From director Guy Ritchie (Sherlock, The Gentleman) and Lionsgate, Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre is an action-packed spy thriller that stars Jason Statham. Alongside the action staple, Operation Fortune features an ensemble act that rounds out an international team of experts, including Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone, Josh Hartnett, and Aubrey Plaza in another high-octane flick. Most recently, Plaza’s big shift from comedies was a lead role in the independent film, Emily the Criminal. For fans of Kick-Ass Aubrey, her role as Sarah Fidel in the film sees her hacking into the mainframe, wielding weapons, and hanging out of classic Mustangs “whipping around cliffs.”

In Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre, Jason Statham is Orson Fortune, a super spy with a distinct set of skills, who must partner with a highly skilled team of operatives in order to take down Greg Simmonds (played by Hugh Grant), a billionaire arms broker whose new weapons technology threatens the world order. In order to get the information they need to take Simmonds down, the team will employ his favorite movie star, Danny Francesco (Hartnett), to take advantage of the proximity Simmonds allows. With the help of his expert team, including Plaza’s tech genius, Orson Fortune blackmails the actor into aiding their mission to track down the dealer. High stakes, fast cars, killers on a yacht, and lots and lots of weapons – what could go wrong?

Before Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre’s theatrical release, Collider’s Steve Weintraub spoke with Plaza. During her interview, she shares what it was like to work with Guy Ritchie, changing up scenes on the fly and learning songs in 10 minutes, and how she “aggressively” pursued this role. Plaza also talks about the action scenes she filmed for the movie, joking with Statham on set, and what it was like working with Mike White on The White Lotus. You can watch the interview in the player above, or read the full transcript below.

COLLIDER: If someone has never seen anything you've done, what is the first thing you'd like them to watch, and why?

AUBREY PLAZA: Oh my God, that's, that's such a hard question. What am I supposed to say to that?

Pick your favorite – I’m joking.

PLAZA: What do I want them to see and why? Oh God, I don't have a favorite, but I would say maybe Ingrid Goes West just because that was really such a baby of mine, that film. I'm proud of all the movies that I've been in and done, but I don't know, that to me was like the first time that I really came into my own as a producer and I felt very… From the beginning to the end of that movie, yeah, that movie is special to me. And Dirty Grandpa because everyone wants to see me make out with [Robert] de Niro for two hours.

Absolutely, 100%. I love Ingrid Goes West. So jumping into why I get to talk to you. First of all, thank you for entertaining me last night. This was the movie I needed, it’s a lot of fun. One of the things about Guy [Ritchie] that is so unique is how much he is changing things on the day on set, and I'm curious, what was it like for you working with him and experiencing his spontaneity?

PLAZA: It was exhilarating, to say the least. Of course, the script was there, the script was fun. So we had a vague idea of what was going to happen, but I learned very quickly that on a set with Guy Ritchie, you never know what's gonna happen because he loves to get everybody together in the morning, huddle up and rewrite scenes, come up with new ideas, come up with new jokes and stuff.

So, for me, it was a dream come true because I came from an improv background. I mean, I love beautifully written scripts, and I love saying my lines, but I also really like the almost athletic kind of energy that he brought to filmmaking, where it was like, “You gotta get your jokes in, you gotta get your pitch in because we're rolling.” It was fun and very appropriate for an action thriller because it almost felt like that every day. It felt energized like no one knew it was going to happen, you could just be thrown into a scene.

I mean, there was one day that I think he came up to me, [and] he was like, “How do you feel about singing a little, a little song, Aubery Strawberry, Strawberry Aubery,” which is what he used to call me. And I'd be like, “I'm sorry, you'd like me to sing?” He'd be like, “Yeah,” he's like, “Here's a song, I'll see you in 10.” It was like that kind of thing. So it was fun.

I can't imagine that. Especially, it's one thing to act, it's another thing to sing… I can't imagine.

PLAZA: “Yeah, sure. I'll just sing a little song for you. Whatever you want, Guy.”

He works with a lot of the same people again and again. How did you connect with him? Were you looking to do something with Guy? Were you surprised he reached out?

PLAZA: You know, I was set up on a meeting with him, on a Zoom meeting during the lockdown, you know? And so I met him just like this, on screens, and it was really just a preliminary meeting. I think it was more to see if he liked me, or whatever, and I kind of knew that going into it.

Of course, I wanted the job. I just wanted it very badly. I thought the meeting went well, and I found out, “Oh, maybe he's going to meet with some other people.” And then that's when I went in for the kill and I just aggressively – and I'm not ashamed to say it – I aggressively just went at him and said, “You absolutely must hire me. You know I'm the man for the job. I'll get it done. I'll be funny, I'll kick people's ass, I'll do whatever you want me to do. So just hire me.” And then he did, without questioning it. He just said, “All right, fine.” And so I think we started off on a very – we were very much on the same page, but I would say I definitely wanted it and I went for it.

Were you brave enough to challenge him to a game of chess?

PLAZA: No, fuck no. No, definitely not. I'm terrible at things like that.

Well, he's also kind of talented at chess.

PLAZA: Definitely. I would say we played mental chess every day. We had our own little games that we would play, but I didn't bother with the chess so much.

There's a sequence in the movie where you're in a classic Mustang, you're firing a gun outside the window, and I'm curious how much fun you had filming that sequence.

PLAZA: I mean, that day was the very last day of the shoot for me. I had been there for three months. I was waiting for that day. I mean, you know, I'm in an action movie. It's like, “Give me some action.” Because my character was more of the tech genius dealing with the hacking into the whatever, so I was really excited to get my weapon and get in there. It was scary.

Josh Hartnett, who fancies himself a stunt driver – and he was, whatever, to a certain extent – but he was really driving the car and we were whipping around cliffs, and it was dangerous. So there was an element of fear. I will say, I am driven by fear, motivated by fear, survival. Some of it felt real, and then when I got to do the actual stunt with the stunt driver doing the little donuts and me shooting out the thing, it was awesome. I was like, “More.” They didn't even want me to get out of the window. Originally, I was just gonna have my arm shooting through the window, and I just begged them like, “Please let me get all the way out there,” and they let me do it. So it was cool.

How much fun did you have trying to get Jason and Hugh to break during scenes? Was it a mission?

PLAZA: I mean, I didn't really mess around with Hugh so much. He was doing his little thing that he does, but Jason I had a lot of fun messing around with. He has a really good sense of humor, and he's always joking around too. It was really funny to watch him transform into his Orson Fortune spy character because five minutes before he'd be joking around, making stupid jokes with me.

But yeah, I was always going at him. I would do things like say a line and then slap his ass really hard, and Guy would come up to me in between takes and go, “You know, I liked the bit where you slapped his ass, and maybe you could do that again.” And I'd be like, “Yes sir.” So it was fun and felt like we were just trying to take the piss out of each other, as all the British people say. It was great fun.

I'm a big fan of Mike White and obviously loved The White Lotus. When you got approached for Season 2, do you even ask for scripts or are you like, “I trust Mike.”?

PLAZA: Oh no, I trust Mike completely. I've been obsessed with Mike for years and years and years. You know, Chuck & Buck was a huge inspiration for Ingrid Goes West, one of my all-time favorite independent films ever made. Mike and I, we've actually been, the past couple years, been trying to collaborate on something. So this is like my shot, really, to work with him. So no, I don't need to see anything that he writes, I think everything he does is brilliant. So I'm along for the ride.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre is in theaters on March 3. For more on the film, here's our interview with Guy Ritchie.