LOS ANGELES, USA – At 94, she landed her first starring role — and it’s not at all a geriatric part. She’s a scooter-riding action hero. Now, as she turns 95 on November 6, June Squibb is getting best actress nomination buzz for her performance in Thelma.
“I’ve always been a character woman. So, I’ve always done the supporting role or the friend, the mother, the what-have-you, never the leading lady,” said Hollywood’s new star.
It all changed for the nonagenarian when Josh Margolin’s “little film” screened in last January’s Sundance Film Festival and sparked a bidding war. Magnolia Pictures won that heated bidding contest for the action-comedy about Thelma, a 93-year-old who got bilked by a phone scammer.
Determined to get back her money and dignity, Thelma steals a motorized scooter owned by Shaft, no less — well, it’s the late Richard Roundtree playing Ben. He joins her on a race across Los Angeles to hunt for the scammer.
Fred Hechinger, who plays Emperor Caracalla in Gladiator II, Parker Posey, and Clark Gregg portray Thelma’s family.
June is delightful in her long-overdue big break. Starting in theater (she debuted in Gypsy on Broadway) in the 1950s, the Vandalia, Illinois gradually worked her way into film and television.
She played the wife of Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt and Bruce Dern in Nebraska, for which she bagged an Oscar and Golden Globe best supporting actress nomination.
At the press conference, June – wearing a bright red lipstick – was warm and charming.
The following are excerpts:
This is your first leading role. Were you a little nervous or excited like finally, it’s happening for me?
I did surprise myself. What happens when you’re number one (on the call sheet) and you have the leading role, you have a lot more time in front of the camera. And that’s for an actor to say, I can take my time. I don’t have to rush through this.
I did surprise myself because this working every day, I wasn’t sure, nor were they sure how this was gonna work out at my age, frankly.
We did work some 12-hour days. I now have a thing in my contract where I only work 10 hours a day (laughs). And somebody said 10 hours? But that’s nothing. You get used to working 15 hours a day when you’re filming. So, 10 is pretty good.
Can you talk about how you reacted when director Josh Margolin offered you this first starring role?
The minute I read the script, I knew that I had to do this film. I have somebody who reads all my scripts. She read it. She called me up and said, “June, you’ve got to do this film.”
It was like before he (Josh) ever asked me (laughs), I was there. I was all ready to do it and wanted to do it.
So when he asked me, he was laughing about the fact that he thought he would have to talk me into it. Instead, he said, “Hello,” and I said, “I’ll do the film (laughs).”
Why did you start so late in film?
Because I was working in theater pretty steadily. I was happy. I was doing some sort of pedestrian things but some very good things. So that had more to do with it.
What happened was, New York began to get a lot of film work. This was in the early 80s, late 70s. I went to my agent and I said, “I know a lot of people are doing film and I think I should be doing some, too.”
He said, “Okay.” A week later, I had an audition for Woody Allen. So (laughs), if I had said that a year or two earlier, it probably would have happened, too. But I just didn’t even think about it.
What did this Thelma role teach you? What did you discover about yourself? Because Thelma is quite incredible.
She is incredible. What it taught me when I found out about the real Thelma (Josh’s grandmother) and knew that she was 103 and still living a full life, I thought, oh, my God, I’m a child (laughs).
Ninety is nothing. When you hit 103 or 104, then you’re talking about age. That was from knowing Josh’s actual grandmother because he told me a lot about her.
They (Josh’s stories about his grandma) gave me a lesson in tenaciousness, in just saying this is something I’m going to do and I am doing it. It’s as simple as that.
How, if at all, did ageism in Hollywood affect you?
I don’t think the age thing affected me because I started when I was in my 60s in film. I had been doing theater for years so I was already at an age where I was out of the worry problem of, “Am I too old?”
I was old (laughs) when I started. So it didn’t make that much difference.
I think there is a change. My assistant and I were talking about this the other day.
When you look now at the films and the women who might be nominated in our awards season, the leading ladies are in their 50s, 60s. That’s wonderful. And they’re so good. They’re so beautiful. And they’ve kept themselves so great.
It’s so wonderful that we’re now doing this, that age doesn’t seem to be stopping actors. But I can’t honestly say that I felt it. Because I was always a character actor.
I never really did a leading role or what we think of as a leading lady. I certainly was never an ingenue (laughs), ever. So it just wasn’t something that I dealt with.
But I see now and things are happening here. It’s because people are interested in age, that age is not the frightening thing that it once was.
One of the film’s pleasures is watching you and Richard Roundtree together. Sadly, we have lost Richard.
Oh, Richard was heaven and so sexy. I mean, that man. That is a sexy man. And God, he was just so great and he was so loving.
He had five kids. We met them all at Sundance and they were wonderful. They loved their father so much and had such rich lives with him. It was so lovely.
But we did not know he was ill. So, his death came as a surprise to most of us. It was hard to handle.
One of the enjoyable things about the movie was your character riding the scooter.
Just riding that scooter was more fun than anything. I loved it. When I first read the script and read all this business on the scooter, I thought, ooh, that’s going to be fun. And it was.
I had to learn. We learned in my driveway. I live in a complex and there’s a fairly involved driveway. The stunt coordinator had me on the scooter. He was running along beside me because they were all scared to death I was gonna kill myself.
They were all like, oh God, what’s she going to do? But I was able to do it. I did it fairly well. The longer I was on the scooter, the better I got and the more relaxed everybody got about it.
And the challenge was?
Not wrecking it. And just keep it going.
What are some of the personal moments in your career that you still remember fondly?
Oh gosh, I remember the first thing I ever did, Woody Allen’s Alice in New York City. I had never been on a film set before. I think I had never even done Law and Order yet. And everybody in New York does Law and Order.
I walked onto this set and all I saw were wires. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to get over them. I didn’t know where to go.
What do you remember that was your way of being what they now call mindfulness, to have the mental peace and all that to get to where you are and look like you do?
I remember the Second World War. And because I do remember it, it makes me understand the life that I’ve led, how long my life has been, and the various things that I have encountered and met.
What I am now and what you see now is pretty much what it’s always been (laughs) and what I have always been. Basically, June Squibb is little June Squibb who grew up in Illinois.
She’s Midwestern and all the things that we talk about being Midwestern, I think I am. It’s hard to say. What was important to me when I was young was a certain morality that no one got hurt.
My father preached this to me, that everybody is treated the same, that you don’t treat one friend differently than another friend. That’s Midwestern in a way.
I’ve lived with this, kind of, “Let’s all be moral. Let’s all do the right thing.” To the point where I’m sure friends of mine are tired of it because I’ve had this with me my whole life.
That is probably something that is very much a part of what I was but also what I am today. Because I wouldn’t be here without that.
Do you often go back to your memories when you were younger? Or do you prefer to live day by day or do you think more about the future?
I have always thought of the future. But I also think about being in Illinois, growing up there. I think of New York which was wonderful.
I had 65 years in New York, most of it in theater rather than film. But that was, in itself, an adventure. And it was wonderful to have been there.
I saw the original My Fair Lady and The Music Man. I was in the original Gypsy. So, it’s like musical theater history. I was there and saw it all and that’s very exciting.
And it still is exciting to me. So, as far as nostalgia goes, I do look back.
What’s important to you when you pick projects?
I enjoy seeing on the page something that’s gonna be fun or interesting to do or give you more about who this character is, about who she is, like who Thelma is.
Before we shot Eleanor the Great (her film directed by Scarlett Johansson), I was offered a very small thing (American Horror Stories). But it was a blood-sucking person (laughs). And I thought, “I’ve gotta do this” and I did it.
Before I shot Eleanor the Great, we ran to New Jersey and shot for one day. I had never done a vampire before so it was important that I do one. Or what I thought was a vampire.
What are the things that you are better at than you were when you were younger?
I’m better mentally. I do Sudoku. I do crossword puzzles. I do any kind of puzzle I can get my hands on.
I read constantly. I have a better understanding of what I’m reading than I ever did when I was younger.
I don’t know whether it’s just taking the time, which I probably didn’t do when I was younger. But certainly, things that take your mind, they’re a joy to me now and I love doing it.
And I love resting (laughs). I never thought I would say that in my entire life. I’ve always been a get up, do it, go after it, anything you want you can do, and all of this. Now, I love just resting, sitting, resting, watching TV, stopping for a while.
Do you feel a little bit like the new female Tom Cruise? Josh was asked earlier if he would be up for creating a franchise, and he already agreed on the title, Thelma Possible. Would you be interested in telling more stories from Thelma?
Of course. I think Thelma has a life. She’s so fascinating. You could even do a prequel and find out who she was as a young girl. You could do so many things.
But I do feel a little like Tom Cruise. When I see his films, I think, oh, could I do that or not? I’m not sure (laughs).
I don’t think I could hang on the airplane the way he did in that scene. God, he’s great. I love his films, too.
Can you talk some more about the film directed by Scarlett Johannson?
It’s called Eleanor the Great. And we shot it in New York City last January through April.
I have seen a rough cut and it’s quite wonderful. I’m very proud of it. Everybody’s gonna see Scarlett in a different way. I think they’re gonna see her as a director. As she should be.
She did a fantastic job with it. What is so wonderful working with her is that she’s an actress. She knew what I was going through. She knew every time that I shifted. She felt it. She knew it. She understood it.
And as wonderful as other directors can be, they don’t have that knowledge. She’s done it. So, she really knows what you’re going through to bring something to the screen.
It was a wonderful experience and after Thelma, I’ve been getting, “Oh, God, will this keep going on like this (laughs)?” So, I have no idea if it will or if that’s it or what. But it was great and I loved doing it. – Rappler.com
