Here’s everything we learned: How much of that was on the page before they got cast vs. what you developed alongside them? There was a lot on the page before they got cast. The script that Celeste Ballard and I wrote is the script that’s on screen. But there’s the nuances and the complexities, and all the little things that really make them feel lived in. That was Cami and Maya. And listen, with Sophie, we got the Queen of the North in a tennis outfit screaming obscenities at Cami Mendes. It was a dream. Growing up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it’s still so wild to me to see her as an adult in a teen movie. Oh, same. But she’s still very Cruel Intentions in this. Like, I wanted her character to feel like Kathryn from Cruel Intentions is the headmaster of the school. Is there an underrated or new song in Do Revenge you hope fans fall in love with? The Jules Madrid song, which plays during the paint fight between Russ and Drea, is very special to me. I actually got that song before it came out, a friend of mine who produced it sent it to me, and I thought it was so fun. The paintball moment had such a 10 Things I Hate About You and Princess Diaries vibe too. Yes, you got it! On the soundtrack side, I worked with Rob Lowry, who’s our music supervisor, and it was amazing. I remember growing up and going to like Barnes & Noble or Best Buy and buying the CDs of the soundtracks to iconic teen movies, and I wanted that feeling. I wanted the feeling of, like, ripping off the plastic of a CD and devouring every song. I wanted Do Revenge to feel like that. Having Muna and Billie Eilish on one film soundtrack is pretty remarkable. You nailed it. Thank you! I was really crazy about the songs. I was like, every song has to be perfect and every song has to be more perfect than the last song. I really wanted every moment in the movie to be like, “Oh my god! This?! Oh my god! THIS?! No, this is my favorite! No, THIS is my favorite!” If that is how people feel, then I’ve done my job. Was there a Taylor record that inspired Do Revenge? I would say the Taylor album that inspired this the most is Reputation. Eleanor is big Reputation energy. But until there’s a Taylor’s version…whispers don’t stream Reputation. With the humor, it’s definitely the hardest. There are a million different edits of this movie because, yes, you do it on the page, but it’s really not until the edit that you’ve really got to find the tone of the movie and, like, where do you want to joke and where do you want to be a little more serious. The other ingredient that you really have to thread with stories like this is earnestness. This is not a very earnest movie, but you don’t want it to be too acidic. You don’t want it to be something that you can’t connect with. I found that in the edit, it was really about, like, Okay, where do we need to dial it up? Where do we dial it down? Luckily, I had these incredible performances from all of the actors, so I always had the vibe that I needed to create the film that you’re seeing on screen. I will say they both elevated the vision in such a really beautiful way. Alana has this encyclopedic knowledge of clothes and costumes. And Hillary, on the other side of that, every wacko idea and inspiration she turned into this absolutely gorgeous set. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s office and the bathroom are two of my favorites. It’s supposed to be this forgotten bathroom that hasn’t been updated since the ’80s. She killed it. It’s gorgeous. Like, you want to live within her sets and you want to melt into them. It’s like she made a bathroom aspirational. Also, it all feels like it goes together. It really feels like we were able to build a world as a group, so that was so exciting to collaborate with them on. You posted a video of Camila and Maya jumping on a trampoline and hanging out together on, like, day two of filming, right? Yeah, that was the second day of shooting. Like, they got keyed in and became friends very fast. The cast was a lot of people who maybe ran in similar circles or had heard about each other, but were not necessarily friends. And they came out of it, honestly this is gonna sound so cheesy, but like family. And then, for Someone Great, I mean, that Lizzo moment. I did not know what it would become when we filmed it. I just loved it. But also with Someone Great, I love that final scene at the fountain, and then the poem is probably the most iconic thing from that film. The poem and her writing the poem on the train. I love that your favorite moments for both shows connect back to the music too. Yes! I will say that there’s synesthesia, where it’s like you can see colors when you hear music. I don’t know what the film version of synesthesia is, but like I can hear a song and then create a scene in my head around it. That flip of a switch Maya does in this scene, even just with her eyes, is so brilliant. She’s amazing. She really channels her mom [Uma Thurman] in that scene. Oh yeah, just Marvel called in between. Super casual. Yeah, I did an indie movie in Australia with Chris Hemsworth called Thor: Love and Thunder. Super chill. The next genre that I want to tackle is horror. So there are two projects that are inching towards being announced. One that I think is a really perfect follow-up to Do Revenge. I can’t say too much, but what I’ll say is the next genre is horror and kind of two different avenues. One is a psychological, feminist horror that is way more dark and in the Get Out space. Then, the other is a very fun popcorn slasher.
