David Leitch and Kelly McCormick know a thing or two about franchises. Leitch launched John Wick as co-director in 2014, and then split off on his own, with producing partner and wife McCormick helping him guide projects such as Deadpool 2 and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.
But with Nobody 2, the duo’s action-focused 87North banner proved it could create its own home-grown franchises, rather than play in other people’s sandboxes.
The $25 million film, which bowed Aug. 15, once again stars Bob Odenkirk as unassuming suburban dad (and former assassin) Hutch Mansel. Like any good movie, its behind the scenes story had excitement as well. The Nobody 2 team was barrelling toward production, when the film lost its original director to another project at the last minute. Just eight weeks before cameras rolled, they landed on Indonesian filmmaker Timo Tjahjanto, making his Hollywood studio debut with the project.
With Nobody 2‘s modest budget and earnings of $17 million in its first week, it seems likely Odenkirk will get his wish to make at least one or two more films starring Hutch.
Next up, 87North continues its franchise building with Violent Night 2, which soon begins filming with David Harbour once again playing a Santa Claus with a particular set of skills.
Leitch and McCormick talked about it all with The Hollywood Reporter Aug. 4 from their lunch break on the Pittsburgh set of Leitch’s How to Rob a Bank, an original Amazon MGM Studios feature that stars a blond Nicholas Hoult.
We’re all living in the summer of Nicholas Hoult, but you’re really living it.
KELLY MCCORMICK We’re a little mad. It was our idea to do his hair, and then he exposed it during the Superman junket. Everybody thinks it’s just a random act of coolness. No, it’s us! It’s us! (Laughs.)
How much do you have left on filming?
MCCORMICK We have two weeks and a couple of days, so we’re getting toward the end of it. It’s been a really short shoot for us.
LEITCH. We’re shooting at all practical locations in Pittsburgh. We’re all over the place in 90-degree weather.
So, Nobody turned Bob Odenkirk into an action hero four years ago. How soon after the first movie do you settle on the idea for the sequel?
MCCORMICK We settled on it pretty early. “Let’s toy with the microaggressions when you bring your family on vacation and see how Hutch responds to that.” We talked about Italy for a minute, because in the first one, we plant seeds to Italy. Then it was, “Actually it’s funnier if they just go to some town in middle America.”
LEITCH You’re always unpacking some trauma from his past. Going to his childhood park and remembering it a different way was also a connection that seemed to work really well.
Kelly McCormick on the set of Nobody 2.
87North
I imagine you have an intense interview process when you are picking directors. How did you land on Timo Tjahjanto?
MCCORMICK I’m a huge fan of Timo’s, but we developed it with a different director for quite a while: Kirill Sokolov. As we were getting our green light, Kirill ended up getting a green light on another project, and he had to make a really tough decision. We were eight weeks out when we all agreed to add Timo — and then he jumped in immediately. We had to get his visa in order. We did a rewrite for him. It was very last minute. He was super respectful of what we have created together but really tried to push the envelope in his own way and give it his own voice as well. And he ended up being perfect for it.
LEITCH He gets this type of movie, and he put his own polish on it. You can see that in the action scenes, and you can see that in the heightened violence and all of that. It’s very Timo.
What kind of ideas did Bob want to explore on this sequel?
MCCORMICK He was really thoughtful about what the fans would want. He says that people come up to him and talk to him about Hutch almost more than anything else. The fact that this comedian had flipped into this true action hero, he wanted it to feel like anybody could [become an action hero.]
87North
We’re a few months past the announcement of the stunt Oscar, which David was instrumental in creating. When your stunt-centric movie Fall Guy came out, did that make things easier when talking to the Academy?
LEITCH It did change the conversation. It was Kelly’s idea to lobby the guilds to change the name from stunt coordinator to stunt designer on the contracts, and now you have the option to do that. It really crystallized in the Academy’s mind, this is a craft, not unlike production design or costume design. It’s action design. It’s stunt design. The advocacy of [Fall Guy stars] Emily (Blunt) and Ryan (Gosling) all helped.
At this stage, a Fall Guy sequel is not likely, but it sounds like you had plans of where it could go.
LEITCH Ryan and us had early conversations and some treatments of where this is going. We had some really fun ideas. So who knows, maybe down the line it becomes one of those IPs that people want to revisit because it has such a following past theatrical. That would be my dream, but if it doesn’t, there’s a lot of other stories to tell.
How to Rob a bank is 2026 film, so it won’t be eligible for the stunt Oscar, which begins with 2027 movies. Come 2027, is it going to be bedlam? Are you hearing folks are upping their game?
MCCORMICK Holding their best action for 2027! (Laughs.)
LEITCH There’s a lot of different types of action that can be considered. It’s not just because somebody broke a record or because it’s the biggest spectacle moment. It’s going to be super impactful to the film and memorable. As we’re really honing the criteria inside the Academy, it’s going to elevate the perception of what stunt coordinators, stunt designers really do.
You briefly were attached to direct this summer’s Jurassic World movie. What happened? Was it just a matter of wanting to shift to an original story rather than an established IP?
MCCORMIK If we jump into IP or a franchise, it’s got to be the right one at the right moment for all the right reasons. And we were very seduced by the amazing franchise that Jurassic is. But it’s harder and harder to make originals, and we just felt like, “If they go away, let’s try to make originals as much as possible as quickly as possible.”
LEITCH When you see an opportunity for material that’s original that you like that a studio is going to support and finance, we want to keep pushing for that.
You did Deadpool 2 for the old 20th Century Fox. Marvel Studios let Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy produce Deadpool & Wolverine, and the Russo Bros. are producing their next two Avengers movies. Is that something that would be intriguing, or at least worth a conversation with Marvel about?
LEITCH Yes, the answer is yes. If we were in charge of the architecture of a universe that was around a particular IP, that scratches the creative itch. It’s less of the director-producer for hire and more, “If you want to let us architect the universe, that’s really exciting to us.” We’re looking for those opportunities, and if that comes our way, we’ll entertain them. Kelly in particular is building our own franchises. Like Nobody, like Violent Night 2, which we start shooting in four weeks.
When filmmaker Tommy Wirkola shoots Violent Night 2, David will be in post on How to Rob a Bank. How will you juggle it?
MCCORMICK We have eight weeks of remote editing on How to Rob a Bank. So David can stage in Winnipeg while we’re shooting Violent Night 2 for basically eight weeks. I’m the only producer on set, really. David hopefully will pop in every once in a while to drop some knowledge.
LEITCH (Shakes his head no.) No, I will be cutting this movie. (Laughs.)
Where are you on the Gears of War movie that David is attached to direct at Netflix?
MCCORMICK We’re writing right now with Jon Spaihts, and we’re really excited about it. There’s a lot of energy from [Gears of War company] The Coalition and from Netflix, because The Coalition is releasing a game in 2026. We won’t hit that release date, but maybe something that feels relevant to the release of the new game. It’s an opportunity for David to do a war film, which he hasn’t gotten to do yet, and a bit of sci-fi in his own way with this beloved IP in his own way.
You develop a lot of projects, both to produce and for David to potentially direct. How are you sifting through all that’s out there?
LEITCH Kelly doesn’t stop. And our team at 87North and CAA, all help us find material that are within our brand and what we think we excel at. We’re constantly reading. We call it the book club. I barely read books now. I just read scripts.
MCCORMICK It’s harder to get green lights now, even for us, than ever before. But we will have made seven movies in two years by the end of this year. That’s a pretty good run. It’s just trying to find things that’ll continue to be wildly fun and bold in their own way. And what’s right for David is very different than what’s right for the producing that we do.