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Yahoo
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- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Colin Trevorrow Talks Producing ‘Deep Cover,' the Return of ‘Jurassic World' and Star Wars Detachment
Colin Trevorrow has his eye on the next generation of filmmakers. After shepherding his Jurassic World trilogy to the box-office tune of nearly $4 billion worldwide, the filmmaker turned his attention to his production banner, Metronome Film Company. Trevorrow's mission is to create opportunities for up-and-coming filmmakers in the same way that Steven Spielberg once did for him on 2015's Jurassic World. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Jurassic World Rebirth' Tracking to Set Off Major Box Office Fireworks With $100M-$125M Opening 'Deep Cover' Review: Bryce Dallas Howard and Orlando Bloom Play Improv Actors Working an Undercover Police Sting in a Winningly Silly Comedy Carrie Fisher Had to Encourage Mark Hamill to "Embrace" 'Star Wars': "Get Over Yourself, You're Luke Skywalker" 'Because I've had some success in my career, my absolute top priority is not just paying it forward, but also being able to introduce new talent to move us forward,' Trevorrow tells The Hollywood Reporter. 'We don't have farm teams in Hollywood, and I think that it's a responsibility of filmmakers to identify who's next. A lot of these icons that we have now were identified by another filmmaker, and that's something I would love to have on my record.' Around 15 years ago, Trevorrow and his frequent collaborator Derek Connolly heard a story about the NYPD's 'Knockoff Squad' and their use of civilians in undercover sting operations to combat Canal Street's abundance of counterfeit goods. Trevorrow and Connelly then wrote an early draft of Deep Cover, which alters the real-life premise to feature improv actors who go undercover and climb the ranks of a criminal underworld. Eventually, Deep Cover's reins were handed over to director Tom Kingsley and writing duo/comedy double act, Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen. As producer, Trevorrow recognized that the trio's comedic backgrounds were best suited for the now well-received action-comedy that's currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Trevorrow's Jurassic World leading lady, Bryce Dallas Howard, leads Deep Cover's talented ensemble, one that is also highlighted by Orlando Bloom and the funniest performance of his career. Howard plays an improv teacher named Kat who laments the direction of her career, but things soon take a turn when she's approached by a London cop (Sean Bean) about low-stakes undercover work. From there, she drafts Bloom's Marlon, who models his acting career after Daniel Day-Lewis despite only having a pizza commercial or two to show for it. The improv undercover team is rounded out by another underachiever in Nick Mohammed's Hugh, except he merely wandered into Kat's class moments earlier. Trevorrow and Howard have remained close since Jurassic, especially as she dives further into her own filmmaking career. They've both been tied to reboots of Disney's Flight of the Navigator (1986) in 2012 and 2021, respectively, and so they've generally been a mutual sounding board for each other. 'I saw every draft [of Flight of the Navigator] that she's been working on as she's been looking to crack it. So, yes, we've definitely connected on it,' Trevorrow says. 'We even talk about her Star Wars shows and any other project that she has. It's pretty rare for directors to have other directors that they can communicate with and maybe even complain to sometimes, so she's been wonderful in that way.' As for the Jurassic franchise, Trevorrow isn't surprised that a new chapter known as Jurassic World Rebirth is releasing just three years after his previous feature. Bear in mind, his 2022 installment, Jurassic World Dominion, was marketed as the 'epic conclusion of the Jurassic era.' That may still be true for the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World characters that ultimately joined forces, but the franchise has continued to expand off the big screen through a second Netflix animated series, Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, as well as theme park attractions and assorted merchandise. Thus, a return to the silver screen was inevitable. 'We built something that's strong enough to move forward, and I'm very proud of that,' Trevorrow says. 'I also know that pretty much every time a child is born, a new dinosaur fan is born. So I don't think the interest in seeing dinosaurs is ever really going to run out.' Before he was slated to helm Jurassic World Dominion, Trevorrow was in the process of developing Star Wars: Duel of the Fates, his version of what would later become Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). In 2017, he parted ways with Lucasfilm over creative differences, which allowed him to conclude his Jurassic World trilogy. In 2020, a Duel of the Fates script and early concept art leaked online to an overwhelmingly positive response. (A TIE fighter from Trevorrow's scrapped film is on display at Disneyland's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge.) In 2022, when Trevorrow sat down with me for Jurassic World Dominion, he admitted that the internet's response to those leaked materials provided a much welcomed spring in his step. However, he's still had to keep the franchise that defined his youth at arm's length, at least until this summer. 'My son and I have both decided that we are going to watch all of Andor this summer. But I do have to be honest; it has been a struggle for me to engage with anything Star Wars-related just on an emotional level,' Trevorrow admits. 'So, to the team that made Andor, I guess I can say that you're the ones who've finally brought me back in.' Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Trevorrow also discusses the one actor he'd immediately hire for a real-life undercover operation. Then he sheds light on his next directorial effort about Area 51, which is being co-produced by Ryan Reynolds' Maximum Effort. *** Over the years, I've asked a few actors in spy movies if their acting and/or improv ability would make them a decent spy in real life, and explores a very similar premise with undercover police. Is this something you've long wondered as well? Well, I definitely am someone who has improvised my way out of some sticky situations in life. I think we're all that way. [Deep Cover] actually started from a story that [co-writer] Derek Connolly and I heard long ago. There were cops in New York that were asking actors to buy fake Fendi purses down on Canal Street so they could sting [the counterfeiters]. And we thought, 'God, what if they were improv actors? What if they were so good that they got deeper than any cop ever could?' So a very organic story began to form. There are some ideas that are like peanut butter and chocolate, and there are some that are like peanut butter and salmon where they'll never taste good. But improv actors going deep undercover felt like a peanut butter and chocolate combination. Last time we spoke, you mentioned that your favorite bar in New York is a place where stand-up comedians practice their sets. So, as soon as I saw the for , I imagined that you came up with the idea while hanging out at this establishment. I was probably talking about the bar above the Comedy Cellar. I love stand-up. I love improv. I love comedy in general, and I'm just a fan more than I am a comedy writer or a comedy director myself. And to be around that energy, it can sometimes be almost a depressive energy. There's sadness to that life. There's also a genuine creative energy that I am a little bit addicted to, and I found it there. I understand why a lot of film directors love Saturday Night Live. Steven Spielberg is obsessed with it; he goes all the time. It's because it's the opposite of what our job is. There's nothing but what happens in the moment, and whatever you get is what you get. So I understand where that addiction comes from. Of all the gifted improvisers or method actors you've worked with in your career, who else would you add to the movie's undercover team? Jake Johnson would be the best we've ever seen. He's the kind of person you want with you when you're in any kind of trouble. You will survive with him. So I would say Jake, for sure. Were you ever in the mix to direct? Or was it always something you eyed for somebody else? It was always something I eyed for somebody else. Maybe way back in the day, when Derek and I first wrote it, I might've considered it, but I hadn't directed a movie yet at the time. So no one really brought it up, and it was something that I started thinking about again a good 10- to 12-years later. It felt like an opportunity for me to hopefully introduce a younger comedy director [Tom Kingsley] to the world and a younger pair of comedy writers [Ben Ashenden & Alexander Owen]. I've been very fortunate in my life that people have taken a chance on me and bet on me. So I feel like I need to give some of that back and start betting on some younger people, and this really felt like a great vehicle for that. Did you pitch this project to Bryce Dallas Howard on the set of ? No, it was much later. Bryce was actually the last addition to this, and she came in at a really crucial moment when we really needed someone to make it complete. This is an independent film. It was financed independently in London. We're very fortunate that Amazon is distributing it, but it's a bit deceptive. Hopefully, we made it look like a movie that has a certain amount of money and resources behind it, but it's a very low-budget movie for what it is. And piecing together a movie like this and getting financing — whether you're in the U.K. or in the U.S. — is harder than ever these days. It really took each one of those actors coming on board to build it into a more and more viable investment for people. So Bryce was really the last one to put it over the top, and I'll always be very grateful for that. Overall, how would you review the experience of running a production company in this post-pandemic and post-strike version of the industry? Well, I didn't have a production company before [the strikes and pandemic], so I don't know what it was like then. There's just something deeply satisfying and rewarding about getting on the ground and producing a movie. The word producer has a lot of different definitions; no one entirely knows what a producer does. But having had some great ones, I know what a great producer does. So I was there every day to make sure that our director, Tom Kingsley, and our actors had all of the resources they needed to succeed. I wanted to make sure that we were at the best possible locations, so that everything felt honest and real, and that we were using our resources to their greatest effect. It was a challenge that I wanted and needed. There were moments when we thought it wasn't going to happen. All the way up until weeks before we made it, it could have easily fallen apart, but there's a real energy in that. But the main objective of Metronome, as you said, is to pay it forward? Absolutely. This is our first film, and our next film is called Trash Mountain. It was written by Caleb Hearon, who's a brilliant stand-up comic. Kris Rey is directing it, and Lilly Wachowski is involved. These are not big-budget films, and they're honestly not the kind of things that often have a shot at getting made today. But because I've had some success in my career, my absolute top priority is not just paying it forward, but also being able to introduce new talent to move us forward. We don't have farm teams in Hollywood, and I think that it's a responsibility of filmmakers to identify who's next. Steven Spielberg has done that a lot, and so have Chris Columbus and Robert Zemeckis. A lot of these icons that we have now were identified by another filmmaker, and that's something I would love to have on my record. Whenever I'm done here, I hope I was able to give an opportunity to a couple great talents. In 2021, Bryce, as a director, was linked to a reboot, as were you in 2012. Have the two of you ever discussed your individual takes at all? Yeah, all the time. I saw every draft that she's been working on as she's been looking to crack it. If you were born at a certain moment, it's one of those ones that you have a fascination with. As a kid, the idea that all of your friends and family have aged while you're still a kid, it's just the absolute worst nightmare. So, yes, we've definitely connected on it. We even talk about her Star Wars shows and any other project that she has. It's pretty rare for directors to have other directors that they can communicate with and maybe even complain to sometimes, so she's been wonderful in that way. We've reached the obligatory portion of the interview. Here we go! Were you surprised at all that a new movie is being released just three years after ? (Note: The latter was marketed as the 'epic conclusion of the era.') No, I wasn't. I was so deeply entrenched in what we were building over all of that time. It wasn't just the films and the two animated series on Netflix; we have the toys and the theme parks and everything else that we did. So we built something that's strong enough to move forward, and I'm very proud of that. I also know that pretty much every time a child is born, a new dinosaur fan is born. So I don't think the interest in seeing dinosaurs is ever really going to run out. Your trilogy explored dinosaurs in populated areas far more than the trilogy did, but for the most part, the franchise's primary action still happened in isolated corners of the world. This new movie, , is also returning to an island. Is there a reason why there seems to be a reluctance to set the majority of these films' runtimes in highly populated areas? Would it be too unwieldy? Or too ? I always applied the same rules to dinosaurs as I would to real animals. When a tiger is set loose in a city, they capture it pretty fast. So the idea that these wild creatures would even want to come close to a city was a question I would always ask, and we managed to find ways to make it make sense. I think dinosaurs running wild in the streets of a city does take a bit of a step away from what Michael Crichton created, and that was always my feeling. But we did find ways for them to interact with our world as comprehensively as possible. And when I say that, it's not just the films; it's our animated shows as well. They did a lot of that, especially the new one [Jurassic World: Chaos Theory]. The new film repurposes the raft sequene from Crichton's novel, something Spielberg's original film had to cut late into the process. Was that something you guys ever discussed adapting in some way, shape or form? It wasn't, but I love that they did it, and I can't wait to see it. Jurassic Park is just one of those classic pieces of science fiction that has inspired so many questions about how we are handling genetic power in our world today. That speech that Jeff Goldblum gave over sea bass [in Jurassic Park] continues to resonate, and so it doesn't surprise me that anything that Michael Crichton did at that time would still be awesome in 2025. It was recently reported that you'll be directing an '80s-set Area 51 conspiracy thriller, and it's one of several projects you've been tied to the last few years. is another such example. Can you say what the leader in the clubhouse is yet? That [Untitled Conspiracy Thriller] actually is the leader in the clubhouse. Getting an original film made is extremely challenging these days, and this one is important to me. I have actually spent time in Las Vegas with the journalist, George Knapp, [whose reporting brought Area 51 to the fore]. At this particular moment, I think it's a story that will allow us to face our fascination with crafts from elsewhere in the galaxy, in a way that is much more grounded and reality-based. It's about a journalist who's sourcing facts to figure out what is true, and I think that is an approach that will allow the cynics among us to potentially ask some questions that maybe we wouldn't really ask ourselves. We've previously talked about the positive response to your materials that somehow wound up online. Perhaps you still need some distance, but just out of curiosity, have you been able to press play on ? I'm going to. It's not that I don't know it's brilliant; I do know that. My son and I have both decided that we are going to watch all of Andor this summer. But I do have to be honest; it has been a struggle for me to engage with anything Star Wars-related just on an emotional level. So, to the team that made Andor, I guess I can say that you're the ones who've finally brought me back in. I know that what they've done is extraordinary, and I can't wait to watch it. ***Deep Cover is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 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Medscape
06-06-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Experts Suggest NHS Heart Risk Checks from Age 25
MANCHESTER — Cardiovascular health assessments should begin much earlier, focusing on lifetime risk rather than just their 10-year projections, experts said at the British Cardiovascular Society Annual Conference 2025. 'We are looking at cardiovascular risk assessment far too late', said Beverley Bostock, a Queen's nurse and president-elect of the Primary Care Cardiovascular Society (PCCS). Bostock was introducing a conference session titled '25 is the new 40: shifting the focus to lifetime risk'. Prevention Focus in NHS Strategy Derek Connolly, a consultant cardiologist in private practice in Birmingham, said he hoped this approach would be supported in England's 10 Year Health Plan for the NHS. 'There is going to be an enormous emphasis, we think, going forward, on preventive cardiology – and it's about time that that was the case', he said. Connolly said that the team behind the plan were 'very into prevention' and 'had done the math' on the potential benefits of well-known strategies such as lifestyle interventions. By addressing modifiable risk factors earlier and throughout the life course, 'they've worked out that if we do a lot of these things, not only do we save lives, but we save money, and we keep people in work and paying taxes', he said. Rising CVD Burden Recent data in the European Journal of Preventative Cardiology , highlighted during the session, projected a 90% increase in global cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevalence over the next 25 years. CVD-related deaths are expected to rise from 20.5 million in 2025 to 35.6 million in 2050 – a 73.4% increase in crude mortality. Current NHS Risk Assessments The NHS currently assesses 10-year CVD risk from age 40, repeating every 5 years until age 74. This is typically measured using the cardiovascular risk score (QRISK 2), embedded in GP consulting software, although QRISK 3 and QRISK lifetime offer greater predictive power. Jim Moore "CVD risk is predicated around a lifetime exposure to risk factors,' said Jim Moore, a recently retired GP with a special interest in cardiovascular medicine. 'Just modest changes in those risk factors — your lipid profile or blood pressure — can, we know independently, and in combination, improve your outcomes.' Moore, a past president of the PCCS, said 10-year calculators may underestimate risk in those under 40, even when significant risk factors are present. Lifetime calculators could be 'persuasive' tools in patient consultations, he argued, with results helping to steer discussions towards lifestyle changes and risk factor modifications. The key message, he said, was the need for a holistic approach, which was 'something that we really do not see routinely happening in my area within primary care'. Case for Earlier Screening Scott Murray, a consultant cardiologist at University Hospitals of Liverpool Group and former president of the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation, made the case for assessing CV risk in people under 40. Scott Murray Modern lifestyles characterised by sedentary behaviour, poor dietary habits, and increasing stress were contributing to rising CVD in younger populations. 'We're seeing more obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia, and hypertension', Murray said. 'I like to think of it a bit like this: so, you've got your genetic predisposition – genetics loads the gun, and your environment pulls the trigger.' Murray proposed age 25 as a theoretical "sweet spot" for screening. 'There's a sort of lifestyle transition at age 25 into more independent adulthood, more able to potentially think about family responsibilities.' At age 25, most people have finished puberty and reached physiological maturity. Data suggests that starting CVD screening at this age would be cost-effective by maximising opportunities for lower-cost interventions, according to Murray. However, he acknowledged potential difficulties in engaging 25-year-olds when NHS health checks for over-40s have not reached hoped-for targets. Targeted Approach Laura Ormesher, a National Institute for Health and Care Research academic clinical lecturer at the University of Manchester, suggested that pregnancy could be an ideal time to educate younger women about lifestyle-related CVD risk. 'We know that adverse pregnancy outcomes increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, and I think we've got to make the most of that opportunity during the pregnancy,' she said. She added that the postnatal period — typically 'a little bit less complicated for women' — is a time when many felt 'empowered to try and improve their long-term health for their child and their family,' Ormesher added. Dr Sundhya Raman Dr Sundhya Raman, a lifestyle physician, acknowledged that universal health checks from age 25 might be too ambitious but supported a targeted strategy. 'Maybe we need to target the higher risk individuals with strong family histories of raised BMI,' she said. 'There is great potential for when you educate one person, you educate a family, you educate a community,' Raman added. Moore has received honoraria for participation in educational activities and advisory boards from AstraZeneca, Amarin, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly and Company, Daiichi-Sankyo, Novartis and Medtronic. Raman acknowledged she was a founder of My Wellness Doctor and My Weight Loss Doctor Clinic . Murray declared being the founder and medical director for Venturi Cardiology but had no relevant conflicts of interest. Ormesher had no conflicts to declare.
