‘Greenland 2’ Director Ric Roman Waugh Is “Blocking Out the Noise” of Those Real-World Headlines

Logo text

Filmmaker Ric Roman Waugh is keenly aware that it’s a strange time to be releasing a movie called Greenland 2: Migration.

Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time that the real world has recontextualized one of his films. The former stuntman turned director was in post-production on the 2020 franchise starter, Greenlandwhen the global pandemic forced him and his team to finish up from their respective homes. Suddenly, several themes and visuals from their disaster thriller about a comet that obliterates the majority of Earth were on display in real time. Whether it was the heroic sacrifices made by medical professionals or the mad dash to hoard essential supplies, both the fictional and nonfictional existential threats brought out the best and the worst in humanity.

Gerard Butler’s John Garrity had the tall order of getting his estranged wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) and son Nathan from Atlanta, Georgia to an underground bunker in Greenland. Anticipating that the world would have to rebuild itself, the DHS preselected individuals for inclusion in Greenland’s emergency shelters, and John’s expertise as a structural engineer granted him and his family access. Those who weren’t so lucky desperately tried to steal the entry wristbands off of anyone whom the DHS picked. They also sought private planes to Greenland so they could try their luck on site.

The STXfilms release was initially slated for a wide theatrical release, but the pandemic forced their hand in the States, resulting in a December 2020 VOD release and subsequent $30 million deal with HBO and HBO Max. The viewership data at home became so overwhelming that a $90 million-budgeted sequel has now arrived in theaters. Waugh credits former STXfilms, current Lionsgate motion picture group chairman, Adam Fogelson, for the timely pivot to streaming, which would ultimately open the door to Greenland 2: Migration.

“I was [glass-half-empty about it]and that’s why I’m really proud of Adam and his leadership. It was a really audacious move on his part,” Waugh tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It saved the now-franchise and put the movie in a place where we got a lot of eyeballs. If we would’ve been a part of the [congested 2021] crowd, who knows how many people would’ve really discovered it?”

Five years after the events of the first film, the Garrity family must journey across Europe to find a new home after their underground community in Greenland suffered a devastating earthquake. However, in circumstances that were similar to the original film, Waugh was wrapping up Greenland 2 when the real world started to reshape public perception once more. In this case, the actual Greenland was becoming increasingly more relevant and coveted in real life due to the Trump administration’s newfound efforts to acquire the Kingdom of Denmark’s autonomous territory. Their reasoning for doing so cites US national security, military strategy and untapped natural resources. Even this week, reports emerged that US officials are considering $10K – $100K payments to sway Greenlanders toward supporting American annexation. For Waugh, it’s all just clamor that goes well beyond him and his two movies.

“I would say we’ve done a really good job of blocking out the noise. We just stuck to our guns,” Waugh says. “We focused on the post-pandemic parallels as society was coming back. The focus definitely wasn’t the politics of what’s going on with nation building; it was much more about the societal stuff that we were dealing with at the time.”

Waugh first worked with Butler on 2019’s Angel Has Fallenthe third installment in the franchise involving the actor’s Secret Service agent character, Mike Banning. While a fourth installment known as Night Has Fallen was reportedly in the works as of 2020, Waugh says the project doesn’t have a pulse at the moment. “We haven’t cracked it. We haven’t had anything where we’ve said, ‘Wow, that would really excite us,'” Waugh admits.

Below, during a conversation with THRWaugh — who also has the Jason Statham-led Shelter releasing later this month — discusses Greenland 2‘s emotional ending and what lies ahead for the franchise.

***

You’re one of the few live-action directors to have a VOD pandemic release spawn a theatrically released sequel. Of course, Greenland wasn’t made for VOD, but it still took that path. So how did you defy the odds in terms of this sequel?

[Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chairman] Adam Fogelson. Simple. Adam was the chairman at STX when we made the first movie, pre-pandemic. Nobody knew what COVID was at the time, and when we were in post-production at Technicolor, I remember hearing all this stuff that was about to happen. My editor, Gabe Fleming, then said, “Oh my God, I just got a text from the mayor that the city is going to shut down in 24 hours.” So we watched this domino effect happen in real time, and then we suddenly started living the movie in real-life form. People were raiding stores and so forth. So finishing the movie was its own undertaking, and we, including hundreds of VFX people and editors, all finished the movie from our couches.

How the release pattern worked is that the foreign territories all had their calendar dates, but there were no theaters in the US at the time. So the foreign releases started rolling, and we started becoming number one all around the world. But the clock was ticking [on the U.S. release pattern]. Adam then called me and said, “I hope you’re okay with this. Everybody else is flinching, and they’re putting their movies into [2021]. We think it’s a mistake [in this case]. 90 percent of the world has seen[[Greenland]. We need to get it out.” He then put together the biggest streaming deal in history at that point with HBO. It was a massive deal. And because Adam didn’t flinch, Greenland became this phenomenon, and we’ve all been so appreciative of it.

So much of the nuance of the movie actually happened in real time, and I love that we all came together to put everything we could into it. We never thought there’d be a second movie. We never thought about it. This was an owner. But if there was going to be another one, it had to have the same amount of hope and love, not just spectacle, and that’s how we finally cracked a story that felt like it was worth it.

The streaming numbers must’ve been quite strong to justify a pricier sequel. But at the time of the December 2020 release, did you assume Greenland was DOA? Were you pretty glass-half-empty about it?

I was, and that’s why I’m really proud of Adam and his leadership. A lot of movies at that point were kicking the can into the next year, so the deck was so stacked in 2021 [and beyond]. There were movies on top of movies. We still don’t know when NATO was going to open the movie theaters, and it was a really audacious move on his part. It saved the now-franchise and put the movie in a place where we got a lot of eyeballs. If we would’ve been a part of the [congested 2021] crowd, who knows how many people would’ve really discovered it?

Gerard Butler has plenty of bona fide theatrical hits on his résumé, but he’s also got plenty of sleeper hits like Greenland, Den of Thieves and Plane. His films really tend to play the long game. Do you think the industry has given him the credit he deserves?

No, our business has become polarized. It’s become so marginalized in different sectors. You have your awards movies, and the people there have their own issues. Either they’re not making any money, or those movies aren’t making money. Then you have the huge $200 million sector. You also have what Gerry and I have been a part of, which are these mid-range budgeted movies that are fighting for their existence. And we own it. We own where we’re at.

I love him as an actor because he doesn’t play things as an action star. He doesn’t play them 10 feet tall and bulletproof. He plays flawed, vulnerable individuals who have their own demons and headaches, and that’s what makes him so powerful as a movie star. We relate to the guy because he’s salt of the earth and a big child at heart. I’d rather have that than the shiny cardboard action hero that’s not going to give me that ’70s sensibility when we had real people behind these characters.

In the original film, Greenland was a very in-demand country, and now, over the course of the last year, it has become a very in-demand country in real life too. How have you and your team reacted to the added relevance of your title character?

I would say we’ve done a really good job of blocking out the noise. We just stuck to our guns. I loved Chris Sparling’s script of the first movie where it dealt with a family that was in their own internal crisis. A marriage was torn apart, and they were trying to find their sea legs again. Their kid wondered what the future of his family was until they were thrust into this life-or-death situation. So the second movie really had to have that for us. It’s about the internal conflict of the [Garrity] family again, their own mortality and the legacy that you leave. We don’t pull any punches. We told you we were going to scorch the earth[in[inGreenland], and we did it. Most comet movies don’t do that; the asteroid is stopped.

After the pandemic and the trauma that us real people dealt with, it’s no mistake why we put therapists in this second movie. For the movie, it’s, “What would it be like to be underground for five straight years? What would be the mental toll on people?” So we focused on the post-pandemic parallels as society was coming back and people were actually starting to live their lives again. The focus definitely wasn’t the politics of what’s going on with nation building; it was much more about the societal stuff that we were dealing with at the time.

Given the greater awareness around Greenland, I do think some news junkies will buy tickets just out of curiosity.

We’ll take it.

I love the boldness of the ending. Most endings these days opt for ellipses rather than periods. Between studio notes and test audiences, how much pushback, if any, did you receive?

It’s so interesting, man. [Producer] Basil Iwanyk and Adam Fogelson both asked me the same question after I said I wanted to direct the first Greenland. They were like, “Do they all live or die in the end?” The script originally finished where you never knew what happened after the impact, and it really became the fundamental question of this whole franchise. We wanted hope to be at the center of things, but we weren’t going to pull any punches.

So when you see the second movie, we didn’t bullshit you. The world did go through another extinction event where a lot of people perished, and while there is this glimmer of hope within the hopelessness of the landscape, we wanted the ending of this movie to feel the same way. We weren’t just going to give it to you with syrup on it. We weren’t going to make it all nice and shiny again. We have real stakes and real character arcs about how we test our own mortality and what we are willing to do for the legacy of our children and mankind itself, as we’re all rebuilding.

We wanted Greenland 2 to have weight to it at the end, and it was never meant to be a gimmick. So I’m really proud of it, and we all felt that this is the way the ending should be, including number one on the call sheet. Test audiences never had an issue with it; everyone really embraced it. So it was the right decision, and you can watch these two movies together to see the saga of a family from start to finish.

Whether it’s through the Garritys or other characters, do you think there are more stories to be told in this world?

I do, because it has an internal combustion engine of the human experience. Even though the second movie definitely has more of a dystopian landscape and so forth, it’s still about the human beings within it. And if you jumped to the future, is it Nathan’s kids that you’re suddenly following? Is it Nathan as an adult? There’s so many different realms to go into, but it would again have to be about the internal conflict of the family or relatable characters at that point. We all went through a global pandemic, but the internal conflicts of our family situations, our own health, our own mental stability did not stop. That stuff doesn’t just quit because we’re all in a life-or-death global atmosphere. So that’s really important to the themes of what this franchise is about.

You mentioned Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk. He thanked Pete Alonso in the credits of Greenland 2as well as your previous movie together, National Champions. I assume it’s former New York Mets first baseman, Pete Alonso. (He just signed a five-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles.) Do you know what their relationship is?

Well, you had to tell me who Pete Alonso is, but it doesn’t surprise me because Basil Iwanyk is a great dude. He’s a Jersey boy at heart, and he’s a definite sports fan. So he must have some affinity for the Mets or that player. Maybe he’s a personal friend of his. But he’s definitely big in the sports world, and he loves sports in general. He has a [sports] division at Thunder Road, and that’s why we made it National Championswhich is a movie that I’m still very proud of making. It was definitely polarizing because we were dealing with NIL (Name, Image, Likeness compensation) before it really came to fruition [for student-athletes]. So thanks for the tip on who Pete Alonso is because I didn’t know until now.[[Writer’s Note: I followed up with Lionsgate reps about Alonso’s relationship with Thunder Road and have yet to receive word back.]

2019’s Angel Has Fallen was your first film with Gerard. Is the fourth chapter, Night Has Fallenstill alive?

I feel fortunate that the fan base wants more, but I think that’s more a social media buzz and internet buzz than reality. Could there be one day? We haven’t cracked it. We haven’t had anything where we’ve said, “Wow, that would really excite us.” Again, we never thought there’d be a second Greenland until a kernel of a story sparked, and we all went, “Okay, that’s interesting. That’s worth a squeeze.”

You began your life and career in the stunt department, and stunt professionals are now getting more and more opportunities to direct. (Waugh’s father, Fred, and younger brother, Scottwere major players in the stunt world as well.) In 2028, a stunt design Oscar is also making its debut. Over the years, stunt folks have mostly expressed to me that they want to be recognized among their peers. But then there are some old-school guys who believe the job is meant to be invisible for the sake of the star or the director. So how do you feel about the stunt department no longer working in the shadows?

First of all, the latter part about people wanting to be invisible is bullshit. We are all tradespeople. That’s what the movie business is. It’s made up of blue-collar people who work in camera, in makeup, in wardrobe and in construction. We work in all these different facets. So why the stunt category has not been a part of [the Oscars] is mind blowing to me when we have visual effects and every facet of sound. It’s a real “what the fuck?” for me that the stunt community hasn’t already been there, especially the stunt coordinator and the action choreography itself.

It is a part of my history, and it was a very different landscape when I came into the mix. It was really, really tough, and I love that it has become a lot more of an amenable path for a lot of great people. What people don’t realize is that stunt coordinators and stunt players have a seat at the table every day. They’re right there by camera watching how things are done.

I hope that the new generation doesn’t just try to do the next big stunt and the next big thing. I hope they use their wares like cinematographers who have crossed over into directing. They’re not just trying to show you shiny pictures; they’re trying to tell stories. So, hopefully, the stunt community also does that, and we’ll get great storytellers from having come through there.

As far as stunt folks directing more, I want to believe that it’s become more than just studio executives chasing trends and saying, “Well, people like the movies that Ric, Chad Stahelski, Dave Leitch and Sam Hargrave make.” Do you feel that the industry is truly more receptive to mining talent from that discipline?

First of all, thank you for saying my name with them. I really like Chad and David’s work, and Sam is a great new voice that has come up through the ranks. We all need to be our own brand today. I miss my mentor, Tony Scott. He was very audacious in the movies he made, and he lived or died by his own sword and by his own voice. He didn’t try to emulate others. He didn’t try to push the status quo or what people expected him to do.

I was guilty of that very early in my career. I went, “Oh, I came from this business, so everybody wants the big stunt. I have to do this.” Dwayne Johnson and I worked together on Snitchand he brought up the connotations that people put on a former wrestler of his size and physicality. So I love what he’s doing now. He’s like, “Yeah, screw all you. Watch where I’m going. I’m doing what I want to do.”

So whether they’re stunt people or wardrobe or any other facet, what will keep the business and the theatrical experience alive and flourishing are audacious filmmakers. Be your own brand, be your own voice, and we’re seeing that with the latest movies from Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie. There’s great talent and beautiful voices out there, and that’s what matters to me. They aren’t just trying to do a stunt or a gimmick. They’re actually real filmmakers.

Hal Needham — the godfather to all of us [stunt performers turned directors] — didn’t just do the stunt. He told great stories. He had a style through him Smokey and the Bandit and Hooper that was kick-ass fun. His movies were thrill rides with great stunts, but he still had great characters. So I go back and watch those movies over and over. Hal was a very big influence in my life, and personally, as well. So we need that in the next generation of filmmakers. That’s what will keep us all going.

***
Greenland 2: Migration is now playing in movie theaters.