June Squibb, actress who landed her first leading role at age 93

She made headlines a decade ago, when she portrayed the mother of the novel's protagonist nebraska She wowed audiences and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress when she was 84 years old. Although she lost to Lupita Nyong'o on March 2, 2014, as happened two months ago at the Golden Globe Awards, together with Jennifer Lawrence, June Squibb knew how to take advantage of this award to receive more job proposals than ever before. .

Although it took some time to find the opportunity of a lifetime, this year we will see him in his first leading role in Thelma The film, directed by new director Josh Margolin, which participated in official competition at the Sundance Festival, received very good reviews from cinema envoys. guardian And Hollywood Reporter and was acquired by small distributor Magnolia shortly after for its US commercial release.

Filmed when he was 93, the film has been described as an action comedy inspired, with its limitations, by the action film series. Mission: Impossible . The actress plays a recent widow who fights to keep her daughter (Parker Posey) from sending her to a nursing home. Although he doesn't get along well with her, he has a charming relationship with his grandson (Fred Hechinger, who became popular in the first season of the series). White lotus ), a twenty-year-old young man who is a little lost in the world.

When she gets a call from him one day telling her he wants her to send him $10,000 in cash, she doesn't realize that he's actually a fraud, and arranges how to get it to him with a supposed lawyer, playing him. Malcolm McDowell himself.

She did not accept a body double and performed the scene in which she had to steal a tricycle for the disabled herself

Obviously, when she learned she had been scammed, she received the inevitable rebuke from her daughter. Determined to prove to him that she can still figure things out on her own, she sets out to catch those who cheated on her, accompanied by her late husband's best friend, Ben, a role played by Richard Roundtree in his last job in front of the cameras before his death. Death at the age of 81 years. He is the one who reluctantly agrees to lend him his handicapped tricycle.

From that moment on, it's a deliberately inspired adventure a task impossible It is emphasized by a soundtrack inspired by the famous Lalo Schiffin theme. Marjolein was inspired by something similar that happened to her grandmother, who lent her name to the Squibb character, even though she never sent money in the real story.

In an article he published diverse The director explained his reasons for suggesting the comparison: “Tom Cruise jumping out of a plane is as dangerous as my grandmother jumping into her bed,” and added: “I wanted to treat Thelma’s mission with the same intensity as that of Ethan Hunt risking everything to chase the villain across the planet.” Although the plan was for the old woman not to do her stunts, June did not want to miss the opportunity to appear in a scene in which she had to steal Ben's tricycle, and she did not accept being replaced by a body double: “They didn't expect me to be the one doing the stunt.” . They were very worried about me, because they thought he was going to kill me. “But I didn't even think about it. As soon as they told me I had to take Richard's car, I jumped,” Squibb explained.

Although it may seem that she has done better in recent years, the truth is that June has worked ceaselessly since her theater debut at the age of 16: “I've always been a character actor, even back then.” I was never good at playing ingenue. I've done these types of roles forever, and I've simply gotten older as I've done them nebraska Ten years ago. This explains why Thelma This is his first leading role in a career spanning seven decades, though it won't be the only one.

After passing through Sundance, he went to film Eleanor, invisible , Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut in which she will play the lead role once again. Although he explains that he was already 94 years old when the reporter was fromdiverse He asks about his future, and everything seems to indicate that as long as his body holds up, he will continue to function. Soon he will start promoting the second part of reflects which in its original version lends a voice to a character, and also has another movie waiting for release, Lost and Found in Cleveland ( Lost and Found in Cleveland ) in which she plays a supporting role alongside Martin Sheen.