Warning: The video interview (above) contains spoilers for Eenie MeanieScreenRant hosted a screening and Q&A of Samara Weaving’s new comedy thriller, Eenie Meanie, and learned plenty of fun tidbits about the movie. The film follows Weaving’s character Edie, a reformed getaway driver, who is pulled back into her past life to save her unreliable ex-boyfriend–Karl Glusman’s John.
ScreenRant’s Eenie Meanie review suggests the movie deserved a theatrical release (it’s streaming on Hulu), and the screening offered audiences at the Regal North Hollywood that full cinema experience. Following the film, ScreenRant’s Ash Crossan moderated a Q&A featuring Samara Weaving, Karl Glusman, and writer/director Shawn Simmons.
The Q&A was filled with bits of information about how the movie came to be, what it was about Edie that drew Samara Weaving to the role, and more. Weaving even revealed one skill she had to hustle to learn before filming. Check it out:
ScreenRant: Is it true, Samara, that you did not know how to drive prior to the film? What is the story behind this?
Shawn Simmons: She lied in the interview. [Laughs] Lied to get the job.
Samara Weaving: Yeah, I just fully lied and said, ‘I can absolutely drive. No problem. Don’t even worry about it.’ And then I got the job and really freaked out, quickly called Melrose Driving School, and a soldier named Adam taught me how to drive. The next minute I’m surrounded by stunt drivers, and they are the best in the world, and they’re teaching me how to do donuts and controlled slides. And I’m just going, “Yeah, no. This is so easy for me.”
There’s a reason why you learn how to drive at 15 when your brain isn’t fully developed. Because at 30 years old, I’m going, “How come the only reason my car isn’t touching another car is because paint is on the ground and there’s lights flashing?” That’s the only reason!
ScreenRant: Would you get in a car with Samara now?
Karl Glusman: Well, when I get in the car with Sam, there’s a man on top of the car also controlling it, and he’s a really good driver. But I trust Sam. I trust you. Always fake it till you make it.
Other Reveals From ScreenRant’s Eenie Meanie Screening
Samara Weaving’s horror career is well-known to fans of the genre, but the thriller film, and the character of Edie, presented something different for the actor. “She’s so tough and funny and gritty,” Weaving said, adding, “Shawn just wrote such a great character; I fell in love with her on the page.”
“I think she almost is the audience’s perspective in the movie. She just encounters all these insane people and [she’s] trying to make the right choice … I was just excited to do it.”
The experience offered something new for Karl Glusman, too, albeit not in a way he might have expected. An early scene sees his character in the ɴuᴅᴇ and under attack, and when filming it, Glusman caused a little bit of a stir.
“There’s this Instagram account called This Is Cleveland, where you can post strange and bizarre events in Cleveland,” the actor said (you can imagine where this is going). “At a certain point,” he continued, “people on their balconies were reporting this crazy white boy running through their neighborhood with no clothes on.”
“And also no penis,” Glusman added. “There’s a cover-up thing … I’m a human Ken doll in that situation.”
Eenie Meanie is also Shawn Simmons’ feature film directorial debut, but he didn’t expect it to be. “When I pitched for the job, it was [to] Rhett Reese and Paul Warnick,” the director revealed. “I had written the script … and I think Paul had said, ‘Who’s David O. Russell, but does car chases?’”
“We talked about it [for] a long time, and suddenly Paul Warnick, out of the blue, says, ‘Let him do it.’”
Simmons had heard similar things before. “I’d worked on Wayne, and by the end of the process, a lot of people were going, like, ‘You’re going to direct, right?’ As a showrunner, they were like, ‘You’re pretty picky about everything from ʙuттons on your shirts to hair and music and every script.’”
“I started to think about it, but didn’t take it seriously,” Simmons admitted, “and then Paul Warnick very quickly made me take it very seriously.”
For the full Q&A, including spoiler-filled discussions of some of the movie’s biggest moments, check out the video above.
Eenie Meanie is streaming now on Hulu.
Source: Screen Rant Plus
