Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 3 april 2018
Kay Cannon sees path for

others in her road to 'Blockers'

By LINDSEY BAHR ing you've got to just do she is a woman and she's
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kay it, you've got to jump into at the helm and she's Pe-
Cannon, a performer, the deep end of the pool. ter Cramer's boss, I love
screenwriter, producer and There isn't any sort of set that. She's also ridiculously
three-time Emmy nominee, path to how someone gets talented and tough and
had never directed any- to be a director." great at her job. It trickles
thing before "Blockers," an And without Cannon, the down to everyone else."
R-rated teen sex comedy film might never have Cannon's opportunity
that Universal Pictures is re- been made. Cannon took came because Point Grey
leasing wide Friday. the script, which had only and Good Universe active-
She'd written and pro- been worked on by male ly sought her out, and she
duced for "30 Rock" and writers and executives said it's convinced her that
"New Girl," written the when she signed on, and that is what more studios
scripts for the enormously infused it with a more mod- should be doing. She sup-
successful "Pitch Perfect" ern, sex-positive and femi- ports the idea of inclusion
films and created the Net- nist spirit. The teenage girls, riders ("It forces people to
flix series "Girlboss." But di- she said, were at one point try," she said) and is excited
recting was not yet on her indistinguishable. Cannon to get into a position where
resume, and it came as a turned them all into distinct she too can be mentoring
surprise when executives at characters, one of whom is and hiring women off of
Good Universe and Point even questioning her sexu- potential.
Grey, the production com- ality. Also the main parents "I want to remind people
panies behind the "Neigh- who go on this crazy mis- when they're hiring, like
bors" films, hand-picked her sion to stop their daughters Donald Glover was a diver-
to breathe some life into a were originally all dads — sity hire. And it's DONALD
stalled project about three now one is a mom. GLOVER," Cannon said.
teenage girls who decide The end result is a surpris- "I'm sure Donald would
to lose their virginity on ingly nuanced and mod- have found his way without
prom night and the parents ern look at growing up '30 Rock,' but he wouldn't
who try to stop them. and parenting woven in a have been hired at all had
"I never had an issue being bawdy sex comedy with a there not been this pro-
In this March 21, 2018 photo, director Kay Cannon poses for a the head of a team, or a fair amount of nudity and gram set in place."
portrait to promote her comedy, "Blockers" at the Montage ho-
tel in Beverly Hills, Calif. team captain or in charge physical comedy. The par- She's also not unfamiliar
Associated Press or the boss," Cannon, 43, ents are played by Leslie with setbacks and recently
said recently, but she still Mann, Ike Barinholtz and faced some harsh criticisms
worried about her creden- John Cena, who called for "Girlboss," about Nasty
tials. She hadn't gone to Cannon "coach" on set, Gal founder Sophia Amoru-
film school, and wondered and the teenagers are so, which ended up not
if she was even qualified Kathryn Newton, Gide- getting a second season
enough to do it. on Adlon and Geraldine and was criticized for hav-
But she got over that and Viswanathan. ing an "unlikable" and privi-
took on the challenge of Reviews thus far have been leged lead. While Cannon
directing a major studio strong (it's currently at 91 is still surprised at how much
comedy. She was hired, as percent on Rotten Toma- of that criticism came from
she likes to say now, "off of toes) and the $21 million women, she also found a
potential." production is looking at a silver lining in the show's
It helped of course that Uni- solid opening somewhere cancellation in that she got
versal Pictures chair Donna in the mid-teens after a to devote all her energy
Langley and production successful and buzz-stoking and attention to "Blockers."
president Peter Cramer debut at the SXSW Film Fes- Now Cannon is working on
knew Cannon already from tival. some other projects, some
the "Pitch Perfect" films, In an industry where women of which are too early to
which helped convince directed only 8 percent of discuss, and writing a script
them that she was up to the top 100 grossing films of for Sony too. "I feel like I'm
the task. 2017, Universal, which also cheating on Universal," she
"We knew that she had a gave Elizabeth Banks her laughed. And she hopes to
strong point of view and we first feature directing job in direct again and keep a
knew that she had some "Pitch Perfect 2," has long foot in both television and
real experience in studio championed both female film. "She's built a little in-
filmmaking," Cramer said. directors ("Fifty Shades of dustry unto herself," Cramer
"Kay was always an inte- Grey," ''Mamma Mia!") said. "They've called her a
gral part of the filmmaking and female-led comedies triple threat: I think she's ac-
process beyond just being from "Bridesmaids" to "Train- tually a quadruple threat.
a writer. She wanted to be wreck" and "Girls Trip." She's a producer, direc-
on set, she knew the actors, "I love that Donna is in tor, writer and an actress.
she knew how to talk to the charge," Cannon said. There's not a lot of that go-
actors, and she knew how "There's just something dif- ing on ... I'm sure we'll cook
to work with the studio ... ferent. Representation some more stuff up with her
At some point with direct- matters and the fact that in the future."q