In 2020, the pandemic wreaked havoc on all walks of life, and while it pales in comparison to the millions of loved ones lost around the world, the summer movie season was also a casualty of that devastating time period.

Direct-to-consumer releases were still happening, but event movies, for the most part, were not. Fortunately, Netflix still had its summer slate intact, and through an early screening and an effusive tweet, filmmaker Victoria Mahoney signaled that Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Old Guard would be a sight for sore eyes upon its July release. Having seen the soulful action drama early myself, I remember agreeing wholeheartedly with Mahoney’s assessment about one of the only sizable summer movies we received that year.

It turns out that Mahoney kept rewatching The Old Guard throughout the ongoing pandemic. And she wasn’t alone, as the film soon became one of Netflix’s most viewed films at the time. Skydance CCO Dana Goldberg then nominated Mahoney to take the reins of the sequel once Prince-Bythewood exited for The Woman King. It was a logical hire given Mahoney’s enthusiasm for the property, but also because she had just made history as the first woman to direct on a Star Wars movie. Mahoney’s tenure as second unit director on J.J. Abrams’ The Rise of Skywalker (2019) meant that she was prepared for the scale of her second feature film and first action movie as a full-fledged director.

“J.J. [Abrams] and Kathleen Kennedy, in their wisdom, essentially handed me a professional, creative, collaborative experience that would allow me to go anywhere and function at a high level without nerves,” Mahoney tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of The Old Guard 2’s July 2 release on Netflix. “I’m not afraid in a way that people might think I should be. I don’t have that fear.”

The Old Guard 2 picks up months after the first film, as Andromache/Andy (Charlize Theron) and her team of immortal warriors known as the Old Guard continue to operate with renewed vigor in order to better the world. That stride is interrupted by the sudden return of Andy’s long lost immortal lover, Quỳnh (Veronica Ngô), as well as the introduction of a mysterious immortal known as Discord (Uma Thurman).

The film ultimately ends on a massive cliffhanger involving a forthcoming rescue mission, and Mahoney reveals that she’s awaiting closure just like the rest of the audience.

“I can tell you that I am not in the room for any of those discussions, but I hope for audiences to have it. I hope for the cast and crew to have it. But I will be long gone,” Mahoney shares. “I have three different films that I’m trying to balance, and however it goes, I hope that it works out in a really fun way whenever the decision is made. It would obviously be exciting to see what happens when they run out that door [at the end]. Who isn’t curious to see where they’re going?”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Mahoney also discusses Theron’s character’s practical walk through time, before revisiting an indelible memory of Daisy Ridley’s “Dark Rey.”

*** 

So I thought I knew your backstory, but I found out some cool trivia recently. Your Sundance Lab advisor was the man they call “McQ,” and that relationship continued to the point where you were giving valuable notes on Angela Bassett’s character in Mission: Impossible — Fallout. Given that you both stress how important emotion is to action, is Christopher McQuarrie one of the people who helped ingrain that philosophy in you?

First of all, I love that you did your homework in this capacity. That particular piece of trivia is dear to my heart; McQ is a very dear friend. I will say that I am a child of Korean action movies, so my connection to emotion and action comes from the amount of Korean films that I watch. Korean filmmakers and stunt teams do it so well and so honestly and so plausibly and so feverishly that it is just ingrained. So I actually didn’t know we shouldn’t be doing that. 

What McQ did for me — by way of our geeky spitball discussions that are endless year upon year — is [making sure] you preserve the emotionality in action as much as any other aspect of the drama surrounding the action. One of the things I enjoy most about action-drama is having a little bit of drama buck right up against action and have them both stand on their own. 

Both of your movies shared the same helicopter pilot, Fred North, but did you actually reference Fallout’s helicopter sequence in preparation for Old Guard 2’s helicopter sequence? 

No, Charlize really wanted to play with the helicopter bit, and Fred North [helped brainstorm]. Our building [that serves as the backdrop for the sequence] is false, but it’s based on a Zaha Hadid design that I found. So the area allowed for only certain movements, and what we did was constructed based on the area that we had to play in and the parameters of the story. Dan Bradley, who’s our second unit [director], was a fun champion on that sequence.

I remember you tweeting a glowing reaction to the first Old Guard well before it came out, so it made perfect sense to me when you were hired for the sequel. Did Gina Prince-Bythewood nominate you to take over once she committed to The Woman King?

You’re endearing yourself to me in a thousand ways because I completely forgot about that. I [reacted] raw and real in the moment, so I love that you saw that. Dana Goldberg at Skydance put my name in the hat, and then Gina and I talked before, during and after. I sought her regard in respect to character aspects and the laws of immortality that she had set up in a wonderful way. So I wanted to make sure that I didn’t betray any of the laws, and the opening sequence, which was great fun, was a template for us to run on [in that regard]. So I talked to Gina throughout to make sure that I was staying true to the DNA of the first.

There’s a really impressive sequence where Andy (Theron) walks through time to confront her past. How did you achieve that?

It was really fun, and just so you know, that was two takes. We rehearsed it on the day; there was no rehearsal prior. The goal was to achieve a sequence that allowed the audience to experience what it could potentially feel like for an individual who’s been alive for thousands of years to move through a city or a town [that they’ve frequented an untold amount of times]. When I go to any city where I’ve traveled to many times, I have a memory every time I go back. When I turn a corner, a thought or a person or a thing comes up. So I felt that Andy would have memories of her dear ones in that place.

The sequence was scripted to be heavier with battles and war, and while the structure of that was fun, it was a bit repetitive to what the audience already saw in the first film. I was aiming to reinforce the relationships and the lightness of her life, and this was a great place to have a reflection of her friends in this lighter, joyful space. I love Andy’s face when she’s walking and the way she receives light; the memories are palpable. We did that all in-camera. It’s all practical. The only thing we did was color correction, of course, but before the bit at the end, the whole thing is in-camera. [DP] Barry Aykroyd and I rehearsed it with some of the PAs on the backlot at Cinecittà Studios [in Rome] with just our little pocket cameras.

Everyone got to participate in that sequence, and so I really enjoy that you brought it up because it’s proof of what happens when all hands are on deck. Every single person who worked on the film caressed and massaged this sequence, including through post. So she really walks through those practical changes: the wardrobe, the people, the props.

Then she approaches Quỳnh in a place they’ve met before, and this beautiful figure-eight [shot] returns us back to real time. It was one of the places in the movie that we, as filmmakers, got to play in a way that was challenging and exciting. We were like, “Will it work? Will it all come together?” So I’m proud of how everyone came together to make that scene really lovely.

I last spoke to you for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and you likely picked up a ton of filmmaking hacks on that set. Did any of those tips and tricks come in handy here?

Yes, J.J. [Abrams] and Kathleen Kennedy, in their wisdom, essentially handed me a professional, creative, collaborative experience that would allow me to go anywhere and function at a high level without nerves. No matter how big a production I go on to do is, it’s always going to be smaller than The Rise of Skywalker. In the battle sequence on the ship, I was shooting horses and fires; it was insane. 

So the hack is that I really approach each sequence on every job I’ve done subsequently with a great sense of clarity, efficiency, communication, joy, interest and openness. I’m not afraid in a way that people might think I should be. I’m more afraid of not capturing the truth of a sequence, but I’m not afraid that we won’t all come together with form, functionality, communication and preparation to do whatever it is before us. I don’t have that fear.

You also gifted me the mental picture of Dark Rey (Daisy Ridley) dancing to Prince in between takes. 

(Laughs.) Oh my God, that’s so funny. I just watched her movie the other day, and I was texting her. But I think about that all the time. I didn’t dare record a video. I was very careful about not doing that. But I wish I ‘d been able to do it for Daisy and for me because her dancing [as Dark Rey] was unbelievable.

Did you continue the dance parties on The Old Guard 2? 

Yes, music is a great tool for when there’s a lot of noise on set, and the actors have to stay still for something weather-related or for something to be fixed or for a thousand other reasons. So the music allows people to just breathe and not feel the chaos. It’s a tool so that the individual on camera will not feel the chaos that’s happening around them. It’s also a tool for crew when they feel high-pressure. Rightly so, at a certain portion of each day, we have a boot on our neck, and playing music in those moments allows people to return to the fun of their jobs. I defy anyone to put a Prince song on and not have people smile and move. Something just happens, and so I use it as a tool to prevent chaos.

You already knew the stunt community’s value, but now that you’ve made your own action movie, are you relieved that they’ll finally be amongst their peers at the Oscars in 2028?

Beyond! It’s been gut-wrenching for all of us who’ve watched the films of the last few years, and we could even take it back to the ‘70s. There are projects that everyone borrows from today. More recently, I see sequences from [South Korea’s] The Villainess borrowed in American films. So, for the individuals who made something so specific that it’s carried through time, it’s heartbreaking that they weren’t honored.

Then there are people right now who won’t be honored this year. Cruise is going to get one, but between Cruise and Keanu, you kind of wish that one of them gets the very first one the year that it’s handed out. And it’s a global discussion. Stunt teams all around the world have shaped this. So I’m excited to see them honored, and it’s long overdue. And just imagine the events and the parties with their energy involved. (Laughs.) It’s a win for everyone.

You wrapped principal photography on The Old Guard 2 nearly three years ago, and the prolonged wait has been excruciating for fans. Did any silver linings emerge from the delay and the extended post-production process? 

Yes, there’s a silver lining in everything. At the end of every day, I enjoy taking a couple of minutes to try to evaluate what we learned and what we’d do differently. I do that during pre-production, principal [photography] and post-production. 

This is a tricky sentence because there were so many great people who worked on the movie, but when we resumed [post-production after the strike], we had access to a lot of people who would’ve otherwise been busy. They were now available. So the team that came on to bring us through post is a murderers’ row of talent. We ended up with this top-tier, unbelievably talented team on the backside that we didn’t have access to earlier on because everyone was busy. [Composer] Lorne Balfe was with us at the beginning, and while we lost him to Mission, we kept him [as a score producer] and his team. So the silver lining is that the movie was finished, and it releases on July 2. (Laughs.) 

The Old Guard 2 ends on a torturous cliffhanger, and I keep telling myself that Netflix wouldn’t let that happen unless they were already interested in a third movie. What can you say at this juncture regarding a third movie?

I can tell you that I am not in the room for any of those discussions, but I hope for audiences to have it. I hope for the cast and crew to have it. I hope for the producers at Netflix to have it. But I will be long gone. I have three different films that I’m trying to balance, and however it goes, I hope that it works out in a really fun way whenever the decision is made. It would obviously be exciting to see what happens when they run out that door [at the end]. Who isn’t curious to see where they’re going? We know what they’re chasing, but where will they land?

***
The Old Guard 2 is now streaming on Netflix.