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After enthusiastic reviews and reactions to 2022 Emily the criminalDirector John Patton Ford felt like he needed to strike while the iron was hot.
The South Carolina native has been making the rounds discussing the possibilities of what he could do for his sophomore effort. This water bottle collecting moment has already been a long time coming for the writer-director. He has been toiling since the late 2000s to produce one of his scripts. Many projects have collapsed at or near the one-yard line, but with his lead actress Aubrey Plaza and what would become the best performance of her career, he finally crossed the plane with… Emily In 2022.
The crime thriller may not have blown the roof off the summer box office, but its strong word of mouth and four Independent Spirit Award nominations, including a win for Ford for Best First Screenplay, flooded his inbox with opportunities.
“It was an overwhelming moment that I didn’t quite know how to handle, to be honest,” Ford says. “I felt quite insecure at the time. I felt like I had to get another movie out right away or the interest would go away.” Hollywood Reporter.
Within a few months, Ford dusted off an old text called Rothschild Realized by The Blacklist since 2014. Loosely inspired by 1949 Kind hearts and crownsthe tragicomedy tells the story of an illegitimate son named Beckett who begins killing all the estranged family members who stand in the way of the inheritance he and his late mother have been unjustly denied. He loves EmilyIt’s a movie about the desperate actions people take for money.
“After school, I struggled for a very long time. Now I’m an educated white man, I can only fail so hard. But I couldn’t do what I wanted to do for a very long time,” Ford says. “It seeped into my pores and took over my personality. I thought it would never end. So I was willing to do whatever it took to further my career and, hey, big surprise, I get to make films about similar people.”
In 2019, the film was nearly finished when it arrived at Cannes as a Shia LaBeouf and Mel Gibson package for another director. At the time, LaBeouf was riding high in sales for his autobiographical Sundance drama, Honey boyand Gibson was still enjoying some post-Hacksaw Ridge Good faith. However, between Gibson’s checkered history and the title’s resemblance to a real-life banking dynasty, the controversy seems to have derailed the picture.
In 2023, the project resurfaced with a new title and a new family title (among other things). Glen Powell and Ed Harris eventually became the new grandson-grandfather duo of Beckett and Whitelaw Redfellow. Ford has repeatedly likened Powell to a cross between Captain America and a Golden Retriever, but revealed there was early concern among executives when Powell appeared to look like Steve Rogers, the pre-Super Soldier serum. The actor, as pointed out in A THR COVER STORY He lost at least 15 pounds by drinking a steady stream of bone broth. He even changed his hair color after ruling out another hairstyle concept.
“When he came on set, he didn’t look quite like Glen Powell — or not what people expected — and some of the executives were really worried at first,” Ford says. “He also had a crazy wig [initially]And we were like, “This is a step too far.”
For a film that ultimately condemns billionaire families who take everything they can and give almost nothing, Ford repurposes the guidance he once received during a sales job to define the unflinching philosophy of the Redfellow patriarch (Harris).
“They said [the sales pitch] It’s like a lesson we have to learn: “Your only enemy is your conscience.” “If you can stop that, you can actually be successful,” Ford recalls. “It’s, on the one hand, a wonderful thing to say. On the other hand, it’s completely sociopathic. I didn’t want to have a movie that says, ‘Rich people are bad, period,’ and that’s it. I wanted something a little more complex.”
Below, during a recent conversation with THRFord also discusses some of the film’s lingering questions, as well as whether he and Plaza have another team-up in store.
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Emily the criminal It received rave reviews, and became a word-of-mouth film among industry insiders and audiences. Have you gone on a water bottle ride to figure out what to do next? Or did you go straight to your old blacklist script?
I did the tour. I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do next. It was an overwhelming moment that I didn’t quite know how to handle, to be honest. I felt very insecure at that time. I felt like I had to get another movie quickly or interest would disappear. It’s funny how that works, and it took me a minute. It was probably two or three months before this project came out [again]But when it happened, I was on that train for as long as it took.
both of them Emily and How to do the killing Explore the extremes people will go to for money. Is there a deep reason why you are drawn to this topic?
This is very similar to the Zoom therapy session I had a couple of days ago. The quick answer is: After school, I struggled for a very long time. Now I am an educated white man; I can’t help but fail so badly. So I don’t mean to paint a picture like it’s difficult, but I haven’t been able to do what I wanted to do for a very long time. I was living on a very pittance of money a year in Los Angeles, and I don’t even know how I did it for so long. It seeped into my pores and took over my personality. I thought it would never end. I’ve been cooking in this marinade for so long that I’ll probably be burning off the fumes of those feelings for a while. So I was willing to do whatever it took to further my career, and the biggest surprise is that I’m making films about similar people.
When a debut feature film is well received, the director is sometimes mislabeled as an overnight success, and this has probably happened to you and me. Emily.
Yeah, it probably took about 12 years of trying to make something. I had four projects that came together and fell apart. One of them came very late in the game, and it was brutal.
Marty Supreme His motto was “Dream big.” I just watched a movie called A goat Which also had the slogan “Dream Big”. kate hudson and hugh jackman latest movie, Song Song Blueit even has the tagline “Dream Huge.”
Is that true? (He laughs.)
It is. But Ruth (Jessica Henwick) makes the opposite point, which is that it’s okay to dream small dreams even though we’re not taught to think that way. Do you think it’s a mistake that so many of us are conditioned to believe that the “right kind of life” involves fame and/or fortune?
I don’t know if this is wrong, but I do know that we have a societal dilemma in the sense that we were born into this system where you have to grow and expand and earn more. We have a system that is based on growth, otherwise it won’t work. We measure our success in growth. How much money do we make? How many jobs have we added? How does GDP increase? This boils down to the individual, however the definition of contentment is literally the feeling of not wanting anything more than what you currently have. So how do you reconcile these two things? And maybe that’s just the experience of being human no matter what system you live in. I don’t know. But I find it fascinating and compelling.
I also find it interesting how hard I work and how many things I do. Is it as satisfying or safe as I think it is? Maybe not. I’m fascinated by Generation Z and their emerging attitude that they won’t work as hard as previous generations. They’re kind of my favorite generation ever. I’m rooting for them, man. I’m terrified of them too, but I hope it works out.
Throughout the film, Beckett tries to figure out what his mother meant when she made him… Promise him to pursue “the right kind of life.” It’s supposed to be a financial asset, but do you think his mother will agree with Ruth in the end?
I’ll probably never talk about that in an interview. I feel like I don’t want to show all the marbles. Is this an expression? I think I just made that up.
Want to show all your cards?
Cards! Thank you. Who has marbles anymore? But I hesitate to get into the weeds about that. We definitely wanted his mother to introduce this legalese at the beginning, and then in the rest of the story, try to explain exactly what she meant by that. To me, this reflects an overall cultural norm, especially in the United States. We’re taught early on about ambition — reaching for the stars and dreaming big, as you say. But what does that mean? What do we do with that? Where does it lead and why? It’s a bit vague. These are the questions I was interested in. What did his mother literally mean? I don’t really know. I don’t know any more than the central character knows.
I don’t think this movie would work without it Jessica Henwick She pulls at the heart and moral compass as she does so. Knowing that you have so many despicable characters, did you always view Ruth as the focus of the film?
Yes, I think so. I saw Ruth as someone who offered an alternative. She is someone with a different value system and a different way of life that would put the central character in a dilemma. Do I want to go in her direction or do I want to go in another direction? Jess is an incredible actor. She can do anything. But it also has a flavor of that kind in real life. She strikes me as a well-adjusted person with a passion outside of acting. She’s so great that people keep asking her to be in movies over and over again, but she’s one of the only actors I know who keeps trying no To work. Actors always do everything they can to get booked, except for Jess Henwick. She says, “I just want to go with a backpack. I just want to go alone.” She’s big on outdoor stuff. She is a very experienced traveler and is always trying to take these trips. Then you get thrown into something, and you’re like, “Ah! I had all my gear.” It’s the best.
She and I to speak about her future recently, and she definitely left worried.
We can’t let her go. It’s very good.
Glen Powell followed the famous bone broth diet to lose weight for this movie. What was his reasoning? That Beckett was literally and figuratively hungry?
That was something he brought to the table. He wanted to look a certain way, and he didn’t want the character to be reminiscent of previous characters he’d played. I think it’s worth noting that upon arrival, the Stock Glen, the base version of the Glen, looks like a superhero. The dude is up, and his base weight is “Dude up.” So he didn’t think it made sense for the character. For this person to be an underdog and not get what he wanted, he felt like it didn’t make sense for him to look like Captain America. So he went on a crazy diet and lost a lot of weight. He even changed his hair color. When he came on set, he didn’t quite look like Glen Powell — or not what people expected — and some of the executives were really worried at first. He also had a crazy wig [initially]And we were like, “This is a step too far.”
Beckett’s childhood friend, Julia (Margaret Qualley), keeps a close eye on him throughout the film, observing him and the killings he commits before anyone else. So, was their initial encounter at a Brooks Brothers store-type store really an accident? Could she have many moves ahead? Did she really sense that her fiancé Lyle was going in the wrong direction and started to come up with a backup plan?
For me, it wasn’t calculated. It’s just a coincidence, and then things start. But the thing about Margaret is that she is absolutely overwhelming in front of the camera. She has so much confidence that she takes control when she shows up, and it’s impossible to look at anything else. Because of this, the audience is free to project any number of things onto her character. This character is so crazy that you can easily imagine that she has it all figured out and planned. She has so much confidence that you can build your own narrative from her. But in my opinion it was just showing up.
To put it mildly, Redfellow-type people have been in the news a lot lately, so I couldn’t help but view the film through that lens. Thus, Ed Harris’s monologue about ignoring one’s conscience is what I imagine many of these wealthy elites learn to do. Were you really trying to justify how many people live with themselves?
Yes, of course. At that moment with Ed Harris, I didn’t want a movie that said, “Rich people are bad, period,” and that’s it. I wanted something a little more complex. Who is this man actually? What is his motto? What is his way of living, and can you criticize it exactly if it suits him? What he’s saying is something someone once said to me in a sales presentation for this company I used to work for, and they said it in a non-sarcastic way. They said it like a lesson we had to learn: “Your only enemy is your conscience, which tells you a story about what is right and what is wrong. If you can stop that, you can actually succeed.”
On the one hand, it’s a wonderful thing to say. On the other hand, he’s a complete sociopath. Which one is it? History is full of geniuses and incredibly successful people who may have followed this motto to its fullest, from Napoleon to Henry Ford, you name it. But what are the victims of this mentality? Yes, it has led to major breakthroughs and successes and things that may have helped all of humanity, but at what cost? So I wanted to infuse him with that.
In an ideal world, what would you do next?
I would love to make something similar to my first film. I’d like to go back to a character-driven thriller, something more grounded and grounded in reality. This movie was a huge adventure in left field. It’s something I never thought I would do, and it felt so different. I have no regrets, I’ve learned a lot, but I’ve also learned that it’s not my most comfortable zone. Things that are loud and not quite real are hard. Now that I have a better idea of my wheelhouse, I’d like to get back into that wheelhouse. If Sidney Lumet was born in the 1980s, what movie would he be directing now? This is what I’m looking for now.
Do you think you and Aubrey Plaza will have another story to tell one day?
Yes, I love Aubrey. Whatever she wants. I would love to. We’re both a little older now. We have to know what this thing is. We were raised by lawyers. Both of our parents are lawyers and litigators, and there’s something there. I would love to see her play a lawyer who is having a heated discussion with someone. If you’ve been around Aubrey, you know how smart she is and how good of an argument she is. So I’d love to see that. I don’t have a story, but I’d love to see whatever that story is.
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How to do the killing Now showing in cinemas.
