The original plan for Good Fortune was very similar to an underrated ’90s movie. Coming to theaters on October 17, the new R-rated comedy action movie starring Keanu Reeves, Seth Rogen, and Sandra Oh follows angel Gabriel as he meddles in the lives of a struggling worker who had little luck in life and a successful venture capitalist who made a lot of money.

Written and directed by Aziz Ansari, who also appears in the movie, the supernatural comedy premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and marked his feature directorial debut.

While talking to Reeves on GQ, Rogen revealed that the original idea Ansari pitched him years ago was essentially the plot of Mr. Destiny, even though Ansari had never heard of the movie before. Ansari explained that before Good Fortune became a movie, his initial thought was to write about two guys who had completely different experiences in life. Check out their comments below:

Rogen: I think this is an idea you actually told me years and years and years and years and years ago, like 15 years ago.

Ansari: Well, we had this idea of, I don’t think it was an angel, but it was like a guy being like I’m gonna show you this lesson, and then the guy being like…

Rogen: You essentially pitched us the movie Mr. Destiny,… which is a Jim Belushi movie. And I remember you hadn’t heard of that movie

Ansari: And then Evan [Goldberg] afterwards was like, “This is Mr. Destiny.”

Rogen: And as you were pitching this to us, we’re like, this is great. It’s also the movie Mr. Destiny, which is a good movie.

Ansari: It was just the core idea of a character like Gabriel saying – I don’t even think it was an angel, it was a guy…

Rogen: Yeah, it was like a guy. It was a destiny man. The movie was called Destiny Man.

Ansari: And you [Rogen] were going to be the destiny man, and I was a guy who could have been in on like, Instagram, and I said no, I’m gonna do this internship, and my whole life, I feel like if I’d just been part of this…

Rogen: It was like Sliding Doors [1998 Gwyneth Paltrow movie], which is what Mr. Destiny is about.

Mr. Destiny revolves around James Belushi’s Larry, a middle-class man married to his teenage sweetheart, who is sent back to a pivotal moment in his life through a magic cocktail, which would allow him to live the life he thought he wanted. Co-written by James Orr and Jim Cruickshank, the movie that stars Courtney Cox is often compared to It’s a Wonderful Life.

Rogen and Ansari’s comments indicate that their supernatural film could feature timeless comedy elements. Interestingly, after the movie premiered during TIFF, many critics have compared Ansari’s drama to It’s a Wonderful Life, noting a similar message.

Good Fortune was written after the cancellation of Rogen and Ansari’s movie Being Mortal in 2022 due to a complaint filed against Bill Murray. In the same interview, Ansari broke down how the movie began to take shape. He shared that after the script was finished, he wanted Rogen to play the wealthy man, Arj, but they had trouble finding someone to portray the struggling gig worker, Jeff.

Ansari ended up playing Arj in the movie, and Rogen took on Jeff, but it’s very likely that it took place after Keanu Reeves became involved in Good Fortune. The writer-director revealed that most jokes in the movie happened after Reeves had signed on to play the angel Gabriel.

The way they approached the meddling angel was “obviously influenced” by Wings of Desire. He further explained that what made Reeves the perfect actor for the job was that he brought a bit of innocence into the role. As a supernatural being, Gabriel has never had a human experience, such as hanging out with friends, laughing, or living.