For Jay Ellis, building on screen chemistry with Running Point costar Kate Hudson was nothing short of a slam dunk.
“Kate, first of all, she’s such an easy person to be around,” Ellis, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting his Creative Spirit Challenge for Aspiring Filmmakers with Rabbit Hole Distillery. “She’s funny, she’s kind, she’s a bit of a smart ass. You get all sides of her at the same time. Also, she’s, like, walking around singing all the time. She’s serenading you with this mermaid-like voice. It’s beautiful.”
The duo play colleagues on the sports drama, which premieres on Netflix on Thursday, September 27. Ellis portrays Jay Brown, the head coach of fictitious NBA team the Los Angeles Waves. Hudson, meanwhile, plays Isla Gordon: a former party girl who finds herself thrown into the role of team President when her older brother Cam (Justin Theroux) heads to rehab to tend to his drug addiction. Together, they are tasked with proving that the Waves have a “winning roster” with the hodge-podge group of players they’ve assembled.
Ellis said that while he had no “expectation” going into working with Hudson, he knew the pair would have multiple scenes together — and was happy to discover how well they gelled as actors.
“There’s just some people you just click with. I feel fortunate to have worked with someone like Kate,” he continued. “I feel like acting is constantly giving gifts to somebody. I’m giving you a gift and then you’re reacting to it, and then you’re giving me a gift and we’re going back and forth. And I think when you’re locked in, it’s magic and you create something that hopefully people really feel and relate to…. And that was working with Kate.”
While starring alongside Hudson was clearly a high point of getting to work on the series, Ellis was also excited to bring a big part of himself to the role — other than his first name — by using his expertise. While attending Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, the actor was a member of the basketball team, graduated Suma Cum Laude and served as student body president.
“It’s crazy that I got to bring this much of my personal life to a role every single day. It was kind of wild,” Ellis told Us at the Running Point premiere in Los Angeles earlier this month. “It definitely took me back to that time, which was a lot of fun obviously. It was great. I thought about my teammates. I thought about injuries, guys who had gotten hurt. I thought about my own selfishness or my ambition of wanting to be the best player on my team. I thought of all of those things and how that relates.”
Ellis added that there were differences from his own basketball career, too, which made for an “interesting experience.” He told Us: “I’m a coach on the show, having to talk to these younger players. And [my character is] only also a year or two removed from playing [himself].”
That competitive spirit that Running Point entices, Ellis said, also felt relatable. “I find myself constantly wanting to best the last thing or push a little bit further,” he explained of his own competitive nature, which he says he directs mostly at himself. “That could be from a workout to a role to my next take, to be honest with you, when I’m on set. Part of that I think just lives in me innately. And I think another part of it has just been kind of conditioned through sports.”
Perhaps Ellis’ love of competition will lend itself useful when serving as a mentor to an up-and-coming filmmaker for his Creative Spirit Challenge with Rabbit Hole Distillery. The partnership features an exclusive contest for aspiring filmmakers and the launch of a limited-edition distillery series whiskey release.
“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it until I can no longer say it: the filmmakers of tomorrow are making short films today,” Ellis said of his decision to partner with Rabbit Hole “They’re making their first projects today. And I think if we are not finding a way to support emerging artists, then we’re only hurting ourselves in the long run. … So I think any opportunity we have to get out there and help folks get their start and be able to tell their story and from their point of view is something that we should be doing as artists.”
Ellis added that he particularly enjoys working with companies like Rabbit Hole because of how much they “support the arts” and “realize the importance of storytelling in our culture at large.”
This year, Rabbit Hole is showing that unwavering support by teaming up with Ellis to invite emerging filmmakers to enter the Creative Spirits Challenge by submitting a video sharing their story and why they deserve to win. The grand prize winner will receive a professional-grade Canon camera and a one-on-one mentoring session with Ellis, while three runners-up will also receive professional-grade Canon cameras. A collaborative whiskey release will follow in spring 2025.
Ellis is hyped to lead an emerging creative, but just hopes the lucky winner is ready to get down to business.
“There’s a whole syllabus for these guys. They’re gonna fall asleep. I’m gonna, slap the ruler and wake ’em up, and we’re gonna go through it again. There’ll be a pop quiz,” he joked. “ You know, I think there’s so many things that go into being able to make a career doing this. Obviously there’s passion, there’s creativity, there’s point of view in your own storytelling, [but] there’s [also] the marketing aspect of it, there’s the self-confidence aspect of it, there’s the craftsmanship of writing, the craftsmanship of filmmaking, the craftsmanship of being able to talk to actors and direct while also knowing lighting and camera lenses and all of those things. So I really hope that if I am not able to give them everything that they’re looking for in terms of questions or guidance or advice. I want to be able to point them in a direction.”
For Ellis, knowledge is power. “I really believe in information and I really believe that no one person has the answer,” he told Us, before adding with a laugh, “I just really hope that whoever this poor, poor winner is, I really just hope that they walk away with understanding their story matters. And that we want their films in the world.”
Running Point premieres on Netflix Thursday, February 27.
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