Light spoilers ahead for “Another Simple Favor”
Paul Feig has no shortage of beloved films in his catalogue, but one thing those films have never had is a sequel. Now, with “Another Simple Favor,” the director has finally made his first — though he definitely “kept trying to chicken out on it.”
Now streaming on Prime Video, “Another Simple Favor” comes seven years after its predecessor “A Simple Favor” first hit theaters, and reunites stars Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively as Stephanie Smothers and Emily Nelson respectively, for another dark, comedic murder mystery. This time, the story goes international, bringing the women to Capri.
Given that the original film grossed nearly $100 million worldwide at the box office on a $20 million budget, you’d be forgiven for thinking that a sequel was inevitable, and being surprised it didn’t come sooner. But, according to Feig, crafting a follow-up was “challenging and terrifying,” and he “tried to kill it many times.”
“It’s only by the grace of [producer] Laura Fischer that this movie got made,” Feig admitted to TheWrap with a laugh. “Because I kept trying to chicken out on it because, as we were developing the story and stuff, it was just like, all that I can think of is like, if we underwhelm, if we don’t do as good or better than the first one, it’s going to be terrible.”
“I hate when I see a sequel and I go ‘God damn it, I wish they didn’t make that. I like the first movie so much, and now it almost back poisons the first movie.’ So that was the thing.”
That’s not a new fear for him. Over the years, plenty of Feig’s films have actually had sequel talks, from “Bridesmaids,” to “The Heat,” to “Spy” (Feig laughed at the fact that “Spy 2” is even still on IMDb’s list of his upcoming projects). But according to the director, he is the reason they’ve never happened.
“Because if you get away with one, it doesn’t mean you’re going to get away with another one,” he said, laughing. “No, honestly, the reason that a movie works, if it works, is because you’re discovering characters, and story, and just a world for the first time, and that’s really fun. And you’re coming into a story where your lead character has some problem that they’re trying to solve, and the events of the movie help them solve their problem, you know, whatever it is.”
To then think up a new problem, the director said, can go sideways fast. He recalled a particular conversation with Hugh Grant, back when Feig was attached to direct “Bridget Jones’s Baby,” in which Grant joked that “going into old roles is like putting on a wet bathing suit.” The sentiment resonated with the director.
“But [‘Another Simple Favor’] was just too — I love Anna and Blake so much, that that was really the catalyst for me.”
Sequel talks for “A Simple Favor” didn’t even begin when that first movie came out, but rather a few years later, during the COVID-19 pandemic. When “A Simple Favor” hit streaming services, it saw a surge in viewership, prompting interest in a potential follow-up.
When it arrived on Netflix last year, its popularity spiked again. And yes, Feig definitely kept an eye on what fans said about what they’d like to see in a sequel. So much so, in fact, that he and his team threw out a script for the film that had already been greenlit, and reworked it into what is now onscreen.
“I really pay attention to that. I don’t want to give total fan service, because then you’re just chasing, you know?” he explained. “Then you don’t do anything original. But at the same time, I was picking up, like, ‘I think they want Blake in cool outfits, and I think they want that sexual tension to still be there.’”
Indeed, Emily and Stephanie share a kiss in the first film, and in “Another Simple Favor” that chemistry is still there (as is another kiss, but it’s complicated). Emily still calls Stephanie “baby” regularly, Stephanie even makes a joke hoping that Emily will strip for her on the plane ride to Italy.
There’s always a bit of tension thrumming underneath, and according to Feig, that tension was key in bringing these characters back.
“That’s the eternal question. That’s what makes a great movie is ‘fight or f—?’ as Blake likes to say,” Feig said with a laugh. “Yeah, that tension was so much a part of the first movie, and we just loved that so much, and the response it got from from the audience. It helped people invested in that. It’s just a natural part. You can’t have those two characters together and not have that dynamic come out.”
Feig noted that the chemistry is “naturally there” with Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively, and the two actresses were able to slip back into their characters for the sequel immediately.
“They’re just kind of magical together, you know? That’s why I just bristle at these bulls— stories about them having a feud,” he said. “It’s like, guys, they get along so great, it’s crazy.”
That said, the women’s characters are certainly more combative this time around, with Stephanie in particular having more bite. Feig admitted that Kendrick’s character was probably the hardest and most important to get right in this story — particularly because no sane person would agree to another favor from someone like Emily.
“Another Simple Favor” also happened to mark Kendrick’s first project after making her directorial debut with Netflix’s “Woman of the Hour.” The actress herself has joked that it worked out well for her to immediately return to a team she’s worked with before, because they already understood her being “nosy” on set.
Indeed, according to Feig, nothing changed with Kendrick.
“I was kind of — not worried about that, but you’d always have the thing of like, you never want to be second guessed, or feel like you’re being second guessed. And I was kind of like,’Uh-0h, is Anna gonna come back with too much knowledge?’” Feig said with a laugh.
“But she’s really good at compartmentalizing, you know? And she really gets it. I actually think it’s really good for an actor to know how movies are made, because you can — not that we need, as directors, people forgiving us for things or whatever — but at the same time, there are pressures that actors shouldn’t have to know about. So we try to hide it. But at the same time, it’s kind of nice when they go, ‘OK, I see why we have limited amount of time for this, or we got to get through this fast,’ or whatever. And so, if anything, I think she just came back even more kind of fully realized, in a great way.”
Like “Woman of the Hour,” “Another Simple Favor” went straight to streaming, a bit of a surprising move when it was announced, considering “A Simple Favor” was a successful theatrical release. But, as Feig explained to TheWrap back in August, “you go where they want to make it.”
While some streaming releases have spent a week or two in theaters before going online, the deal for “Another Simple Favor” was always “structured very specifically” for it to be exclusive to Prime Video. Of course, like any director, Feig did advocate for the theatrical experience.
“Yeah, I’d be lying if I didn’t say sure, there was — I was kind of like, ‘Hey, can we put this in theaters?’ But, you know, it wasn’t the deal we made. And also, the idea that people can access it really easily on streaming is great,” he said. “The fact that people have giant TVs and projectors now, I know they’re going to watch it kind of big.”
Nonetheless, Feig made a point to ensure that all early screenings of the film, for press, critics and anyone else, were held in proper theaters. “Another Simple Favor” made its debut in March, opening the SXSW festival.
“What I’m kind of hoping is that, since we’re on streaming, that people will kind of do a party, like a watch party, and get together,” he said. “Because it is, it’s a group experience. It’s engineered for a group of people to watch, and laugh, and react. And have to have all kinds of crazy reactions to it.”
Among those crazy reactions, Feig expected a pretty visceral reaction to one death in particular — this is your spoiler warning — that is very bloody.
“Blame Henry Golding, because he wanted to have a really gross death,” he warned. “I was like, ‘Well, cool, man. If that’s the case, then guess what? Blood’s gonna be coming out everywhere in you.’”
So, now that Feig has done his first sequel, could he be heading toward a threequel? The ending of “Another Simple Favor” certainly sets it up, and Feig said he does have a potential story in mind.
“I think it would be fun,” he conceded.
“Another Simple Favor” is now streaming on Prime Video.
