INDIANAPOLIS — Picture this: You have the chance to win $1 million, but you have to survive 30 days while hunters are trying to kill you. Would you do it?
That's the premise of the new comedy thriller film, "Self Reliance," directed and written by Jake Johnson, who is best known as Nick in "New Girl" and the voice of Peter B. Parker in animated Spider-Man films.
"I was thinking a lot during the pandemic about things I was missing, and that's what kind of sparked it for me," Johnson said on coming up with the concept for the 90-minute film.
And "Self Reliance" has an impressive supporting cast as well, including Anna Kendrick ("Pitch Perfect"), Christopher Lloyd ("Back to the Future"), Andy Samberg ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine") and up-and-comer Biff Wiff ("Everything Everywhere All at Once").
"We had a great casting director, and then bringing everybody in, everyone absolutely killed it," Johnson said. "It was really fun to have all these different people being so funny and fun."
And the million-dollar question: Would Johnson make the same choice as his character in risking it all for a big prize?
"No way," Johnson laughed. "No, I wouldn't have the guts to do it, but it was fun to write a character who did do it."
Fresh off his directorial film debut, Johnson is instead going back to his roots in the near future.
"Probably more acting roles. I think the directing, I'll take a backseat on for a while. There might be another project eventually," Johnson said. "I'm doing a podcast called 'We're Here To Help,' which is a call-in type show where we've been having a lot of fun with different callers, and it's been a blast to do."
"Self Reliance" is now streaming on Hulu.