By Rachel Galvin
When an unsuspecting 93-year-old Thelma Post (played by June Squibb) gets scammed over the phone, she takes justice into her own hands and tracks down the perpetrator herself. She ends up setting off on a dangerous epic adventure that leaves her family unawares and worried, bringing her very hesitant friend Ben (the late Richard Roundtree) along for the ride.
This lighthearted film, directed by Josh Margolin, has plenty of laughs as well as tender moments. The audience is left cheering on the fiesty grandma and laughing at many funny moments along the way. It really is a fun film that can be enjoyed by all.
The film also includes well-known actors such as Clark Gregg and Parker Posey, as well as Malcolm McDowell, and others. Fred Hechinger plays Thelma’s grandson.
The movie was actually based on a true story. Margolin’s own grandma, also named Thelma Post, found herself in a similar situation. She has the same fiesty spirit, although she did not really go after the scammer in real life. The family was able to intervene before she took action. But Margolin imaginatively took the next step. What would his grandma have done if they had not intervened?
Asked how he got into the art of filmmaking, Margolin said, “You know, I think from an early age, I just always loved making things. Secondly, I could kind of get my hands on a video camera, I was making shorts with my friends and editing them and putting them together.” He said through his life, it has been a passion. “You know, my background is in performing, but it’s also writing and editing, and kind of, you know, wearing a lot of those different hats.”
The apple does not fall far from the tree. Margolin’s grandfather, named Ted Post, was also in the business. He directed such classics as “Gunsmoke,” “Hang Em High, ” “Rawhide” and “Beneath the Planet of the Apes,” and many others. Unfortunately, Margolin said he did not get a chance to really see his grandfather work. By the time he was into filmmaking, his grandfather was in his 80s and 90s. He added, “Watching movies at my grandparents house is a really important memory for me of just a place and an activity that just made me feel at home and creatively excited. So, I think I associated still conversations with him, and them, as a part of my introduction to loving what I love, but I also think somehow it was maybe just in our DNA, something that we were drawn to for one reason or another. But I’ve always loved it.”
Margolin did study theater in college and worked on acting here and there and film projects. “I was always also writing and making web series or short films, or editing somebody else’s, or writing with a group of pals,” he said. He came from an Improv background and he utilized some of those principals when making the film. “I love seeing a joke or an idea planted earlier in order to pay off later … you know, reemerge as a call back. I got that really drilled into me doing Improv. I was trying to find ways to sort of carry those threads through and have them pay off in fun or unexpected ways. And so, I think that that mindset or that way of thinking about story and character in just sort of joke structure was definitely something that guided me. I always love when it feels kind of off the cuff and naturalistic, and sounds like people talking, but is able to be sort of punctuated and heightened a little bit too,” he said. “Thelma” was the first film he wrote on his own and he felt he rea
“Thelma” was the first film he wrote on his own and he felt he really needed to direct it because it was a story he felt passionately about and he knew how he wanted to tell it. “I’m glad I had worn so many different hats throughout my 20s because being able to be a performer and an editor and a writer, I think probably helped prepare me for being able to be in the director’s role and to do so with some confidence,” said Margolin.
One of the challenges he has faced is the audience being dubious of the main character, an action hero, being a senior citizen. But with June, he really hit the jackpot. “We got really lucky with June,” he said. “She is such a consummate pro and set the bar so high for everyone else. She was the sharpest and had the best energy. And so was Richard … really, really lovely, warm guy, and kind of lit up the set every time he was there.” Squibb actually did her own stunts in the movie, although they had a double on stand-by. She loved being on the scooter. “I think anytime June was on the scooter was always just a wild time. I think honestly anytime June was on that thing was a little bit nerve wracking, if I’m being honest, but also kind of really fun to see her have as much fun on it as she did. I think she just she really came alive on that scooter,” he said.
Before Thelma goes on her adventure, she happens to watch some scenes of Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible.” Asked if he needed permission for that footage, he said, “We did have to get permission. And we were we were really lucky. Actually, we basically got Tom’s permission, which was very, very cool of him to to let us use it. We went to him actually first and then we went to Paramount once we’d gotten his okay.” His process may have been unorthodox, but it worked. He sent Cruise the scene and some footage and a Zoom table read so he was able to get a sense of it. “Lucky for us,” he said. “he gave us the okay, which was very cool.”
Because he was dealing with such professionals on set, Margolin said he felt more at ease with the process. Another challenge he faced was very strict COVID protocols, even though this was filmed in 2022. And they wanted to make sure everyone had the energy to continue. He said, the actors “met us more than halfway and and brought just everything that we’d hoped they would bring.” Still, they made sure the shooting schedule was not too long for June, for example, trying to wrap her scenes as quickly as possible.
The movie was shot in Los Angeles, largely in the valley, in North Hollywood, Burbank and Sherman Oaks. “We actually ended up also filming a little bit on the west side of town and in my grandma’s real condo. She was living with my parents at the time,” he said. He felt shooting there really tied the character into his grandmother, being that it was so full of elements of her life. “That, to me, felt very evocative of her and her spirit and character.” He called it “weird, but cool.”
Asked what he would do differently if he had to do it over again, he said, “It depends on the day. Some days, I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, I would do everything differently.’ And other days, I’m like, ‘Oh, I feel pretty happy with how we got this, this and this.’ At the end of the day, the thing I would do differently would be going into the process with the knowledge that there are going to be things you can control and things you can’t, and being sort of at peace with navigating that really early.”
When it came to working with actors, he sometimes was able to be more hands off and other times work more with the actor. “I think it was really both honestly; it was a mix. And I think it very dependent on the actor, depending on the scene. I definitely had a very specific tone I wanted the movie to hit in terms of making sure we didn’t tip too broad, and you’re really playing things honestly and playing them straight, and trying to keep the stakes alive and carry the authenticity of it even amidst some of the drama stuff. For me, often it was just about making sure people felt in the same universe, and we felt like we were playing it with that level of honesty and that pitch. It is about trusting the people you’ve hired, and also not being afraid to guide to be helpful…”
“Thelma” premiered at Sundance, but it has screened elsewhere, such as Cleveland, Sarasota and Philadelphia, as well as the Miami Film Festival and Savor Cinema, and will have other upcoming screenings. But it will be showing theatrically June 21. For more information, visit www.magpictures.com/thelma.