Actor, 94, Does Her Own Stunts in Film 'Thelma'
2024-06-22
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1Actor June Squibb is the star of Thelma, a new action-comedy about a grandmother seeking revenge.
2Her part in the film required many physically demanding actions, called stunts.
3Even though she is 94 years old, Squibb was able to complete many of the stunts herself.
4These included scenes where she had to repeatedly fall, as well as drive a motor scooter during a chase scene.
5Squibb said she knew what she was getting into before she accepted the part, or role.
6She told Reuters news service, "It was great fun, and I came into it having read the script and deciding, 'Well, I think I could do that.'"
7Thelma is about a grandmother who seeks revenge against telephone scammers.
8These phone criminals stole $10,000 of her savings.
9But the movie shows the scammers chose the wrong grandmother to cross.
10Squibb demonstrates Thelma's revengeful ways by performing numerous stunts.
11Most actors - even ones more than half her age - do not complete their own stunts.
12So, she had to persuade filmmakers that she could perform them effectively and safely.
13Josh Margolin directed the film for Magnolia Pictures.
14He noted that one movie star who is known for doing his own stunts is Tom Cruise.
15He said that in Thelma, he saw Squibb successfully channel her "inner Tom Cruise."
16Squibb noted she became more and more comfortable doing her own stunts as filming progressed, saying, "I got more crazy about it."
17She added that while she may be in her 90s, she still feels 35.
18Squibb's level of energy was not surprising to Fred Hechinger, who plays her grandson in the film.
19He said, "We met before we started filming, we just developed a friendship and a kind of artistic kinship, so I was well aware of her magic."
20Squibb has played many different roles throughout her long movie career.
21She has also acted in plays on Broadway as well as in television shows.
22She was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actress for the 2013 film Nebraska.
23While the film is a comedy, Margolin said it also shows how many scammers target older people.
24It even happened to his own grandmother.
25Margolin said his grandmother received the same kind of money scam phone call as Thelma.
26And just like in the film, his family quickly became concerned.
27"And then luckily in real life," Margolin said, "we were able to step in before she sent the money."
28He added, "The things she's doing are fictionalized but the character is still very drawn from a lot of elements of my real grandma."
29Margolin said real-life moments and details were included in the film to demonstrate the real risk of such scams.
30The film currently has a 99 percent rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes.
31And many film critics have particularly praised Squibb's performance.
32For Squibb, it is especially important that women around her age can see the movie.
33She said, "We have been at screenings, and especially older women are seeing it and coming out just glowing. They just are enjoying it so much."
34One woman even showed Squibb what she would do if she had a scooter.
35"She went through the whole thing of riding a scooter for us. I just think that's wonderful. I'm so proud of that, that someone can see it and it can give them such joy," Squibb added.
36Thelma arrives in U.S. theaters June 21.
37I'm Anna Matteo.