'Gail Daughtry' Cast Recalls Slattery's Groin-Kick Rehearsal

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- David Wain and Ken Marino co-created the film, with Marino co-writing the script and starring in the raunchy comedy.
- Zoey Deutch plays a naive Kansas bride-to-be who travels to Los Angeles to hook up with 'Mad Men' star Jon Hamm after her fiancé uses his 'celebrity sex pass'.
- John Slattery plays himself in the film, describing it as 'Mr. Toad's Wild Ride' — 'there's no Mr. Toad, but it is a wild ride.'
- Ben Wang revealed he has a candid phone video of Deutch repeatedly kicking Slattery in the crotch during stunt rehearsals as he tested a protective device.
- Deutch called Slattery 'the funniest person I've met in my life,' and the cast's easy chemistry dominated the IndieWire Studio conversation.
- Sony Pictures Classics will release the film theatrically on Friday, July 10, following its premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
- The film's 'Wizard of Oz'-esque road-trip structure sees Deutch's character assembling a crew of misfits who each have their own motives to meet Slattery's character.
Why it matters: Sony Pictures Classics leans on the cast's easy chemistry and a video-ready crotch-kick anecdote to seed buzz ahead of the July 10 theatrical release, with Deutch's declaration that Slattery is 'the funniest person I've met in my life' giving the campaign its warmest on-the-record endorsement.




