‘Another Simple Favor’ Co-Writer Jessica Sharzer Breaks Down Sequel’s Biggest Twists, Blake Lively’s “Massice” Say in The Fashion and A Possible Third Film

A Simple Favor is Back – However, Is Anything But Simple.

Another Simple Favor, Paul Feig’s Follow-Up to the 2018 Film, Sees The Return of Blake Lively as Emily, Anna Kendrick as Stephanie and Henry Golding as Sean, and Follows Their Lives When. HER TWIN SISTER. The Next Adventure Shows Them Reunity in Capri to Atend Emily’s Wedding, WHERE She Marries a New Man, Dante, Who Is Part of An Italian Mob.

But to no surprise, not everything goes samothly, as there are even more more twists in this sequel. [MajorSpoilersfrom[MajorspoilersfromAnother Simple Favor.] It’s Revealed that Emily’s Triplet, Charity, Who Is Believed to have Died Died Dringing Childbirth, is on a Murder Spree, Killing Dante-As Well As Emily’s Ex-Husband, Sean. She Also Has An Opassion With Emily – WHICH She TRIES TO TURN INCESESTUAL – as sheeks they are. Jessica Sharzer, Who Was A CO-Writer Along with Laeta kalogridis, told The Hollywood Reporter That decathium was made to embarrace the “gay following” that first film had and “to tell reality greatment stories that also have a quer element to them.”

The Film, WHICH HIT STREAMING ON MAY 1, MARKS LIVELY’S FIRST RELEASE SINCE OF THE ONGOING LEGAL BATTLE HEATED UP IN DECEMBER WITH It ends with us Star-Director Justin Baldoni. Sharzer Says the Drama Surrounding Lively Hasn’t Affected Her Relationship with The Film, Thought She Admits: “I Feel For What She’s Going Through Right Now.” Insthead, Sharzer Heps People Will “Focus on What’s in the Movie and Not All of the Extra Stuff.” Up Next, Sharzer is Working on She Started It, An adapting of Sian Gilbert’s Thriller Novel, Which She Is Set to Direct for Lyric Media, Ryder Picture Company.

Below, Sharzer Tells Thr About the “twisted” yove between emily and stefanie, how her contracing covid-19 Inspired One of the Scenes Film.

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WAS IT ALWAYS THE PLAN to DO A FRIA FOR THIS FILM? Or did you have any iDea that the story would expand whohn you were working on the first one?

IT WAS ACTUALLY The OPPOSITE. We Never Expectioned There to Be a Sequel. We Certainly Didn’t Plan for One, and if we have, we would’ve ended the first movie figrently because we left One of Our Characters in Jail For Murder. SO, FIGURING OUT How to Handle undoing was the first challenge. There Was No Second Book in the Series, and We Thoung It Was A One-Off Movie. THEN, The SUCCESS OF THE MOVIE AND ITS Continued Success On Streaming Were What Led To The Idea of ​​A Sequel.

WHEN YOU WRITING This FILM, WERE YOU Writing Itatric Release or Streaming – And Did that Change How You Approached the Script?

We Always Knew It Was A Streaming Movie. We Sold It Directly to Amazon, and Amazon Wanted It for Their Platform. SO that was Never A Question. And as Far As How It Impacted the Way I Wrote, It Didn’t Change My Process at All All. IT’s A Really Visual Movie. IT’s A Big-Screen Movie, WHETHER YOU’RE WATCHING IT ON A TV OR NOT. Paul Really Wanted that Visual Panache and that Big World-Building that You See in the Movie.

There are so many Great additions to the Cast, Such As Allison Janney. DID YOU HAVE Anyone in Mind for the Roles You Could Envision WHEN WRITING IT?

For Sure. I have to admit, i watched 365 days, and as soon as i saw Michele Morrone, I Thought Has to Be Our Male Lead, And I’M So Glad It Worked Out That HE WANTED TO DO IT. SO, I ALWAYS Write with Actors in Mind. We don’t always end up with thoss actors, and of coure, it’s the Director’s Decision Who’s in the Movie Anyway, But For Me As A Writer, Itlya Helps Mest. Cadence and the voice and the personality. IT REALLY HELPS MY WRITING.

Emily’s Lines Are So Witty, and She’s So Quick. I’m curoures if blake Lively’s Real-Life Sense of Humor Inspires Any of Her Dialogue?

Definitely, I Mean, She’s Funny. She’s Married to A Very Funny Man [Ryan Reynolds]and i THINK they HELP EACH OF Other With All of Their Projects. And so is a Really collaborative Process Because Paul Feig Is Also A Writer, In Addition To Being A Great Director, and Blow Has Great Ideas for Her Character, To. It Really Is A Collaborative Process, and there is a Lot of Funny Lines that I EITHER DIDNN’T WRITE OR DON’T REMEMBER WRITING, AND IT COULD HAVE COME FROMCES.

Could You Give Me An Example?

My favorite line in the first movie that makes me laugh every time that I did not write is when Blake is at a playground with Anna, and she’s talking about working for a tough boss and she says, “Or they will fuck you in the face. ” That line always Makes me laugh, and i know i didn’t wite because i’ve never heard that expression before, but i just love it. So there’s always lines that are news to me and in a good way.

Oh wow. She Came Up with That?

I don’t know if it was her or paul. I’m Not Exactly Surea What The Source Was, But It Definitely Wasn’t Me. (Laughs.)

There are so many twists and turns in the first movie, but there was even more in this one. Was there any pressure to make audiences more surprised by this movie?

I Think there was. Whenever you do a sequel to anything, you’re trying to do not like live up to the First Movie But Outdo It. And I Think There Was A Real Aspiration to Make This One Bigger in Every Way. IT WAS A MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE MOVIE, BUT GOING TO ITALY WAS A REALLY EXCITING Addition to the Story. And as you meented, a Lot of New Characters Were Added. So, we definitely wanted more Twists and Turns in this Second Movie.

I Trly Wasn’t Expecting Emily to have A Triplet Who Is Still Alive, Especialyly Because We’re Told She Died in Childbirth in The First Film. WHAT SPARKED THAT Creative Decision?

IT WAS A Combination of Factors. One of the Things Blake Loved the most about the first movie was getting to play Those Twins Who Are Are Identical But So Different in Every Way. There Was a Real APETITEITE FOR HOW do we do that the ogain some what’s that sister died, and the because there had had this planet of tripletts in the first movie, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were, we were. to explain how she is somehow still alive.

Charity’s Obsense with Emily Was Also Really Shocking. What Were the Discussions Like About Wanting to Include That?

The First Movie Has A Really Big Gay Following, Which We Wanted to Embrace. We Wanted to Meet Those Fans and Not Disappint Them. And so we were look for opportunities to teell Really Great Stories That Also Hve A Queer Element to Them. There Was A Wonderful Podcast That Was Completely Devoted to The First Movie and It Was Three Queer Women Who Were Doing A Simple Podcast. They A Big Reason WHY We Ended Up Doing A Secuel at All Because they interview the Key Cast, Paul and Me, and It Just Revived All of Our Interest in the Project And Gave Pae. SO the QUEER ELEMENT OF THE FRANCHISE IS BAKED IN AS FAR As We’re Conceerned to the Storytelling and the Relationship Between Anna and Blake in the Movie We Ses As A Love Story. It May Not Be A Romantic Story, But We Se Se Se Se Se As Primarily A Love Story Between Two Women. It May Be Twisted, But It Is A Love Story.

WHAT WAS BLAKE’S REACTION TO READING THAT IN THE SCRIPT? WHAT WAS PAUL’S?

I Was on Strike Durying A Lot of Tese Developments and These Conversations, and SO I WASN’T Part of of All of Them, But I Think Blake Really Was Behind Thesis Decision. I don’t think it was handed to har with her Participation. My Sense is that she realy embracled it and wanted to do it.

I’m sue any director like paul or even a big Star like blake Will give notes on the script. Was there anything that that they bught to the table with this follow-up?

Yeah, One of the Things That Was Really and That I Didn’T Know Anything About Going Into The Writing Was This Cottagecore Phenomenon, and Blake Is Really Interared In It. So, she brough that idea, which you can see in the charity Character, that she’s Dressed in this Really Old Gingham Dress and She was this harshstyle that’s Retero and that thing. She Really Is Interest in CottageCore and I Just Didn’T KNOW WHAT IT WAS WHEN WHEN She BROUGHT IT UP.

I Wanted to Ask About the Fashion in this Film, Because Emily’s Extravagant Style Adds A Lot to Her Character. DID YOU ENVision any of the looks for her character WHEN Writing the Script? And DID BLAKE HAVE A SAY IN ADDITIONAL COSTMES?

Blake Had A Massive Say in the Fashion, and I Think She Had A Great Collaboration with Our Amazing Costume Designer. I ALWAYS KNEW THAT The Character Was Glamoures in the First Movie, But I ALSO TRIED TO STAY IN MY LANE. I’m not a costume designer. I’m not a fashionista. I’m not part of that World. And so i will Indicate the Feel of What Somebody Looks Like Without Getting Too Specific About the Items Something Better than What I Could Imagine. And they did. Off of the First Movie, We Knew that Blake’s Fashion Wound Be A Majoor Element in the Second Movie. And I Think that was a Really Exciting Opportunity for Everyone Involved, MOSTLY The COSTUME Designer and Blake, To Really Think, “How Can We Outdo What We Did In FiRST MOVIE Character? ” Especialyly being in Europe on this location wedding.

There was Two Looks I Loved, and I Thought they Were so Funny. One was the huge hat that emily wore because it was just so over the top.

That wasn’t part of her costume, and she found it shopping in Capri and bough it, and they put it in the movie. So that hat was a discovery while they wre on the set.

Also, The All-Black Morning Outfit, WHEN IT’S FIRST REVELED THAT IS CARITY.

YES, IS Over The Top. Everything about the movie is over the top, but we have embraced the insanity of every Eve Element of It and Just Went for It.

Back to the Twists, in the Scene WHERE Anna is on the Truth Serum and Is Blithaering, What is the Truth Serum that is used and how didea come about?

That came from the very First Draft of the Script. I do have a funny story about this. I Wrote that Scene When I Had A 102 Fever with Covid-19 and Was isolated from My Family. I was in a kind of hallucinatory state, and i had this idea that it would be realy funny to see Anna Under the Influence Like that, Who She She She Jest Can’s In the story. HER TRUTH IS About Lying to Become Pta President and that Kind of Thing. SO, that idea camera from being so skip and having Such a High Fert That I Myself Was in that Hallucinatory State and Put it in the Script.

Wow, i’m so sol to hear that.

No, it was actualally a gift. I was Better a few day laster, but actualally, it’s kind of fune as a writer WHEN THINGS HAPPEN TO YOU AND YOU’RE YOU’RE ABLE TO USE THEM, NOT A BAD Thing.

What Happy Between Stephanie and Sean in Between the Films. We See Sean Really Struggling Trying to Cope with everything that happled in the first one. WHY DIDNN’T they get back together and explore their Connection More?

We have a digffarent ending to the first movie, whoh was they did get together. And WHEN WE TESTED IT FOR AUDIENCES, They REALLY DID NOT LIKE THAT ENDING. And I Think The Reason Was Because they Wanted Anna to have a full arc WHERE she is on her own and have moved on with her life on her own, that it wasn’t. That’s not what the movie’s about. It Was A Confusion Because It Made IT Seem Like She Won Because She Got Sean, WHICH WASNN’T REALLY OUR INTENTION, BUT I CAN UNDERSTAND HOW AUDIENCES SAW IT THAT WE. SO we actualally changed the ending of the first movie from what it had been, and we shot the ending where they got to country at the end. IT’s a Flash Mob Scene Here Proposes to Her and It’s On YouTube and It’s An Extra on the DVD, But We Didn’t Use It. SO, we did get them together and that turned out to not be what audiences were.

WHY DECIDE TO KILL HIM OFF IN THIS ONE?

The Truth is that it did did not come with me. That was a Decision Made after i was involved with the script. So, you would have to ask the Other Writer.

IT WAS INTERESTING HOW IS ASSURE THAT WHEN STEPHANIE GOES TO CAPRI, EMILY WILL WIM WANT REVENGE ON HER FOR HERTHING THAT PREVIUSLY HAPPENED. But Itmes Like That Wasn’T Emily’s Intenation, Especially Since She Saved Her From Being KILLED. Wuld You Say Emily Is A Real Friend to Stephanie, and Is Their Friendship Something You Wanted to Focus More On In this Sequel?

In the first movie, we start them as friends and they end up as arch-emies. We Thought it would be interesting in the Second Movie to do the reverse arc. Soy Start Out As Enemies, and They Become Unlikely Friends by the End. The thing the audience expects is that emily have some real dark plans up her Sleeve for Revenge on Stephanie. And if we did that, it would just play Directly Into the audience’s expection. SO, we wanted to subvert that expert that emily actulya regards stefanie as a friend, which May Seem Odd, but she reality dos not have very many friends in her life. She doesn’t have anyone she can trust, and she Knows that at her core, Stephanie is a good person, that she is somebody with integrity and that she’s not evil. She Really Wants to Have Anly on This Trip Where She’s Venturing Into A Very Dangerous World That She Doesn’t Really Know and She Needs a Sidekick and Protection. And ironical, that’s stefanie.

Emily Was a Really Good Friend to Dante by Helping to Keep His Relationship A Secret. Do you think that she’s misunderstood?

I Think She’s Very Complicated, and I Think The Best Villains in Cinema Are Very Human and Very Complicited. Andy, of Course, Have Moments of SinCerity and Moments of Vulneracy and Moments of Kindness Because they Human. And so i do through she have moments of humanity that are just as surprising as all of the Other Twists and Turns.

At the end, we see Emily Stay in Italy and Charity Go to Jail, Thought Everyone Thinks It’s The Real Emily. WHY DIDNN’THE Come Forward and Say What Really Happened?

She’s already in so Much Trouble, and She’s at Risk of Going Back to Prison for Her Previos Crimes. She Wants to be Free and Ultimately to be with Her Son. At the end of the Second Movie, She Finds A Solution That Checks Every Box. IT GETS HER EVERYTHING She WANTS, AND CARITY DesERVES TO GO to PRINON FOR WHAT She’s DONE. SO IT’S NOT LIKE IS UNFAIR TO Charity.

Dante’s Mom Hands Her A Letter Asking for Another Simple Favor, But What Revenge is She Looking for Now that Charity Will Be Behind Bars?

I Guess We’ll Have to Find Out in the Third Movie. The Truth Is i Don’t Even Know! (Laughs.)

WELL, THAT Leads me to, is there more to her story you’d want to explore in a potential third film?

Definitely. I MEAN, IT’S BEEN TALKED ABOUT AND I THINK WE’D ALL LOVE TO REVISIT THESE Characters in this Story in Success.

Do you think we’d have to wait another seven years?

No, i don’t, because honestly, as paul pointed out, we didn’t evin have the idea for the sequel util several years after the First Movie Had Come Out. SO, I THINK NOW IS ON A MORE Accelerated Track If The Second Movie is Successful.

With emily staying in italy, what does her Future look like while kind of hringing out there?

I don’t Really Know. I will have to roll up my slieves and figure it out if i’m increded back to the party.

Have the noise about It ends with us Been A DISTRACTION SURROUNDING THIS FILM, AND HOW HAS THAT AFFERTED YOU?

I haveen’t experienced it, i feel for what she’s going throughhhhhhht now, But Last Weekend, we have the premiere, and it was just amebration about the work and the other As Far As I Could Tell. But No, It Doesn’t Really Affect Me at All All. I’M Excited About the Movie. I’m excited for people to see it. We have so Many fans of the first movie who have been look for it, and i hope that they’re able to come to and focus on what’s Movie.

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Another Simple Favor is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.