Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons movie wasn’t a box office win, but it was a blast of a movie from its talented filmmakers Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. Three years later, their latest movie is here, and according to them, Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds had a lot to do with getting it off the ground.
CinemaBlend had the chance to talk to the writer/director duo at San Diego Comic -Con. There, we caught up with Goldstein and Daley about how their Apple TV movie Mayday, starring Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh, came to be. Per Daley:
When we were in post on Dungeons and Dragons. I remember we were talking about it as we were editing. And, it was a long editing process. We had the idea, but we also knew that it would be probably a tough sell to get a period Soviet era action comedy made especially in this day and age where IP feels like the main driving force. So, we had a meeting with Ryan Reynolds and his company, and we pitched him the idea, and they loved it, and wanted to do it.
Mayday has already been described as “Top Gun meets Misery” – since it follows a 1980s-era U.S. Air Force pilot who crashlands in the Russian wilderness. He then gets saved by an ex-KGB agent who’s got a thing for American culture, and they end up buddying up. As Daley shared with us, they weren’t sure the idea would be sellable on its own. But with Ryan Reynolds on board, they thought it might. As he added:
We knew that he is probably one of maybe three people that could get that movie made. And so, we were so excited to have him on board, and it kind of went from there. And, then for the other actor, Ken Branagh was always the top choice. And, when he said yes, we were thrilled because it's just as high a level as you can get in terms of acting ability. And also a great unexpected pairing with Ryan, because you tend to think of Ryan as a movie star of big popcorn movies – which is not necessarily what Branagh’s known for. So, that synergy between them was super fun to play with.
Daley and Goldstein have been known to turn what is expected out of their movies on their heads. They made Spider-Man: Homecoming a different kind of Marvel movie, Game Night a refreshing ensemble comedy and Dungeons & Dragons was an especially clever popcorn adventure. Mayday is no exception. The movie may look like an action-comedy on the face, but it’s actually a lot more heartwarming than one might expect. Reynolds and Branagh are a match out of left field, and that’s part of why them being in a two-hander might actually work so well.
I know when I saw it I thought it was going to go one direction, and ended up going in the other. And as far as Ryan Reynolds’ successful movie star career has gone, I found it to be a nice change of pace for the actor. As Daley added:
We keep saying this is kind of like the comedic Misery, or at least it starts that way. And then, it eventually evolves into more of the kind of two-hander buddy comedies from the 80s that we loved. Some of our favorite movies growing up were those odd couple pairings where people are forced together, whether it's Planes, Trains And Automobiles, Midnight Run or 48 Hours. And, we thought, ‘How can we give that a kind of modern spin and set it in a place and time where you get the most bang for your buck?’ And, the Cold War just felt like a great opportunity to do that with an American hero and what we think is a scary KGB operative.
These are all really solid reference films, if you ask me. You can check out the Mayday trailer below:
Mayday is on the 2026 movie schedule for those with an Apple TV subscription. The movie will start streaming on September 4. Elsewhere, Goldstein and Daley are currently writing the next Star Trek film, they have written a Dungeons & Dragons sequel and are helming an action/thriller called Renegades.
While they might have left-field ideas, they always make them work in really exciting ways, and we can’t wait to continue to follow their career.
