Director knocked out by colourful, versatile Manitoba

Winnipeg Free Press

2 days ago

Filmed in and around Winnipeg this time last summer, Nobody 2 continues the adventures of Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk), a seasoned killer trying to live a quiet, suburban family-oriented life, but getting inexorably sucked into his violent past.
The sequel to the 2021 sleeper hit, which opens Friday, sees Hutch attempt to take his wife (Connie Nielsen) and kids on a family vacation to the summer getaway of his own youth, only to learn the place is under the ruthless control of a psychotic crime queen, played by Sharon Stone.
Where the first film was dark and wintry, the sequel is comparatively sunny and colourful, but the action is amped up to ever higher levels.
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Director Timo Tjahjanto on the set of Nobody 2, which was filmed in Manitoba last year.
That's a trademark of 87North, a production company that happens to specialize in movies with top-tier fight scenes (John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Bullet Train).
And where the first film was directed by Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry, Heads of State), the helming duties fell to a new maestro for Nobody 2.
Timo Tjahjanto, 44, is an Indonesian filmmaker whose credentials include two ultra-violent epics, both viewable on Netflix. The Night Comes for Us and The Shadow Strays are grim and grisly melodramas of tough people coming to the aid of innocents.
Both films are decidedly lacking in humour, which is a coin of the realm when it comes to Bob Odenkirk, the actor whose career was established in comedy (Saturday Night Live, Mr. Show) before he turned to drama in the TV series Breaking Bad and its spinoff, Better Call Saul.
But Tjahjanto says he embraced the challenge of an action movie with a comic twist, on top of the fact that he was making his Hollywood studio debut shooting a movie in Winnipeg, of all places.
'I was actually concerned in the beginning,' Tjahjanto says in a Zoom interview from Los Angeles.
'Bob had a very specific vision. Nobody 2 is based on his experience as a child going to the Wisconsin Dells, and that's a very specific Midwest experience,' he says, referring to a tourism centre in southern Wisconsin featuring camping, water parks, arcades and duck boats.
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Bob Odenkirk (left) and director Timo Tjahjanto on the set of Nobody 2.
In finding his way into that world, Tjahjanto credits the production team for replicating that retro feel in Winnipeg and its surroundings, including Winnipeg Beach and especially St. Anne's Lilac Resort, a waterpark that opened in 1958 and is still owned and operated by the family of the original proprietors.
The director was pleasantly surprised just how versatile the province was when he came on a scouting trip.
'For a lot of people, Winnipeg can be a very dark and depressing place because of the stark winter, which can be unforgiving, but at the same time, there's this side of Winnipeg that is very warm and colourful,' he says.
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He recalls being impressed by the 'surreal sort of charm' of the water park and the fact that a couple of kilometres away, there was a dark, industrial warehouse with a completely different vibe.
'And plus, I've always said to everybody who asked me about Winnipeg: you know that that stereotype that Canadians are the nicest people? I think you should go to Winnipeg. That's like the centre of the nice Canadians,' Tjahjanto says.
He acknowledges Nobody 2 represents a big change from his usual films.
'I am a person who leans more towards making darker sort of films, but at the same time — and I think this has something to do with me coming to terms that I'm getting older — you have to sort of sometimes put yourself in a in a happier spot, especially knowing that, in real life, the world is seemingly quite dark now and chaotic,' he says.
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Bob Odenkirk as Hutch Mansell, a seasoned killer trying to live a quiet, suburban family-oriented life, but getting inexorably sucked into his violent past.
Tjahjanto says he thinks a lot of people forget movies are escapism, admitting that his Indonesian firms tend to be a reflection of the injustices in the world.
With Nobody 2, he was also able to focus on a sweet message about the importance of family.
'I like that message. It's earnest, and it speaks a lot of truth. I think it's a welcome change for me as a filmmaker: you have to evolve and be able to adapt into things that you are not too familiar with.'
Of all the cast, which also includes Colin Hanks, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Ironside, John Ortiz and RZA, Tjahjanto singles out Stone as the one who was most intimidating, given her legendary status.
'When you see Sharon Stone, she's on a different level,' he says.
The director singles out The Quick and the Dead as Stone's best, most underrated film. In Sam Raimi's stylized 1995 western, Stone was possibly more impressive behind the scenes, fighting to cast then-comparative unknowns Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio, which Tjahjanto says speaks to a generosity of spirit.
'This is a person that had such a huge influence when I was trying to be a filmmaker and now you see her standing in front of your eyes. It's kind of like seeing a superhero in front of you, you know?' he says.
'But she is an extremely smart woman. When you talk to her, there's no telling her what she wants to hear. You have to tell your honest truth. 'This is what I want from you,' and she'll respect you for it.'
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Sharon Stone stars as Lendina in Nobody 2.
At the same time, Tjahjanto says he couldn't help but be humbled in her presence.
'When I'm talking to her, even though I'm taller than her, I automatically just sit down just to lower myself because … look, you're talking to Sharon Stone here.'
Nobody 2 opens Friday at Grant Park, McGillivray, Polo Park and St. Vital cinemas.
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Randall KingReporter
In a way, Randall King was born into the entertainment beat.
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