When Thelma Post falls victim to a phone scammer posing as her grandson and is suddenly out thousands of dollars, she embarks on an endearing action-packed journey to reclaim what was taken from her. When the real Thelma Post was nearly scammed out of thousands of dollars her grandson, Josh Margolin, made a movie about it.
Premiering as the opening-night film at the 50th Seattle International Film Festival, “Thelma” explores each point of life as a family navigates what it means to act independently within the crutch of a family unit. “Thelma” is exactly your grandma’s action movie.
Mixing comedy with another highly stylized genre is no simple task, walking a fine line between sincerity and satire. Director Josh Margolin works to harmoniously find a balance between the two, creating an incredible genre-bending, fun-filled, heartful movie.
“I think it was really important to me that the movie didn’t tip broad. It’s very easy to dip into these tropes and to feel really broad and silly and like you’re punching down,” Margolin said. “I was always trying to think about how best to combine those elements to sort of feed each other and how to explore some of those maybe more somber ideas or bittersweet themes through the lens of something kind of energetic and full of stakes.”
Margolin took a lot of inspiration from the dynamic he shared with his grandmother.
“I’ve been lucky that she’s been such a constant in some ways, and that even now, and you know, in her 100s, her body is flowing in some ways, but her mind is still a wonderful gift to have around,” Margolin shared.
In considering the action sequences, Margolin knew he would have to take a far-from-average approach.
“It’s like, Tom Cruise jumping out of a plane, is terrifying, but so is my grandmother getting into a bed,” Margolin said. “So I wanted to take essentially those tropes, those ideas, and sort of shrink them down to sort of explore aging, autonomy and anxiety to celebrate her day-to-day feats in a way through that lens.”
While the high-stakes stunts of a powerfully vengeful elderly woman read like tough entertainment to beat, the tamer aspects of the plot are granted just as much enthusiasm. Actor and producer Fred Hechinger, who plays Thelma’s doting grandson, Daniel, felt it was crucial to showcase the normal life that plays in between exciting action.
“I think part of something we’ve talked about is that the mundanity of life is as enjoyable and terrifying and exciting as the most high-stakes action movie, you know, like blowing up the Death Star on screen,” Hechinger said. “I think some of my favorite scenes are where we’re just hanging out when we’re eating pretzels watching ‘Mission Impossible’…That’s sort of exactly the thesis of the whole movie itself, and also the way it went about it, was that these [moments] are meaningful to these people.”
The ensemble cast was a standout, featuring June Squibb in the titular role as her long overdue first leading role in her 70-year career, Hechinger as the other half of this perfect pair — their chemistry was palpable —, Richard Roundtree as her longtime friend turned partner-in-crime and Parker Posey and Clark Gregg as her incredibly careful, anxious daughter and son-in-law.
Building a flowing group performance came naturally to the cast as they all felt the movie appeared under near-perfect conditions. This being both Squibb’s first leading role and Margolin’s first feature film, the two felt companionship in entering these new grounds.
“We’ve always felt a harmony, it just felt natural. Everything felt right to do. I think we got to know each other more as we worked and just got along well and started to sort of get a sense of, you know, what each other needed in the process,” Squibb said.
Margolin felt the movie fell into place with exactly the right crew at exactly the right time.
“You know, everybody I think, just bonded quickly and continued to become friends and build trust with each other. So I feel like we got really lucky in a lot of ways with this gang,” Margolin shared.
June Squibb, who is a rocking 94-year-old, feels the movie will give more opportunity for stories focused on older characters.
“I think it’ll make a difference. I hope it will make one. I think there is a shift, though, I mean, I keep seeing leading ladies in their 40s, 50s, 60s even, and they’re gorgeous still, and they should be doing the work, and they are, and even that’s different [from before]. You’ve seen a change even in that. I just did another film in New York and another 90-year-old woman. I think that all at once there’s a kind of much more of an interest in the elderly and aging. People are living longer and it’s sort of like, you know, being an older person is not a monolith. Like with being anything is not a monolith,” Squibb said.
“Thelma” will roll into American theaters on June 21, 2024.
