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The Big Picture · Interview

Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on Their New Film ‘Win It All’ | The Big Picture (Ep. 8)

April 7, 2017/ 46 min/ Chris Ryan · Sean Fennessey

Chris Ryan and Sean Fennessey sit down at South by Southwest with actor Jake Johnson and director Joe Swanberg to talk about Win It All, the self-financed poker movie they wrote together and sold to Netflix. The conversation runs through their three films together, Swanberg's mumblecore roots, and why they'd rather put the thing straight in front of people at home than tour it city to city.

17 films across 1 segment.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg at SXSWthe self-financed poker movie

Win It All poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Win It All 2017

The film they're there for: Johnson plays Eddie Garrett, a small-time Chicago gambler who's handed a bag to hold and can't leave it alone. Johnson and Swanberg co-wrote it and put in their own money, then took only it to Netflix. Johnson pulled the details of Eddie's look (the gold rope chain, the hair) from years of sitting next to that guy at the table. The casino sets were built from scratch by production designer Amy Holmberg, and the poker was shot with 50-plus real gamblers playing for chips so the hands weren't faked.

Drinking Buddies poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Drinking Buddies 2013

The first Johnson-Swanberg collaboration, made while Johnson was between seasons of New Girl. Swanberg's pitch (short days, improv, an IPA or two) is what got him in, and Johnson credits his story notes with helping the film reach a far bigger audience than Swanberg's earlier work, largely on Netflix.

Digging for Fire poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Digging for Fire 2015

Their second film together, shot in Los Angeles and the first they fully self-financed. It made its money back plus a little, which is why Win It All felt like house money.

Happy Christmas poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Happy Christmas 2014

Swanberg cites it, right after Drinking Buddies, as part of learning that the people who bring the most value to a movie should be the ones benefiting most from it.

Hannah Takes the Stairs poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Hannah Takes the Stairs 2007

Swanberg's third feature and his first real burst of attention on the small indie scene, before a run of films almost nobody saw.

Alexander the Last poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Alexander the Last 2009

Produced by Noah Baumbach; another early Swanberg film that drew some notice during his ups-and-downs period on the indie circuit.

Safety Not Guaranteed poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Safety Not Guaranteed 2012

Swanberg acted in it, and points to feeling the audience lean forward once its story engine kicked in: the sensation he and Johnson chased on Win It All.

California Split poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

California Split 1974

Swanberg's favorite of the gambling movies and, he says, a perfect film: the reference point he'd most welcome, so long as it lands in essence rather than as a copied shot. He deliberately avoids rewatching the classics before writing so they don't leak in.

Rounders poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Rounders 1998

Named as one of the gambling movies Sean rattled off leaving the theater; the kind of thing Johnson will stop on whenever it's on cable.

The Gambler poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

The Gambler 1974

The original, invoked alongside California Split and Rounders as a touchstone for Win It All.

The Cincinnati Kid poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

The Cincinnati Kid 1965

Another gambling-movie reference point that came up as the hosts placed Win It All in the canon.

Apocalypse Now poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Apocalypse Now 1979

Johnson brings up Coppola putting up every asset he had as the ultimate version of Swanberg gambling his own money on their films.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse 1991

The making-of documentary about Apocalypse Now, shot by Coppola's wife; Johnson asks whether Swanberg has seen it while making the gambling analogy.

Get Out poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Get Out 2017

Johnson had just seen it and calls it perfect: a funny film with a monster of a story engine, the model he and Swanberg want to push toward next.

The Mummy poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

The Mummy 2017

Johnson's big studio job opposite Tom Cruise, which he sets against the Swanberg films: a great gig with no gamble in it.

Die Hard poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Die Hard 1988

His shorthand for rewatchability (the movie you catch 30 times over a summer), which he thinks Win It All is built for.

Waterworld poster
Jake Johnson and Joe Swanberg on

Waterworld 1995

Turns up in Johnson's riff about actors who quietly bankroll their own dream projects and end up broke.

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