Taryn Manning, who is known for her more serious roles such as playing Tiffany in “Orange Is the New Black”, was thrown on a wild rollercoaster when she was performing with “Entourage”’s Jeremy Piven on the set of their newest hometown comedy, “Last Call”.
“I’ve known Jeremy for a very long time. We’ve both been in the business for a long time so we’ve crossed paths, and he’s hilarious and such a good person and very kind and such a generous actor and screen partner, so we had a lot of fun. I didn’t realize he was doing a lot of stand up comedy and touring these days, so he was ready to go at all times, whether it’s on camera or off, and you gotta be ready or you’ll be like, ‘What? What did you just say?’ He’s on one,” Manning told ET Canada.
“A lot of really funny things happened after cut, and I remember at the house party… Seriously if you knew all the things that happened, it’s a whole other movie,” she added giggling through her words. “A lot of times when things are serious, there’s a lot of joking on the side to illuminate the tension.”
Starring Jamie Kennedy, Bruce Dern, Zach McGowan and Piven, the IFC film shares the story of a real estate developer, Mick (Piven), returning home to his offbeat blue-collar Irish neighbourhood in the shadows of Philadelphia for a funeral and is obligated to stay to ensure his parents’ ailing family business gets back on course. Amidst all of this, he grows closer to his childhood crush (Manning) who is also back in town, while enduring the constant ridicule from his old hometown crew. As Mick begins to reconnect with the neighbourhood he grew up in, he finds himself at a crossroads when forced to either raze or resurrect the family bar.
“I loved the script. A friend of mine is a producer and he told me that it was a different part than normal, and that it was a hilarious, feel good movie, so I read the script and I loved the part, even though at the time I didn’t know Jeremy Piven was playing the [main] role. We didn’t have much of the cast yet. I just truly liked the script,” Manning said.
“Going home to family is such a blessing,” she added of the film’s theme. “If you have that to go home to and get together with your friends from your childhood, there’s nothing more fun than that, especially if everyone is doing well. When you go back home, all of that pressure from life dissipates and you can enjoy life again.”
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That’s a message Manning hopes viewers take to heart, as the timing of the movie is a bit of a Catch 22 situation.
“I feel that fortunately, maybe even unfortunately, the pandemic kind of forced people to go back home and be with their family because it’s a scary time or they couldn’t afford their homes anymore and I always like to look at the license plates now because they’re all over the United States, no matter where you are. It’s cool that people are travelling and who knows what their story is or they’re in their hometown so I just think it’s important to always keep your family close because ultimately when things to bad, you need people to count on, and you really do see who is there for you during those times,” Manning said.
“Last Call” will be in theatres, on-demand, and digital on March 19th.
