'Hit & Run's' Joy Bryant on Dax Shepard, Stunt Driving and Nude Senior Citizens (Video)

When Dax Shepard was casting Hit & Run, his feature debut as a director and screenwriter, he enlisted the help of his closest friends for the roles. Among them is his Parenthood co-star Joy Bryant.

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Hit and Run: Film Review

The duo portray husband and wife on the NBC dramedy, but play former flames in Hit & Run. While Shepard’s character is happily involved with a new girlfriend (played by real-life fiancée Kristen Bell), Bryant’s character has fallen for bad boy Alex (Bradley Cooper) and together they embark on a mission of revenge against Shepard’s Charlie.

Bryant tells The Hollywood Reporter that Shepard literally knocked on her trailer door on the Parenthood set when approaching her about the film, to which she immediately and enthusiastically agreed.

“This was something that was his baby, his brainchild, that he wrote,” she says. “I wasn’t surprised because it’s just an extension of what I’ve already witnessed from him. The evolution of Dax Shepard -- it’s pretty cool.”

And while Bryant is actually a certified stunt driver herself, she spends the majority of the film in the passenger seat.

“My husband’s a stunt man, and he dragged me to stunt driving school with him because I hate driving  and he felt that it would help to make me feel more comfortable,” she says. “And it did in certain ways, and certain ways, I’m still not. I think it made me an aggressive driver versus anything, but I know how to do cool tricks like 90s and 180s. I know how to rig my e-brake.”

But all those car chases paled in comparison to one memorable scene: the lemonparty.

“It was so weird but so awesome that I’m bummed we didn’t do more takes,” Bryant confesses of walking in on a hotel room full of elderly nudes. According to press notes from the studio, none of the actors – save for Shepard and Bell – were aware of what was behind that door during filming.

Hit & Run opens Aug. 22.

Email: Sophie.Schillaci@thr.com; Twitter: @SophieSchillaci