Ibiza is the newest NETFLIX Original film starring three hilarious and talented women.
The three women in the movie take a trip to Spain and live it up in every possible way, as they seek out a hot DJ and show us what a wild girl’s trip looks like day in and day out.
The Knockturnal attended the NYC red carpet screening of Ibiza and in attendance were the three leading ladies, director Alex Richanbach, a couple of other cast members and some celebrity guests as well.
We spoke to director Alex and the leading ladies – Phoebe Robinson, Gillian Jacobs and Vanessa Bayer – about their attraction to the script, challenges whilst filming and some of their favorite moments as well.
Alex Richanbach Interview:
The Knockturnal: How did this project come into your hands and how did you start creating this movie?
Alex Richanbach: “Yeah so Lauryn Kahn wrote this amazing script – her and I were working together at the time at ‘Funny or Die’ and she sent me like the early draft of it and I just always loved the script. When they were getting ready to make it into a movie like November of 2016 she called me and said ‘do you want to come and direct it’ and then we’ve been working on it together ever since.”
The Knockturnal: What was the biggest challenge you faced while filming this movie? It’s a lot of fun and humor with a script like this. Was it hard to get everyone to keep it together sometimes?
Alex: It was really fun. There wasn’t a ton of challenges on it, I mean we really were a great team and had a ton of fun. I mean certainly shooting the club scenes and having a thousand extras and being in real locations and doing that was physically challenging but I think that it was mostly just a lot of fun.
The Knockturnal: How was the casting process like?
Alex Richanbach: I was fans of all three of them. I really wanted to have individual voices that we can tailor the script to, people that had their own comedic delivery and their own tone, and we could tailor to them. So, we started with Gillian and then we were able to get Vanessa on board and I’ve been a big fan of Phoebe’s and wanted to see if they were a great group. We put them together and once you saw the three of them together you knew, instant (chemistry). You knew that was the movie you wanted to see, also the movie you wanted to make. I was like I’m gonna spend a few months in Europe with a group of people this is what it has to be. And Richard, as soon as I met him I was like ‘this is the guy’ and I really felt that way about the whole cast. So we were just looking – each character we really wanted to have unique people with strong voices and then blend them all together.
The Knockturnal: Funniest moment on set?
Alex Richanbach: Oh my God, so many. I mean anytime we had Gillian, Vanessa and Phoebe improvising together it was just a joy to be on set. I can’t narrow it down to one. I guess one that kind of stands out is Vanessa shooting the elliptical scene. She was on the elliptical machine for like 2 and a half hours just improving the whole time and that was a lot of fun.
Interview with Cast Members – Phoebe, Vanessa and Gillian:
Netflix’s Ibiza Premiere at AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 on May 21, 2018, in New York City.
The Knockturnal: What gravitated you towards the script?
Phoebe Robinson: Well, I thought it was really nice to just have a movie be about three women, hanging out, they like each other – they’re not competing with each other, they’re not also obsessed with a guy, so it was just really nice to just have a fun movie like that. And then, I was the last person to be cast in it, so when I heard Gillian and Vanessa are in it, I was like ‘I want to do this movie’.
Vanessa Bayer: I just thought it was such a fun story about female friendship and everything and there were so many funny things in it for all of the characters. But there was one thing in particular that I read that I’ve never seen before which is – I don’t want to give too much away – but I’m in a home gym and it’s just the idea of someone being sort of hyped up on drugs and going on an elliptical was very funny to me. And I’ve never seen that before and that scene alone, I was like ‘oh that would be so fun’.
Gillian Jacobs: I just thought it was an amazing leading role in a film. It’s a movie that I’ve always dreamed of being a part of a movie like this. So to be the lead in a movie like this, I just lucked at the opportunity.
The Knockturnal: Favorite moment on set?
Phoebe Robinson: I think one of my favorite moments was doing the club stuff, cause I’m not a club person. I’ve been to two clubs in my life. A bunch of us went for a friend’s bachelorette party to Vegas, and we went to a strip club at like 8 pm cause I was like I gotta get home to sleep. So doing this in the movie, I got to live out my fantasy of like ‘If I was a true club go-er that’d be awesome’ – and we actually did a couple of car stunts which was fun. They prepped us like ‘don’t do anything stupid or whatever’ but we’d be in the car going pretty fast so that was kind of cool, I felt like Vin Diesel for a second (laughs).
The Knockturnal: What was the biggest challenge in filming this movie?
Phoebe Robinson: So, this is my first movie so I think doing night shoots. We would do a lot of – you start in late evening and go until 5 in the morning and then being overseas, your body is already out of whack. So that was the biggest thing, you gotta be awake at 4 o’clock in the morning when normally I’d be asleep. But I feel like the movie was really east to shoot and everyone got along so well.
Vanessa Bayer: I mean honestly we were having so much fun and then to remember that we were working and kind of get focused again. Also, they thought it would be so hot the whole time we were filming cause it was over the summer and everything. But, it ended up being so freezing cold but all of our outfits were like sleeveless and stuff so that was challenging but also you know, kept us awake.
Gillian Jacobs: The other thing about starring in a movie is that you’re there all day, every day so just like – you’re tired, you’re not getting enough sleep, just like keeping your stamina up, I think that’s hard in a film shoot.
The Knockturnal: What’s one thing that you learned as an actress after being a part of this film?
Gillian Jacobs: To keep challenging myself to do different types of roles, different types of movies, different genres and always just keep trying new things.
Make sure to check out IBIZA on Netflix now!
