In the 1980s Chris Columbus, who would go on to direct “Home Alone” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” (along with kickoff the “Harry Potter” film franchise), was key to establishing what a “Steven Spielberg presents” movie really was. After Spielberg purchased Columbus’ spec script for “Gremlins,” he installed the young writer at Spielberg’s nascent Amblin Entertainment. Columbus was there with producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall. Composer John Williams had an office down the hall. He worked on “The Goonies” and “Young Sherlock Holmes.”
But when Columbus started his directing career with “Adventures in Babysitting,” a movie that you would be forgiven for thinking was an Amblin movie, he left Spielberg’s dream factory behind.
Until now.
Columbus is back with Amblin’s “The Thursday Murder Club,” which just debuted on Netflix. Based on the 2020 novel by Richard Osman, it stars Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, Pierce Brosnan and Celia Imrie as retirees who wind up involved in a very contemporary mystery while working on a cold case.
The filmmaker said that he read and fell in love with the book immediately. “When I realized it was Amblin, it was a little intimidating,” Columbus said. “I think Steven is responsible for my career. Steven was the only guy who believed in ‘Gremlins’ – and thank God he did.” While the two had briefly reconnected as producers on “The Help” (Spielberg’s DreamWorks Pictures and Columbus’ 1492 Pictures were both involved).
But with “The Thursday Murder Club,” it was the first time Spielberg had produced a movie that Columbus was directing. “I’d never been a director and had one of the greatest directors of all time overseeing me. I was a little nervous, I have to say, because I wanted Steven to be happy. I wanted to impress him. I wanted to do a good job,” Columbus said. One of the things he appreciates most about Spielberg is his knowledge of film history. “I get intimidated by those people who have a vast knowledge of film history, because I’m directing for them, and I want to impress them. There was that intimidation factor. And yeah, Steven liked what I was doing, so I felt I could breathe a sigh of relief,” Columbus said.
Everything New on Netflix in September
While Spielberg didn’t have any notes while shooting, after Columbus had submitted his director’s cut, Spielberg offered to come to the editing room. “Steven came to the editing room for a couple of days, and he said to me, which was shocking, that he’s worked with some directors who said, ‘No, I don’t want you anywhere near the editing room’ I thought these directors got to be out of their mind. You have Steven Spielberg, who’s going to watch your movie and give you advice,” Columbus said. Spielberg told Columbus that he didn’t have to take his advice, but Spielberg just wanted to share his ideas. “It was two of the greatest days for me in the editing room, because Steven wasn’t precious about anything, but his insight into filmmaking is so valuable, and so I was so thankful that I spent that time with him,” Columbus said. “I just hope we get to do it again someday.”
Columbus most likely will get that chance.
First off, there’s the fact that there are additional “Thursday Murder Club” novels, which could be future films (depending on the audience response to the first movie). “I don’t look at them as sequels as much as the continuing progression of these characters and where they get on with their lives,” Columbus said. “That’s what I’m fascinated by. And the fact that I would get to work with these actors again, it’s something you don’t get every day as a director.”
There are also a pair of sequels to earlier collaborations simmering, as sequels to “The Goonies” and “Gremlins.” He said he is heavy on the writing process for the third “Gremlins” movie. “That’s coming along,” Columbus said about “Gremlins.” “’Goonies’ is a little further back but we’re talking about it.” After the first “Gremlins,” Columbus wasn’t thinking about a sequel – or a franchise (“I did ‘Gremlins.’ That’s fine. Let’s move on.”) This mentality has stuck with him and is something he’s having to get out of the way on for the new film. “If we’re going to do ‘Gremlins,’ particularly if we’re going to do ‘The Goonies,’ there has to be a good reason. And we have to find that reason. We can’t disappoint the audience,” Columbus said. “Those movies will be made when they’re ready to be made. And we, in a sense, have been working on it for 30 years. Look, if the script is great, we maybe we’ll make it. We’ll see.”
The relationship between Columbus and Spielberg made us think about Columbus’ relationship with Robert Eggers. Columbus has produced or executive produced every one of Eggers’ films (besides “The Northman”) and their partnership feels just as important as Columbus’ relationship with Spielberg or, later, his relationship with John Hughes, who wrote and produced Columbus’ two “Home Alone” films and produced Columbus’ “Only the Lonely.”
“Rob and I, we bonded bonded over our love of Hammer Horror films and our love of all genres of films. Rob was one of those guys, like Steven, who had a really solid knowledge of film history and a desire to learn more about film and more about every aspect of film. We felt like we could work well together because of our shared love of film history,” Columbus explained. He said a lot of the filmmakers that he’s met are mostly concerned with modern films and said “really don’t have a lot of time or patience for someone who doesn’t know anything that was made before 1992.”
Columbus said of Eggers, “I love learning from him.” When Eggers was making “Nosferatu,” Columbus took a year off from writing and directing and was a producer on set. “I watched a completely different style of filmmaking, but learned from it and got inspired by it, not necessarily that I would duplicate that particular style, but got really inspired as a filmmaker.” He said that he would advise all filmmakers to “get out of your own head, go visit someone else’s set, stay there and learn from them.”I never wanted to be the older guy saying, ‘Well, kid in my day, this is the way we did it.’ I want to learn from younger people. I think it’s important.” Columbus is an executive producer on Eggers’ upcoming “Werwulf,” out next Christmas.
Just as Spielberg encouraged (and continues to encourage) Columbus’ creative development, now Columbus encourages Eggers’. As it should be.
“The Thursday Murder Club” is now streaming on Netflix.
