FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE

AZIZ ANSARI DISCUSSES THE CHALLENGES OF TRANSITIONING FROM TELEVISION TO FILM IN HIS FEATURE DIRECTORIAL DEBUT, GOOD FORTUNE.

- BY LYNN RUSK

AZIZ ANSARI rose to fame for his portrayal of Tom Haverford, the sarcastic, underachieving government official in the hit sitcom Parks and Recreation.

The actor and comedian, 42, went on to write and star in the acclaimed comedy-drama series Master of None, which earned him two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe.

Following his television success, Aziz has written and directed his first feature film, Good Fortune, a magical body-swapping comedy starring Seth Rogen, Keanu Reeves, Keke Palmer and Sandra Oh.

The film follows Gabriel, played by Keanu, a well-meaning angel who meddles in the lives of a struggling gig worker, portrayed by Aziz, and a wealthy venture capitalist, played by Seth.

Aziz, whose previous directorial project, Being Mortal, was halted during production in 2022, says he’s thrilled to finally have his first feature out in the world.

"Every movie, I feel, is a miracle," says Aziz, who hails from Columbia, South Carolina. "If you watch a movie and then look it up on Wikipedia, no one's story ever goes, ‘We got the script, we got the money, we got the actors, we made it, and it was done in a couple of months.’ That's no one’s story.

“Especially now, to have a film that’s an original idea, that’s in the-atres, and that’s a comedy, even doing one of those three things is really hard right now. So I feel really lucky.”

Aziz began writing Good Fortune during the Covid pandemic, after years of exploring the idea of a friendship between two men from opposite ends of the economic spectrum.

To better understand his character's perspective, he researched the gig economy in Los Angeles.

"I watched a lot of Ken Loach stuff while working on this,” he explains.

“It's not about gig work in particular, it’s about everyone out there struggling to scrape by.