In a small town, anything goes, which seems to be the M.O. for Bad Man, a recently released action comedy that revels in early 2000s countryside humor.
It’s a fun indie film that follows a group of small-town officers who are joined by a mysterious state agent sent to dismantle a drug trafficking ring. However, things change as one of the officers, Evans, tries to follow Agent Gaines’ footsteps.
It stars the likes of Seann William Scott, Johnny Simmons, Chance Perdomo (in his last appearance), Lovi Poe, and Rob Riggle. Though it’s a small cast, there’s certainly enough shenanigans to go around, and I had the chance to speak with Simmons all about it. (You can watch the full interview below.)
When discussing what made Bad Man‘s story special to him, Simmons said that the comedy aspect was what interested him the most.
“There’s a moment at the beginning in the coffee shop where there’s a character played by Lovie Poe,” Simmons said. “We had like an exchange back and forth. I think there’s moments like those where I can inject a little bit of comedy and have some fun with it.”
“There’s also these huge action scenes where there’s a meth lab that gets blown up and we have a shootout,” Simmons added. “I just really like those type of movies.”
On Simmons’ character, Officer Evans, the star brought up how he liked reading into the character while making him his own. “I just really found the character of Evans really enjoyable to read. I was just trying as hard as to do the right thing in a town that’s not doing the right thing.”
“I just thought it was hilarious, but it also had this part,” Simmons continued. “There’s [also] the action aspect of it. I just wanted to try to do that justice.”
Simmons stars alongside Gen V‘s Chance Perdomo, marking Bad Man as Perdomo’s last on-screen appearance since his passing. Simmons reflected on the time he spent with Perdomo and recalls some fun memories the two shared while filming.
“Working with Chance was incredible, and he was a good friend of mine,” Simmons said. “It was incredible to work with him. It was so much fun [and] he brings such a light to the set. I’m really happy to share his last film.”
Simmons shared one scene in particular he had with Perdomo that really brought their friendship closer together. “In the movie, there’s a scene where we’re driving along in the car, and what happens on these shots is you spend like an hour setting everything up.”
“There’s cameras on the side of the car, they do all these mounts and lighting and then they close down roads,” Simmons continued.
“Oftentimes, they’ll just let you roll and riff with things. You’ll get the lines, you’ll get the scene, get everything out of the way, and then you have a couple of moments just to shoot, and Chance and I just had the best time. I mean, I was cracking up the whole time!”
Furthermore, Simmons also recalled the experience he shared with the community while filming. Bad Man was filmed in several small towns across Alabama, allowing the team to fully get into that “small town” setting.
“The day, Chance and I were doing that riff with the car when we were setting up the rig on the car, somebody brought us cookies out,” Simmons recalled. “I was like, ‘This is wild.’ They saw us setting everything up, and she brought us cookies. She brought like the whole set cookies — and that just really hit me.”
Outside of Bad Man, Simmons also has had prominent roles on several films, including Edgar Wright and Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim universe as well as the Whiplash short that influenced the award-winning film.
Looking back on the Whiplash short film, Simmons recounted his experience there and how it prepared him for films like Bad Man. ” I’d never learned how to play the drums, and I had a really tricky timing.”
“The time signature for drumming the beats that we needed for that film were kind of they’re a little bit difficult to learn on a whim,” Simmons added. “Same thing with Bad Man, it was like, I get to do what I wouldn’t normally do. I would never sit and just — unless I took an interest in the drums, I would never sit and learn how to play.”
“I think the same thing came from Bad Man. It was like, ‘OK, well, how do we make this all believable?’ Simmons said. “What can I bring to the character? What can I add to the material?'”
Simmons credits the film’s writer, Michael Diliberti, for also bringing depth to Simmons’ character. “The writer, Michael Diliberti and I try to do it do it justice. I think that’s ultimately the goal.”
Furthermore, Simmons also reflected on his time throughout the various projects within the Scott Pilgrim world. Recently, Netflix premiered an anime spinoff based on O’Malley’s original novels with the cast from Edgar Wright’s adaptation.
“That whole movie was incredible,” Simmons said. “And then the TV show, which is on Netflix, and they have a game as well, which I had on my Switch.”
“Bill Pope was the director of photography [on Scott Pilgrim]. He first introduced me to photography and started explaining it to me. I built a darkroom in my bathroom while we were shooting Scott Pilgrim because I was there for six months. There’s a lot of scenes that I’m not really in or I’m in the background.”
“I just got so much from that shoot: Edgar Wright, all the incredible cast,” he said. “That was a special one.”
Watch the full interview with Johnny Simmons:
Bad Man is available to purchase on Apple TV+ and Prime Video.
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Chris Gallardo
Christopher Gallardo is an entertainment writer, critic, and member of New York Film Critics Online. While not running his own social channels, Chris can be found writing reviews and breakdowns on all things films and TV for multiple outlets. Plus, he loves Percy Jackson, animated films and shows, and Fallout! You can find him anywhere on social media at @chrisagwrites.