Anna Sawai has said she hopes audiences leave How to Rob a Bank with more than a good time at the cinema. She wants the film to encourage them to talk.
Speaking to JOE ahead of the release of David Leitch’s new heist crime thriller, the Shōgun star was asked what she hoped people would take away from the movie.
“Yeah, and to hopefully inspire them to start a conversation,” Sawai said.
Her answer came as she and co-stars Nicholas Hoult and Pete Davidson discussed the film’s story about wealth inequality. The interviewer suggested that something may have gone wrong if people feel they have to rob a bank to afford to live, buy a house or pay for important medicine.
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How to Rob a Bank follows the Wolf Pack, a group of social-media-savvy bank robbers whose increasingly viral heists attract the attention of an FBI agent, played by John C. Reilly, and a software engineer played by Zoë Kravitz. The film also stars Nicholas Hoult and is in Irish cinemas from Friday, 13 November.
Sawai’s comment gives added weight to the movie’s premise. Its characters are portrayed as people who have faced bad luck and feel the system has been stacked against them, even as they turn to increasingly extreme crimes.
Hoult said the movie raises a bigger conversation about people who have “played by the rules” but still cannot get a break. Davidson, meanwhile, said he hoped audiences would respond with empathy rather than judgment.
For Sawai, though, the aim is not to hand audiences a single answer. It is to make them leave the cinema and start discussing what they have just watched.
Sawai also spoke about the upcoming Beatles films, in which she plays Yoko Ono alongside Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan.
Read more: “Feels Like a Dream”: Anna Sawai Talks Playing Yoko Ono In Sam Mendes’ Upcoming Beatles Films
“It’s so amazing,” she said. “They’re actors that I admire, so to be able to share scenes with them is very, very special to me, and I’ll be able to share more when the time comes.”
She did not reveal further details about the project, but made clear that working with the cast had been a meaningful experience.
Davidson later joked that he remembered Sawai saying she loved The Beatles during a car journey on their first day together, before she went on to join the films.
