Jake Johnson wants to be Bollywood's hero: I want the dance number, everything

There is a very specific kind of chaos that Jake Johnson (New Girl, Spiderverse fame) brings to an interview. It begins grounded, thoughtful even, and then suddenly spirals into him pitching himself as the next Bollywood hero with a midriff-baring dance number.

Somewhere in between, Jessy Hodges is laughing, agreeing to star in an Eat Pray Love-style India adventure, and both are casually scheduling a fictional Mumbai shoot for “Monday morning, 10 AM, not too early.”

The duo plays the morally complicated Carl and Mallory in their new dark comedy thriller, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, featuring Tatiana Maslany. They are fully aware that their characters can come across as antagonistic. But according to Johnson, that is never how actors should approach them.

Playing the ‘villains’

“I don’t think a character ever sees themself as the bad guy,” Johnson says during an exclusive conversation with India Today. “Besides Al Pacino in Scarface, most people don’t know that others think of them as bad. They’re just trying to do what they think is right.”

It is this perspective that shaped Carl and Mallory. The actors insist they never played the characters as villains, even if audiences may perceive them that way. “We played them as if we were in the right,” Johnson explains. “We were doing everything we needed to win because it was important that we won.”

Hodges agrees, adding that audiences are often drawn to morally messy people anyway. “It’s fun to be the villain,” she says. “Those are the more dynamic, interesting characters. In this world, everyone’s a little bit of both. Everyone’s a little bad and a little good, and that’s what’s so interesting about this show.”

The parenting debate at the centre of the show

That grey area becomes especially evident in the show’s conversations around parenting. Carl and Mallory constantly position themselves as people trying to “do better” for Paula’s (Tatiana Maslany) child, even as their actions feel quietly judgmental. When asked whether the “good mother versus bad mother” undertones bothered them personally, the conversation briefly turned unexpectedly honest.

Johnson initially jokes that the couple is simply trying to offer Paula a dream life in Idaho complete with “a house with a yard, a Jeep, pets,” before acknowledging the deeper discomfort underneath it all.

“All they’re seeing is what they’re seeing,” he says of the characters. “We’re seeing a woman who is being charged with murder, and we’re legitimately concerned about our child who’s in her custody.”

Jake Johnson on stepping outside comedy

Interestingly, despite the darker themes, neither actor found the roles intimidating in the traditional sense. “For me, this felt very much in my wheelhouse,” Hodges says. “It’s always interesting as a person associated with comedy to not be the comedic part of the show. That’s a little scary or exciting. But this role felt like one I could do.”

Johnson, meanwhile, had a very Jake Johnson answer ready. “Actually, everything scares me,” he answers with candour.

Jake Johnson’s Bollywood dream

Meanwhile, Jake lights up almost immediately at the mention of working in an Indian production. “I would love to go to India. It’s one of the places on my bucket list,” he says. Then comes the pitch. “I’d love to do a dance number. You know what I’m talking about. I want the whole thing.” A Bollywood dance number? “I want all of it,” he continues enthusiastically. “I want the right outfit. I want to be in a Bollywood production. I want to be the only American and see what happens.”

And because apparently one role is not enough, Johnson already has his character arc mapped out too. “I want to play the bad guy and the love interest,” he says. “I’m ready.”

At this point, Hodges is fully onboard. “If you could pitch an Eat Pray Love kind of situation where I’m on some adventure finding myself in India, I would absolutely do it,” she says.

“We’ll do it together,” Johnson immediately adds. What starts as a joke slowly turns into an oddly convincing pitch for an Indo-Hollywood comedy.

For Indian fans of Johnson, particularly those who discovered him through New Girl or his voice work in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the enthusiasm feels genuine rather than performative. and looks like, by the end of the interaction, the fictional project had unofficially entered pre-production. “Monday morning,” Hodges jokes. “10 AM,” Johnson adds. “Let’s not go crazy. Not too early.”

Both Jake and Jessy feature in Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed. The first two episodes of the show are out on Apple TV.