We were joined on the Popternative show by Lilly Singh (Bad Moms, Dollface) and director Sara Zandieh (The Other Zoey, A Simple Wedding) to discuss their new comedy, Doin’ It. The film premiered in select theaters on September 19 and follows Maya (Lilly Singh), a 30-year-old software engineer from a conservative Indian family who moonlights as a high school substitute teacher while working on a teen-focused app. She’s then unexpectedly assigned to teach sex education, despite never having had sex herself.
Doin’ It also stars Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Encanto), Sabrina Jalees (Harley Quinn, Powerless), Sonia Dhillon-Tully (Wedding Season, Suits), Ana Gasteyer (American Auto, Saturday Night Live), (Nightbitch, Bob’s Burgers), Utkarsh Ambudkar (Ghosts, The Mindy Project), and Trevor Salter (Blue Bloods, The Equalizer).
Doin’ It is described “an R-rated sex comedy that tackles themes of identity, sex, shame, and growing up. It’s also a story about the unlikely people who come into our lives when we least expect it and push us past the limits we’ve set for ourselves.”
On creating relatable characters, Sara says, “In any film I make, I always see myself reflected in all of the characters, I think [in this film, Maya] is someone I totally related to in a sense that she starts her journey thinking this is what she is meant to do and not wanting to go on a windy path, and she goes on it reluctantly. I think everybody has that instinct to control it.”
Lilly, who is president of Unicorn Island Productions company, adds, “Our entire mandate is ‘how do we tell entertaining stories that are entertainment first but have some sort of message?’ That is my motto.”
Watch the full conversation with Lilly Singh and Sara Zandieh below.
_