‘The Old Guard 2’ Director Victoria Mahoney Talks That Cliffhanger and Charlize Theron’s Walk Through Time

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In 2020, The Pandemic Wreaked Havoc on All Walks of Life, and While It Pales in Comparison to the Millions of Loved Ones LOST, The Summer Movie Season Was Also.

Direct-to-Consumer Releases Were Still HapPening, But Event Movies, For The Mist Part, Were Not. Fortunately, Netflix Still Had Its Summer Slate Intact, and Through An Early Screening and An Effusive Tweet, Filmmmaker Victoria Mahoney Signaled that Gina Prince-BYTHEWOOD The Old Guard would be a sight for sore eyes upon it july release. Having Seen the Soulful Action Drama Early Myseldf, I Remember Agreeing Wholeheartedly With Mahoney’s Assessment About One of the Only Sizable Summer Movies We Receive.

It Turns Out That Mahoney Kept Rewatching The Old Guard Throughout the Ongoing Pandemic. And she wasn’t alone, as the film soon became one of the Netflix’s most Viewed Films at the Time. Skydance cco dana Goldberg then nominated mahoney to take the reins of the sequel on prince-bythewood exited for The Woman King. IT WAS A LOGICAL HIRE GIRE GIVEN MAHONY’S ENTHUSIASM FOR THE PROPERTY, But ALSO Because She Had Just Made History Star Wars Movie. Mahoney’s Tenure as Second Unit Director On JJ Abrams’ The rise of skywalker (2019) Meant that she was prepared for the Scale of Her Second Feature Film and First Action Movie As A Full-Fledged Director.

“JJ [Abrams] and Kathleen Kennedy, in Their Wisdom, Essentally Handed Me A Professional, Creative, Collaborative Experience That Wound Alow Me to Go AnyWhere and Function at Atha Wilh LEVEL LEVEL LELELY The Hollywood Reporter In Support of The Old Guard 2‘s july 2 release on netflix. “I’m not afraid in a way that people might think i should be. I don’h have that fear.”

The Old Guard 2 Picks Up MONTHS AFTER FIRST FILLM, As Andromache/Andy (Charlize Theron) and Her Team of Immortal Warriors Known as The Old Guard Continue to OPERATE CONTERTATH REPORATE. That stride is interrupted by the Sudden Return of andy’s Long loung lost immortal lover, quỳnh (veronica nghet), as well as the intraduction of a mysterious Immortal kNown. The Film Ultimately Ends on a Massive Cliffhanger Involving A ForthoMing Rescue Mission, and Mahoney Reveals that She’s Awaiting Closure Just Like The Rest of the Audionce.

“I can tell that I am not in the room for any of thoss discussions, but i hope for audiences to have it. I hope for the Cast and Crew to have it. But I will be Long Gone,” Mahoney. “I have throne Different Films that i’m Trying to Balance, and However It Goes, I HOPE THAT IT WORKS OUT IN A Really Fun Way WHENEVER The DECISION They Run Out That Door [at the end]. Who isn’t curious to see any’re going? ”

Below, During A Recent Conversation with ThrMahoney Also Discusses Theron’s Character’s Practical Walk Through Time, Before Revisiting An Indelible Memory of Daisy Ridley’s “Dark Rey.”

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So i thorough i KNEW YOUR BACKSTORY, But I Found Out Some Cool Trivia Recently. YOUR SUNDANCE LAB Advisor Was The Man Call “MCQ,” AND THAT RELATIONSIP Continued to the Point WHERE YOU WEER GIVING VALUBLE NOTES ON Angela Bassett’s Character in Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Given that you bot stress How Important Emotion is to Action, is Christber Mcquarrie One of the People Who Helped Ingrain that Philosophy in you?

First of all, i love that you did your homework in this capacity. That particular piece of trivia is dear to my heart; McQ is a very dear friend. I will say that I am a child of Korean Action Movies, SO My Connection to Imotion and Action Comes from the Ant Korean Films that I Watch. Korean Filmmakers and Stunt Teams Do It So Well and So Honestly and So Plasibly and so Feverishly That It Is Just Ingrained. SO I ACTUALLY DIDNN’T KNOW WE Shouldn’t be doing that.

What mcq did for me – by way of ord of geek spitball discussions that are endless year Upon year – is is [making sure] You Preserve The Emotionality in Action As Much As Any Other Aspect of the Drama surrounding The act. One of the Things I Enjoy MOST ABOUT ACTION-DRAMA IS HAVING A LITTLE BIT OF DRAMA BUCK RIGHT UP AGAINST ACTION AND HAVE THEM Both Stand on Their Own.

Both of Your Movies Shared the Same Helicopter Pilot, Fred North, But DID YOU ACTUALLY REFERENCE Fallout‘s Helicopter sequence in prepiation for Old Guard 2‘s Helicopter sequence?

No, Charlize Really Wanted to Play With The Helicopter Bit, and Fred North [helped brainstorm]. Our Building [that serves as the backdrop for the sequence] is false, but it’s bassed on a zaha Hadid Design that i found. SO the aREA ALLOWED FOR ONLY CERTAIN MOVEments, and What We Did Was Construced Based on the Area That We Have To Play In and The Parameters of the Story. Dan Bradley, Who’s Our Second Unit [director]was a fun champion on that sequence.

I Remember You Tweeting A Glading Reaction to The First Old Guard Well Before It Came Out, SO It Made Perfect Sense to Me When You Were Hire for the Sequel. DID GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD NOMINATE YOU TO TAKE OVER OV The Woman King?

You’re endearing yournself to me in a thouxand ways because and Completely Forgot about that. I [reacted] Raw and Real in the Moment, so i love that you saw that. Dana Goldberg at Skydance Put My Name in the Hat, and THEN GINA AND I TALKED BEFORE, During and After. I Soungt Her Regard in Respect to Character Aspects and the Laws of Immortality That She She Set Up in a Wonderful Way. So i Wanted to make Sure that i didn’t betray any of the laws, and the Opening sequence, WHICH WAS GREAT FUN, WAS A TEMPlate FOR US TO RUN ON [in that regard]. So i talked to gina Throughout to make sure that i washast staying true to the dna of the first.

There’s A Really Impressive Sequence WHERE ANDY (Theron) Walks Through Time to Confront Her Past. How did you spend that?

It Was Really Fun, and Just SO YOU KNOW, THAT WAS Two Takes. We rehearsed it on the day; there was no rehearsal prior. The Goal Was to Achiev A Sequance That Allowed The Audionce to Experience What It Could Potentilly Feel Like For An Indical Who’s Been Alive For Thousands of Years [that they’ve frequented an untold amount of times]. WHEN I GO to Any CITY WHERE I’VE Traveled to Many Times, I HAVE A MEMORY EVERY TIME I GO BACK. WHEN I TURN A CORNER, A TUOUGHT or A Person or A Thing Comes Up. So i felt that andy would have memories of her dear atones in that place.

The sequence was scripted to be heavier with Battles and War, and the ardure of that was fun, it was a bit of repetitive to what the Audence already saw in the FIRST FILM. I was aiming to reinforce the relationships and the Lightness of Her Life, and this Was A Great Place to have a reflection of her funs in the this lighter, Joyful Space. I Love Andy’s Face Who She’s Walking and the Way She Receives Light; The Memories Are Palpable. We did that all in-Camera. It’s All Practical. The only Thing We Did Was Color Correction, of Course, But Before The Bit at the End, the Whole Thing Is In Camera. [DP] Barry Aykroyd and I Rehearsed It With the Pas on the Backlot at Cinecittà Studios [in Rome] with Just Our Little Pocket Cameras.

Everyone Got to Participate in that Sequance, and so I Really Enjoy That You Brough It Up Because It’s Proof of What Happens Who All Hands Are On Deck. Every Single Person Who Worked on the Film Cated and Massaged this Sequance, Including Through Post. SO she REALLY WALKS THROUGH TOSE Practical Changes: The Wardrobe, The People, The Props.

THEN She Approaches Quỳnh in A Place they’ve Met Before, and this BeautyFul Figure-Eight [shot] Returns US Back to Real Time. It was One of the Places in the Movie That We, As Filmmakers, Got To Play in A Way that Was Challenging and Exciting. We Were Like, “Will It Work? Will It All Come Together?” SO i’M Proud of How Everyone Came Together to Make that Scene Really LOVELY.

I Last SPOKE to you for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerand you likely -picked up a ton of filmmaking hats on that set. DID Any OF TROSE TIPS AND TRICKS Come in Handy Here?

YES, JJ [Abrams] And Kathleen Kennedy, in Their Wisdom, Essentally Handed Me A Professional, Creative, Collaborative Experience that Wound Wuld Anyow Me AnyWhere And Function at AT AT AT AT ATH. No Matter How Big A Production i Go On to Do Is, It’s Always GOING TO BE SMALLER THAN The rise of skywalker. In the Battle Sequance on the Ship, I was Shooting Horses and Fires; IT WASSANE.

SO the hack is that i Really Approach each sequence on every job i’ve Done Subsequently with a Great Sense of Clarity, Efficiency, Communication, Joy, Interest and Openness. I’m not afraid in a way that people might Think I Should be. I’m more afraid of not capturing the Truth of a sequence, but i’m not afraid that we have all comether with, Functionality, Communication and Preparation to Dover IT. I don’t have that fear.

You Also Gifed Me The Mental Picture of Dark Rey (Daisy Ridley) Dancing to Prince in Between Takes.

(Laughs.) Oh My God, that’s so Funny. I Just Watched Her Movie The Other Day, and I Was Texting Her. But I Think About that All the Time. I DIDN’T DARE RECORD A VIDEO. I was vary careful about doing that. But I Wish I ‘D been able to do it for daisy and for me Because her dancing [as Dark Rey] WAS UNBELIEVABLE.

DID YOU Continue the Dance Parties On The Old Guard 2?

YES, MUSIC IS A GREAT TOOL FOR WHEN THERE’S A LOT OF Noise On Set, and the Actors have to Stay Still for Something Weather-Related Oor for Something Reasis. SO the Music Allows People to Just Breathe and Not Feel The Chaos. IT’s A Tool So That Individual On Camera Will Not The Chaos That’s Happy Amound of Them. IT’s also a Tool for Crew when they feel High-Pressure. Rightly SO, at A Certain Poction of Each Day, we have a boot on Our Neck, and Playing Music in Those Moments of Allows People to Return to the Fun of Their Jobs. I Defy Anyone to Put A Prince Song on And Not Have People Smile and Move. Something Just Happens, and so i use it as a tool to prevent chaos.

You ALREADY KNEW The Stunt Community’s Value, But Now You’ve Made Your Own Action Movie, Are You Relieved Thaty’ll Finally Be Amongst Their Peers at the Oscars in 2028?

Beyond! It’s Been Gut-Wrenching for All of US Watched The Films of the Last Few Years, and We Could Even Take It Back to the ’70s. There are Projects that everyone Borrows from Today. More Recently, I See Sequences from [South Korea’s] The Villainess Borrowed in American Films. SO, for the individuals who made something specialized that is carved Through Time, It’s HeartBreaking that Wearen’t Honored.

THEN THERE ARE PEOPLE RIGHT NOW WHO WON’T BE HONEDED THIS YEAR. Cruise is going t O Get One, But Between Cruise and Keanu, You Kind of Wish That One of Them Gets The Very First One The Year That is Handed Out. And IT’s A Global Discussion. Stunt Teams All Armund the World Have Shaped This. SO i’M Excited to See Them Honored, and It’s Long Overdue. And Just Imagine the Events and the Parties with Their Energy Involved. (Laughs.) It’s a win for everyone.

You Wrapped Principal Photography On The Old Guard 2 Nearly Three Years Ago, and The Prolonged Wait Has Been Excrucating for Fans. DID Any Silver Linings Emerge from the Delay and the Extended Post-Production Process?

YES, THERE’S A SILVER LINING IN EVERYTHING. At the end of every day day, i enjoy toring a couple of minutes to try to evalue what we learned and what we’d do Differently. I do that during pre-reproduction, principal [photography] and Post-Production.

This is a Tricky Sennce Because there was so Many Great People Who Worked on the Movie, But Wen We Resamed [post-production after the strike]we have an account to a lot of people who would’ve open’ve They Were Now Available. SO the team that camera on to bring US THROUGH POST IS A Murderers’ Row of Talent. We Ended Up with this Top-TIER, UNBELIEVABLY TALENTED TEAM ON THE BACKSIDE THAT WE DIDNN’T HAVE ACCESS TO EARLIER ON BECAUSE EVERYONOne WAS BUSY. [Composer] Lorne Balfe Was with Us at the Beginning, and While We Lost Him To Missionwe kept him [as a score producer] d His team. So the Silver Lining is that the movie was finized, and it releases on july 2. (Laughs.)

The Old Guard 2 ends on a tortouse cliffhanger, and i keep telling myseldflix woldn’t let that happen unless they were already interested in a Third Movie. What can you say at this juncture regarding a third movie?

I can tell you that i am not in the room for any of thoss discussions, but i hope for audiences to have it. I Hope for the Cast and Crew to have it. I Hope for the Producers at Netflix to have it. But I will be long gone. I have Three Different Films that i’m Trying to Balance, and However It Goes, I HOPE THAT IT WORKS OUT IN A Really Fun Way Way Whover The Decision is Made. It would would obviously be exciting to see what happles when they run out that door [at the end]. Who isn’t curious to see any’re going? We Know Whaty’re Chasing, But Wall Will They Land?

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The Old Guard 2 is now streaming on netflix.