Warning: SPOILERS for Thelma.Thelmais a heartwarming comedy inspired by true events. Just like in the film, writer/director Josh Margolin’s grandmother Thelma was once nearly scammed into sending money to someone pretending to be her grandson (unlike the film, Margolin’s family intervened before the money could be sent). The director took that experience, his relationship with his grandmother, a healthy dose of creative license and blended them into what would quickly become a surprise hit.
To portray the fictionalized version of his grandmother, Margolin tapped veteran theater character actor June Squibb.Thelmais the first leading role for Squibb, 94, who is otherwise known for her work on projects includingInside Out 2,Nebraska,andAbout Schmidt.Screen Rant’s Thelmareviewcalled Squibb “truly excellent” in the role and highlighted how her performance grounds a story about a woman determined to get her money back, even as she is counted out due to her age.
Tom Cruise Approved Mission: Impossible Footage For Action Movie Led By 94-Year-Old Star
Tom Cruise approved footage from the Mission: Impossible franchise to be used in Thelma, the action-comedy starring 94-year-old actor June Squibb.
Screen Rantspoke with June Squibb and Josh Margolin about their work onThelma. Squibb discussed what brought her to the character and herperformance as Thelma, plus the importance of the kinds of multigenerational relationships depicted in the movie. Margolin revealed the real Thelma’s thoughts on the movie and broke down some key plot moments. Squibb and Margolin shared what projects they’d like to see the other take on next.
June Squibb Reflects On Her Lasting Impression Of Thelma
“I Love It, And I’m Very Proud Of It”
Screen Rant: June, you are so busy. You’ve already done six things since this movie came out. What has stuck with you the most aboutThelmasince you finished it?
June Squibb: I think the script. It was just such a wonderful script, and every time I see the film, I think of the script—of reading it and knowing it that way. But I love it, and I’m very proud of it.
Do you remember how deep into the script you were when you were like, “This is obviously a great project”?
June Squibb: I think I read one paragraph, and I was in. I’m serious. I just knew right away. I just love the script, and I knew, “This is something I have to do.”
Daniel Is “Very Much” Based On Director Josh Margolin
Certain Aspects Of The Character Were From Margolin’s Own “Bank Of Insecurities”
Josh, we know Thelma is based on your grandmother. How much is Daniel based on you?
Josh Margolin: I would say a pretty decent amount. Some of the facts of his life are not exactly my own, but the things he’s going through and the things he’s reckoning with throughout the movie are very much taken from my own bank of insecurities and the things that were on my mind when I was writing the movie—a lot of which were about aging, autonomy, and my own grandma’s entering this new phase of her life as I entered a new phase of my own. He is largely, I would say, a cipher for me, with some facts of his life adjusted for the needs of the movie.
Loving The Script & Knowing The Real Thelma Made The Project Easy For Squibb To Relate To
“I Knew What We Wanted Out Of It”
June, this movie really beautifully touches on things like aging and mortality. Were there ways that you were hoping to make sure that came through as well as possible?
June Squibb: No, I didn’t think about that because I felt it was in the script. I felt that he had put it in there and it was going to be filmed and that he and I knew what we wanted out of it.
Josh Margolin: I think we went into it with a pretty similar sensibility, and at least I was relieved to know that June felt that way. I did attempt to pull a lot from my grandma’s real life and from conversations I’d had with her. I was trying to use that as a North Star for all of that stuff in particular. I took June signing on as a vote of confidence that something there was resonating. I was relieved to hear it was.
I saw that you felt a kinship with this character, but was there anything about Thelma that was the hardest to relate to?
June Squibb: I don’t think there was anything that was hard to relate to. I think some of the things, physically, were not easy, but they also were doable.
Josh Margolin: I think you and Thelma share some DNA.
June Squibb: I think so, too. I’ve met her, and I love her, and I see who she is. I saw who she was through the script, but Josh also sent me some small films he had shot of her going to the store, having a birthday party, and things like that, so I got a sense of who the woman was. And I knew she was from New York and had come out to LA with her husband and he was a filmmaker. I knew a lot about her, but we didn’t dwell on it. We didn’t really talk about it a lot.
Josh Margolin: I felt like it was kind of unspoken sometimes, and I think there was a reason why, for me, June was the only person I could imagine playing the part. I’m happy that she felt the same way, but there was something that felt connected there in terms of that grit and tenacity, but also that spirit, thoughtfulness, and vulnerability. It just felt like the right fit somehow.
The Real Thelma Has Seen The Movie & Found It “Surreal”, Says Margolin
“Thankfully, She Really, Really Liked It”
Josh, I’ve read that the real Thelma has seen this. What was her reaction, and did she have any notes?
Josh Margolin: She has seen it and, thankfully, she really, really liked it. It would’ve been harrowing to find out otherwise. I don’t think she had any notes that I can remember, but I think she does find it kind of surreal and strange. I think there are moments when it’s a little hard for her to process the fact that it’s her, or it’s about her.
We shot in her condo and it’s her real name, and there’s so much of her life in the movie that I think there was a little bit of just a, “Whoa”—a trippy-ness to that for her. But now that she’s seen it a couple of times, I think she’s finally also been able to watch it as the love letter to her that it is and feel that part of it, too. That’s been really nice.
Margolin & Squibb Talk Making The Most Of Generational Divides
Squibb Will Lean Into Another Age Gap In Scarlett Johansson’s Eleanor The Great
Josh, you get a lot of humor out of the generational divide. I could imagine that with a different actor, a different script, or different direction, that stuff could come across as mean. Were there specific ways you found that made it so that [those scenes] were still sweet and funny and not punching down in any way?
Josh Margolin: That’s something we thought about a lot, actually. So much of it was just about treating things sincerely—never cutting wide and revealing, “Hey, look, this terrain or this step is actually really small and it’s just hard for her,” or something. The language of the movie was always very much hewed to her perspective and her subjective experience of moving through the world. To me, there is real courage, grit, and bravery needed to do everyday things, and I think we all have that in different ways.
Those tropes could go really broad if you lean into the joke or try to have the language of the movie be poking fun, but for us, I think the guiding principle was always to play it sincerely and let the inherent comedy or the comedy of errors be baked in but also to never lose the stakes. I think the movie kind of lives and dies on us buying into the stakes. Even if they are admittedly small by comparison to some action movies, they are big in the lives of these people and in their experiences. Always letting that be a guiding light, I think, helped us follow that tone throughout.
June, I saw you’re doing Scarlett Johansson’s [directorial debut]Eleanor the Great, which also features a friendship across a big age divide. Is there something about that kind of relationship that you feel is important to show people?
June Squibb: Oh, yes. I have young friends, and people are always saying, “What do you say to them? How do you talk to them?” This is ridiculous. Of course you have things to say to them and talk to them [about]. The more rules we put on our lives, the more ridiculous it becomes.
Margolin Explains The Choice To Cast Malcolm McDowell As Thelma’s Main Villain
“It Was Important For Him To Be The Other Side Of The Coin”
Josh, something that surprised me on my first viewing of this movie was [that], towards the end, we meet the villain and it’s Malcolm McDowell who’s kind of a peer of Thelma’s. Why did it feel important to have that character be kind of similar to her in terms of his stage of life?
Josh Margolin: To me, it was important for him to be the other side of the coin, in a way. He was sort of the darker expression of independence at all costs—of, “I can do it alone. I’ve holed myself up in this store of lamps and antiques, and that’s not cutting it anymore, so I’m resorting to these cons and these scams.”
I wanted the difference between the two of them to be that she has someone and he doesn’t. I think the idea of placing them at a similar age range, or in a similar moment, felt kind of resonant to me, and interesting. Obviously, he has someone on staff to help with these dealings and with the tech, which kind of plays into it later, but I thought there was something hopefully unexpected and thematically resonant about him being the other side of the coin—the pushed-it-too-far side of “autonomy at all costs.”
Squibb Reflects On Not Beginning Her Film Career Until She Was In Her 60s
June, I read that you started doing movies when you were in your sixties. Clearly you are busier than most people, but do you ever wish that you had gotten into screen acting earlier?
June Squibb: No. I sometimes think about what fun it might be to be doing some of the younger characters in film, but I had a wonderful theater career. I worked for years in New York and I did Broadway [and] Off-Broadway. That’s kind of a life of its own, and I’m really glad I had that. So, I guess it’s sort of both. I’m not sorry because my life was great before, but I also do feel sometimes, “I’d like to do a Cagney & Lacey,” or some of that sort of thing, and I was too old by the time I started film.
Squibb & Margolin Hype Up Each Other’s Future Prospects
“I Would Love To See June In A Western”
Is there a type of project each of you would like to see the other one take on next?
Josh Margolin: I might set June up here because I know something she’s interested in, and I happen to think it would be great. I know she wants to do a Western, and I, for one, would love to see June in a Western.
June Squibb: Oh, yeah. That would be fun. And I want you to do the one you’re writing because I know that’s what you’re interested in.
About Thelma
When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her. The movie stars beloved theater and character actor June Squibb and was written and directed by Josh Margolin.
Thelma
Cast
Thelma is a 2024 comedy film written and directed by Josh Margolin. Thelma Post finds herself duped out of money and more when a scam caller pretends to be her grandson. Unwilling to sit back and let herself be a victim, she sets off into the city to find the perpetrator and take back what is hers.
