Gina Prince-Bythewood’s directorial turn in The Old Guard is far from her first brush with the world of live-action comic books. She previously garnered acclaim for her work on the pilot episode of Cloak & Dagger and was at one point set to direct Sony’s Silver & Black. On July 10, Netflix subscribers will get the chance to see her vision of Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez’s miniseries come to life.
But the director herself gives plenty of credit to the cast, and Prince-Bythewood shared with Screen Rant why she felt actors like Chiwetel Ejiofor and Charlize Theron were drawn to the story of immortal warriors. She also revealed one of the toughest scenes to shoot and how she got through it.
Can you talk to me about how you assembled this cast, especially Charlize and Chiwetel? Amazing actors in their own right, and amazing performances. How did you assemble such talent?
Gina Prince-Bythewood: They say 70% of directing is casting, and I really believe that you have to have the right people in those roles. And this was a tough one. Foremost, Greg created such great characters and such a great story. That was absolutely helpful, because actors like Matthias Schoenaerts, who does not do these type of films – I sat across from him, and he says, “I don’t do these types of films. But I love the story and I love this character.”
Having a really dope script was absolutely helpful. Knowing I wanted to make it feel completely grounded and real, despite the fantastical conceit, was something that attracted a lot of the actors. I mean, Chiwetel. I got to work with Chiwetel, you know what I mean? What he brought to Copley and that character – every actor that I got actually elevated the characters in the story and the genre. And also I had to find people who not only were dope actors, but you could believe were, in Charlize’s case, 6000 years old. Not that a lot of people can embody that character.
So, it was it was a lot of fun, but it was absolutely intentional to have just dope actors in the genre.
The graphic novel’s also beautifully illustrated. Can you talk to me about what some of the toughest elements to translate from the page to the screen were?
Gina Prince-Bythewood: Yeah, Leandro did a beautiful job. For me, I wanted to pay homage to some of it – and most specifically my use of silhouette in the film was actually absolutely pulled from the book, and especially the kill floor. The kill floor is an iconic scene; it sets the tone. That was the scene I was nervous about. You read it in the comic, and you’re like, “Oh my God.” But then it’s like, “Okay, how do I make that real?”
The Old Guard has an interesting blend of mythology and fresh characters. Why did you decide to take on this project, and what themes spoke to you?
Gina Prince-Bythewood: Foremost, thematically, it was really two things. These characters were searching for their purpose. And I feel like that is something [I] as an artist and a person absolutely at different times in my life have had been searching for. It felt like something an audience could connect to, despite the fantastical premise.
And also just that thought of: we have a limited time on Earth, so what are we going to do with our time? I love that these characters, they don’t know how long they have, but they’re going to do good. And I loved putting that into the world. So thematically, those things absolutely connected me. The fact that there are two women at the head of this dope action joint, and that one is a young black female, which we rarely get to see. That that was like, “Oh, yeah, man.”
I know that you were rumored to be directing Silver and Black for a while, and now I’m hearing that it might be shifted into a streaming television show. Are you still involved with the process?
Gina Prince-Blythewood: Yeah, I will say I’m involved as a producer, but the last two years I’ve been MIA shooting The Old Guard. That’s how long I’ve been on this – which is I’m so excited that it’s finally about to come out, because I need a nap.
I love those characters. Silver Sable’s a dope character, [and] Black Cat. But it’s kind of shifted in what it’s gonna be, so we’re still trying to figure that out.
One of the scenes that you had was a very tight scene in a plane. It was a fight scene between your actresses. That scene was incredible, and it seemed so tightly choreographed. How hard was it shooting that scene?
Gina Prince-Blythewood: It was very hard, but I made it hard on purpose. The DP Tami Reiker and I, we decided, “You know what? It takes place in the plane, in a confined space. I wanted to feel grounded and real. Let’s not give ourselves a crutch of flying walls.” We have to stay confined in that, and that made it harder to shoot. It limited how we could shoot it in our angles, but I felt like an added to the urgency and the grounded-ness.
The other difficult thing is, it was a real plane on hydraulics. I hate to fly. Deathly afraid of flying. Every time those hydraulics started, I would get that jolt of, “Oh my God, we’re gonna crash.” So, I was always having to calm myself and then focusing back on directing the scene.
Key Release Dates
The Old Guard
Release Date:2020-07-10
