Dax Shepard plays Vince who’s the no.1 check stand operator and winner of the South West regional speed ring competition and Dane Cook plays his co-worker Zack. Jessica Simpson plays a cashier who generates rivalry between other employees to get into bed with.

Dax Shepard

What is the story of the film:
Dax Shepard: I have been employee of the month for 17 months in a row and if I make it to the 18 th month in a row I’m going to set a record, I’m going to win a 2005 Chevy Malibu and life’s going to be great.

How did you find working with the Director Greg Coolidge:
Dax Shepard: He’s all about finding the funniest thing each day and he’s been really open to collaborating with the other actors, myself included, and it makes it 20 times more rewarding as an actor if you have some say in what the product is. It makes you take pride in what gets made - it’s a great thing, especially for a first time director to be comfortable enough to take input, it’s pretty amazing.

Why did you decide to do this film:
Dax Shepard: I had done a movie just before this movie where I was the straight guy and someone else got to come in and be the funny guy, and it wasn’t as fun as I thought it might be. And I read this and I play the bad guy which is something I have never been able or been asked to do. And the bad guy in this is really funny and you get to act way crazier than you can normally act as a guy carrying the story line on your shoulders. So basically I get to come in and be the guy who falls over a lot and acts like an idiot and it just seemed really fun, and it has been really fun.

How did you find improvising in the film:
Dax Shepard: To be able to improv and find new stuff in a take has made it real fun. From the director to the producer they have all been very supportive of the improv which is great because I’m much better when I get to say my own lines.

Jessica Simpson

How did you decide for Employee of the Month to be your second movie:
Jessica Simpson: I read a lot of scripts for my second movie… a second movie is always a harder decision than the first movie because people have already made their minds up about you as an actress. I think you have more to prove in the second movie and more to show.    

What appealed to you about the part:
Jessica Simpson: I was probably 15 pages in when I called Lions Gate and was like.. I’m totally sold, I want to be a part of this movie, its fun, it’s a great character for me, it’s a great cast and I just knew it was a good part.   I’m a cashier, and there is this whole rivalry between other employees to get into bed with me. 

What was it like working with Dane Cook:
Jessica Simpson: Zak is played by Dane Cook and he has made me so completely comfortable on set. I have never had to have a love interest in front the cameras before unless I was shooting a reality TV programme. So I was a little nervous beforehand hoping that there would be some sort of chemistry and that I could make it believable to the audience, because I am a huge romantic comed y fan and I was just hoping I could convince the audiences the way that Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan and Reese Witherspoon or cute girls always convince the audience that they are really in love with the guy. And Dane has made that very easy. He has kept me laughing, kept my smile genuine. I really couldn’t ask for a better co-star.   

And with Dax Shepard:
Vince is played by Dax Shepard and I can’t even say his name without giggling. He’s a doll. Dax is very smart and he can make the entire room fall on the floor laughing just by being completely random and just saying some off the wall stuff which you cant help but laugh at. He’s perfect for his character. 

How did you find working with the Director Greg Coolidge:
Jessica Simpson: I think that it’s just his energy and his love for the project, and he’s invested a lot, he’s invested a lot of heart into the project. Upon our first meeting I wanted to do the project because of his vision and I knew it would be easy and that he would be able to deal with any kind of personality that came his way. 

Was it fun having comed ians on the set:
Jessica Simpson: All these guys really respect each other and that’s nice, really nice actually because it allows everybody to work at their craft and be the best that they can be. And the fact that they all laugh at each other is great because if you’re a comed ian it’s hard to make another comed ian laugh - you have to win them over and I think pretty much everyone is won over on the set which makes for a great atmosphere. 

What can audiences expect when they go to see Employee of the Month:
Jessica Simpson: If you have a really tough day go see Employee of the Month because you know you are just going to be wetting your pants, there’s going to be laugh after laugh…there are some really clever smart laughs, but also there’s heart to Employee of the Month which is great because it makes you say “ahhhh that’s a really great movie”. I love to come out of a movie and say that. I think that’s what you’ll say with Employee of the Month “ahhhhh that’s a really great movie”.  

Dane Cook

Who is your character in the film:
Dane Cook: Zack’s journey started in 1996 when he came here to work on what he thought was going to be like four days before he got out of there. He had big plans to start up his own dot.com during the big boom, he had a great idea, great website and he borrowed alot of money and he of course lost it because everything crashed down. So you have got a guy who is stuck absolutely stuck, in debt and one year turns into ten, and here he is in the same spot dreaming of getting out of this situation, and working alongside Vince everyday reminding him this is exactly where he doesn’t want to be.

How does your character change during the film:
Dane Cook: I think when Amy Renfrow (Jessica Simpson) comes to the store the challenge brings out other things in Zack. It reminds him there are other things worth fighting for, and there are things worth striving for. When he gets that spark from her and not only has a relationship with her, he has a better relationship with himself, and the idea that this is just a stepping stone, this place here, and it doesn’t mean he cant still do something here.

How did you get involved with the project:
Dane Cook: I got involved because Greg Coolidge is a good friend of mine and we were actually pitching something last year, and his career started to advance as did mine at the same time. I was talking to Lions Gate about my first leading role and they told me about Greg and Greg’s idea. It was a no brainer, right in my wheelhouse of comed y as they say.

Did you enjoy working with director Greg Coolidge and being able to improvise:
Dane Cook: Improv is only great when the structure is great.eddie Murphy used to say “I do all these movies and I improvise but if it’s not on the page first I’m nothing and I don’t know where I’m going with it”. Greg allowed us to have a playground but he also knows where every swing is. He knows every nook and cranny of the scene.

How does your character relate to Dax Shepards’:
Dane Cook: Vince is played by Dax Shepard and everyday I think I’m going to be punk’d and people are all like “what he do to you man:”. Every time I go to the bathroom I’m like “ok this is here where it happens like a pipe bomb or something bizarre”. Vince is like the thorn in Zack’s side. I think that for most of the time here Zack blows him off and is like “I don’t want to be this guy anyways, why am I competing”, but when this girl arrives and gets involved and mixes things up it certainly heightens the desire to be successful and be the employee of the month.

What was it like working with Jessica Simpson:
Dane Cook: She’s just amazing and she’s one of these people where what you see is what you get, and she brings that to the role. What excited me most was I’d seen her play Daisy Duke and I know her singing career and what not, but I think the thing that was so successful for her in this is role is that people know her from Newlywed s where she is just a regular girl and she brings that into this role. It’s not an over the top personality, its somebody that is really grounded and sweet and shows people a different side of her creativity.

Everyone working hard:
Dane Cook: This move is just non-stop laughs with these guys. You’ve got Dax, you’ve got Harland Williams, you’ve got Andy Dick and all these guys come from a improv background everybody is bringing their ‘A’ game, its like everybody wants to be here and make this thing huge. Nobody is mailing it in and if they were they would get stampeded because everybody just cares about how their character is coming to life. Its like people are lobbing it up there for the other one to crack out and it’s exciting to be a part of that.

Why did you decide to do this film:
Dane Cook: I have been doing stand up comed y for about 16 years and my comed y is a blend of vernacular (using words) and physicality and absurd over the top crazy ideas and what-ifs: So when I heard the idea and read it I think I called Greg 24 pages in and was like lets go I’m laughing out loud, because I saw what he had on the page and what he was going to let me do with it.

What can audiences expect:
Dane Cook: My favourite movies are like Planes, Trains and Automobiles and films with heart. I love films with heart and when I first spoke to Greg about this I was like “are we going broad or are we going to put stuff in that’s poignant and make people root:”, and I think people are definitely going to be rooting.

Have every been employee of the month:
Dane Cook: I have never been employee of the month. I have had many many jobs doing stand-up comed y but I was a quitter. I never even looked at the employee of the month chart because it was never going to happen.