Exclusive Interview: Writer-director Dan Brown and Star Jessica Garza Discuss Their New Thriller, ‘ Your Lucky Day’

Writer-director Dan Brown and star Jessica Garza are the dynamic duo behind the exhilarating thriller, Your Lucky Day.

After a dispute over a winning lottery ticket turns into a deadly hostage situation, the witnesses must decide exactly how far they’ll go—and how much blood they’re willing to spill—for a cut of the $156 million.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Dan and Jessica about Your Lucky Day, how the twisted story has evolved over time, trusting their instincts, the beauty of independent filmmaking.

PC: Dan, congratulations on Your Lucky Day. It’s such a wild thriller that keeps audiences guessing until the very end. It initially started out as a short. So often filmmakers will use that as a proof of concept, but that wasn’t your intention with this project. What ultimately led you to revisit this story? How has it evolved over time?
Dan: Great question. I turned down every opportunity to turn it into a feature after the short. However, seeing people experience significant lottery wins sparked thoughts about themes that could be part of the film.

Then, a producer reached out and asked for the rights to make it into a feature. I didn’t even delve into what that would be, and I was like, “I’m not going to do that.” I can’t sell this movie off for someone else to make it. When you have that feeling, it made me realize that it mattered to me, and it’s something that I should figure out. At that point, I decided to think about it a little more seriously.

Once I had an idea that the guy that won wasn’t a good person and already had a bunch of money, it really opened it up and allowed me to tell the story that I wanted to build. Then I had another idea that gives away the plot of the movie, but it was to have my pregnant character from the short become the main character and the protagonist of the film.

PC: Jessica, there’s so much strength and vulnerability in your character, which you brought out with depth and nuance. When filming on such a tight timeline, how were you able to create the space for yourself to get into her mindset and deliver the performance that you do?
Jessica: Sometimes the lack of time is helpful. It’s a pressure cooker when you’re trying to film an indie in sixteen night shoots. It’s using that anxiety, those nerves, and the feeling that we don’t have enough time, and I need to get it done in one to three takes max. It’s helpful to creating that feeling. You just play into that.

Without giving spoilers, there’s a scene where I’m lying on the floor. It’s wet, and we filmed it in December in Los Angeles. Los Angeles doesn’t get cold, but when you’re in a dress and you’re on a hard, cold tile floor, you’re freezing. [laughs] I remember thinking, “I’m cold. I’m cold. I’m getting through this scene.” All of that feeds into that moment where Ana Marlene is feeling like she’s going to get through this situation. It’s being able to relate to it in different ways.

Sometimes the luxury of time is great to have so you can get into it, but sometimes the lack of it is great to create those feelings of pressure and anxiety.

PC: Dan, what you’ve done so brilliantly with this script is you’ve woven all these twists and turns but kept it grounded in reality. How were you able to toe that line so effortlessly? What was that process like finding the balance between pushing the narrative forward while never losing sight of that realism?
Dan: Going back to your last question, one of the things that I feel really lucky about is with this movie and story and it being a low-budget movie is the desperation of the characters sort of mirrors what it was like on set. It was like, “We don’t have a lot of money. We don’t have a lot of time. We have to do it right now.” I feel like those things were infused back into the film. If we had the luxury of more money and more time, I’m not sure that same intensity would have been there. It was a nice parallel. It wasn’t nice at the time, but it’s a nice retrospect. I feel like that feeds into the themes of the film, whereas if it was a little more polished and slick, it might come off a little false.

The other thing was just to focus on the characters. When you’re working on an indie movie, the only thing that I could do is write a script that hopefully people wanted to be a part of. My goal for every character was to write something that someone would want to play.

PC: Jessica, you’ve worked on projects of all sizes. What is it about independent filmmaking that excites you as a creative? What was it about this particular character that resonated with you?
Jessica: Bigger scale projects come with more pressure. My level of commitment to any project is the same. Because of the lack of time, it was the first time that I challenged myself as an actor to really rely on instinct and rely on not always knowing what I was going to do. This is the first time that I got to play with that. I’ve always been so strict and rigorous with myself. This was the first time that I had to force myself to not have tons of time to prepare. It was a real treat to get to experience that in a way that I hadn’t before with these bigger scale projects that have more time to the lead up. This was such a whirlwind. That was so exciting to me to discover a different part of me as an actor through making an indie.

As far as what intrigued me about this, it was all on the page. Ana Marlene evolves in ways that are so unexpected. You walk in with your preconceived notions about her. She’s made up in this pink cute little waitress uniform and then she totally flips that on its head. That was a huge gift as an actor.

Make sure to follow Dan (Instagram) and Jessica (Instagram). Your Lucky Day is out in select theaters and on VOD on 11/14.

Photo Credit: Well Go USA Entertainment
(Dan) // Shane McCormick (Jessica)