The Old Guard 2, a sequel that took quite a long time to arrive, featured the death of a key character in the Netflix movie series, as Matthias Schoenaerts' Booker lived his last day on Earth after giving his immortality to Charlize Theron's Andy. To make it all the more tragic, Booker sacrifices himself to save Andy and gives her time to get away and avoid capture like their fellow teammates.
Director Victoria Mahoney sat down with The Direct's Russ Milheim to discuss Booker's final scene. She declared it as "one of [her] favorite scenes," calling it a "hero's death." She elaborated that his final moments are "such an exceptional expression of life" and that "what he does in that room is so filled with life and love, and I just find it quite moving and straight up to the end."
She even declared that while "it's terrible" that Schoenaert's Booker had to die, the entire scene was "so cinematically delicious."
As for that massive cliffhanger ending, which saw most of the team captured by Charlize Theron's Discord as Andy and Quyhn finally joined forces to get their friends back, Mahoney explained that the reasoning behind that conclusion is that they wanted to leave audiences with "wonderment and hope and joy." She admitted that, at the end of the day, she "[doesn't] want to see a dark, gut-wrenching ending right now."
The Old Guard 2 is streaming on Netflix.
The Old Guard 2 Director Victoria Mahoney Breaks Down Booker's Tragic Death
"It's So Cinematically Delicious."
- The Direct: "I wanted to also address Booker's tragic death. Can you just talk about crafting his final moments and that character's last beautiful arc, and making sure it was exactly what you wanted it to be, and it hit audiences as heavily as you wanted it to."
Victoria Mahoney: It's one of my favorite scenes... But what he did in that scene, what he's capable of doing as an actor, which each of them, you know, in their different scenes, respectively, just have the ability to hit these moments that are so solid and effortlessly.
And I'm not saying they didn't go through a lot of labor to get to that release or expression or offering, but when you're watching it, it just flows out of them. And so that entire sequence, which we could probably, in the sweet tune of Mr. Joseph Campbell, say is the hero's death.
And I believe every beat from the moment up to there to the scene in the house before with him and Andy is like that scene with the two of them on the bed. And that's his way, that's when he comes to say, you know, he's saying, I defer, and so I surrender.
And then, so, when he goes down, true to Booker's form, it's such an exceptional expression of life. It looks like it's could be suicidal or passive suicide, in a way that he knows that he's walking into a room and he won't come out of that room, but what he does in that room is so filled with life and love, and I just find it quite moving and straight up to the end.
When he was there, it was just him, and I with the—Barry's there with the camera, and I'm standing off to the side, and I'm lying on the ground at Barry's feet, and Barry has the camera, and I'm asking him to hold his breath. Just hold your breath, his shoulder breath over.
And you can hear it in the track where I'm holding for so long, trying to, like, you know, see his [breath] go, and then, but that moment when he just... Oh, it's terrible. It's terrible. It's so cinematically delicious.
The Old Guard 2 Director on Why They Chose That Cliffhanger Ending
"That Ending Brings About Wonderment and Hope and Joy
- The Direct: "I've [gotta] ask about the ending. It ends with this massive cliffhanger and setup for an immediate sequel. Can you talk about why you felt that ending was the perfect choice for this installment?"
Victoria Mahoney: There were so many discussions about how we would leave audiences. And what the emotion, the strongest emotion to leave them with [was]. And to some degree, that ending brings about wonderment and hope and joy. And not that those three things are the only three factors important to an ending, or this ending.
It's just that those particular three emotions in ratio, different ratios allow for something that inspires people in a way that I believe everyone benefits from at the moment. This moment in time, I mean, I actually, I don't want to see a dark, gut-wrenching ending right now in a movie like this. I don't want to see something that just leaves me like this... Maybe a few years ago, maybe a few years in the future, but at this moment, it seemed like a wonderful thing. And there are many discussions.
There are many people involved, and everyone landed at the exact same point with the same wish, and I enjoyed how those two actors were in that scene, and I enjoy how it's cut together, and I enjoy when I watch it.
The entire discussion with The Old Guard 2 director Victoria Mahoney can be seen below:
