Jake Johnson Breaks Down ‘Self Reliance’ Alternate Endings: “It’s Choose Your Own Adventure”

Jake Johnson’s new Hulu movie, Self Reliance—which began streaming today—could have ended many different ways.

“It’s probably just my lack of experience, but for me—and I know this seems naive—but it’s choose your own adventure. The ending doesn’t matter,” Johnson —who wrote, directed, and starred in the film—told Decider in a recent Zoom interview.

But test audiences disagreed. “The ending of this movie really changes the viewing experience in a way that I didn’t expect,” Johnson said. “For audiences, those last ten minutes really matter.”

Johnson and his producers (The Lonely Island’s Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer) dutifully tinkered away, shooting version after version of the final moments of this high-concept, low-budget comedy. The release was delayed from September 2023 to November, then to January. And Johnson still isn’t sure if they got it right. “I feel like could be working on this movie for another year.”

The film—which is Johnson’s feature directorial debut—casts the New Girl star as Tommy Walcott, a floundering middle-aged man recently dumped by his longtime girlfriend. When actor Andy Samberg, playing himself, offers Tommy a chance to compete in a dark web reality series, he jumps at the chance to reinvigorate his life. Even if that means running from trained assassins who will try to kill him the moment he’s alone.

From the get-go, it’s unclear if this dark web game is real or all in Tommy’s head. There’s evidence that it’s all made up (Tommy’s family claims this isn’t the first time he’s made up outrageous lies to cope with loneliness), and evidence that it’s all happening for real (Anna Kendrick answers Tommy’s Craigslist ad and claims she is also playing the game). Audiences won’t know what to believe up until the end. Even then, Johnson leaves it open-ended. The writer, director, and star spoke to Decider about how he interprets the Self Reliance ending, the alternate endings that he filmed, and why he’ll miss his recently canceled Starz series Minx. Spoilers ahead!

This is such an original script. How did you get the initial idea, and how did it evolve?

The initial idea was supposed to be a limited series. I saw it more episodic—I thought each turn and reveal would be a fun end to a 22-minute episode. I pitched it to Netflix back during my New Girl days, and they passed. I got my feelings hurt, and decided I didn’t want to do it any more. I’m a big baby, so I just put my ball away and said, “I don’t want to play anymore!”

During the pandemic, I was going through my embarrassing “Jake’s Writing Folder” on my computer, and being like, “Which one of these masterpieces do I want to waste my time on now?” I was reading over this one, and the themes really hit for me. The idea of transcendentalism, the idea of relying on yourself even when everyone’s against you—it felt like that moment to me. I was like, “Man, if we climb out of this thing and we get to make stuff again, that’s the movie I want to make.” Part of this Hollywood game for me is that you don’t know how many shots you get, and when it’s over, you want to leave behind something you’re proud of. Say what you will about it, but this one means something to me.

When did The Lonely Island come on as producers, and how involved were they in developing the script?

They came on really early. First it was Ali Bell, their producer. I’ve worked with her since [2011’s] No Strings Attached. The Lonely Island guys are incredible. They really work. You get each of them at different moments. Akiva [Schaffer] is the biggest animal. He gave a ton of notes on the script and helped in editing—we could send him dailies, and he would cut versions. Akiva’s no joke! His notes are spectacular. Jorma [Taccone] helped in the script and would watch everything and give notes, and was really helpful and present. And Andy [Samberg] was in it! He also came in at the last minute, like right before we locked, and gave huge notes about the ending, which really helped us. This movie does not work without them.

[Warning: The next part of this interview contains spoilers. Stop reading now if you don’t want to know how the movie ends.]

Not to skip ahead, but I did want to talk about the ending—what notes did you receive from Andy for that?

We did a lot of different versions of the ending. There were versions that left it very unclear. There were versions that ended at the warehouse. There were versions where, once he wins and before everybody comes out, Anna [Kendrick’s] character is in the warehouse too—and then Tommy and Maddy kiss and run off. The “going to her door and knocking” [scene] was a reshoot. The Wayne Brady scene, where he was with the family, for a long time was not in it.

We would do different endings and put it in front of an audience. The ending of this movie really changes the viewing experience in a way that I didn’t expect. It’s probably just my lack of experience, but for me—and I know this seems naive—but it’s choose your own adventure. The ending doesn’t matter, the journey is what matters. But for audiences, those last ten minutes really matter. Andy’s big push was, “It should end in a very clean way, that’s understandable.” He pushed for it to end in this order. Then we put it in front of audiences, and a lot of them agreed.

I have to ask: Is the game show that Tommy thinks he is on a real show?

Yes.

I was watching with my partner, who works in schizophrenia research, and he was convinced your character was schizophrenic—that the show was not real.

Look, here’s what I really believe. I might not be the majority, but when I consume something, it’s fucking mine. My interpretation is right. For example, I loved The Sopranos. I don’t care what David Chase says about the ending, because when I watch it alone, my ending is the right answer. Maybe that’s because I’m an egomaniac, but it belongs to me. So your partner’s take on it is right, for your partner! For a long time in press, I was like, “I don’t want to say my take on it, because who cares?” But to me—and mind you, I’m the guy playing Tommy—I have to play it like it is real. I had to shoot those scenes like they are real.

As the writer of the film, do you feel the game show is real?

As the writer of it, I wanted both [possibilities] to work 100 percent. The game for me was that I needed both sides to work. The way we’ve ended this movie, it seems very likely that it was real. That said, I had people say to me, “That Wayne Brady cameo doesn’t prove anything. You can pay anyone to do anything!” I was like, “You’re dead right.” The truth of the matter is, if you want to believe it’s not real, there’s enough to believe that it’s not real. I’ve also had somebody have a theory that Anna Kendrick’s character didn’t exist, and he was going to knock on somebody’s door. Great! I know that might not be the most satisfying answer, but I like the choose-your-own-adventure aspect of it.

That Wayne Brady cameo is what threw me!

Right, and we were going to cut that—there was a version where the family scene ends, where you don’t see Wayne, and I go like, “OK, well, thank you so much!” and we cut to the exterior shot. We put [that version] in front of a lot of people, and a lot of people were like, “Seeing Wayne paid off all the Wayne [talk]. Without it, why was he mentioned so much?”

You changed the title of the film from Delusions of Grandeur to Self Reliance—why?

The name of the gameshow is D.O.G. The title of the movie changed early on for me, because I was calling it D.O.G., but that’s what the game is, that’s not what the movie is. Calling it the game discredited the movie. Tommy’s whole family is a big part of the movie, but they’re not in D.O.G. I realized it was just too singular to call it D.O.G.

Biff Wiff is so funny in this movie as your friend James (aka Walter). Talk to me about casting and working with him.

I think he’s the star of the movie. He’s the tone of it. If I’m making a movie called D.O.G., about just schizophrenia, then I think Biff’s character is too light. There [would have been] certain things that I need to take way more seriously, because it’s way heavier. So Biff is the tone of this movie, in that I believe him. Everything he says I believe to be real, I believe he’s three-dimensional. But he’s light, charming, and fun to watch, rather than sad to watch with a lesson attached about the homeless issue in LA, which is not what this movie is. I did not want this movie to be lesson movie or an agenda movie. It’s meant to entertain.

I was very sorry to hear about the Minx cancellation. How are you feeling about it?

I really loved working with Ellen [Rapoport, Minx creator and showrunner] and the cast and crew. I thought it was a really special group of people, and I feel like we didn’t get to finish what we were all building. I feel like Season 2 of the show is you’re finding the footing, and in Season 3 you get to go to another level. I really loved playing Doug Renetti. He was a truly special character. We were just starting to get at how weird, how crazy, these type of characters are—and those characters are real! When you know them in your real life, they are such layered, fun humans. But it’s part of the game these days. I don’t think the game is about one or two projects now, I think it’s about 10 to 20. Sad, but you move on and try to find another one.

Is there any chance of a third network picking up the show?

I honestly have no idea. The way the business is working right now—I just read somewhere that Paramount and another big one might merge? I have no idea what’s happening with the structure of the business, and I can’t even pretend to keep up.

But, I’ve got a funny, quick Minx story: We had a pool guy for a while, who was a total hunk. The kind of guy who would take his shirt off while cleaning the pool, and my wife and I would be like, “We’re living a porno movie!” You’re not supposed to be that hot in suburbia. He and I got to talking one day, and he said, “Hey man, I love Minx, I would love an opportunity, I’m an actor.” So I brought it up to Ellen [Rapoport]. She saw a photo, and said, “He’s very handsome. Would he be willing to show his dick?”

I realize now that Minx is over, something that had become normal to me, which is now over, is me saying to this guy and saying, “Hey man, I talked to the showrunner. She’s interested. Are you willing to… uh… show your penis on camera?” [Laughs.] We were like by my pool heater! And he was like, “I don’t really feel comfortable.” I felt like a ’70s pervy producer being like, “I don’t know what to tell ya, baby, you want the stardom, you gotta drop the pants!” After that, I remember feeling weird about the show. When it got cancelled, I thought, “That will never happen again. I’ll never have to ask a guy, if you want to act in a show I’m in, will you be willing to take your underpants off?” So there is an upside to it being cancelled.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.