'Thelma' Director Talks True Story of His Grandmother & Filming at Her Condo | Sundance 2024 - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

Director Josh Margolin and stars June Squibb, Fred Hechinger and Clark Gregg stop by The Hollywood Reporter's studio during the Sundance film festival to talk about their film 'Thelma.' Margolin dishes on the real-life story of his grandmother and the "surreal" feeling to film in her actual condo.

Transcript

00:00When you said yes, did you know that you would be doing some stunts?

00:05No, not when we first talked.

00:08As long as I could do it, I wanted to do it.

00:11She was doing more and more as the shoot went on.

00:13Because I think at first we were, you know...

00:15Maybe we'll have a stuntwoman do it.

00:17But I really wanted to do as much as I could.

00:19She's not going to say this, but this is a legendary Broadway dancer

00:23with a background of really being physically adept.

00:26This movie, the idea came... I'm now explaining to you the idea for your movie.

00:33No, but it's good to remind me because it's been a busy day.

00:36It came from something that happened to your own grandmother.

00:39Did you tell her you were doing this from the beginning?

00:41I think it just kind of came up organically.

00:43I think she was excited sort of by the prospect of, you know,

00:47something about that incident being dramatized.

00:50But I think she was also sort of wrapping her head around it.

00:54I think she's still wrapping her head around it, honestly.

00:56Just the fact that the movie exists.

00:58She's seen it.

00:59And for her, there's a line where you say,

01:01I'm Thelma Post, which is her name,

01:04that I didn't change for the movie.

01:06So I think that moment sort of she comes back to a lot.

01:09It's just like, oh, it's very surreal to her.

01:11I wrote it with June in mind kind of from the get.

01:14She reminds me of my grandma.

01:16I've been a longtime fan of her work.

01:18And there was just something kindred about them in my mind.

01:21They're both so resilient but have a vulnerability to them.

01:24And there's just something about them that felt connected to me.

01:26I got the script and I loved it.

01:28And I have somebody else that reads my scripts

01:31and she called me up and said, you've got to do this, June.

01:34So there was no question after, you know,

01:37after receiving it that I would do it if he still wanted me to.

01:41I love action movies, but like I also love reality.

01:45And to me nothing is scarier and more exciting

01:49than an action movie in real life.

01:52And part of that is always fragility.

01:54Like for any person to do anything, it's like,

01:57it's when you're worried, can your body actually make it?

02:00Can this thing work?

02:01Like it's that human mess that I think makes an action sequence

02:05the most alive and exciting.

02:07So when it came to like the choreography of those moves

02:10and all that stuff, it was awesome.

02:12But I mean, this was the main stunt moment.

02:15This was the Tom Cruise.

02:16You got to chase her a little bit.

02:18Yeah, we did light chasing.

02:19I'd say light chasing by these folks.

02:22You got to do some jogging down hallways.

02:24Some semi-action jogging.

02:26Was that thrilling for you?

02:27It was thrilling.

02:28Our first week of filming, we was actually at Josh's real grandmother's condo.

02:36So the first week was in the real Thelma's house.

02:40Spiritually you feel this connection with the actual history

02:45and the love and the material and the whole thing to be there.

02:49And it was just like really special.

02:51We looked through the bookshelves.

02:52All the books in the world.

02:53Yes.

02:54All the books.

02:55Oh God.

02:56You could spend days just looking to find out what she really did read.

03:00It was wonderful.

03:01It was surreal to be there.

03:02It was a very, because you know, my whole life has been, you know,

03:05I've spent time in that condo and then to sort of be there recreating something

03:10based on, you know, my grandma who's lived there my entire life,

03:14but be with all these people and making that there was a very,

03:17very surreal and very, very special.

'Thelma' Director Talks True Story of His Grandmother & Filming at Her Condo | Sundance 2024

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