Lionsgate’s upcoming dramedy “Good Fortune” has been heavily sold on Keanu Reeves giving up the guns of John Wick for the comically tiny wings of Gabriel, a socially awkward angel who tries to give a man an “It’s a Wonderful Life”-esque lesson even though that’s way above his pay grade.
At TIFF 2025, the film’s writer, director and star Aziz Ansari told TheWrap’s Joe McGovern that his work on his Netflix series “Master of None” prepared him when writing Gabriel for Reeves, showing him how to convert his conversations with his cast into lines that help the actors put their voice into the character.
“I read Elia Kazan, he said something to the extent of… when you meet with an actor, you’re not trying to get them to be the character. You’re trying to make the character. You change the character,” Ansari said.
When he started writing Gabriel, Ansari said he started by basing the character around Reeves’ comedic performances, the most famous being his “Bill & Ted” films. But after Reeves signed on, he began to “dial in” the role, trying to accentuate the “otherworldly” nature of Reeves’ acting style.
“Keanu is a little sharper than Gabriel, but there’s something about him. He’s so sweet. And there’s this wiseness to him, and there’s this kind of feeling that he’s otherworldly, which has been in his roles. He played the devil’s son in ‘Constantine,’ and there’s always been a mythic feel to how he plays John Wick,” he said.
But it was after meeting with Reeves that Ansari came up with many of the specific gags that the actor gets in the film, particularly after Gabriel is punished for switching the lives of an arrogant boss (played by Seth Rogen) and his beleaguered assistant (Ansari) by being forced to live as a human… something he’s never done.
“I started thinking about, ‘What if he’s never used the Internet?’ What’s he gonna do? He’s gonna look at photos of baby elephants,” he said.
“Good Fortune” hits theaters Sept. 6.
Catch up on all of TheWrap’s TIFF coverage here.
