'Thelma's June Squibb, Josh Margolin On Richard Roundtree, Takeaways From Film

TITLE: Thelma
Section: Premieres
Director: Josh Margolin
Screenwriter: Josh Margolin
Logline: When 93-year-old Thelma Post (June Squibb) gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on a treacherous quest across the city to reclaim what was taken from her. A story exploring aging, family and autonomy (and uniquely inspired by action movies like Mission: Impossible) – Thelma is based on a real-life experience of writer/director Josh Margolin’s grandmother, and marks Squibb’s first leading film role of her 70+ year career.
Sales Agent: CAA
Panelists: Josh Margolin, June Squibb, Fred Hechinger and Clark Gregg
First screening: January 18

Key quotes: When asked about her time with the late icon Richard Roundtree, who appears in Thelma in his final screen performance, June Squibb shared, “He was such a doll and such a strong guy, and it was such fun to have him on the back of the scooter. And he did wonderful things on my birthday. He wasn’t on set, he wasn’t working, but he came in and brought me two dozen roses for my birthday. They also had white wigs and he put one on, and we even have a picture of that, and it’s pretty funny. So, he was willing to be one of the gang, he really was. He was great.”

Reflecting on takeaways from the film, Josh Margolin said, “I hope people will take away not to count out people who you might assume aren’t as capable as they may be. Also, I think you can hold onto your autonomy and still accept help, which I think is sometimes a hard balance to strike at any age, honestly — just the feeling of, how capable am I? How dependent on others am I? I think every character in the movie is kind of going through that in a different moment in life, so I hope there’s something to be gleaned in searching for that balance.”

The Deadline Studio at Sundance runs January 19-23 at Montgomery-Lee Fine Art on Main Street, when the cast and creatives behind the best and buzziest titles in this year’s lineup sit down with Deadline’s festival team to discuss their movies and the paths they took to get to Park City.

Thank you to our sponsors McGee & Co., Final Draft, Portrait Creative Network, and Courser.