John Krasinski said the ‘Spotlight’ director gave him the best advice on editing his new movie
The Newton native discussed ‘The Hollars,’ his latest acting-directing project, at Kendall Square Cinema on Friday night to kick off the opening weekend of the film.
“Growing up in Newton, I didn’t even know Hollywood existed,” John Krasinski told a sold-out theater at Kendall Square Cinema in a Q&A session on Friday night. He was kidding, of course, but undoubtedly recognizes just how far he’s come since then, and even since starting out as an unknown cast member in a new comedy on NBC more than a decade ago. Many recognize the actor from playing the gangly, likable Jim Halpert on The Office, but that guy is now the ghost of Krasinskis past. In 2016, in came the less gangly, much beefier version of Krasinski, who’s now making blockbusters like Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, as well as a forthcoming Amazon series based on action hero Jack Ryan.However, Krasinski’s most recent work, The Hollars, has neither the playful humor of The Office nor the tricked-out special effects of 13 Hours. The movie, which opens worldwide this weekend, is about a family coping with their mother’s just-discovered brain tumor. Krasinski signed on to star in it seven years ago and, after other options fell through, he eventually slid into the director’s chair, too. He told the Kendall Square audience that simultaneously directing and acting was “easy” for this movie, crediting his talented cast of Richard Jenkins, Anna Kendrick, and Margo Martindale.
John Krasinski and Margo Martindale in ‘The Hollars.’
Some of the finest advice Krasinski got while putting together the final product, though, came from another director who has a bit of Boston fame himself.
“So the movie you’re seeing, I was pretty happy with,” Krasinski said. “Tom McCarthy, who I guess made a movie…”
“What was the name of that movie?” asked Janice Page, The Boston Globe film editor who moderated the discussion.
“He made a movie called Spotlight, guys, and he may or may not have won the Oscar,” Krasinski said. “So he’s talented–ish.”
Quick refresher: Spotlight is the film that came out last fall about The Boston Globe reporters who exposed decades of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and years of cover-up. The movie won Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars earlier this year.
McCarthy was one of the last people to see The Hollars in its editing stages, Krasinski explained.
“And he said, ‘I love this movie. It’s such a great movie about family. You finish every single scene perfectly, you set up everybody, [what] they wanted to get, and how they got it. You ended every scene perfectly,’” Krasinski said. “And I said, ‘Wow, thank you. That’s such a great compliment.’”
But then the real advice came: McCarthy told Krasinski to, well, stop doing that.
Krasinski continued: “He said, ‘This is the first movie I’ve seen in a while that explains that family can be messy, family can be complicated. So allow your movie to be messy. Allow these people to be messy. Try to shave off a couple segments here and there. Don’t give away the story line every step of the way. Allow people to sort of feel it like it’s their own family.’”
Turns out, McCarthy’s input came two days before Krasinski had to submit the movie to the Sundance Film Festival, where the movie screened for the very first time this year. So what did he do?
“I reopened the cut, and I went into the editing room on my own dime, and just did it.”
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