Just recently, Evangeline Lilly took a break from her Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) projects to work on a crime drama with actor Jason Sudeikis. Together, they starred in Aharon Keshales’ South of Heaven where Sudeikis plays a convicted felon who gets an early release after he begs to be able to give his childhood sweetheart (Lilly) the best final year of her life.
And while the film didn’t exactly fare well with critics and viewers, many praised Lilly and Sudeikis’ onscreen chemistry. Moreover, fans also can’t help but wonder how the co-stars accomplished that despite never having worked together before. So, what's really going on between them?
She Signed On Because He’s Been Wanting To Work With Him
In a way, Sudeikis is the man of the hour, causing quite a buzz following his performance in the Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso. In fact, he recently took home an Emmy performance (and even scored a nice salary bump as a result). And so, it didn’t come as a surprise that South of Heaven writer and director Aharon Keshales had him in mind for his lead role.
“While finding our Jimmy for this movie, I thought I needed a comedian, because a comedian has great timing and a lot of sadness inside them. And I knew that Jimmy is going to walk through so many bad things in this movie, and also do some horrible, horrible stuff himself, that I need somebody that has the most likable, lovable persona that you can imagine,” Keshales told Paste Magazine. “So I thought of Jason Sudeikis because he has those crazy, beautiful, lovable puppy eyes. You just want to hug him and tell him everything is going to be ok.” At the time that he was casting, it also happened that Sudeikis was still available. “Luckily, at that time, he didn’t start Ted Lasso yet,” Keshales recalled. “We sent him the script and he loved it. We had a great meeting and great conversations. He immediately knew what he wanted to do with the character.”
As for Lilly, the actress was pleasantly surprised upon reading Keshales’ script. “She told me, ‘This is the first time, Aharon, that I see that a male writer doesn’t try to write the female as only one thing.’” At the same time, while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Lilly admitted, “Who doesn’t want to work with Ted Lasso?” “Of course, Jason wasn’t Ted Lasso when we made this film together, but he was Jason Sudeikis, who couldn’t be more charming and lovable if he tried,” she added. “So it was a no-brainer in those three respects.” Keshales also pointed out that Lilly has “always wanted to work with Jason. She loves him.”
They Met Up Long Before They Started Production
Even after Lilly booked the part, it took some time for the film’s production to begin. For the new co-stars, it presented the perfect opportunity to get to know each other better. And they did. “We met two years before the project ended up starting its first day of production,” Lilly revealed. “We went for dinner together, we hit it off, and he was so easy to get along with.”
Sudeikis and Lilly also didn’t just end up discussing work. Instead, they hung out whenever possible and stayed in touch. “So we hung out again. We played ping pong together, we had drinks together and we had a great time together,” Lilly said. “We shared music over text for months. We really had a good time getting to know each other.”
She Fully Supported His Golden Globes Hoodie
Sudeikis also recently made ‘headlines’ after accepting a Golden Globe award in a tie-dyed hoodie (for the record, Olivia Wilde has been supportive of his outfit amidst their recent split). As it turns out, however, he wasn’t supposed to wear the outfit for the ceremonies initially. Designer Tom had sent over a suit for Sudeikis to wear. But while in his Notting Hill flat, the actor thought the suit didn’t feel right. And so, he ended up donning a hoodie that his sister’s clothing company made. “I wore that hoodie because I didn't wanna f****** wear the f****** top half of a Tom Ford suit,” Sudeikis told GQ. The actor also made it clear that his decision had nothing to do with Ford. “I love Tom Ford suits,” he explained. “But it felt weird as s***.”
Meanwhile, Lilly would later pay homage to Sudeikis and his hoodie while both were doing press for South of Heaven. “This is my ode to you Jason I wore it for you,” Lilly explained of her own hoodie while speaking with Extra. “He's a real trendsetter, I don’t know if you've noticed.”
At the moment, it is unclear if Sudeikis and Lilly will get to work together again soon. Interestingly, Sudeikis has recently taken on a Marvel project, the animated series Hit-Monkey on Hulu. However, the show doesn’t operate inside the MCU so there’s still no chance of another collaboration between the two actors just yet.
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