The filmmaker behind one of the highest-grossing movies of all time walked away from the superhero genre and landed two of Hollywood’s biggest stars in the process for his Venice-premiering film.
In December 2021, Jon Watts found himself standing in the back of the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard on the opening night of his last film, Spider-Man: No Way Home. The entry was one of the first major studio theatrical releases following the pandemic shutdown, and the audience was standing, screaming, crying and generally carrying on in a way that, even for the first showing of a fan-favorite superhero movie, was a spectacle all to itself.
“That was such a specific moment in time, and the reaction to that movie was just so unbelievable,” remembers Watts. It was at this point that the director came to the realization: “It’s never going to be like this, ever again.”
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Exclusive: Jon Watts speaks to Total Film (September issue) about handcrafting Wolfs for his two leads.
Brad Pitt and George Clooney are two lone wolf professional fixers whose worlds collide when they’re suddenly tasked with disposing of the same body. As one-sentence pitches go, there’s plenty in Wolfs to catch your attention. Thankfully for director Jon Watts, there was a similar response when pitching the movie to his two big-name leads.
“‘What if Michael Clayton got stuck with another Michael Clayton?” And [George] was like, ‘I get it. Let’s do it,'” Watts tells Total Film in our new issue out on Thursday, August 15, which features Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on the cover.
Having envisaged the duo in the leading roles since the beginning, he wrote the script after his successful pitch, tailoring the characters to the stars. “I will say when I gave them the script, I didn’t specify who would play who. I let them figure that out on their own!” Watts said.
The seven-time F1 champion talks candidly about battling through his winless streak, calling bullshit on the F1 screenplay, getting out on the track with Brad Pitt, and how he’ll know when to walk away from racing.
When you were prepping for the movie, did you ever get out on the track with Brad Pitt to check out his driving? If so, how’d he do?
Yeah. We went to a track in L.A. I took him out and sat in the passenger seat, and he drove. I used to be a driving coach when I was younger. It was a way of making some money part time whilst I was racing. So I’ve sat with God knows how many non-racing drivers. You can tell immediately the good ones, the bad ones. Straight away he was on it. You could tell he has it. He has it in his DNA. He’s just not been able to hone in on it like we have. But he’s got big potential.
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