It’s always a treat to see an American cast and crew take their project overseas, particularly to Asia, and actually acknowledge it. The Hangover knuckleheads took their troubles to Bangkok for the sequel back in 2011, for example. And now, a gang of female menaces have taken their party-hard lifestyle to Thailand for Sheroes from Paramount. Thanks to a luggage snafu, the group of four friends (played by Sasha Luss, Wallis Day, Isabelle Fuhrman, and Skai Jackson) find themselves mixed up in a drug ring that causes one of them to be kidnapped! From there, it’s an action thriller with fun little twists and turns along the way…
We recently caught up with writer-director Jordan Gertner, who also happened to serve as producer on the massive A24 film Spring Breakers 10 years ago. He dished on bringing Sheroes to life, why folks are still talking about that Harmony Korine masterpiece, and other projects of his in the works.
Shooting on Location — in Thailand
LIke most of the great filmmakers out there, Gertner has always been a hardcore movie buff — which is certainly reflected in the thrill ride that is Sheroes. “I’ve always enjoyed entertaining films, films that kind of take you on this journey. For me, movies, were always about getting on that magical ride and leaving all this stuff going on the world around you behind you for those 90 minutes or so and then coming back to it when the movies over. So I wanted to kind of create that same type of ride, that same type of journey that I love so much.” He continued:
As a kid going to the movies, I felt like this was the kind of story that people could kind of get lost in and forget about the stuff going on in their life and laugh and smile and cheer a bit. So that was the desire to create what I wanted to create, you know? Hopefully I did that, and people can have that type of experience watching the movie.
Film auteurs like Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Somewhere) take her projects overseas to exciting other parts of the globe. With Sheroes, Gertner followed suit and took the female cast to Thailand. “We shot in Phuket and Bangkok, so I was able to kind of create those beautiful backdrops,” he said. “And for me, Thailand became a part of the film, became a character in the movie. So yeah, I wanted to kind of create this fun and crazy world and wanted to shoot somewhere beautiful. And as soon as I got off the plane in Thailand, I knew that was the place.”
Gertner continued on how Thailand became the locked-in setting for Sheroes:
The script had been written for actually another location, and a group of people I was working with suggested Thailand and said, ‘Why don’t we just go and check it out?’ I said I’m completely open. I’m not gonna say no to going to Thailand. As soon as I got there, I saw how beautiful it was and how magical it was, and then also how amazing the people are and how incredibly talented they are and how collaborative they are. Within an hour, I’m like ‘We’re making the movie here.’
The title alone, “Sheroes,” has a nice ring to it. And going off the wild hijinks that ensue across the new film, one can only wonder if a franchise of sorts is being set up here. Sheroes 2, anyone? “If people connect and enjoy the story as much as I think they will, I would love to keep exploring these amazing characters and work with these incredibly talented women, and see what location we can find next, where they collectively get into trouble and have each other’s backs and find a way out,” said Gertner on the possibility of a sequel, perhaps taking place in a new, exciting location.
10 Years of Spring Breakers and Future Projects
Earlier this year, A24 brought Spring Breakers back to the big screen in honor of the Harmony Korine film’s 10-year anniversary. “Harmony created a masterpiece with that film, and again, we worked with incredibly talented actors and crafted a story that we really hadn’t seen before,” said Gertner, who served as producer on the film.
And we worked with some actors that we hadn’t seen do those that particular kind of film before. I’m so thrilled that people just kind of connected with Spring Breakers. And it’s amazing that people still talk about that movie 10 years later. I guess spring break goes on forever, right?
Looking ahead, Gertner is certainly keeping busy, with an exciting new project in the works. “My next film that I’m directing, we’re in the process of casting right now. It’s called CAM48, and it’s essentially the story of this like street-hustling woman who is into sports gambling and owes a bunch of money to bookies, and ultimately finds this old camcorder in a pawn shop that she realizes shoots 48 hours in the future,” Gertner told us. “So she starts to use this camera to her advantage until she filmed something that proves to be an incredible disadvantage towards her. It’s another very fun, crazy ride where this woman finds herself in trouble and uses her collective skills to find a way out.”
And speaking of “collective skills,” one can’t help but think back to a memorable moment in Sheroes, where one of the female leads quotes Liam Neeson in Taken as she dishes threats to the mafia over a daunting phone call. “It’s such an iconic scene that, of course, people that watch this movie, most of them will have known where that came from,” said Gertner. “And for me, those great action films were something that I grew up on. So this film is kind of a nod to those great movies, where I feel fortunate I was able to get these women, who are incredibly talented, that opportunity to play those roles that I had watched when I was younger, that were traditionally fulfilled by men.”
From Paramount Worldwide Acquisition Group, Sheroes will be in select theaters and on demand June 23.
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