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Writer - director Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck verbalise to Bleeding Cool about their ' 80s - exhort anthology film Freaky Tales , casting & more .
Article Summary
When writer - directorsAnna BodenandRyan FleckconceivedFreaky Talesfor Lionsgate , it became an ode to their childhoods and the punk scene of 1980s Oakland . feature an all - star ensemble cast , the film is a multi - track mixtape of colourful characters — an NBA star , a corrupt copper , a distaff rap duo , teen hoodlum , neo - Nazis , and a debt collector — on a collision course in a pyrexia dream of encounter and battle . The duo behindCaptain Marvel(2019 ) and AppleTV+‘sMasters of the Airspoke to Bleeding Cool about the inspirations behind the film , reunite with starsTom HanksandBen Mendelsohn , recruitingPedro Pascal , work with the lateAngus Cloud(who passed in 2023 ) , and an update on their forthcoming Prime Video seriesCriminalfrom creatorEd Brubakerbased on the Marvel & Image Comics of the same name .
Freaky Tales Writer-Directors How Film Is Ode to ’80s Punk and Pop Culture
Bleeding Cool : What ’s the aspiration behind ' Freaky Tales ? '
chip : ' Freaky Tales ' come from a Too $ hort song I heard as a 10 - yr - old originate up in Oakland . Too $ hort ’s a fabled Oakland rapper I had no concern take heed to those lyrics at 9 or 10 years old , but they always stuck with me as an amazing song and a great likely form of address for a movie one day . That was the initial foot for ' Freaky Tails , ' but it evolved from there about the Sleepy Floyd game I hear on the receiving set where ( sports reviewer ) Greg Papa calls Sleepy Floyd , " Superman , " and inquire how a basketball participant could become a superhero ? Once we got that idea , which was fun to twine with . It was also inspired by the punk scene in the Bay Area at the time and all our favorite pulpy crime film that inspired Pedro Pascal ’s plot line .
You got such a wide range of a function of talent in ' Freaky Tales . ' How did you get Pedro , Tom Hanks , and Ben Mendelsohn involved ?
Boden : We have worked with Ben Mendelsohn , and this will be our third movie with him . We ’ve work with him a couple of times ( on 2015 ’s ' Mississippi Grind ' and 2019 ’s ' Captain Marvel ' ) , and we called him up . We told him about the flick , and he said , " I ’m in , " so that was that . With Pedro , we mail the playscript , and he loved it . He got on the phone with us , and we had all the same references for pulpy , fun moving-picture show we loved from the 80 , all the flick that inspired this one . We wanted this one to feel like popcorn , play , and picture , and it was a love fest . He enjoin he would do it , and we were like , " Yes ! " so he was our numeral one pick for that role . [ Turns to Fleck ] You want to tell him about Tom Hanks ?
Fleck : We mould on a show called ' Masters of the Air , ' which was the World War II drama he grow , and we got to know him a little bit through that process . We drop a line him into the script even before we did that . He was write into the musical section of the script as a small saltation cameo minute , and he said , " Sure , I ’ll do that , " and then we were kind of like , " Oh , okay . "
When it came meter to schedule him to do to Oakland , we were like , " look for a second ! Are we not take away reward of what Tom Hanks can do ? If he ’s go to come , peradventure we should write something for him . " We wrote that video store picture for him to play this video dork , as another character bid him in the movie . We wrote that for limited for Tom , and we were like , " Hey , so you may either do a little terpsichore , or you may do this ? " He was like , " Oh , yeah , I ’m definitely playing Hank , " so yeah , that ’s how that was born .
give the story you cat wrote , were there ones that were cut down and perhaps revisit sometime in like a TV serial or a subsequence film ?
Boden : No , we had n’t ; we did n’t cut anything out of this movie . This is the full flick . Could there be a ' Freaky Tales 2 ? ' We wo n’t say " No " to that . You want one ?
Definitely , I ’d enjoy the hell out of it .
Fleck : If masses show up to see this one , we ’ll make another one .
Can you speak about working with Angus Cloud and what he brought to the motion-picture show ?
spot : We bonk working with Angus . He was an up - and - come actor everyone know from ' Euphoria , ' and the finish of the flick was to pepper as many immature and one-time Oakland presence , hoi polloi and histrion into the film . It was a no - brainer to ask Angus to be part of the movie , and that role ( of Travis ) he plays is written like a straight down the middle on paper . If you interpret it , you ’re like , " Oh , this guy ’s playing it straight , " while Ben ’s role ( The Guy ) is the one who ’s all over the position , but Angus lend so much of himself you may feel him coming through . You give care about ( Travis ) in a manner you were n’t designate to , but what ’s great about Angus ’s performance is that you feel for the guy cable .
Boden : [ Angus ] was such a joy to work with . We finger so golden to have him on circle .
What was the hardest succession to get through in the celluloid ?
Sleepy ’s ( Jay Ellis ) revenge violent disorder at the end . It was the most challenging , not for any ground other than it was so ambitious , and we did n’t have enough Clarence Day . [ ' Freaky Tales ' is ] an indie plastic film , and you ’re always struggling for day , but Jay brought it , and I ’m so felicitous with how it turned out .
It had so many Tarantino vibraharp on that thing . I do it it .
I was so majestic of it . give thanks you .
shift gears , what can you say us about ' Criminal ' and how that project is coming along ?
We film ' Criminal ' last summer in Portland . It was so much fun and a great shoot , and it ’s still in situation right now . Ed Brubaker is the writer - creator , and that ’s about it .
Freaky Tales , which also starsJay Ellis , Normani , Dominique Thorne , andToo $ hort , is in theaters .
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