VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Chris Cooper & Mackenzie Davis Reveal Why Jon Stewart ‘Exceeded’ Their Expectations On ‘Irresistible’

Chris Cooper and Mackenzie Davis revealed what it was like working on the set of Irresistible with Steve Carell and Jon Stewart.

The movie follows a Democratic political consultant, Gary, (Carell) who decides to help a retired Marine colonel, Jack, (Cooper) run for mayor of his small Wisconsin town. Jack makes a go of it with the support from his daughter, Diana (Davis). But, the Republican National Committee gets wind of this plan and sends Gary’s old nemesis Faith (Rose Byrne) to run the campaign against Jack.

“I’m Colonel Jack Hastings retired veteran, retired Marine, running a dairy farm, and there’s been a little town meeting where things have gotten very, very serious,” explained Cooper to uInterview’s Erik Meers. “We’ve had a military base that has been literally halved and closed. So people are concerned in town about how we’re going to survive this so I get talked into running for mayor.”

“I play Diana Hastings, his daughter,” started Davis. “I grew up in this town in Wisconsin, went away to college, and then moved home after my mother died, and I think really encouraged my dad to run for mayor and I saw it as a duty to help save our town. And just sort of bearing witness and trying to negotiate my feelings about what I had invited into the town by having Gary Zimmer come and lay waste to our … lives.”

Cooper explained that Stewart’s excellent directing was helped by his ability to put together a cohesive cast.

“I think it’s common knowledge, you know 70% of making things a little easier for a director is just casting, you know, and he cast this very, very well,” he said.

“He knows how to set up a welcoming atmosphere around set, but then he knows what he wants, he knows what he wants,” Cooper continued.

Davis also praised her director.

“It’s wonderful, I think it’s so nice to have your expectations exceeded when they’re already so high, and he really does exceed your expectations, he’s a wonderful leader and really so great with actors, so great with performance, and I just relished the experience. I loved it,” she said.

“And it was very interesting to watch he and Steve Carell work together, a little different way of working,” Cooper added. “I could go on and on, but it was interesting to observe and hear Steve and Jon working together.”

Cooper explained that he was approached after Stewart had settled on Carell for the lead role.

“I think I was approached pretty early on, but if cast, I was not going to miss the opportunity of working with these guys cause I had the greatest respect for them,” he said. “And they come from satirical comedy and that’s a capacity that I don’t have and it was interesting and their energy kept me on my toes.”

The movie was released on Friday, and you can watch it on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, on-demand and in select theaters. Check out the trailer below: