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The Continental EXCLUSIVE: Directors Albert Hughes and Charlotte Brändström on Mel Gibson and 'easter eggs' for fans in the John Wick spinoff
The Continental directors Albert Hughes and Charlotte Brändström sat down in an interview with Pinkvilla to talk about the John Wick spinoff and easter eggs; Read on!
The Continental featuring Colin Woodell, and Mel Gibson is an upcoming series that acts as a prequel spinoff to the John Wick franchise—in an exclusive interview with Pinkvilla, Directors Albert Hughes and Charlotte Brändström sat down to discuss what went behind shooting action scenes and what fans should expect from the three-episode miniseries. I got the chance to talk to them about how the prequel spin-off works with the Keanu Reeves starring franchise. Read the interview below:
Albert Hughes gives insight into the series, working with actors
How was it working with the actors on set?
I think, for me, it was the first time I actually fully had fun with the actors. I've had fun in the past with them, but this type of project, it's not dealing with reality. It's not dealing with social issues, not dealing with generational trauma. So everybody came to have fun and, you as a director and producer, you're supposed to set that tone and I'm goofy. I'm goofy in real life and I don't take anything, I don't take myself seriously. I take the job seriously. Right? So, they all felt that and they had room to play and explore.
How did you manage to meet the expectations of such a huge franchise?
Well, I think the expectations were already there from John Wick 3, and, in post-production while we were finishing shooting John Wick 4. The expectations just weren't in my mind, I don't know why. I think maybe it's because I was having too much fun in that time period. And I was really thrilled with what the stunt team was doing. And I knew that we were in the same universe, but our flavor was off over here. There are prime examples of playing in another man or woman's sandbox can be challenging. Like you look at Jon Favreau and Mandalorian. You look at Noah Hawley and Fargo. You look at Tony Gilroy and Andor. They all pulled it off successfully. And these are very kind of proven people in their own right. I'm sure they had the same issue as me. I have to deal with the fan base but they did it wonderfully.
Can you tell me any specific fun incident on set that fans need to know?
I mean, that almost happened every day something funny. I guess. The fun part was putting the Easter eggs in for the fans and the little ones that if you're a hardcore fan, you pick up on them all, you know, and like, let's see if we can get over on on on the fans here. And let's say, I put something on a license plate in episode 3. And if you read the license plate, it's a throwback to film three of the film series.
How was it with Mel Gibson on set?
The fun thing with Mel is that, I don't know if most people know that a lot of that lethal weapon stuff, his zingers, his one-liners, that's him. That's how his mind works, you know? So I'd go up to him and I'd say, hey, listen, uh, you need to insult this guy. Can you say this? And he'll, he'd take the word and spit it out a different way. Like he used, he just, he was wonderful with stuff like that with, uh, also the other actors were really great with, I'm big into like improv and ad lib.
Charlotte Brändström sheds light on Mel Gibson as a director
How was it working with Mel Gibson and other actors?
They were very good. They were all very collaborative, and very helpful. Mel is obviously also a director, so he knows what you go through and he really tried on set just to be helpful and he knows the job so well so he makes it easy, and then there were some really strong female characters it's really an ensemble cast it's really a strong cast and it's about really following every character and my job was also to set up the the the third It! It's like when you do a heist movie, which is different, but, you have a big setup. Then everything, all the payoff is going to work.
Did you leave any easter eggs in the series?
Yes! Many easter eggs!
Do you have any favorite scenes?
I have many, but I think, I love the scenes with KD when she comes and convinces because when she's looking around for the brother. I mean, I think I love KD, her character, but also I think that Yen was also very, very strong and they had a lot of emotional scenes too. So very hard to say to the one.
About The Continental
The series is set to release on Amazon Prime Video on September 22 globally and on Peacock in United States.
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