Latest news with #VictoriaMahoney
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
Victoria Mahoney was the first female 'Star Wars' director. Now, she's directing one of the most anticipated movies of the summer.
Victoria Mahoney can't contain herself. She's finally going to talk about "The Old Guard 2." It's not just the long-awaited sequel to Netflix's hit 2020 action movie starring Charlize Theron as the leader of immortal mercenaries out to better the world, but it also marks Mahoney's first feature film directing effort since her debut, the gritty 2011 indie starring Zoë Kravitz, "Yelling to the Sky." What has she been doing this whole time? The real question is: What hasn't she done? Everything about Mahoney is big—big energy, big smile. On this day, while chatting over Zoom with Business Insider, she's sporting big pieces of jewelry along with big, stylish glasses. Essentially, Mahoney doesn't do anything small—well, anymore. There was a time when that's all she could get. Through the 1990s, she was an actor and only had blink-and-you'd-miss-them roles on TV ("Seinfeld") and movies ("Legally Blonde") to show for it. By the 2010s, she pivoted to directing and was able to scrounge enough money to pull off an 18-day shoot for the low-budget semi-autobiographical drama "Yelling to the Sky." "We would knock on the neighbors' doors to use the bathroom because we had no money for trailers," Mahoney recalled. "They would make us lemonade, and they were so sweet. What happened at that time was quite special. I loved every second." Sadly, the movie didn't get much attention after its festival run. Seeing the filmmaking market shift to directors helming indies right into big-budget movies, she set out to do the same. But no one was knocking down her door offering a Marvel movie or revamping an aging IP. So Mahoney got directing gigs on TV. Since 2016, she's directed episodes of "Queen Sugar," "Grey's Anatomy," "Claws," "Power," "You," and the pilot episode of "Suits LA." Then in 2018, she was hired as the second unit director on J.J. Abrams' "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," making her the first woman ever to have a director credit on a " Star Wars" movie. Many in her situation would assume that being involved in one of Hollywood's biggest franchises would lead to the gates of Hollywood opening and offers coming in by the handful. But Mahoney knew better. "Some people may have the luxury of walking the Earth with that thought process, I have never been afforded that," she said. "I have a very practical and tactical approach to work," she continued. "I hunt jobs, I pursue, I advocate for myself, I'm strategic, I'm shrewd." Mahoney's take on 'The Old Guard' Mahoney kept grinding, and after a few false starts on directing big movies, she finally got the opportunity she'd patiently waited for. In 2021, Skydance CCO Dana Goldberg reached out about directing the sequel to "The Old Guard." "I was a fan of the first one, so when they called it wasn't like this is smart business, I actually really cared about the movie and the characters," Mahoney said of the franchise. "The Old Guard 2" picks up right where we left off. Andy (Theron) and her team of immortals have a fuller understanding of their importance in the world and use a former CIA operative (Chiwetel Ejiofor) as their guide to taking out those doing harm. Still, Andy gets a surprise when she learns that her old friend from centuries ago, Quynh (Ngô Thanh Vân), who has been trapped under the sea, has been brought back to the surface by Discord (Uma Thurman), and the two set out with some evil intentions. Mahoney said taking over from the first movie's director, Gina Prince-Bythewood (who stepped aside to make "The Woman King"), wasn't daunting because of her work on 2019's "Rise of Skywalker." "'Star Wars' was very much my school to this ZIP code," she said. "There are very specific lessons you get on 'Star Wars' that you can't get anywhere else. One of the things that I grabbed onto and received right away was the notion that we must respect the DNA, we must respect fans, we must respect new terrain and new thought." "I love a challenge, so I enjoyed the idea of preserving all the factors that made the first 'Old Guard' unique and wonderful, and what enticed me and what I understood enticed audiences," she continued. "So my loyalty to protect that is something that I went to work with every day." However, Mahoney is also proud of her own original touches, like the sequence she devised to capture Andy and Quynh's first meeting in centuries. Filmed at Italy's famed Cinecittà Studios, the scene shows Andy walking through the narrow streets of Rome to meet Quynh at a piazza. During her walk, her surroundings suddenly change, backtracking from the 19th Century to the Roman Empire. What was originally planned as a series of flashbacks to symbolize how long it's been since Andy last saw Quynh, Mahoney restructured it into one of the more eye-catching sequences of the movie with its use of changing scenery and different color lens filters. "Wherever I am in the world, when I walk down certain streets, I have a sense of memory," Mahoney said. "I don't think about it, it's inside of me. I felt Andy is a person who has an experience that none of us have, in that she can walk through a street and have a feeling from all these different times." What's next for Mahoney Though Mahoney has completed the biggest project of her career, she's not content and doesn't assume that another is right around the corner. As she's done her whole career, she's back on the grind, figuring out how to maneuver next. "I'm aware this kind of job gets me three moves on the chessboard," she said. "I'm aware unilateral moves are no good for me." She takes a breath, perhaps for an instant, absorbing where she's been and where she hopes to go. "Within this stretch, all the people that say, 'Oh, this is going to change things forever,' I'm like, 'We'll see.' I'm a realist."
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Charlize Theron Says Uma Thurman Deserved an Oscar for ‘Kill Bill': ‘So Unbeliveable'
Uma Thurman should have won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1995, Charlize Theron told Jimmy Kimmel Friday night. 'I think men get a lot of credit for these movies. … What she did in that film was just so unbelievable,' Theron said. Theron and Thurman are co-stars in the upcoming Netflix film The Old Guard 2. 'We knew each other kind of offhand, but I knew her from being a massive fan, just watching her work, and always wanted to do something with her,' Theron first told Kimmel. 'Because when I came into the action world, she was really, to me, like, the sensei. She was the OG.' The late night host then interjected, 'I agree. She should've won the Academy Award for Kill Bill, right?' to which Theron answered, 'A hundred percent.' 'To me, she's just such a badass. So, since I've been in action movies, I've been like, 'Who do I want to work with and do an action sequence with?' It's always been Uma Thurman. Always,' Theron added. Thurman joined the cast of the action film in 2022. The movie is the follow-up to Netflix and Skydance's 2020 action film about a secret group of mercenary killers, all of whom are immortal and have been fighting for centuries but have to fight to keep their identities secret when a new immortal member of their team is discovered. The movie was directed by Victoria Mahoney. Theron also said Thurma is 'intimidating' but added the actress is also 'really sweet and kind and thoughtful, and so hardworking.' 'But I was definitely intimidated by her, especially when she showed up and she was given one sword and we had worked out this whole sequence and she went, 'I think I want two swords,'' Theron added. Watch the interview with Charlize Theron in the video above. The post Charlize Theron Says Uma Thurman Deserved an Oscar for 'Kill Bill': 'So Unbeliveable' | Video appeared first on TheWrap.
Geek Tyrant
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Trailer For Charlize Theron's Netflix Action Thriller THE OLD GUARD 2 — GeekTyrant
Netflix has just dropped the first trailer for Charlize Theron's upcoming action thriller The Old Guard 2 , which sees the band of immortal warriors return to the the world. In the film, 'Andy (Theron) and her team of immortal warriors are back, with a renewed sense of purpose in their mission to protect the world. With Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts) still in exile after his betrayal, and Quynh (Veronica Ngô) out for revenge after escaping her underwater prison, Andy grapples with her newfound mortality as a mysterious threat emerges that could jeopardize everything she's worked towards for thousands of years. 'Andy, Nile (KiKi Layne), Joe (Marwan Kenzari), Nicky (Luca Marinelli) and James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) enlist the help of Tuah (Henry Golding), an old friend who may provide the key to unlocking the mystery behind immortal existence. The movie is directed by Victoria Mahoney, and also stars Uma Thurman, The Old Guard 2 is described a s 'an emotional, adrenaline-pumping sequel, based on the world created by Greg Rucka and illustrator Leandro Fernandez.' If you liked the first movie, it looks like the sequel is one the same level of quality, and it's sure to deliver some good entertainment. Theron previously talked about how the sequel improves on the original movie, saying: 'You know, it's so pretentious when an actor is like, 'It's so much bigger! It's so much better!' And I think you know that I'm not that person. 'It is pretty impressive what we did, because it felt very specific, the first time around, and we wanted to kind of like take it out of that. What we let the audience think was that set world, and we really kind of turned that on its head. So I'm excited about that. We have a bigger cast, and it feels more global. It's a big movie.' The Old Guard 2 is set to premiere on Netflix on July 2nd.
Digital Trends
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
The Old Guard 2 finally has a trailer, and it previews Charlize Theron vs. Uma Thurman
How about this heavyweight matchup between two action icons in The Old Guard 2? In one corner sits Charlize Theron, a powerful force who conquered the Wasteland in Mad Max: Fury Road and survived as a secret agent in Atomic Blonde. Facing off against Theron is Uma Thurman, a pioneer in the genre who became an icon for playing The Bride in Kill Bill. This summer, Theron and Thurman square off in The Old Guard 2, the fantasy sci-fi adventure on Netflix. In the trailer, Andy (Theron) adjusts to life without her immortality. Quynh (Veronica Ngô) has escaped her underwater prison, and Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts) remains in exile after his betrayal. Andy and her team — including Nile (KiKi Layne), Joe (Marwan Kenzari), Nicky (Luca Marinelli), and James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) — enlist the guidance of Tuah (Henry Golding), an old friend who may have the answers to immortality. The super team needs all the help to defeat Discord (Thurman), the very first immortal and Andy's former foe. 'I will destroy everything you stand for with a power you can't even imagine,' Discord says before squaring off against Andy. Victoria Mahoney directs The Old Guard 2 from a screenplay by Greg Rucka, based on the graphic novels by Rucka and illustrator Leandro Fernandez. The movie is an action sequel to The Old Guard directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. Released on Netflix in July 2020, The Old Guard received positive reviews for its action, direction, and lead performances. Netflix hopes the sequel will be a hit, as the streamer searches to create more franchises. The five-year gap between movies could be an issue in drumming up interest for a sequel. Quality always wins out, and if The Old Guard 2 is well-received, it will attract a strong audience. The Old Guard 2 has a prime summer release date of July 2 on Netflix. Until then, fans can stream The Old Guard.
