{\an8}- I wanna inspire studio
executives to hire women, right?
{\an8}Like, I wanna just be
like, "I did the job,
{\an8}"the job can be done by a woman."
{\an8}If anything, that's the legacy
that I wanna start to leave
{\an8}with this movie and hopefully
in general with my career.
{\an8}Just trust us.
{\an8}- Just trust us.
{\an8}(laughing)
{\an8}- It's so sad,
- Yeah.
{\an8}- of a statement but more
than 80% of all movies
{\an8}are still directed by men, so.
- Yes.
{\an8}- I am just like begging
people to trust us.
{\an8}- [Josh] Is first and
foremost on your mind
{\an8}like, what this will mean to people,
{\an8}particularly to young women,
{\an8}I mean this is a property
that does mean a lot.
{\an8}- Honestly, I don't wanna
say I took that for granted
{\an8}but I felt pressure as a
first time action director
{\an8}who's a lady
{\an8}to really up my game when it
came to the action set pieces
{\an8}and really make sure that I
delivered a great action movie.
{\an8}I knew it'd be funny and I knew
I had the most amazing cast
{\an8}and that it would feel
fresh for a new generation.
{\an8}And that we were imbuing
it with sort of themes
{\an8}of comradery, sisterhood, sorority,
{\an8}teamwork that like, I love in things.
{\an8}- [Josh] Right.
{\an8}- I felt like we sort of had that stuff
{\an8}and it was really about,
how do I make the action in
{\an8}this movie really specific to
a 'Charlie's Angels' movie.
{\an8}Like, you can't see this
in 'John Wick,' right.
{\an8}- Right, right.
{\an8}- Right? Like, you can't see this--
{\an8}In 'Mission: Impossible,'
{\an8}they don't hug, you know?
{\an8}(laughing)
{\an8}Like, things like that--
They might hug actually.
{\an8}I feel like Ethan Hunt has--
{\an8}- Ethan Hunt and Ving
Rhames have probably--
{\an8}- Yeah, they've probably
hugged, they bro'd it out.
{\an8}- Yeah.
{\an8}- They bro'd out, yeah, so we bro'd out.
{\an8}(laughing)
{\an8}- Here's something I did find curious,
{\an8}I mean, I dunno what this says about
{\an8}where we are generally in filmmaking,
{\an8}I think what, you have like
half the budget basically,
{\an8}of like the last 'Charlie's Angels' movie?
{\an8}- Yeah.
{\an8}- And, you still have to like live up to--
{\an8}- Yeah, I still have to make
an amazing action movie.
{\an8}(laughing)
{\an8}- So, I don't know, what
does, I don't know--
{\an8}- You know I, sometimes
when you get parameters
{\an8}they make you really creative.
- Sure.
{\an8}- Right, and I wanted
to ground this movie.
{\an8}I really felt like we needed
to distinguish ourselves
{\an8}from the sort of superhero
action genre stuff
{\an8}that's out right now.
{\an8}You know you have to remember
that 'Charlie's Angels'
{\an8}has always been revolutionary
in its moments.
{\an8}So, in the 70s it was about
women doing detective work
{\an8}which was almost solely done by men.
{\an8}And, so that was really revolutionary.
{\an8}When Drew Barrymore made the
movies in the early 2000s,
{\an8}you know, pre-9/11 the
first one by the way.
{\an8}Everything was sort of John Woo
{\an8}and 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'.
{\an8}- [Josh] Super-stylized.
{\an2}- Super-stylized, slow-mo was
kind of just starting out.
{\an8}So you know, it was about that.
{\an8}They were kind of superheroes.
{\an8}Because, Angelina Jolie
had not happened yet.
{\an8}'Captain Marvel,' 'Wonder
Woman,' even 'Elektra,'
{\an8}even Halle Berry's 'Catwoman'
had not happened yet.
{\an8}Like, they were literally at the forefront
{\an8}of women in action movies.
{\an8}So, we've had all of that
now, so I had to figure out
{\an8}how do I kind of back up, reground it,
{\an8}and make these woman feel relatable.
{\an8}- [Josh] Yeah.
{\an8}- And like, you wanna go
on a journey with them
{\an8}and like you could be an Angel.
{\an8}Of course I would have loved to have
{\an8}a huge budget, everyone would.
{\an8}But, it meant that, the fight
sequences were more real.
{\an8}I did not have a lot of wire work.
{\an8}Everyone did their own stunts,
which is really incredible.
{\an8}And, the danger and
the stakes of the movie
{\an8}kind of just feel more real.
{\an8}- We have to talk about casting,
{\an8}I mean you've assembled a
really great ensemble
{\an8}in this one and it started with Kristen.
{\an8}- Yeah.
- Which is an inspired choice.
{\an8}We've seen her do virtually
every kind of a role,
{\an8}but not this, clearly.
- Yeah.
{\an8}- [Josh] Like, what
gave you the confidence
{\an8}to know that this was even in her?
{\an8}- Well first of all, she is
one of the best actresses
{\an8}of any generation. And second of all,
{\an8}exactly what you just said.
{\an8}I wanted to surprise the audience.
{\an8}I knew that in her I
had a real opportunity
{\an8}to showcase a side of Kristen Stewart
{\an8}that you have never seen before.
{\an8}And, I think she is so funny
in this film, so at ease,
{\an8}her character is the real sort
{\an8}of grounding force of the entire endeavor.
{\an8}And, she's Kristen Stewart,
she's a global superstar.
{\an8}- You know it's important for every,
{\an8}particularly young woman to see themselves
{\an8}in some aspect of these women.
- Mm-hm.
{\an8}- And, there's like a, the fun like,
{\an8}little nod to her
sexuality in the gym scene.
{\an8}At what stage did that come in
{\an8}and was that something
that was important to you
{\an8}and to Kristen in the development of this?
{\an8}- Honestly, we didn't wanna
label anyone in the movie.
{\an8}We're so happy to have a queer Angel,
{\an8}but we also really didn't
wanna label anybody
{\an8}and by the way we didn't wanna put limits
{\an8}on Naomi's character of Elena
{\an8}or on Jane's character either, like--
{\an8}- Where was Noah Centineo
when you cast him,
{\an8}had he already started
to explode a little bit?
{\an8}- Noah had, he'd done a couple of,
{\an8}he'd done two of the Netflix movies.
{\an8}- [Josh] Yeah.
{\an8}- We were looking for
like just charm, you know
{\an8}and again like a fresh
face and he really took me
{\an8}by surprise and sort of charmed me.
{\an8}And I thought, "Well then
let's go, he's gonna,
{\an8}he'll charm the audience as well."
{\an8}- You've obviously directed
before and directed big
{\an8}ensembles before, but this is a big jump,
{\an8}do you want this to lead to
bigger franchise opportunities?
{\an8}Like, is there a genre
{\an8}or a property in particular that you love?
{\an8}- There's many things that
I'm interested in, Josh.
{\an8}- Okay, okay. (laughs)
{\an8}- I would like to, I would also
like to not be pigeon-holed
{\an8}into only being able to direct women.
{\an8}- Fair enough.
{\an8}- That would be, that would be nice, too
{\an8}for women to be able
to direct like anybody.
{\an8}- We should also mention, I
mentioned some of your cast
{\an8}but the cat's outta the bag a little bit,
{\an8}you've revealed some of
the cameos of some of the
{\an8}- Yeah.
- additional Angels.
{\an8}- That's right.
{\an8}- So, can you tell me a little
bit about Hailee and Lili?
{\an8}- You know Hailee's one
of my favorite actresses
{\an8}and we had such a great
experience on 'Pitch Perfect.'
{\an8}Partly what I wanted to do was
put the idea into the world
{\an8}that like, this is bigger
than these three women.
{\an8}- Yeah.
{\an8}- That the universe that they live in
{\an8}is bigger than these three women.
{\an8}And, that we are everywhere
and we're coming for you.
{\an8}(laughing)
{\an8}- Felt like a threat for a second.
{\an8}- It is a little bit.
{\an8}(laughing)
{\an8}- Is the idea that,
{\an8}if you get the opportunity to do a sequel,
{\an8}would you wanna see Hailee and
{\an8}Lili for instance be full on Angels?
{\an8}- Yeah, absolutely, all those women.
{\an8}I would love to bring back anyone
{\an8}that we've introduced in this film.
{\an8}- Amazing.
{\an8}- And anyone from the entire canon.
{\an8}- I do wanna mention one
sequence in particular,
{\an8}the dance sequence.
{\an8}- [Elizabeth] Yes.
{\an8}- Was kind of like,
"Okay we gotta do this,
{\an8}we gotta make this work in a day."
{\an8}- They came to set like two hours early,
{\an8}four days in a row to
learn that dance sequence.
{\an8}I mean, they had no time
to learn that sequence.
{\an8}We were shooting a giant
fight at the same time
{\an8}that they were learning that choreography.
{\an8}And, for me it was,
{\an8}I need to get a, fly a
choreographer from London.
{\an8}He needs to hire dancers, he
needs to choreograph the thing,
{\an8}I need to see it, we need to
make sure the music can clear.
{\an8}- Oh my god.
{\an8}- And, and we're shooting this all
{\an8}in one night on a Friday night
{\an8}after we've done night
shoots four nights in a row.
{\an8}- Well, last thing I wanna
hit is "Don't Call Me Angel".
{\an8}- [Elizabeth] Yeah.
{\an8}- [Josh] Which has this
amazing group of women as well.
{\an8}- But, so many other great
songs on the soundtrack too,
{\an8}which is out now.
{\an8}- Of course. (laughing)
{\an8}But, I'm curious how that trio came about?
{\an8}- That was all Ariana.
{\an8}- Yeah.
{\an8}- She got involved really early on.
{\an8}She, I think she was inspired
{\an8}by the 'Black Panther' soundtrack.
{\an8}And I think, really
excited about being able
{\an8}to take risks musically on something
{\an8}that was not gonna be a
solo album for her, right.
{\an8}- [Josh] Right.
{\an8}- And that she could collab
with really cool people
{\an8}which is exactly what happened.
{\an8}She's good friends with Miley,
{\an8}that came together really quickly.
{\an8}And then, that third part, there were
{\an8}a few names being thrown around
{\an8}and Savan Kotecha who wrote the song,
{\an8}he was like, "What if I did it like this?"
{\an8}And, it was Lana. And it was like, "Yes!"
{\an8}- That'll work.
{\an8}- Yeah.
{\an8}(laughing)
{\an8}- Congratulations on this achievement.
{\an8}Trust this lady, guys. First, see the movie
{\an8}- Thank you.
{\an8}- And then her make even like
{\an8}a bigger, badder, crazier movie.
{\an8}- Yeah.
{\an8}- Throw 200 million dollars her way.
{\an8}- Sure.
{\an8}- What's the worst that could happen?
{\an8}- I mean I'd, it will lose a lot of money.
{\an8}- No that's-- I'm trying to help you!
{\an8}(laughing)
