The creator of Veronica Mars takes us through the new movie, directing, Jason Statham and Richard Linklater…
Which began with a grovel on our part…
I should start with an apology.
Look, I feel a bit guilty about it.
[Laughs] Ah!
I will forgive you.
We muddled through somehow without that prop.
Youre very brave, in such testing circumstances.
Still, what you managed to do with this project feels crucial.
But I do wonder if the key thing here that people need to take away is the sheer persistence.
It was as close as Warner Bros had ever come [to the movie].
I was surprised they were interested in it.
We talked for six months.
We shot our Kickstarter video.
All signs points towards moving forward.
There was too much that made them nervous.
And then almost immediately after that, Warner Bros folded the entire division.
Even the place where I had my supporter, my fan, suddenly didnt exist any more.
At that point I thought we were dead.
That one was especially painful.
We were four days from launching our Kickstarter campaign, a year before we did.
I was so low at that point.
That was when I could taste it.
Id shot the video, Id told the cast it was happening.
We were working to it at that point.
And I thought it was dead.
For six months it was dormant.Ill tell you a story, though.
We shot that video for our Kickstarter page, and suddenly we had nowhere to release it.
I thought we were dead, so what did I have to lose?
Thomas Gewecke, at Warner Digital, said why arent we doing this?
and suddenly it got back on track.
New executives starting championing it.
So it was a good thing that I didnt burn all my bridges!
It could have been spectacular, though.
[Laughs] I know.
I came so close to doing that!
It always seemed that the problem with Veronica Mars was that Warner Bros was almost too friendly towards it.
[Laughs] Yeah, I can see that.
A lot of people have asked me if I felt vindicated by the Kickstarter response.
I feel a lot of things.
I feel overjoyed certainly, and I felt relieved, but I never felt vindication.
They always treated me very well, and really respected the show.
So I wasnt trying to rub their noses in anything, I just wanted them to make the movie.
Nobody will take a chance on a $40m movie.
It strikes me that was the other trap you fell into.
For want of a better way of putting it, you were a little too cheap if anything?
Oh absolutely, absolutely.
That was always going to be a problem.
I knew that was a test we were always going to fail.
[Laughs] Yeah!
But when you come to make a film, thats still really low budget.
People can cut their fees, but there are still fixed costs that you cant cheat.
And how contained had you conceived the film to match your original funding target?
It would have been a puzzlebox mystery murder in a house.
It wasnt going to be choreographed likeThe Matrix, but at least I got to put in a brawl!
So all those were little things that opened up the movie.
I wanted to think big.
That you find yourself checking in with this character every four, five years.
And we see the progress of someone from a teen underdog, through to their 50s, 60s.
I love those Linklater movies!
Hes a fellow Austin-ite.
Im a huge fan.
I think of it more as, yknow, a poor mansBondfranchise.
And we do, like those Linklater movies, track Veronicas journey.
We play her at 30, at 33.
I would have a blast doing that.
I want to makeVeronica Marslike a Nancy Drew/Sherlock Holmes detective.
Someone who could live on a bit.
Broadcast platforms have certainly adapted to make that possible now.
Ill pay for that now if you want?
I promise my card wont bounce again.
Look, I know it sounds like I was being cheap.
Someone had defrauded my card!
[Rob continues laughing at me.
My guilt doubles].
Can we talk about that?
Youd had that experience as showrunner in the first place.
But how did the directing role change things?
Has it scratched a movie directing itch that you had?
And was it always going to be you directing the Veronica Mars movie?
It was always me that was going to direct this.
I dont know that I have a big movie director itch.
And that was straight out of my youth.
That would be a movie I would want to direct.
Those things would be played by ear.
Then to get back to the crazy thing Ive found in directing.
And Im so single-minded about that, I can focus entirely on that.
It drives me crazy when a director isnt reacting to the same things Im reacting to.
And then once I sat in the directors chair, I understand why they arent all the time.
The camera isnt moving right or the actor missed their mark or there isnt enough light.
Suddenly theres a list of ten things in my head that Im trying to sort out in every take.
Thats the biggest difference.
Happily I have a couple of producing partners working with me who keep me on track on that front.
At that point it felt like they cant stop this now.
Nobodys going to take this away, were here on set, we made it!
And then I think the other feeling will be when I get to show the movie to fans.
When I see it with fans its going to feel very real to me.
So I have to ask: whats yours?
[Laughs] Im going to saySnatch.
I love that movie.
Brad Pitt is hilarious in that.
I shall now buy a copy of your film.
I think you owe us!
[Laughs]
Rob Thomas, thank you very much.
Veronica Mars is in cinemas now.
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