Paris Jackson spurs on the plot mayhem as a crime temptress in the drug comedy ‘Gringo.’ How does she do in her debut?
Even in that company, Jackson pops with her performance. But don’t sneak out for popcorn early. The cameo role is so brief, you could miss her.
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As seen in this clip, even in small doses, Jackson radiates a star quality as Nelly, a teasing wild child who sets chaos in motion by dropping into a guitar shop to convince Miles (Harry Treadaway) to smuggle pills from Mexico into the U. S.
They clearly have a flirty history, and Nelly sees Miles as pliable for the illegal task.
“So are you in, or out?” Nelly asks. “You can do this, it’s really not that hard.”
Jackson reads her lines slightly overearnestly, and flickers of self-awareness come through in her debut. But she’s irresistibly fun, especially when Nelly ups the payment for Miles’ services from $10,000 to $20,000 while casually walking away. It’s impossible to take your eyes off her.
And when Nelly takes a dig at Miles’ shopkeeper girlfriend, Sunny (Amanda Seyfried), Jackson’s unleashed snarkiness will speak directly to her millennial fans.
“Oh, and you can bring Guitar Shop Barbie with you,” Nelly says cuttingly.
When director Nash Edgerton (Joel’s brother) viewed her video audition, “I was like, ‘I should cast her.’ Whether her name is Paris Jackson or Joe Smith,” he tells USA TODAY. “I know there’s attention on her because of her dad and also herself. That to me doesn’t mean anything. What matters is, can she do what I needed for the movie?”
Jackson did just that in a single day of filming, picking out Nelly’s ’80-esque punk-rock look with the movie’s costume designer.
“Paris is really talented,” says Edgerton. “And the camera loves her.”
