oyelowo (Lawmen: Bass Reeves), handle their knockout roles in Prime Video’s highly anticipated movie Role Play. “David comes from a British background, he’s been trained there, it’s very classic, and he needs to interrogate everything, discuss everything in depth, and every motivation, every line, and so on and so on, which I love.

“Kaley is a much more instinctive actor,” Vincent adds, “but that doesn’t quite tell it. She’s sort of secretive about her work, about her process. She’s been working on such a fast pace, being very efficient for so long. She comes up on set, she knows herself very well. She knows what she’s good at. She’s very clever and savvy about how to preserve that sparkle [she has].”

The Golden Globe-nominated actors turn in powerhouse performances in the engaging drama in the vein of Mr. & Mrs. Smith (the film) by way of a latter-day True Lies. The action-packed thriller aims to explore the quirks of love and deception, and how far somebody would go to keep their family safe. That would be Cuoco’s Emma, who’s been a secret assassin for years. The outing also stars Oscar nominee Bill Nighy (Living) and Connie Nielsen (Wonder Woman) in pivotal roles. Vincent shared more about the production and his costars in this exclusive MovieWeb interview.

Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo’s Different Approaches
Role Play Release Date January 12, 2024 Director Thomas Vincent Rating R Runtime 1hr 40min

This wouldn’t be the first time audiences have been introduced to a married couple surviving the aftermath of an explosive secret. The Family Plan, starring Mark Wahlberg, dropped last month, but unlike that outing, which delighted in going over the top, Role Play is a tad more grounded and thorough in its execution, leaning more into drama, while also allowing elements of absurdity rise to the surface quite naturally.

After all, Emma’s husband Dave is in the dark about her “other” life, until a mysterious stranger changes everything. That’s Bob Kellerman (Nighy), a man who cock blocks the couple’s flirty “role play” night at a random hotel bar, forcing Emma to be on high alert. The film’s title works on several levels, as Emma has been playing several roles, of course — that of assassin, wife, and mother of two. But as the film moves along, Dave must come out of his shell and take on a new, perhaps more assertive, role during a series of life-and-death events.

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“The two of them interacting was fascinating because they come from different places,” Vincent noted of his stars. “It’s a thing that could, in some instances, be an issue, but it was not here because it reflected the dynamic between the two characters. And it was overlapping the story.”

“That made it very interesting,” he added. “They were really partners. But they do come from different places, and they have different cultures, which is enriching.” Check out a clip with the two actors from the film below:

Why Bill Nighy Was Pivotal to Role Play

The film’s signature bar scene is pivotal to the rest of the movie, in fact. Emma has a secret. Dave wants to reconnect with his wife, but is clueless that danger is afoot. Bob is slippery and sneaky, attempting to get Emma’s attention. Things heat up. They had to, and Thomas Vincent had to capture the mood because that scene changed the course of the film.

“When I first read the script, that scene with Kaley, David, and Bill Nighy was so central and such an important scene,” Vincent said. “We knew that if this scene was good, the film was going to be good. If this scene was not good, well, the film would be just a bit flat. And that was challenging — getting it right and pushing it to the level where it should be.”

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Of Bill Nighy, who boasted that he was a big Kaley Cuoco and The Big Bang Theory fan, Vincent said he came into the production midway through the shoot:

“Bill brought an incredible intelligence and elegance, which is him. And my job was to capture that and to help him be that as much as he could. I think it was more difficult for him because he only had like five days and was in the middle of the shoot. So, for an actor coming in the middle, where everybody knows everyone already — and the dynamic of the film, of the shoot, of the production already on its way — and hit the ground running… he had like 15 pages straight.”

However, Thomas went on to say that Nighy, “was very anxious; he was afraid. You never think that such actors as Bill Nighy will be afraid of a scene because you feel like, of course they can do it. But they are, and this is why they are who they are. Because they don’t take themselves for granted. And Bill was extremely insecure and concerned that he was not going to deliver. And at the beginning, he showed you his performance, and it was great, it was good. I mean, Bill is never bad.”

In the meantime, like most directors creating unique offerings these days, Thomas hopes that audiences find the film extremely entertaining. “It’s extremely fun, and it’s a lovely film,” he says. “At the same time, there’s something deeper about this, because it’s about relationships. It’s about something that everyone can relate to — the secrets we keep from one another, maybe sometimes even not knowing that we keep secrets. The very core of our intimacy is what’s at play in this story.”

Catch Role Play exclusively on Prime Video beginning Jan. 11 at 7pm ET through the link below, and check out the trailer:

Watch Role Play