Aziz Ansari opens up about Good Fortune, Keanu Reeves’ on-set injury, and finding his way back after setbacks

Good Fortune is an upcoming film starring Aziz Ansari in a pivotal role. Besides the acting role, Ansari has written and directed this supernatural comedy flick. He has also co-produced it with Alan Yang and Anthony Katagas. Its world premiere took place at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival. Lionsgate will be releasing it on October 17, 2025. Here's the official synopsis as per Letterboxd:

A well-meaning but rather inept angel named Gabriel meddles in the lives of a struggling gig worker and a wealthy capitalist.

In a recent interview, Ansari spoke about the film, Keanu Reeves' injury, among other things.

Aziz Ansari talks about Good Fortune

Aziz Ansari recently spoke to CP24 about his upcoming film Good Fortune. Ansari, whose first directorial venture Being Mortal was halted, was working on his second when the 2023 Hollywood strike happened. The film finally resumed, but then its lead star, Keanu Reeves, got injured. Ansari said,

“He had some bad fortune on set. He broke his kneecap. He fell down going back to his dressing room. We had the same stunt people that worked with him on ‘John Wick’ and some other stuff. And I was like, ‘He got hurt on those, right? He’ll be fine.’ They were like, ‘No, he never got hurt.’ Not until my movie. That’s when he gets hurt.”

Ansari further called Good Fortune a "big movie" that took him a while to get done. He also spoke about his earlier film Being Mortal, which was shelved by Searchlight Pictures after they found Bill Murray getting involved in inappropriate behavior with a female crew member. Talking about these setbacks, Ansari said:

“I mean, I’ve got to get through this. Let’s see if people go to (‘Good Fortune’) and then hopefully it’ll be easier to revisit that and make the other things I’ve got cooking.”

He added,

“I’d been doing some stuff that was a little heavier and I wanted to do a comedy. I thought about these movies that were around in the ’30s and ’40s that would deal with class and wealth inequality, things like ‘Sullivan’s Travels’ or ‘My Man Godfrey’ or ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’”

Back in 2018, Ansari was also accused by a woman of nearly pressuring her into s*xual intercourse after one of the dates. The actor-comedian responded by saying that it was consensual.

Meanwhile, Good Fortune will release theatrically on October 17, 2025.