Names: Zach Woods and Ayden Mayeri
SXSW project: “Spin Me Round,” directed by Jeff Baena
Notable past credits: Woods starred on “Silicon Valley,” and Mayeri recently starred in Apple TV+ series “The Afterparty”
An Austin antiquing moment at Uncommon Objects: “One of the Italian cast members from our movie is in town and he bought vintage cowboy boots to bring back to Italy,” Mayeri says.
Favorite thing about Austin: “I like that there’s a bat bridge, even though I’ve never seen those bats,” Woods says. “And I like that everyone’s in a band.”
The two comedians were in Austin, Texas, with the rest of their “Spin Me Round” cast this past weekend for the premiere of their film, led by Alison Brie. “The manager of a franchise Italian restaurant gets chosen to go on an all-expenses-paid retreat to Italy with other managers of the franchise,” Woods says of the film’s premise; he and Mayeri portray two supporting corporate chefs. “And she’s expecting to have a trip of a lifetime, but then things make a hard left turn.”
“There’s a lot of intriguing mystery-reveal things that go on. It’s a little darker than you’d expect,” adds Mayeri of the ensemble film, which also stars Aubrey Plaza and Molly Shannon; they filmed in Tuscany last spring. “My character is super optimistic. I’m from California, this is going to be the best time I’ve ever had, what could go wrong, sunshine and rainbows — and then stuff goes wrong.”
“My character is a real ‘drink the Kool-Aid’ believer in the corporate orthodoxy of this franchise. He’s almost feral to meet the founder,” Woods says. “He’s distressed when he discovers things are not as they seem.”
Later this spring, Mayeri, who Woods hypes as an “open secret of the Los Angeles comedy community,” will appear in the Showtime series “I Love That for You” as a Home Shopping Network host. “And Zach’s going to be actually making movies because Zach has a brilliant brain and he’s an amazing director,” Mayeri adds. “It will be very exciting to see what he makes.”
MORE DEOM SXSW:
Maria Bakalova Makes Her SXSW Debut With Two Films
Lily Sheen Debuts as Nicolas Cage’s Daughter in ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’
Owen Teague Heads to SXSW With a Quiet Drama and Twisty Horror