“There was a period in my life where I saw every action film made,” enthused nonagenarian and Oscar-nominee June Squibb, the star of action comedy Thelma. “I love the Mission Impossible movies, and I’ve seen every one of them. I even watched the old TV show that inspired them. I love Bruce Willis, especially all of his early films, and I love Jason Statham. I think they’re great.”

Landing in theaters in a prime summer spot after going down a storm at Sundance, Thelma stars the 94-year-old Oscar-nominee in her first leading role. Inspired by something that happened to writer-director Josh Margolin’s grandmother, Squibb plays Thelma Post, a nana scammed out of $10,000 by a con artist who calls her, claiming her grandson is in trouble and needs her help. Not taking it lying down, she and her friend Ben, played by the late Richard Roundtree, set off across LA on his mobility scooter to get back what’s hers. As well as embracing classic action movie genre tropes, the Mission: Impossible movies were a big inspiration, and references to the franchise got Tom Cruise’s blessing.

“I don’t know if he’s seen it,” Squibb mused. “You sent him a link though, Josh?”

“I don’t think he’s seen the movie yet, as far as I know,” Margolin responded. “We spent them something, and he generously gave us permission to use footage from Mission: Impossible – Fallout. We sent him a clip of the table read of that scene and the script, and he signed off, which was amazing. We were thrilled that Tom gave us the okay, and we owe him a debt of gratitude. We’re excited to try to get his eyeballs on the movie.”

Thelma, which boasts an ensemble cast that includes Parker Posey, Clark Gregg, and The White Lotus‘ Fred Hechinger as grandson Danny, is the perfect companion piece to another 2024 action film that also tackled older people being scammed via technology, The Beekeeper, which starred Squibb favorite, Jason Statham. Why are storytellers and audiences drawn to the topic right now?

“People are fascinated by it,” the Nebraska actress said. “They hate it, and they want to do something about it. It’s a strange thing. The scammers have knowledge and versatility and do things very well, and it’s a little scary. What can be done?”

“I loved The Beekeeper, by the way,” Margolin continued. “It feels like this problem is affecting more people and a wider age range because it’s getting more sophisticated with AI and all these other advancements. Every time we show the movie and talk to people, they or their family members have had experience with it, so unfortunately, it does feel prevalent.”

“At the very least, I hope that if people see this and recognize that scam, even though there are other kinds, they may think twice. The one in the movie is almost verbatim the one my grandma got, and I think it’s pretty common. It’s called the grandparent scam. It’s definitely on people’s minds and feels very prevalent.”

It was one reason that when Thelma came her way, Squibb didn’t hesitate to say yes. She even did most of her own stunts, although Heidi Pascoe, her double, took on some of the more physically challenging bits.

“When I read the script, it was all there,” she recalled. “I knew that Josh wanted the action, but I didn’t see or get some of the things until I saw the finished film. I was doing what was in the script and understood what I was doing. There’s a scene where Richard and I are walking away from a store, and there’s a fire behind us, and it took me a long time to get there. It never occurred to me that I had to know what was going on because I didn’t have to. I trusted Josh. Some things came to me slowly, and I get it now.”

“The script was wonderful, and I felt like Josh knew exactly what he was doing. I loved everything about it, and I could see us making it. When we talked, it was just, ‘Hello, I will do this.’ We talked for about half an hour, but I don’t remember what we said. I felt like we had to do this.”

With an endorsement like that, Margolin knew the pressure was on, especially as Thelma was his feature directorial debut.

“I had to live up to that, but more than anything, it was heartening,” he said. “I had my sights set on June for this for a long time, and the fact that she jumped on board meant a lot, and from that moment on, we were like, ‘Okay, we’re going to make this happen. We’re going to get this thing on its feet.’ My producers, Zoë Worth and Chris Kaye, and I said, ‘Okay, now we’re in business.’ It’s incredibly meaningful, and you feel like you have to rise to meet the moment, and I think June carried that through the whole process. She’s a consummate professional and was setting the bar very high, so we knew we had to match her, and that was a great ethos for the entire production.”

“I felt fortunate to be surrounded by many people who all knew more than me,” the writer-director continued. “In many ways, I think that was a gift of the movie. I felt very specific in many ways regarding what I knew I wanted, what the tone needed to be, how I wanted to shoot it, and how I wanted it to feel. What’s wonderful about working with actors like June, Richard, Clark, Parker, and even Fred, at his young age, is that everybody brought so much care to the project. Not only that, but also experience, care, and thoughtfulness. More often than not, the answer was to simplify and cut through the noise.”

Something else the writer-director also wanted to do with Thelma was capture the unique relationship often shared between a grandmother and their grandchildren.

“I suppose it depends on the grandparent and grandchild, but I do think there’s something about having that generational gap that allows you to see each other from a unique perspective,” Margolin mused. “You can love and adore someone without feeling the full weight of responsibility for their well-being. In that way, you can almost be a friend who happens to be a few decades older or younger.”

Part of the homage to action movies was ensuring key elements, including catchphrases, were present but weren’t intrusive.

“I feel like Thelma has a lot of little catchphrases. It never felt like there was only one,” Margolin explained. “In real life, my grandma has a bunch of little catchphrases that feel iconic to me. I wanted to take that feeling and sprinkle a bunch here and there. There’s not exactly one iconic one, but maybe the closest to that would be, ‘I think I know her.'”

“Another one is when I’m saying to Richard, ‘Did you say something?'” Squibb added with a chuckle.

Another element that had to be in the mix was a theme tune for Thelma, which was composed by Nick Chuba.

“I think it’s really important. It keeps the movie in Thelma’s perspective, and it helps with tone and propulsion,” Margolin said. “Anytime we can start associating instruments with her and a melody, a repeating and growing element, I find it anchors the movie. I think the music does that in general. The movie has to thread the needle and start in this grounded naturalistic world, then escalate into something a little more genre, but carry the honesty of the beginning through and make it feel character-driven. I think Nick did a wonderful job of using instruments that are Lalo Schifrin inspired but with her own twist on it.”

Last but not least, Thelma needed an iconic outfit to help create an instantly recognizable silhouette for her character. That came in the form of her jacket which even had its own handler on set.

“It was actually completely handmade by my partner Chloe Searcy, who fit it for June,” Margolin revealed. “She and my wonderful costume designer Amanda Wing Yee worked together to plan it, and Chloe and my producer Zoë Worth custom-dyed the fabric to match the movie’s look. Every action hero has a signature outfit, and Thelma needed a distinctive piece. I associate dynamic and colorful jackets with my real grandma, Thelma, and they absolutely nailed the look. June kept it after the shoot.”

“I do,” she laughed. “I have it, and I still wear it.”