Sam Raimi felt Rachel McAdams was “underutilized” in his 2022 film “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and was thrilled to bring her on board in his newest movie, “Send Help.”
“First, she was the perfect person because she’s such a brilliant actress,” he told Total Film. “I had a chance to work with her on my last film and saw how talented she was and actually underutilized, and I promised myself that I would work with her again. And then this film came up, and her warmth is wonderful.”
He continued: “Because the movie’s focus is not a whodunnit, but what comes next, that’s what really the movie wants to do to the audience. They don’t know what’s right around the corner. It turns left when they think it’s gonna turn right, that was an important factor, that she, this good person that we know and love, becomes this terrible villain.”
“Send Help” is written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift and stars McAdams as an office worker who is stuck on a desert island with her boss Dylan O’Brien.
This month Raimi told TheWrap that working with 20th Century Studios on the film was a positive experience.
“They wanted to support every direction that was unusual that it went in. I think the creative executives realized that was only the strength of the filmmaker like me,” Raimi said. “What they hoped was that we made something unusual and outrageous. It’s hard to find somebody in the market for that – that has a joke and wants to tell it with you.”
He added, “They recognized what we were trying to do, and they were on board with that. Instead of taking this feathered fish and trying to cut off the feathers or trying to remove the scales, they said, ‘Yes, this is a unique thing. Changing it would not be for the better.’ Just embrace what it is. It’s just different.”
You can watch Raimi’s interview in the video above.
