EXCLUSIVE: Shamori Washington,  Jonigan Booth, Adan James Carrillo, Kylah Davila, Caleb Dixon, and Alexander Michael Gordon Talk Prime Video’s ‘The Underdoggs’

Tomorrow, January 26, Prime Video will release its new movie, The Underdoggs. Starring Snoop Dogg, Tika Sumpter, and more, the movie follows an ex-professional football player, who is sentenced to community serive where he has to coach a rag-tag pee-wee football team.

To celebrate the release, we got a chance to hear from the young actors featured in the new movie, Shamori Washington,  Jonigan Booth, Adan James Carrillo, Kylah Davila, Caleb Dixon, and Alexander Michael Gordon. Check out below what they had to say about their new movie.

On what it means to them to be an “underdog”:

CALEB: “For me what it means to be an underdog is you’re someone that’s always getting counted out. No one really believes in you. But you show the world what you can really do. And personally, like I would say I’ve been an underdog, but I’m not no more.”

ADAN: “I would say I was an underdog when I first started my acting career ‘cause no one thought I could do it. No one thought I would go anywhere. People just thought it was a silly hobby. But I proved ‘em wrong and kept pushing even through the hate, and not.”

On what it was like working on the set of The Underdoggs:

JONIGAN: “For me, I thought it was a really great experience to come and meet everyone here like, Charles, Snoop [Dogg], Tika [Sumpter], and I thought it was really a cool experience to go out and fly out to Atlanta and be able to do many things, not just on set, but also in the city as well. So, I thought it was great.”

On if this was their first big feature film:

ALEXANDER: “It wasn’t my first, but it’s my first big film ‘cause I’ve done like other little stuff for other people, but this is my first big movie.”

ADAN: “It’s the same for me. This is the first big one that is streaming on Amazon Prime. And before I did one called, About My Father. That one I played a small, little role. “

CALEB: “This is like my third thing ever, but this is my first big thing, like this is my big break.”

On working with Snoop Dogg:

JONIGAN: “On set, like he knows when to be serious, but like sometimes when it was like times where Charles was like saying like what should I do, we were having rap battles. See look, I know Snoop can rap, but like he can really rap though. He can really rap.”

KYLAH: “No, but no mercy.”

JONIGAN: “How do you think of this? Like I don’t, yeah, you can rap for real, like actually.”

On their reaction to all the cursing they do in the movie:

CALEB: “I was happy. Personally, I’m a be respectful because I don’t normally cuss like that. ‘Cause, you know, I’m respectful to my mom. And my parents. I want to be professional around the directors and the other actors and stuff. But, you know, like, when it’s time to do it, it’s time to do it.”

JONIGAN: “When I was auditioning, I got a callback. And I was in my mom’s house. ‘Cause I auditioned in my dad’s house the first time. But when I was in my mom’s house, I got a callback. I set my camera up ready to curse. And like, I mean, audition. My mama ain’t even want to be in the same room. She said, ‘I can’t even be here.’ She went upstairs. She ain’t want to hear me curse or nothing.”

KYLAH: “That kind of reminds me of a time where I also got a callback. But I was on vacation in Catalina. And we were just out walking. And my mom got a call from my manager saying, ‘Oh, yeah, you have a director’s callback.’ I was like, ‘We’re out, like, doing stuff.’ So, we had to run back to the hotel and do it in the hotel. And I was scared that, like, the people next to us were gonna, like, call the police or something. So I was like, ‘No, no, we’re fine.’ And, yeah, it was just really funny.”

On what it was like for Kyla to be the only female The Underdoggs:

KYLAH: “I am honestly very honored. ‘Cause when I was a kid, I used to love to play football. I would play flag football all the time. But the boys would always exclude me since I was a girl and they always thought I was weak. But the funny thing is, I’m a gymnast, so I’m strong. I’m pretty strong. But yeah, I’m very honored to play someone who gets into that a little bit. She, in this movie, shows that girls can do anything. Not just be pretty or just buy makeup or shop. She can play football. You know, she can really play. When you guys see this movie, she saves the day. I’ll just say that.”

On their favorite moments from set:

SHAMORI: “Something that was fun for me on set would have to be, you know, the Bale house scene.”

CALEB: “Listen, the party scene was so crazy. Like, we was playing football. We was, you know, drinking, you know.”

KYLAH: “Cream soda. It wasn’t alcohol.”

CALEB: “It wasn’t real. But, you know, I’m not gonna say too much, ’cause I know they want to share too, so yeah.”

ALEXANDER: “My single favorite moment out of the entire movie, in the party scene, I threw up playing beer pong. Threw up on the table. It was completely improv’d in. He [Stone] liked it so much, he let me keep it in. He went like, “Nah, don’t throw up on the floor. Throw up on the table. We want to see that.”

JONIGAN: “Everybody had the same favorite scene. But my favorite part about that scene was that scene wasn’t directed.”

ADAN: “Exactly.”

JONIGAN: “That scene was not directed. Mr. Stone said, ‘Get in the pool and play.’ We just played, flipped each other over, throwing footballs in the pool. Like, it wasn’t directed. And we just had a fun time while they were just recording us. So that was an amazing time.”

ADAN: “Yeah, it wasn’t really planned out how we were gonna play. We just did our thing. And it was fun. We played football like it was an actual football game. We played around. We shot each other with the water guns, and it was really cool.”

KYLAH: “Honestly, one of my favorite parts too was me meeting the dogs. They were in the mansion scene, but that was honestly one of my favorite parts. And adding onto Jonigan, Charles, he was just like, ‘Go be kids.’ Like, ‘Do whatever you guys do.’”

Photo credit: Eric Charbonneau for Getty Images

*This interview has beed edited for length and clarity