Summary

  • Jake Schreier has had an impressive year, with his involvement in the hit Netflix series Beef and the upcoming Thunderbolts.
  • Beef has been nominated for 13 Emmys, and Schreier directed six episodes of the show.
  • Schreier is also directing an episode of the upcoming Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, created by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford.

Jake Schreier has had an impressive year between the hit Netflix series Beef and the upcoming Thunderbolts. Schreier is an executive producer on Beef, and he directed six of the ten episodes. Beef has been nominated for an impressive 13 Emmys. He is also directing an episode of the upcoming Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. The series was created by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford. Skeleton Crew stars Jued Law in a mentor-type role as he helps a group of four kids lost in the galaxy find their way home.

Schreier's highly anticipated Marvel movie Thunderbolts brings together villains and anti-heroes that have been introduced throughout the MCU. Although details about the story are being kept under wraps, the Thunderbolts lineup was revealed during D23 2022 and fans are eagerly awaiting the unexpected team-up. Note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the shows and movie covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both unions.

Related: Thunderbolts Cast & Marvel Character Guide

Jake Schreier spoke with Screen Rant about his work on Beef, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, and the upcoming Thunderbolts movie. He discussed collaborating with Ali Wong and Steven Yeung, as well as the possibility of a second season for Beef. Schreier revealed that the Star Wars: Skeleton Crew creators are his college roommates and how Watts approaches the show after the Spider-Man trilogy. Schreier also teased a new story for Thunderbolts that will have a new take on the characters.

Jake Schreier Talks Beef, Thunderbolts & Star Wars Skeleton Crew

Amy and Danny Shouting at Another Driver in Beef

Screen Rant: I love Beef! It is such a good show. And after watching it, I was even more excited for Thunderbolts, which I didn't think was possible.

Jake Schreier: Alright, great. All missions accomplished.

Episode nine is such an intense roller coaster, and it really veers into horror more than any other episode. How did you approach the scenes at Jordan's house and that escalating tension?

Jake Schreier: In some ways, it was about how we approached the scenes at Jordan's earlier in the show, so that we had planted some of that kind of heightened quality earlier on. And I think a lot of Grace's beautiful production design helped do that, obviously. But beyond that, I think, it's really just in the writing and then trying to play the moments as real as possible and not leaning too hard into the genre.

I think if you were to kind of communicate that onset, it might take it to a place where you really feel the whole series has taken a left turn. We were just kind of trying to be real to the character moments. Yes, they're going to a heightened place for sure, and it's fun to execute that. It's fun to do chair throws, but I don't know that we actually treated the kind of direction or emotion of those moments any differently than what we had done earlier in the show.

You nailed it! It was so much fun. And then we're all waiting for season two. We all want season two. It would have probably been more of an anthology with Danny and Amy's story kind of concludes the season. If there's a season two, would you want to return? And is there any particular community or "beef" that you would want to explore?

Jake Schreier: Certainly, if it's happening again, I want to be there for it. It might be a little tough schedule-wise with Thunderbolt, but we're trying to work it out right now. But yeah, I think Sunny is still kind of working through what that would even look like, and when he figures that out then whatever it is, I'm sure I'd be game.

I love that. And then Ali and Steven were also executive producers on the project. What aspect of their input was most valuable to you?

Jake Schreier: They were involved before I even came on in the early development process with Sunny, and there's just so much of them put into these stories. Really just long conversations that they had with Sunny and so much of their own lives that they're putting into those characters, so that by the time you get the set, it doesn't feel like you're finding that stuff.

You can really have these very personal conversations and know what that perspective was. And they can really share that with you. Sunny, obviously, can talk about what he's going after, but what their connection to it was. So it's a very kind of deeper, more interesting conversation with an actor when they've been that much a part of building that thing from the ground up.

Thunderbolts cast in the MCU's Phase 5

I love that. And then I love that you have Steven and Sung Jin actually coming along with you for Thunderbolts. Can you talk about collaborating with them again in Thunderbolts and what their unique styles bring to the movie?

Jake Schreier: Maybe not specifically in Thunderbolts, but I can just say that, obviously, when you find people that you love working with that much, you just want to do it as much as possible. And I think something we talk a lot about in Beef is just what a great fit it was between many of the collaborators and how much that fit affects what you get to watch.

Everyone again, Grace and Larkin, our incredible cinematographer, and all the actors—when everyone's bringing that much to it, it just makes everyone else want to be better. When you see how much it means to everyone involved. And so yeah, with Sunny and Steven, it isn't just Thunderbolts. I'd want to work with them over and over again for my career. When you find something like that, you just want to keep doing it.

That's awesome. And then what do you think makes Thunderbolts stand out from other MCU movies, especially the team-ups like Guardians or Avengers?

Jake Schreier: I can't say what it is, but I can say that there is something different. And I think that, again, when you look at something like Beef, there's a specificity of character that then makes the whole thing feel more universal because it comes from something so personal. And I think that something that was exciting about Thunderbolts is [that] it's not a sequel. It's a new story, and it's a set of characters that maybe we've met a little bit in the MCU before, but this is a very new take on who they are and what brings them together. Probably not what people are expecting from it, but I guess I can't really say more than that.

I love that. Is there a particular Thunderbolt team member that maybe stood out to you when you read the script?

Jake Schreier: I'm gonna plead the fifth on that. I gotta go make this movie. I can't play favorites at this point. I think, look, obviously one of the first things that struck me about it was just what an incredible cast had been assembled. And I mean, who wouldn't want to work with that cast in any form? So I think I'm just really excited about each of them. Getting to show that work connected to these characters and really bring that kind of deeper understanding of who these characters are.

The logo for Star Wars Skeleton Crew.

And then you actually also worked on another big Disney franchise with Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, which I'm very excited for. I'm a big Star Wars fan. How does that show stand out from maybe the other Star Wars series that we've gotten recently with Disney Plus?

Jake Schreier: What can I say? I'm just very excited for people to see that one. It's just such a great group of kids. For me, what was so fun about that one was just [that] Jon Watts and Chris Ford were roommates of mine from college. So, it was very strange; [it] kind of felt like being back in film school, but with much, much bigger toys. They just have a really great perspective on the story, and it's such an incredible group of directors and collaborators. I think there's a lot of heart to it, that I think it's going to be very, very fun for people to watch when it comes out.

Can you talk a little bit about collaborative Jon Watts, because I think one of the things that's so exciting about it is especially after he did that coming-of-age story with the Spider-Man trilogy?

Jake Schreier: For me, so much of what I know about filmmaking I learned just from arguing with Jon, Ford, Ben, and our other friends from film school. So I think just getting to see his development as a director in all of these different worlds has been really special. There's just this kind of infectious enthusiasm that he brings to the work, even in the way he approaches [it]. I think you can see that come through in Spider-Man, obviously, and how much Tom brought to it. I think that there's a lot of that in Skeleton Crew that'll be very fun for people to watch.

What has been your favorite part of the world building aspects of both the MCU and Star Wars?

Jake Schreier: The thing you're struck by is just that there [are these] incredible teams and upon teams of artists that love this stuff and all have such different perspectives and different ideas to bring to it. I think when you're coming from smaller projects, you really have to pick an idea, stick to it, and make it work.

What's so exciting about these worlds is you get to explore a little bit more, and you get to maybe be wrong and step back, or adjust things, or take a different perspective on what something should look like or what world do you want to go into. That's just such a luxury to have, and to see how many people have so many different ideas to it and when they bring that kind of love for those worlds. If you can harness that. That's just been very, very fun over the last year or so.

I love that, and you've been very careful talking about both of these projects.

Jake Schreier: I'm being as careful as I can be. I don't want to get in any trouble.

I totally get that! I'm going to challenge you with one question. Can you think of one or two words for each that maybe is a way to describe it?

Jake Schreier: One or two words for... If I can, this is not because I think it's a bad question. It's just that I am worried I'm gonna mess it up. Can I plead the fifth on this one? Is that alright? Because I just don't want to say the wrong thing. And I'm not; my brain isn't at full capacity on the the double-word explanations.

About Beef

Danny (Steven Yeun) and Amy (Ali Wong) in Beef leaning out of their cars.

Beef follows the aftermath of a road rage incident between two strangers. Danny Cho (Steven Yeun), a failing contractor with a chip on his shoulder, goes head-to-head with Amy Lau (Ali Wong), a self-made entrepreneur with a picturesque life. The increasing stakes of their feud unravel their lives and relationships in this darkly comedic and deeply moving series.

All 10 episodes of Beef are currently available to stream on Netflix.

Source: Screen Rant Plus

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