August 28, 2025 • 37 mins
Welcome to Watch Party: your all-access pass to the TV everyone’s obsessing over.
Does the new Thursday Murder Club movie live up to the hype of the beloved book? Our first episode of our new Watch Party podcast deep-dives into all the big questions about the hit movie - we have all the hot takes, wild theories and behind the scenes tea!
You'll learn:
- the secret behind those incredible sets (hint: they're not what they seem)
- which star's on-set swearing changed the movie
- the nepo-casting that we all approve of
Plus we tackle some of the biggest issues that the story brings up.
This episode dives deep into the movie adaption of one of the biggest book releases this century, Richard Osman’s whodunnit The Thursday Murder Club which has dropped on Netflix.
Watch Party is the newest title from The Spill. The Spill podcast is on TikTok here and on Instagram here and you can check out our vodcast on Youtube here. Contact us on spill@mamamia.com.au
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CREDITS
Hosts: Taylah Strano, Courtney Ammenhauser and Georgie Page
Executive Producer: Monisha Iswaran
Audio Producer: Scott Stronach
Video Producer: Michael Kean
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
You're listening to a Muma Mia podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Mamma mea acknowledges the traditional owners of land and borders
that this podcast is recorded on. Can help please, can't
help please? From Mamma Mia. Welcome to the Spills Watch Party,
where we unpack the biggest shows and movies that everyone
is talking about now. This is a brand new podcast
(00:36):
where we're not just watching TV and movies during work hours,
although we are kind of doing that, but because we
are also diving deep as well, we'll have all the
hot takes and those working theories that you love from
the Spill, plus all of the behind the scenes tea too.
I'm Taylor Strano. I'm a journalist and the host of
our news podcast, The Quikie, and I recently got my
(00:57):
button to gear and finally read well slash listened to
The Thursday Murder Club and that is, of course what
we are talking about today. If you didn't know, The
Thursday Murder Club debut novel from the great Richard Osmond
more on him in a moment, but it's been adapted
into this brilliant film for Netflix. It essentially is for retirees.
They live in this gorgeous retirement village, Cooper's chase and
(01:21):
a bunch of murders happen at their lovely estate. Now
mystery is afoot. They are the Thursday Murder Club and
they're on the case. They're going to solve not one,
not two, but three murders. Now I'm not here solo today.
Luckily I've brought some friends with me, one of whom
is all over this story and the law like a
little bit of a rash.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It's me the rash.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
My name is Georgie Page. I'm a group executive producer
here at Mamma Maya, and The Thursday Murder Club is
my number one favorite book.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
And my name's Courtney Amenhauser. I'm also a group executive producer,
and Georgie, please don't cancel me, but I haven't read
the book.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
What have you been doing?
Speaker 4 (01:59):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I can feel the tension in I feel like I've
very quickly become the moderator. And that's fine and very comfortable.
But if you, like Courtney, have not read the book,
that is okay. You get a whole past today. Because
we are, of course talking about the film The Thursday
Murder Club. This is watch party, not read party, so
don't worry. Of course, we'll touch a little bit on
the book, but then we are going full throttle on
(02:22):
all things the movie. Now, Courtney, Georgie, we have all
seen the film. We're going to dive into it in
the moment, but I want to hear a one line
review from you both. I'll go first my review. It's delicious,
it's delightful, but I do have notes, Georgy.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I'm going to use a big word. I'm going to
call it a cozy masterpiece that absolutely lives up to
the book.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Masterpiece is a big word.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
It's a big word, but I stand by it.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I thought you meant cozy.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Okay, yeah, Courtney, Okay, Mine is my ideal retirement set
up aspirational, aspirational. Gosh, I think I really need to
start thinking about my superannuation.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
That's like a big ad for super is It is
kind of.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I didn't think that's where this was going to go today.
If you're wondering what we're actually going to cover in
this episode, Dodgy, what will we teach the people?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Okay? This episode is going to be filled with all
the facts that you want to know about this movie
and also the brilliant little nepo relationship that you may
not have realized when you watched it.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
There fears, Joyce, are you in us? Bang on target?
I'm Elizabeth. Would you take a look at that for me?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Please?
Speaker 5 (03:26):
God tis a lot of blood. Would you care to
join us to discuss things further?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Who is us?
Speaker 5 (03:32):
I'm sorry? How rude of me with a Thursday Murder Club?
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Okay? So The Thursday Murder Club follows a group of
friends in a retirement home who gathered to solve murders
for fun. Like I said, this is my ideal retirement setup.
I hope I'm in some fun clubs like that and
living with some cool cats like they are in this film.
But what's really interesting is that they then find themselves
in a live case. So I want to know about
the law here first before we get really stuck in.
(03:58):
So how can we get clear on how this film
came about? Georgie?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I think to understand The Thursday Murder Club, you need
to understand Richard Osmond.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Yes, I know Richard Osmond from the Rest Is Entertainment podcast,
but he's also done a bunch of other stuff, right.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
That is an excellent podcast. He's actually a TV exec,
so he created Deal or No Deal. What an awesome show.
Thank you so much. It's sort of like he gave
us Megan Markle because remember one of her first jobs
was opening the briefcases on that show.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
That is huge.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
He's also a TV host. He's a panelist on all
those sort of British entertainment comedy shows. He actually was
voted in the top ten most popular British TV stars,
which means if he was in Australia, he would absolutely
have a LOGI he probably would have a shelf of
logis right. He's adored, He's really clever, he's really interesting.
I assume you would throw the word national treasure in.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Richard Olsman is such a national treasure that I now
in my TikTok algorithm am getting served like old clips
of Richard Olsman game shows like Pointless and he's just
so charming.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
So he created those shows and when he went to
pitch them, he and his co creator would sort of
act them out, you know, to try and get them commissioned.
At one of the shows, they said, this is so good.
You guys are the hosts, And that's how we got
into hosting. He's just behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Go So then what led him to making a book
about murder, mystery and a retirement home, Because I feel
like the Entertainment TV two debut novel about crime Pipeline
is pretty long.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, a lot of British comedians have written books. I've
read a lot of them, some hits, some are missus.
The reason that he wrote this is because he was
going to visit his mum in a retirement community in Sussex.
He said it was surrounded by nature, it was really
beautiful and he started to think this would be a
great place for a murder. I'm serious that he actually
started to think this. More that this was a bunch
(05:37):
of interesting people. He said, everyone I spoke to this
retirement community had this amazing backstory but was probably underestimated
because of their age. So he thought, if something happened
and these people could band together sort of golden girl star,
maybe they could solve a crime.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
So unassuming of a location to set this.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And so beautiful, right, And there's this line in the
movie that's so good that Ron says to e invent
them at the protest, he says, there's people here who've
seen off better men than you. We've got teachers and soldiers,
doctors and bankers, and I think that's so easy to
forget when you see elderly people that they've had these
amazing lives. There's probably so much wisdom there, but there's
also an element of invisibility there, and that's what makes
(06:19):
a book so interesting.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Georgie, why do you think this story means so much
to so many people and has such a dedicated fan base.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I think our news cycle has been bleak for a really,
really long time. This book came out, like Taylor said,
in September twenty twenty, remember what that time was like,
with all the sour dough and the Tiger king and stuff.
When we found things to clutch onto that made us
happy during that really difficult time, we held on with
two hands, and this really was one of these things,
(06:47):
and it created an amazing online community of Thursday Murder
Club fans became really really big in book clubs and
things like that. It's one of those books that I
read and I felt this immediate sense of loss when
it was over, like I wasn't part of something anymore,
and I couldn't wait for the next book to come.
I just think it's a really, really joyful book. I
(07:08):
think it speaks beautifully about humanity and about human beings.
It seems like a really light read, but it actually
is complex and it has so many layers. It's got
like a I suppose you'd call it like this deep
emotional core. I'm going deep hero to me, The Thursday
Murder Club means a great deal to a great many people,
and I think that's why it's just such a special story.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
We can end the podcast there, I reckon I think that.
But what I love specifically about The Thursday Murder Club
is that I am nowhere near that stage of life,
right like Courtney Georgie. We're all a little bit further
off from retiring than like the people in this book, right,
But I still felt such a sense of connection and
understanding with these characters. Some of them, like we've mentioned already,
(07:50):
I have been rendered as a little bit useless or
unassuming or maybe even a little bit invisible at different
times in our lives. And we've all kind of felt
that way at one stage or another. There's great sadness
and great humor. This is a book that I usually
exclusively will read nonfiction, like I'm a memoir kind of gal,
so reading Murder Mystery for me was pretty uncharted territory,
(08:13):
and I found myself at multiple points laughing out loud
and then at other points like really shedding a tear.
And and Georgie, there were multiple times that I called
you and I was like, I finished the book, I've
got to talk about this thing, or I can't believe
this thing just happened.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And I really felt that way in the film as well,
like there were parts that I knew were coming up
and anticipating them and then were still laughing at them
even though I knew it was about to happen.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Yeah, And I mean as someone who hasn't read the book,
I had that experience watching it as well, Like there
were moments where I was genuinely crying and the other
bits where I was like giving a big guttural laugh
out loud. So yeah, I think it still hits, even
though you know, I haven't waited into the novel itself.
I think it's it still translates for screen. But I'm
keen to read the book now, especially after hearing these
(08:55):
you know, this experience that you've both had.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I cried four times in the last fifteen minutes about
four different things. Yeah, it's not even embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, the last thirty minutes really got me. Okay. So
the film is out today. It was a book five
years prior to that, though, So how did we get
to this place? And also what is this casting controversy
that I keep hearing about. I will hear no slander
about the people in this film, So I'm very keen
to unpack that up next. Georgie. Film to book adaptations
(09:23):
they don't just happen. I was doing some research because,
in case you guys missed an I'm a journalist, Little
Women was written in the eighteen hundreds, and nearly fifty
years later it ended up on screen for the very
first time. There's been many an adaptation. Now, film adaptations
are not always that long. I think Twilight was like
three years or something, but it is a process. Nonetheless,
(09:43):
lots of hands go into the pie when you were
doing a book to film adaptation, and you've also got
to get out there and then convince someone to make
it happen. That's not necessarily the path that Richard Osmond's
book took to making its way to Netflix. How did
that become a Netflix original.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I think this is really unique. I haven't heard of
this happening with any books before, so obviously this is
a joint production between Netflix and Steven Spielberg's production company, Amblin.
Amblin actually obtained the right to this book before it
was published. Like this never happens, right. Normally agents would
discourage you doing this because they'd say, oh, Okay, if
there's interest, let's try and get a bidding war happening
(10:20):
when it gets really popular. But I think when Stephen
Spielberg makes you an offer, you sort of go, it's
the best we're ever going to get, except you can
have anything you want.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Do you?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Reckon? Richard Osmond's literary agent, was just like Spielberg from
the line he's in, He's all in. Quickly finish the
book quickly, Richard. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
I think when Steven Spielberg comes in, you just sort
of go, I'm in good hands, right. And it's not
just Steven Spielberg, it's Chris Columbus, so we know him
from How's This for a list? Home Alone, Missus, Doubt Fire,
the first two Harry Potter films. Basically my entire DVD library.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It's DVD, Georgia. No, look it up, Taylor anyway.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
So Chris Columbus was asked by Steven Spielberg, imagine being
on the phone for that call to read these books,
and he said he became a Rabbit fanboy. Join the club.
Chris Columbus, by all accounts, Chris Columbus is an absolute delight.
And do you know he caught the stars of this
movie the final I have worked with since Potter.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
What a call about?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Like, what a huge call? What a compliment? To be
fair though, the cast of this film it.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Is all star, but there's been controversy regardless.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Two names who are quite surprising, who were early rumors
of casting, who didn't get the role that I just
wanted to float by you, lads. Thank Meryl Streep for Elizabeth. Look,
I'm assuming so she is American.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
She's not a Joye.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
She's not a joy. She'd have to be Elizabeth. The
other one, Viola Davis.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Wow, not a joy?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
What a joy?
Speaker 4 (11:41):
But I'd kind of love to see them play a joyce.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Guys, I'm very protective of joys. I'm not gonna lie. Okay,
let's talk about who.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Actually got the roles We've got Helen Merren obviously.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Oh, we love absolutely heaven. She's who I pictured and
I read the book before she got cast. She's absolutely
who I pictured in this role. And there's a fantastic
little throw in the movie to her most famous role
as well as Elizabeth.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Wait what yes, Elizabeth has Elizabeth. You're right, Helen Meren
total baddie. One thing I observed is her agility. I
want to be able to run like that at eighty
me too.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
There's a lot of fast paced movement in this film
for what is meant to be a retirement home.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah, I was very impressed. I was like, she came
on better than me now and I'm thirty four.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
There's a lot of pilates acor aerobics tai chii happening there.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Very impressive.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Then we've got Sir Ben Kingsley as the ex psychiatrist Ibrahim.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Oh what beautiful casting again someone I was sort of
picturing at the time. He's very wise, he's very stoic.
It actually seems like him as a person. Not that
I've ever met Sir Ben Kingsley, but feeling like I have,
I really think he was probably playing a lovely version
of himself.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Taylor, do you want to talk us through Joyce?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Okay, I do want to talk you through Joyce. Thank
you so much for asking. Joyce is played by the
incredible Cilia Imri. Yes, silly Imri does have a very
special place in my heart, known for her most famous
role of.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Aunt Una on Bridge Jones.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Incredible. No, guys, that's the wrong answer of what do
you mean?
Speaker 4 (13:01):
That's where I know her from Tatsan Mickers Ball.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Guys, come on, uncle Jeffrey for your heads Outia As
I'm talking about calendar girls.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Obviously you've seen Calendar Girls. But wow, what a I film.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So party's over, wrap it up, get out of here. Yes,
calendar girls. Also, she was fantastic in the very Best
Exotic Marrigold Hotel. She reminds me so much of my grandma.
Not that my grandma ever posed for a nude calendar
to save her small country town, although if she did,
I would support her in doing so. That you know of, well,
that I know of. She's lived a life like the
characters in the Thursday Murder Club. Selia Imri is just
(13:33):
this really wholesome, joyous like beam of sunshine and hope
and positivity, and I think that she really brings that
to this film as well.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I love that. I think she was perfectly cast a
plus ten out of ten.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
She has a lot of nuance as well in her
character I saw. I feel like, you know, she comes
in quite underestimated. She's trying to stand out on her
own against her daughter, and then she's also coming into
this click that exists of the Thursday Murder Club, and
she's an outsider, but she brings so much warmth and
kind of connects them in this new way.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I love that you can be in your seventies or
eighties and still be the new kid on the block.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, it never ends, doesn't. And it's such an important
role as well because the book is mainly told through
Joyce's diary completely, so you need to make sure you
cast that well, and I think they did.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Okay, I can see why you're so protective of Joyce now,
knowing that the book is written from that perspective. I'm
taking notes.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Okay. The final one, Pierce Brosnan, we have to brace Joorgy.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I don't think you have to brace I loved Pierce
Brosnan as Ron Now in the book Caught He's described
as having a neck tattoo and being like a really
sort of rough former trade unionist. He was fancast as
being played by Ray Winston.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Oh, I like that. I can see that for sure.
So there was a.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Lot of controversy, and you know why, it's because Pierce
Brosnan is so hot. I feel its hottest to have
controversy about him, because he's a fantastic actor. He was
so good as Ron.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
He was great.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I loved watching him on screen.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
He's getting hotter as well, isn't he.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
He's got great hair. That's what I'll say, guys.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
He did a great job as Ron. Was he read
Ron Richie? Though? Was he the rough and tumble unionist
from years gone by that led the troops that walked
off building sites that probably owned a dead and vest
or three. I'm not convinced. I'm sorry. I loved watching
him like it's Pierce freaking Brosnan. Of course he's gonna
be good in whatever he does. But I do think
(15:21):
that somebody else probably should have played Ron.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Well. I went back to the source for this to
look up what Richard Osmond said about it, and I
love this so much. He said, Pierce Brosnan is who
Ron would want to play Ron.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
It is spot on.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
And you know what, you haven't lived until you've seen
Pierce Brosnan doing aqua aerobics to Disco Inferno. I've ever
seen the joy on that man's face. I think he
was just terrific. Look, there's been controversy about his accent,
saying he sort of ducked and dived all over Europe
with that accent. I thought he did a really good job.
He just looks like he's having fun in every role
(15:57):
he plays. At this stage of his career.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
He is having fun.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
And I also think, you know, maybe he didn't come
across as this rough and tumble character that the book
portrays and guilty. Haven't read the book, but when I
was just watching it purely as an observer of the film,
I saw his wealthy son with TV money, and I went,
he's in his wealthy era. His son is paying for
this fancy retirement village for him and he gets to
(16:20):
like live out his twilight years around rich people.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
You're so like, you're bang on with that ride. Because
the more I thought about it, I was like, Oh,
there's other people that I would have cast in this role.
But I'm like he's been a very wealthy retirement home.
Like he may have like at one stage had a
neck tattoo and nectar pine into the pub and put
it away. But I'm pretty sure like he has at
some stage in his life polished up and is now
like in his twilight years and is enjoying them in
(16:45):
a very luxurious setting.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Total is dancing on ice?
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Money there isn't there?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Sure is speaking of a couple of honorable mentions to
other people who've been cast in this film. Now I
feel like we are going to get a war over
Jason Ritchie, who is Ron's son played by Tom Ellis.
You've got strong feelings about this, so do I let's
have it out come on.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Wrong lusty feeling. He was gorgeous. I loved him. He's
exactly how I pictured Jason Richie to be. I actually
hadn't seen Tom Ellison things, which I'm told by a
producer is sacrilegious because he was lucifer. But I thought
he was really good.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Was it ice skates?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
You know what did it for you? I think a
man who can dance on ice?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
How clever is it? Because he was somewhat partially fake
related to Pierres Frosman.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
It was a very good looking duo. I was sort
of attracted to father and son. That's a problem with him.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
He just wasn't hot enough. Oh okay, there was not
enough sex of heal and I'm so sorry. But I
do have a replacement in mind. If they want to
recast this role going forward, I think that would be, Okay,
THEO James, the White Lotus and The Gentleman. That's who
I want to be a boxer turned ice skater. It's
THEO James.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
I don't know if THEO James is tough enough.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Have you seen The Gentleman?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
No, but I took Lady Mary's virginity in Downton as well.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Well, okay, that sounds pretty tough. It's got range, is
what we're saying, Corney.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Okay, I just think of him in White Lotus, where
he just comes across as like a bit too scrubbed
up for me, Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I do? But then in The Gentleman he is running
a drug ring.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
I need to watch that.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Obviously, we have some dirt on your face and get
on with it.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
He's got range.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
He's got range. Copy Also, we also have to take
a moment to talk about bogged Down aka Henry Lloyd
Hughes now famous author. Marian Keyes is like completely obsessed
with bog Dwan, like outwardly unashamably, and I get it
because he's just like this sweet Polish man and I
love him, and he tried to do the right thing.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
He is such a lovely character. If I have any
criticism of the movie, I don't think the movie does
the character of bog Dan justice. I know they didn't
have the time that the book does. He's just so beautiful.
Like the scene we meet him, he's sitting down for
a coffee with David Tennant. The waitress comes over and
gives David Tennant his coffee and bog Dan goes thanks
(18:52):
because David Ennant's character doesn't even say thanks to waitresses.
So you know he's a baddie from the first scene.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Absolutely, if you're rude to wait staff, that's a dead
give out of my face.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yeah, you kind of deserve to be murdered. Oh no,
I can't say that. You also speaking of baddies, Richardy
Grant A K. Bobby Tanner, Oh, I say, gosh, I
was not expecting him to be as terrifying as he
was in this film, Like thank god that he was
positioned in a florist because I'm not convinced that there
(19:21):
would be any living things thriving around this man. Because
his energy was so dark.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
It was so amazing, and just like the visual of
the red roses and the blood on his hands and
the thorns, it was so delicious, joggy.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
You famously don't like horror films. You don't like scary
things in general. Were you scared of Bobby Tanner?
Speaker 4 (19:39):
No?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I was more scared of Elizabeth being followed by a
man in a graveyard.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Yes, that's a real fear.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
But I thought Richard.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Ingrat was just wonderful. I didn't realize floris were covered
with so much blood so often, but I thought he
was really wonderful.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Also, just very quickly, I wrote myself a note that
I have to share with the group. Note from me
while watching the film, Sorry, Tony Curran looks like he
should be a resident in Cooper's Chase dot dot dot
wtf he was too old? The partial owner of Cooper's Chase,
Who does die? Tony Curran, who is the resident's last
hope of keeping their home before it gets knocked down
(20:11):
for development by you invent them. He was too old,
like he looked like he was meant to live there.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
He sort of looked like how Ron was in the books.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Maybe he auditioned for that maybe consolation prize.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
If you're gonna lose, lose to Pierce Brosnan. Now do
you want to know my nepo fact?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yes, I'm dying to know Georgie.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Please.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
I love and we know Joanna, who is Joyce's daughter.
Joanna is played by Ingrid Oliver, who is Richard Osmond's
real life wife.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
Whoa, whoa.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I love nepotism in movies because do you just always
second screen everything you're watching because you're on internet movie
database looking up the facts. I just want to know
who everyone is in a relationship with, Like it just
makes me feel better if I'm watching something for my
husband to interrupt an important moment and go, do you
know that this just divorced someone from the first series
of Nano or in the exact same way for everyone
(21:00):
around us. But Ingrid Oliver is an actress. She's not
just someone bought in off the street. She was in
Doctor Who and she's really great as Johanna.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Actually she does. She plays that part of like distant
who kind of has their own thing going on very well. Okay,
so on the way next, there was one thing that
was definitely on all three of our minds while watching
this film, and we reckon it was probably on your
mind too, So we must discuss plus what is next
with a Thursday Murder Club. Luckily Georgie has all the
goss So I feel like one of the things that
(21:31):
keeps balancing around and we talk about the Thursday Murder
Club is age is at the center of this story. Like, yes,
they're murders, obviously because it's a murder mystery, but like
aging and the way that aging is portrayed and played
out on screen is one of the big main anchor
points for when people critique and talk about this film.
And I feel like it's done in such a clever way,
like we're set up to undermine these people from the
(21:52):
get go, right, like the cops, their families and venth them,
underestimates them because they're old, maybe like they're a little
bit useless and they're unable to keep up with these
modern times. But it also feels that that's their greatest
superpower Georgie. Yet they love.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Those ageous tropes, don't They like the confusion when Ron
pretends to the police officer that he has no idea
what's going on, and the helplessness, like you said, when
she goes to the police. They'll happily play into them
when needed, and I hope I do the same at
their age. I think it's really clever that they get
our generalizations and throw them back in our faces like that.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
It's exactly what you were saying before as well, Like
these are all people who have lived very interesting lives,
like Ibrahim was a psychiatrist, and they've all sort of
acquired these useful skills that end up making them kind
of like the perfect murder mystery team. It's never explicitly
stated in the book, but it is in the film Courtney,
and I wonder how you feel about this, Elizabeth. It's
(22:45):
a known fact that she was like basically the head
of mi I six at one point in her career.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Yeah, it's huge, Like imagine just wandering around your regular
workplace knowing that someone used to be like this crazy,
amazing spy.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
She was like a super spy. She wasn't just us
by she was thus by.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Yeah, she was the big dog.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
If you were going to solve murders with somebody, I reckon,
that's someone you'd want to have on your team.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Absolutely, And I think it's just a really clever way that,
as you say, Georgie, they play into these generalizations and
it allows them to be a bit undercover in their
own clever, really intelligent way and subvert what everyone's assuming
of them.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I completely agree with you. There's actually this one really
great scene. It was one of my favorite parts from
the film where they go into town and Elizabeth and
Joyce are like hatching their plot to speak to Donna.
But to do that, they've got to get past the
police officer at the front gate, and they do that
thing that they do so well. They act like silly,
batty old ladies.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Young man, young man, please help me, My bag's just
been stolen.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
Oh type marks and Spencer's. Yes, yes, marks and Spencer's
did everything? My pension? Oh, my cash, everything else? Please help?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Of course, of course, let me take your details.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
No, No, I want to see her female police constant.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
I promise you I'm fully qualified and have a very
gentle temperament.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
No, it has to be a woman, but she's a nun.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I love that scene. I think it's played beautifully to
comic effect. Another thing that I really love. Don't you
feel like every decade of your life you get a
little bit closer to that sort of like I'm going
to do what I want when I want to do it.
It looks so freeing and I can't wait to be
their age.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Yeah, I feel like every decade you just give less. Fox,
You're like, well, time is finite, it's precious. I'm just
gonna be honest to do water aerobics. I'm just going
to paint this man's penis into the painting, even though
he's got a thingy on what's it called a bandana
following cloth.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Paint that penis into the picture. Why the words have
never been spoken? Thank you, Courtney Amnauser. There's another point
that I want to touch on when it comes to
the idea of aging, and there's a real care and
tenderness in how these relationships between these characters play out
Joyce for instance, And I'm always going to do that Joyce.
I love Joyce. In case that wasn't apparent. I think
it's really honest, and I think unfortunately for a lot
(25:03):
of people, will be quite relatable. The relationship between her
and her daughter Joanna, like she's constantly seeking approval from
joeanh she just wants to spend time with her. Joanna's
got her own thing going on in the city, and
although we don't see too much of their relationship in
the film, the parts that we do see really surmise
that idea of well, she's getting older, she's not needed
(25:24):
as much as she probably once was as a mum
and a nurse and a caregiver to her family.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
I think that is a really tricky relationship to watch,
and they portrayed it really well because Joyce's daughter doesn't
visit her enough, and I think that makes me feel
guilty about family members of mine. I think it makes
a lot of people go, what time are we wasting
with the people that we love. It's actually really quite
difficult to watch.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
But we talk about the Sandwich generation a lot, right,
and I feel like we're seeing that play out in
real time here because Joanna, although she doesn't have a
family of her own, she's got a life going on
in one part of the country, her mum is in
the other part, and getting that balancing act right, Like
you said, Georgie is something that people really reconcile with
of how to actually do that correctly.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yeah. With all the sort of fun and light sides
of aging that they show, they show all the sea
serious ones too.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, there's another key relationship that we actually haven't touched
on yet, but it does follow that same thread about
the depictions of aging on screen. I'm talking, of course,
about Elizabeth and her husband Stephen. Oh.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
That's where I was brought to tears in my final
scene when they're dancing together.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
He is a stunning character. He's amazing, beautifully played by
Jonathan Price, so subtle. The relationship between him and Helen
Mirren was just really magnetic to watch on screen. It's
very touching, but it's really hard to watch someone love
another person who is slipping into dementia and coping with
it in the way that she copes with it. And
(26:48):
Elizabeth's way of coping with it is grinding up sleeping
pills to keep Stephen resting and in their apartment so
no one realizes the extent of his dementia and he's
not taken away from her, And I'm actually getting choked
up even thinking about it. That's really really hard.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah, she makes so much mention as well of like
just wanting to be with Stephen and just want to
sit with Stephen and have a coffee him, And it
would be lovely if Bog Dawn would come and visit
him and play chess with him and just keep him
engaged in whatever way that she can to continue as
much time as she can at home with him.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
The biggest thing that I took out of this movie
is that the characters in the Thursday Murder Club aren't
scared of dying. They're scared of dementia. They're scared of
slowly dying, and that is a lot.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Well, you're right. I mean, like we look again at
Elizabeth's friend and former member of the Thursday Murder Club, Penny,
who becomes for a character that doesn't actually have any
spoken lines in this film, she becomes quite an integral
part of the plot line, like she's fallen victim to that,
and we see how her husband and how her best
friend Elizabeth really try and reconcile with their friend that
(27:52):
is gone but I ear.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Longer there totally, and Penny's Husband's behavior mimics what Helen
Mirren's character is doing as well, and that enduring love
and the lengths people will go. And I feel emotional
now thinking about it, too shorty, but to keep that
person that you love, you're beloved by side, like, h
how is Stephen?
Speaker 5 (28:14):
Oh, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
That's a that's a slope, isn't it? That type of
dementia And he's not climbing back up. He has his
good days and his bad days.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
And sometimes he's.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
There, my Stephen as I love him, smart, clear, and
then I turn around and he's gone again.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Gone.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
So oftentimes when a book is adapted to screen, the
people who've read the book have a lot of feelings
about how it measured up. What what crazy? That's not
been us this entire podcast at all. I want to
know what do you guys think overall? Did it stack up?
Did it live up to your expectations?
Speaker 3 (28:54):
What do you think Georgie in one hundred percent did
live up to my expectations? The biggest difference is the
reason that anyone committed a crime like they didn't have
the time of the book. I totally get that the
book is a lot more complex in terms of every crime,
but this is like a mainstream movie. I don't want
to be sitting around for four hours while you explain
it all. They wrapped it up in less than two hours,
(29:15):
and I think they were just really mainstream reasons for
the crime. I think they were really clever and really good. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I think given the time constraints and you don't have
the luxury of one hundred and twenty chapters or whatever,
that you do the best with what you can. And
I think that this adaptation does what it says in
the tin that's George, you would say, it is exactly
where it needs to be the best place to be
consumed in one sort of sitting. What I will say
is when it comes to murder mystery specifically as a genre,
(29:41):
I actually think it's okay if you mess with the
plot and you change around how or why people get murdered,
or maybe even who is the murderer, Because if you're
a hardcore fan of the book, you know that and
you get to sit with that and love it, appreciate
it for what it is, and then you get something
different from the film. You don't always want to watch
the same thing play out and play out and play out,
(30:02):
and if not, then it's just like you get to
tell more people to read the book then, right, So.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
True, you can experience them as different pieces of work.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, they're separate entities. I mean, like Richard Osmond was
an executive producer on this, but he didn't write the screenplay.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
No, he chose not to write the screenplay because he
said if I did, it would be eight hours long,
which is true.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
Georgie, what are the reviews saying?
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Look, they're really mixed. I've got to say, and you
know what, I think this movie gives me exactly what
I want from it, and I think critics are meanies.
I feel like they are ranking The Thursday Murder Club
up against The Godfather. You know what, It's cozy, it's fun,
it's beautifully shot, it's really enjoyable, it's funny. I want
(30:42):
to give it five out of five for what it's
giving me, and what it's giving me is exactly what
the trailer promises.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
So what you're saying is, don't go in expecting this
to be an Oscar contender.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
I don't know. I mean, the performances are pretty good.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
It's Pierce Prosna isn't it.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
I'd give his hair me too.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Well, speaking of it being a cozy watch. Something that
I picture when you say that is quite literally sitting
on my couch and watching this at home, which is
perfect because it's a Netflix original film. It had a
limited cinematic release in the UK, but otherwise the rest
of us will be watching it at home on our
tellies or at work. A few jobs like this and
you get to watch it at work. Do you think
(31:21):
this would have worked in cinema or is this something
that should only be consumed at home.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
I am so thankful that we have screeners like Netflix
now and I can watch it at home. I've got
young kids, so I used to go to the movies
a lot. I now rarely go to the movies and
it has to be a very big event to get
me there. This is so perfect to watch on your
couch with tea and cake. There's a lot of cake
in the movie. Love Makes Want more cake the whole time.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
The lemon drizzle cake, Oh famous lambash.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Just give me somewhere.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
I actually said to my partner when we're watching it,
I said, I think I need to get into baking.
That looks so fun and just joyful.
Speaker 5 (31:56):
The layers.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Do you know something else that I noted while watching
this is that it looked like a Netflix film. Now
if I said that, does that mean anything to either
of you? Okay, that's crickets. Like Whez Andersen films have
a very specific, strong aesthetic, like it's bright colors and
it's super camp yep. So I feel like there are
certain sections of the Netflix film and TV original canon
(32:20):
that do that as well. I think about like Knives
Out or The Gentleman, for instance, which I've mentioned twice
today because it's a really great series. Do you know
where I'm going with? So you picking up what I'm
putting down?
Speaker 4 (32:31):
I think so. I think I personally would have loved
it to be in cinema just to take my grandma too.
But also I can go to her house and watch
it with her on the couch and it be just
as special and we can eat cake and drink tea.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Do you want to hear a really good thing about
the look?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (32:45):
And I'm obsessed with the look, Like I wanted to
live in every one of their apartments. I'd go like,
oh Joyce's, Oh no, Elizabeth, Like it was just every
scene looked so beautiful. So kubers Chase was filmed at
this beautiful Engelfield House in Berkshire. What the set painters
did is they went and they took pictures from every
window and every time you look outside in the movie,
that's actually painted set. So they have painted. What you
(33:09):
see from every window of this historic building they have painted.
And then when you see people do tai chi or
driving golf carts and stuff that's in front of this
big mural along the back, which they have painted. Isn't
that so clever?
Speaker 2 (33:22):
That's phenomenal. I would have never guessed that was a
painted set.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
And if you go and watch it again, there's one
scene where they're all standing in a room and through
the window you can seal these police cars. They are
all cardboard cutouts. How clever are set painters?
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Oh my god?
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I'm sure Georgie has a note here and it just
says police cars and I was like, wonder, I's just
going to go with that. That was not on my
binger car. She also has rude words. I want to
know about that.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
I want to tell you about the word plunker, which
you'll hear two minutes into the movie. So when they
were filming, Chris Columbus had to yell cut when Pierce
Brosnan ad libbed the word plonker and go, what is
a plonker? And when he found out it's such a
good word, I don't even know what the Australian equivalent
would be. It's sort of affectionate, but like.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Lovable idiot, like daft, it's like tossa. It's like tossa.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Absolutely so it was so good he got Ples prosident
to use that again. And then apparently Helen Mirren ad
libbed the line calling police whankers, and so many people
on set got offended that. Chris Columbus was like, this
is brilliant. We are keeping this.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
I love that, Like that's the side of a good director, right,
It's like, no, no, no, you've outraged people. We've done
something here, Chea.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
This is the focus group.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Okay, Georgie, you told me explicitly. I was not allowed,
as in like I was actually banned like a naughty child,
from reading the second book until we recorded this podcast.
So I am desperate, now do you mean desperate to
know what is next in this franchise? This is like
book one of five in the Thursday Murder Club universe?
(34:54):
Are we going to get Thursday Metaclub number two on Netflix.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Would you like the quote from Chris Columbus, Yes, the
quote is all signs seem to point in that direction.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Oh yes, hell yeah. Do you know what I'm really
impressed by you said? This first book came out in
twenty twenty, and there's a how many books?
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Well, very excitingly, You're gonna have to get Taylor onto
the second book really fast. The fifth book comes out
next month, September twenty fifth. It's called The Impossible Fortune.
So we're about to see the movies of the Man
Who Died Twice, The Bullet That Missed, and The Last
Devil to Die. Bring them all on as their own movies.
I'm hoping. Also, if you are really deep in the fandom,
like me, what, I'm in Facebook groups for this thing,
(35:33):
no worries, truly.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Georgelie came over to my jest today and was like,
I've joined Facebook groups. I thought, she said I joined Facebook,
and I was like, you're about twenty years later? What
year is it? But no, no, She's like in Thursday
Murder Club Facebook groups now, which is great because we're
gonna be there too. I imagine they're all my people.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
I love it so much so some of the best
scenes will obviously cut from this, like all movies, because
they just don't have the time. Chris Columbus has said
that he has created some Thursday Murder Club shorts. The
first one is called for fans of Matthew Mackey The
Priest Who Wasn't a Priest, which is coming out on Netflix,
which is awesome, so you can actually dive deeper into
the film, which I really love. And big news, guys,
(36:10):
the Thursday Murder Club is being made into a stage show.
Get out, It's being made into a play. Stop great
is that so? Richard Osmond said that he recently went
to see The mouse Trap, which is the longest running
play of all time, the Agatha Christie who done it,
to see how they did it on stage. He's working
on a play at the moment of The Thursday Murder Club.
Let's all go.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
I mean, Courtney, as our resident theatre correspondent, I want
to like that. How excited? I mean, like, I'm excited.
How excited are you? Oh?
Speaker 4 (36:36):
I'm so excited. And I mean they've already got the set,
painting wheel that out and that's the show. You can
take your grandparent too.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
How cute. They'd love a matinee of that.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
I'd love a matto ma same.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Hey, thank you so much for listening to the very
first episode of the Spill's watch Party. We're going to
be here every time a new TV show or a
big movie drops and you require an emergency debrief session.
Speaking of which, what are we all looking forward to,
because there's so much Tellian film on the horizon that
we will absolutely need to cover. For me, it is
rich people behaving badly. It's the White Lotus, Georgie.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
It's all about Benedict and Sophie on Bridgeton. I cannot wait.
Hopefully early next year, the Phantom says.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
And I want life imitating art in nobody wants this
the show about podcasting.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Oh okay, I was gonna ask, did you marry a Rabbi?
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Not that I remember.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Okay, I'll pick that one up later. Hey, make sure
you follow us so you never miss an episode. Don't
forget to follow the Spill on Instagram and TikTok. That'll
all be linked for you in the show notes. And
while you're over there, slide into our dms and tell
us the shows and films that you are desperate to
hear more about too. Watch Party is produced by the
wonderful Minisha Warren, with sound production by Scott Stronik and
video production by Michael Keene. We'll be back here when
(37:47):
the next big show drops, because when the world is watching,
you best believe so are we.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Bye Bye Bye
You're listening to a Muma Mia podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Mamma mea acknowledges the traditional owners of land and borders
that this podcast is recorded on. Can help please, can't
help please? From Mamma Mia. Welcome to the Spills Watch Party,
where we unpack the biggest shows and movies that everyone
is talking about now. This is a brand new podcast
(00:36):
where we're not just watching TV and movies during work hours,
although we are kind of doing that, but because we
are also diving deep as well, we'll have all the
hot takes and those working theories that you love from
the Spill, plus all of the behind the scenes tea too.
I'm Taylor Strano. I'm a journalist and the host of
our news podcast, The Quikie, and I recently got my
(00:57):
button to gear and finally read well slash listened to
The Thursday Murder Club and that is, of course what
we are talking about today. If you didn't know, The
Thursday Murder Club debut novel from the great Richard Osmond
more on him in a moment, but it's been adapted
into this brilliant film for Netflix. It essentially is for retirees.
They live in this gorgeous retirement village, Cooper's chase and
(01:21):
a bunch of murders happen at their lovely estate. Now
mystery is afoot. They are the Thursday Murder Club and
they're on the case. They're going to solve not one,
not two, but three murders. Now I'm not here solo today.
Luckily I've brought some friends with me, one of whom
is all over this story and the law like a
little bit of a rash.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It's me the rash.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Hi.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
My name is Georgie Page. I'm a group executive producer
here at Mamma Maya, and The Thursday Murder Club is
my number one favorite book.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
And my name's Courtney Amenhauser. I'm also a group executive producer,
and Georgie, please don't cancel me, but I haven't read
the book.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
What have you been doing?
Speaker 4 (01:59):
I'm so sorry.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I can feel the tension in I feel like I've
very quickly become the moderator. And that's fine and very comfortable.
But if you, like Courtney, have not read the book,
that is okay. You get a whole past today. Because
we are, of course talking about the film The Thursday
Murder Club. This is watch party, not read party, so
don't worry. Of course, we'll touch a little bit on
the book, but then we are going full throttle on
(02:22):
all things the movie. Now, Courtney, Georgie, we have all
seen the film. We're going to dive into it in
the moment, but I want to hear a one line
review from you both. I'll go first my review. It's delicious,
it's delightful, but I do have notes, Georgy.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
I'm going to use a big word. I'm going to
call it a cozy masterpiece that absolutely lives up to
the book.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Masterpiece is a big word.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
It's a big word, but I stand by it.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I thought you meant cozy.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Okay, yeah, Courtney, Okay, Mine is my ideal retirement set
up aspirational, aspirational. Gosh, I think I really need to
start thinking about my superannuation.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
That's like a big ad for super is It is
kind of.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I didn't think that's where this was going to go today.
If you're wondering what we're actually going to cover in
this episode, Dodgy, what will we teach the people?
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Okay? This episode is going to be filled with all
the facts that you want to know about this movie
and also the brilliant little nepo relationship that you may
not have realized when you watched it.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
There fears, Joyce, are you in us? Bang on target?
I'm Elizabeth. Would you take a look at that for me?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Please?
Speaker 5 (03:26):
God tis a lot of blood. Would you care to
join us to discuss things further?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Who is us?
Speaker 5 (03:32):
I'm sorry? How rude of me with a Thursday Murder Club?
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Okay? So The Thursday Murder Club follows a group of
friends in a retirement home who gathered to solve murders
for fun. Like I said, this is my ideal retirement setup.
I hope I'm in some fun clubs like that and
living with some cool cats like they are in this film.
But what's really interesting is that they then find themselves
in a live case. So I want to know about
the law here first before we get really stuck in.
(03:58):
So how can we get clear on how this film
came about? Georgie?
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I think to understand The Thursday Murder Club, you need
to understand Richard Osmond.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Yes, I know Richard Osmond from the Rest Is Entertainment podcast,
but he's also done a bunch of other stuff, right.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
That is an excellent podcast. He's actually a TV exec,
so he created Deal or No Deal. What an awesome show.
Thank you so much. It's sort of like he gave
us Megan Markle because remember one of her first jobs
was opening the briefcases on that show.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
That is huge.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
He's also a TV host. He's a panelist on all
those sort of British entertainment comedy shows. He actually was
voted in the top ten most popular British TV stars,
which means if he was in Australia, he would absolutely
have a LOGI he probably would have a shelf of
logis right. He's adored, He's really clever, he's really interesting.
I assume you would throw the word national treasure in.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Richard Olsman is such a national treasure that I now
in my TikTok algorithm am getting served like old clips
of Richard Olsman game shows like Pointless and he's just
so charming.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
So he created those shows and when he went to
pitch them, he and his co creator would sort of
act them out, you know, to try and get them commissioned.
At one of the shows, they said, this is so good.
You guys are the hosts, And that's how we got
into hosting. He's just behind the scenes.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Go So then what led him to making a book
about murder, mystery and a retirement home, Because I feel
like the Entertainment TV two debut novel about crime Pipeline
is pretty long.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well, a lot of British comedians have written books. I've
read a lot of them, some hits, some are missus.
The reason that he wrote this is because he was
going to visit his mum in a retirement community in Sussex.
He said it was surrounded by nature, it was really
beautiful and he started to think this would be a
great place for a murder. I'm serious that he actually
started to think this. More that this was a bunch
(05:37):
of interesting people. He said, everyone I spoke to this
retirement community had this amazing backstory but was probably underestimated
because of their age. So he thought, if something happened
and these people could band together sort of golden girl star,
maybe they could solve a crime.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
So unassuming of a location to set this.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
And so beautiful, right, And there's this line in the
movie that's so good that Ron says to e invent
them at the protest, he says, there's people here who've
seen off better men than you. We've got teachers and soldiers,
doctors and bankers, and I think that's so easy to
forget when you see elderly people that they've had these
amazing lives. There's probably so much wisdom there, but there's
also an element of invisibility there, and that's what makes
(06:19):
a book so interesting.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Georgie, why do you think this story means so much
to so many people and has such a dedicated fan base.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
I think our news cycle has been bleak for a really,
really long time. This book came out, like Taylor said,
in September twenty twenty, remember what that time was like,
with all the sour dough and the Tiger king and stuff.
When we found things to clutch onto that made us
happy during that really difficult time, we held on with
two hands, and this really was one of these things,
(06:47):
and it created an amazing online community of Thursday Murder
Club fans became really really big in book clubs and
things like that. It's one of those books that I
read and I felt this immediate sense of loss when
it was over, like I wasn't part of something anymore,
and I couldn't wait for the next book to come.
I just think it's a really, really joyful book. I
(07:08):
think it speaks beautifully about humanity and about human beings.
It seems like a really light read, but it actually
is complex and it has so many layers. It's got
like a I suppose you'd call it like this deep
emotional core. I'm going deep hero to me, The Thursday
Murder Club means a great deal to a great many people,
and I think that's why it's just such a special story.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
We can end the podcast there, I reckon I think that.
But what I love specifically about The Thursday Murder Club
is that I am nowhere near that stage of life,
right like Courtney Georgie. We're all a little bit further
off from retiring than like the people in this book, right,
But I still felt such a sense of connection and
understanding with these characters. Some of them, like we've mentioned already,
(07:50):
I have been rendered as a little bit useless or
unassuming or maybe even a little bit invisible at different
times in our lives. And we've all kind of felt
that way at one stage or another. There's great sadness
and great humor. This is a book that I usually
exclusively will read nonfiction, like I'm a memoir kind of gal,
so reading Murder Mystery for me was pretty uncharted territory,
(08:13):
and I found myself at multiple points laughing out loud
and then at other points like really shedding a tear.
And and Georgie, there were multiple times that I called
you and I was like, I finished the book, I've
got to talk about this thing, or I can't believe
this thing just happened.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And I really felt that way in the film as well,
like there were parts that I knew were coming up
and anticipating them and then were still laughing at them
even though I knew it was about to happen.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
Yeah, And I mean as someone who hasn't read the book,
I had that experience watching it as well, Like there
were moments where I was genuinely crying and the other
bits where I was like giving a big guttural laugh
out loud. So yeah, I think it still hits, even
though you know, I haven't waited into the novel itself.
I think it's it still translates for screen. But I'm
keen to read the book now, especially after hearing these
(08:55):
you know, this experience that you've both had.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
I cried four times in the last fifteen minutes about
four different things. Yeah, it's not even embarrassed.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, the last thirty minutes really got me. Okay. So
the film is out today. It was a book five
years prior to that, though, So how did we get
to this place? And also what is this casting controversy
that I keep hearing about. I will hear no slander
about the people in this film, So I'm very keen
to unpack that up next. Georgie. Film to book adaptations
(09:23):
they don't just happen. I was doing some research because,
in case you guys missed an I'm a journalist, Little
Women was written in the eighteen hundreds, and nearly fifty
years later it ended up on screen for the very
first time. There's been many an adaptation. Now, film adaptations
are not always that long. I think Twilight was like
three years or something, but it is a process. Nonetheless,
(09:43):
lots of hands go into the pie when you were
doing a book to film adaptation, and you've also got
to get out there and then convince someone to make
it happen. That's not necessarily the path that Richard Osmond's
book took to making its way to Netflix. How did
that become a Netflix original.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I think this is really unique. I haven't heard of
this happening with any books before, so obviously this is
a joint production between Netflix and Steven Spielberg's production company, Amblin.
Amblin actually obtained the right to this book before it
was published. Like this never happens, right. Normally agents would
discourage you doing this because they'd say, oh, Okay, if
there's interest, let's try and get a bidding war happening
(10:20):
when it gets really popular. But I think when Stephen
Spielberg makes you an offer, you sort of go, it's
the best we're ever going to get, except you can
have anything you want.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Do you?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Reckon? Richard Osmond's literary agent, was just like Spielberg from
the line he's in, He's all in. Quickly finish the
book quickly, Richard. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
I think when Steven Spielberg comes in, you just sort
of go, I'm in good hands, right. And it's not
just Steven Spielberg, it's Chris Columbus, so we know him
from How's This for a list? Home Alone, Missus, Doubt Fire,
the first two Harry Potter films. Basically my entire DVD library.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
It's DVD, Georgia. No, look it up, Taylor anyway.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
So Chris Columbus was asked by Steven Spielberg, imagine being
on the phone for that call to read these books,
and he said he became a Rabbit fanboy. Join the club.
Chris Columbus, by all accounts, Chris Columbus is an absolute delight.
And do you know he caught the stars of this
movie the final I have worked with since Potter.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
What a call about?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Like, what a huge call? What a compliment? To be
fair though, the cast of this film it.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Is all star, but there's been controversy regardless.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
Two names who are quite surprising, who were early rumors
of casting, who didn't get the role that I just
wanted to float by you, lads. Thank Meryl Streep for Elizabeth. Look,
I'm assuming so she is American.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
She's not a Joye.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
She's not a joy. She'd have to be Elizabeth. The
other one, Viola Davis.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
Wow, not a joy?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
What a joy?
Speaker 4 (11:41):
But I'd kind of love to see them play a joyce.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Guys, I'm very protective of joys. I'm not gonna lie. Okay,
let's talk about who.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Actually got the roles We've got Helen Merren obviously.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Oh, we love absolutely heaven. She's who I pictured and
I read the book before she got cast. She's absolutely
who I pictured in this role. And there's a fantastic
little throw in the movie to her most famous role
as well as Elizabeth.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Wait what yes, Elizabeth has Elizabeth. You're right, Helen Meren
total baddie. One thing I observed is her agility. I
want to be able to run like that at eighty
me too.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
There's a lot of fast paced movement in this film
for what is meant to be a retirement home.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Yeah, I was very impressed. I was like, she came
on better than me now and I'm thirty four.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
There's a lot of pilates acor aerobics tai chii happening there.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Very impressive.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Then we've got Sir Ben Kingsley as the ex psychiatrist Ibrahim.
Speaker 3 (12:29):
Oh what beautiful casting again someone I was sort of
picturing at the time. He's very wise, he's very stoic.
It actually seems like him as a person. Not that
I've ever met Sir Ben Kingsley, but feeling like I have,
I really think he was probably playing a lovely version
of himself.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Taylor, do you want to talk us through Joyce?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Okay, I do want to talk you through Joyce. Thank
you so much for asking. Joyce is played by the
incredible Cilia Imri. Yes, silly Imri does have a very
special place in my heart, known for her most famous
role of.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Aunt Una on Bridge Jones.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Incredible. No, guys, that's the wrong answer of what do
you mean?
Speaker 4 (13:01):
That's where I know her from Tatsan Mickers Ball.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Guys, come on, uncle Jeffrey for your heads Outia As
I'm talking about calendar girls.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Obviously you've seen Calendar Girls. But wow, what a I film.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
So party's over, wrap it up, get out of here. Yes,
calendar girls. Also, she was fantastic in the very Best
Exotic Marrigold Hotel. She reminds me so much of my grandma.
Not that my grandma ever posed for a nude calendar
to save her small country town, although if she did,
I would support her in doing so. That you know of, well,
that I know of. She's lived a life like the
characters in the Thursday Murder Club. Selia Imri is just
(13:33):
this really wholesome, joyous like beam of sunshine and hope
and positivity, and I think that she really brings that
to this film as well.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I love that. I think she was perfectly cast a
plus ten out of ten.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
She has a lot of nuance as well in her
character I saw. I feel like, you know, she comes
in quite underestimated. She's trying to stand out on her
own against her daughter, and then she's also coming into
this click that exists of the Thursday Murder Club, and
she's an outsider, but she brings so much warmth and
kind of connects them in this new way.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
I love that you can be in your seventies or
eighties and still be the new kid on the block.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, it never ends, doesn't. And it's such an important
role as well because the book is mainly told through
Joyce's diary completely, so you need to make sure you
cast that well, and I think they did.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Okay, I can see why you're so protective of Joyce now,
knowing that the book is written from that perspective. I'm
taking notes.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Okay. The final one, Pierce Brosnan, we have to brace Joorgy.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I don't think you have to brace I loved Pierce
Brosnan as Ron Now in the book Caught He's described
as having a neck tattoo and being like a really
sort of rough former trade unionist. He was fancast as
being played by Ray Winston.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Oh, I like that. I can see that for sure.
So there was a.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Lot of controversy, and you know why, it's because Pierce
Brosnan is so hot. I feel its hottest to have
controversy about him, because he's a fantastic actor. He was
so good as Ron.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
He was great.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I loved watching him on screen.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
He's getting hotter as well, isn't he.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
He's got great hair. That's what I'll say, guys.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
He did a great job as Ron. Was he read
Ron Richie? Though? Was he the rough and tumble unionist
from years gone by that led the troops that walked
off building sites that probably owned a dead and vest
or three. I'm not convinced. I'm sorry. I loved watching
him like it's Pierce freaking Brosnan. Of course he's gonna
be good in whatever he does. But I do think
(15:21):
that somebody else probably should have played Ron.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Well. I went back to the source for this to
look up what Richard Osmond said about it, and I
love this so much. He said, Pierce Brosnan is who
Ron would want to play Ron.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
It is spot on.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
And you know what, you haven't lived until you've seen
Pierce Brosnan doing aqua aerobics to Disco Inferno. I've ever
seen the joy on that man's face. I think he
was just terrific. Look, there's been controversy about his accent,
saying he sort of ducked and dived all over Europe
with that accent. I thought he did a really good job.
He just looks like he's having fun in every role
(15:57):
he plays. At this stage of his career.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
He is having fun.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
And I also think, you know, maybe he didn't come
across as this rough and tumble character that the book
portrays and guilty. Haven't read the book, but when I
was just watching it purely as an observer of the film,
I saw his wealthy son with TV money, and I went,
he's in his wealthy era. His son is paying for
this fancy retirement village for him and he gets to
(16:20):
like live out his twilight years around rich people.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
You're so like, you're bang on with that ride. Because
the more I thought about it, I was like, Oh,
there's other people that I would have cast in this role.
But I'm like he's been a very wealthy retirement home.
Like he may have like at one stage had a
neck tattoo and nectar pine into the pub and put
it away. But I'm pretty sure like he has at
some stage in his life polished up and is now
like in his twilight years and is enjoying them in
(16:45):
a very luxurious setting.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
Total is dancing on ice?
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Money there isn't there?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Sure is speaking of a couple of honorable mentions to
other people who've been cast in this film. Now I
feel like we are going to get a war over
Jason Ritchie, who is Ron's son played by Tom Ellis.
You've got strong feelings about this, so do I let's
have it out come on.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Wrong lusty feeling. He was gorgeous. I loved him. He's
exactly how I pictured Jason Richie to be. I actually
hadn't seen Tom Ellison things, which I'm told by a
producer is sacrilegious because he was lucifer. But I thought
he was really good.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Was it ice skates?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
You know what did it for you? I think a
man who can dance on ice?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
How clever is it? Because he was somewhat partially fake
related to Pierres Frosman.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
It was a very good looking duo. I was sort
of attracted to father and son. That's a problem with him.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
He just wasn't hot enough. Oh okay, there was not
enough sex of heal and I'm so sorry. But I
do have a replacement in mind. If they want to
recast this role going forward, I think that would be, Okay,
THEO James, the White Lotus and The Gentleman. That's who
I want to be a boxer turned ice skater. It's
THEO James.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
I don't know if THEO James is tough enough.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Have you seen The Gentleman?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
No, but I took Lady Mary's virginity in Downton as well.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Well, okay, that sounds pretty tough. It's got range, is
what we're saying, Corney.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
Okay, I just think of him in White Lotus, where
he just comes across as like a bit too scrubbed
up for me, Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I do? But then in The Gentleman he is running
a drug ring.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
I need to watch that.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Obviously, we have some dirt on your face and get
on with it.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
He's got range.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
He's got range. Copy Also, we also have to take
a moment to talk about bogged Down aka Henry Lloyd
Hughes now famous author. Marian Keyes is like completely obsessed
with bog Dwan, like outwardly unashamably, and I get it
because he's just like this sweet Polish man and I
love him, and he tried to do the right thing.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
He is such a lovely character. If I have any
criticism of the movie, I don't think the movie does
the character of bog Dan justice. I know they didn't
have the time that the book does. He's just so beautiful.
Like the scene we meet him, he's sitting down for
a coffee with David Tennant. The waitress comes over and
gives David Tennant his coffee and bog Dan goes thanks
(18:52):
because David Ennant's character doesn't even say thanks to waitresses.
So you know he's a baddie from the first scene.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Absolutely, if you're rude to wait staff, that's a dead
give out of my face.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Yeah, you kind of deserve to be murdered. Oh no,
I can't say that. You also speaking of baddies, Richardy
Grant A K. Bobby Tanner, Oh, I say, gosh, I
was not expecting him to be as terrifying as he
was in this film, Like thank god that he was
positioned in a florist because I'm not convinced that there
(19:21):
would be any living things thriving around this man. Because
his energy was so dark.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
It was so amazing, and just like the visual of
the red roses and the blood on his hands and
the thorns, it was so delicious, joggy.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
You famously don't like horror films. You don't like scary
things in general. Were you scared of Bobby Tanner?
Speaker 4 (19:39):
No?
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I was more scared of Elizabeth being followed by a
man in a graveyard.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
Yes, that's a real fear.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
But I thought Richard.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Ingrat was just wonderful. I didn't realize floris were covered
with so much blood so often, but I thought he
was really wonderful.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Also, just very quickly, I wrote myself a note that
I have to share with the group. Note from me
while watching the film, Sorry, Tony Curran looks like he
should be a resident in Cooper's Chase dot dot dot
wtf he was too old? The partial owner of Cooper's Chase,
Who does die? Tony Curran, who is the resident's last
hope of keeping their home before it gets knocked down
(20:11):
for development by you invent them. He was too old,
like he looked like he was meant to live there.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
He sort of looked like how Ron was in the books.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Maybe he auditioned for that maybe consolation prize.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
If you're gonna lose, lose to Pierce Brosnan. Now do
you want to know my nepo fact?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Yes, I'm dying to know Georgie.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Please.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
I love and we know Joanna, who is Joyce's daughter.
Joanna is played by Ingrid Oliver, who is Richard Osmond's
real life wife.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
Whoa, whoa.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
I love nepotism in movies because do you just always
second screen everything you're watching because you're on internet movie
database looking up the facts. I just want to know
who everyone is in a relationship with, Like it just
makes me feel better if I'm watching something for my
husband to interrupt an important moment and go, do you
know that this just divorced someone from the first series
of Nano or in the exact same way for everyone
(21:00):
around us. But Ingrid Oliver is an actress. She's not
just someone bought in off the street. She was in
Doctor Who and she's really great as Johanna.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Actually she does. She plays that part of like distant
who kind of has their own thing going on very well. Okay,
so on the way next, there was one thing that
was definitely on all three of our minds while watching
this film, and we reckon it was probably on your
mind too, So we must discuss plus what is next
with a Thursday Murder Club. Luckily Georgie has all the
goss So I feel like one of the things that
(21:31):
keeps balancing around and we talk about the Thursday Murder
Club is age is at the center of this story. Like, yes,
they're murders, obviously because it's a murder mystery, but like
aging and the way that aging is portrayed and played
out on screen is one of the big main anchor
points for when people critique and talk about this film.
And I feel like it's done in such a clever way,
like we're set up to undermine these people from the
(21:52):
get go, right, like the cops, their families and venth them,
underestimates them because they're old, maybe like they're a little
bit useless and they're unable to keep up with these
modern times. But it also feels that that's their greatest
superpower Georgie. Yet they love.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Those ageous tropes, don't They like the confusion when Ron
pretends to the police officer that he has no idea
what's going on, and the helplessness, like you said, when
she goes to the police. They'll happily play into them
when needed, and I hope I do the same at
their age. I think it's really clever that they get
our generalizations and throw them back in our faces like that.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
It's exactly what you were saying before as well, Like
these are all people who have lived very interesting lives,
like Ibrahim was a psychiatrist, and they've all sort of
acquired these useful skills that end up making them kind
of like the perfect murder mystery team. It's never explicitly
stated in the book, but it is in the film Courtney,
and I wonder how you feel about this, Elizabeth. It's
(22:45):
a known fact that she was like basically the head
of mi I six at one point in her career.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Yeah, it's huge, Like imagine just wandering around your regular
workplace knowing that someone used to be like this crazy,
amazing spy.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
She was like a super spy. She wasn't just us
by she was thus by.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Yeah, she was the big dog.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
If you were going to solve murders with somebody, I reckon,
that's someone you'd want to have on your team.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Absolutely, And I think it's just a really clever way that,
as you say, Georgie, they play into these generalizations and
it allows them to be a bit undercover in their
own clever, really intelligent way and subvert what everyone's assuming
of them.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I completely agree with you. There's actually this one really
great scene. It was one of my favorite parts from
the film where they go into town and Elizabeth and
Joyce are like hatching their plot to speak to Donna.
But to do that, they've got to get past the
police officer at the front gate, and they do that
thing that they do so well. They act like silly,
batty old ladies.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Young man, young man, please help me, My bag's just
been stolen.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
Oh type marks and Spencer's. Yes, yes, marks and Spencer's
did everything? My pension? Oh, my cash, everything else? Please help?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Of course, of course, let me take your details.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
No, No, I want to see her female police constant.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
I promise you I'm fully qualified and have a very
gentle temperament.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
No, it has to be a woman, but she's a nun.
Speaker 3 (24:07):
I love that scene. I think it's played beautifully to
comic effect. Another thing that I really love. Don't you
feel like every decade of your life you get a
little bit closer to that sort of like I'm going
to do what I want when I want to do it.
It looks so freeing and I can't wait to be
their age.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
Yeah, I feel like every decade you just give less. Fox,
You're like, well, time is finite, it's precious. I'm just
gonna be honest to do water aerobics. I'm just going
to paint this man's penis into the painting, even though
he's got a thingy on what's it called a bandana
following cloth.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Paint that penis into the picture. Why the words have
never been spoken? Thank you, Courtney Amnauser. There's another point
that I want to touch on when it comes to
the idea of aging, and there's a real care and
tenderness in how these relationships between these characters play out
Joyce for instance, And I'm always going to do that Joyce.
I love Joyce. In case that wasn't apparent. I think
it's really honest, and I think unfortunately for a lot
(25:03):
of people, will be quite relatable. The relationship between her
and her daughter Joanna, like she's constantly seeking approval from
joeanh she just wants to spend time with her. Joanna's
got her own thing going on in the city, and
although we don't see too much of their relationship in
the film, the parts that we do see really surmise
that idea of well, she's getting older, she's not needed
(25:24):
as much as she probably once was as a mum
and a nurse and a caregiver to her family.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
I think that is a really tricky relationship to watch,
and they portrayed it really well because Joyce's daughter doesn't
visit her enough, and I think that makes me feel
guilty about family members of mine. I think it makes
a lot of people go, what time are we wasting
with the people that we love. It's actually really quite
difficult to watch.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
But we talk about the Sandwich generation a lot, right,
and I feel like we're seeing that play out in
real time here because Joanna, although she doesn't have a
family of her own, she's got a life going on
in one part of the country, her mum is in
the other part, and getting that balancing act right, Like
you said, Georgie is something that people really reconcile with
of how to actually do that correctly.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yeah. With all the sort of fun and light sides
of aging that they show, they show all the sea
serious ones too.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, there's another key relationship that we actually haven't touched
on yet, but it does follow that same thread about
the depictions of aging on screen. I'm talking, of course,
about Elizabeth and her husband Stephen. Oh.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
That's where I was brought to tears in my final
scene when they're dancing together.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
He is a stunning character. He's amazing, beautifully played by
Jonathan Price, so subtle. The relationship between him and Helen
Mirren was just really magnetic to watch on screen. It's
very touching, but it's really hard to watch someone love
another person who is slipping into dementia and coping with
it in the way that she copes with it. And
(26:48):
Elizabeth's way of coping with it is grinding up sleeping
pills to keep Stephen resting and in their apartment so
no one realizes the extent of his dementia and he's
not taken away from her, And I'm actually getting choked
up even thinking about it. That's really really hard.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah, she makes so much mention as well of like
just wanting to be with Stephen and just want to
sit with Stephen and have a coffee him, And it
would be lovely if Bog Dawn would come and visit
him and play chess with him and just keep him
engaged in whatever way that she can to continue as
much time as she can at home with him.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
The biggest thing that I took out of this movie
is that the characters in the Thursday Murder Club aren't
scared of dying. They're scared of dementia. They're scared of
slowly dying, and that is a lot.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
Well, you're right. I mean, like we look again at
Elizabeth's friend and former member of the Thursday Murder Club, Penny,
who becomes for a character that doesn't actually have any
spoken lines in this film, she becomes quite an integral
part of the plot line, like she's fallen victim to that,
and we see how her husband and how her best
friend Elizabeth really try and reconcile with their friend that
(27:52):
is gone but I ear.
Speaker 4 (27:53):
Longer there totally, and Penny's Husband's behavior mimics what Helen
Mirren's character is doing as well, and that enduring love
and the lengths people will go. And I feel emotional
now thinking about it, too shorty, but to keep that
person that you love, you're beloved by side, like, h
how is Stephen?
Speaker 5 (28:14):
Oh, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
That's a that's a slope, isn't it? That type of
dementia And he's not climbing back up. He has his
good days and his bad days.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
And sometimes he's.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
There, my Stephen as I love him, smart, clear, and
then I turn around and he's gone again.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Gone.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
So oftentimes when a book is adapted to screen, the
people who've read the book have a lot of feelings
about how it measured up. What what crazy? That's not
been us this entire podcast at all. I want to
know what do you guys think overall? Did it stack up?
Did it live up to your expectations?
Speaker 3 (28:54):
What do you think Georgie in one hundred percent did
live up to my expectations? The biggest difference is the
reason that anyone committed a crime like they didn't have
the time of the book. I totally get that the
book is a lot more complex in terms of every crime,
but this is like a mainstream movie. I don't want
to be sitting around for four hours while you explain
it all. They wrapped it up in less than two hours,
(29:15):
and I think they were just really mainstream reasons for
the crime. I think they were really clever and really good. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
I think given the time constraints and you don't have
the luxury of one hundred and twenty chapters or whatever,
that you do the best with what you can. And
I think that this adaptation does what it says in
the tin that's George, you would say, it is exactly
where it needs to be the best place to be
consumed in one sort of sitting. What I will say
is when it comes to murder mystery specifically as a genre,
(29:41):
I actually think it's okay if you mess with the
plot and you change around how or why people get murdered,
or maybe even who is the murderer, Because if you're
a hardcore fan of the book, you know that and
you get to sit with that and love it, appreciate
it for what it is, and then you get something
different from the film. You don't always want to watch
the same thing play out and play out and play out,
(30:02):
and if not, then it's just like you get to
tell more people to read the book then, right, So.
Speaker 4 (30:06):
True, you can experience them as different pieces of work.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, they're separate entities. I mean, like Richard Osmond was
an executive producer on this, but he didn't write the screenplay.
Speaker 3 (30:15):
No, he chose not to write the screenplay because he
said if I did, it would be eight hours long,
which is true.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
Georgie, what are the reviews saying?
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Look, they're really mixed. I've got to say, and you
know what, I think this movie gives me exactly what
I want from it, and I think critics are meanies.
I feel like they are ranking The Thursday Murder Club
up against The Godfather. You know what, It's cozy, it's fun,
it's beautifully shot, it's really enjoyable, it's funny. I want
(30:42):
to give it five out of five for what it's
giving me, and what it's giving me is exactly what
the trailer promises.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
So what you're saying is, don't go in expecting this
to be an Oscar contender.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
I don't know. I mean, the performances are pretty good.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
It's Pierce Prosna isn't it.
Speaker 3 (30:57):
I'd give his hair me too.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Well, speaking of it being a cozy watch. Something that
I picture when you say that is quite literally sitting
on my couch and watching this at home, which is
perfect because it's a Netflix original film. It had a
limited cinematic release in the UK, but otherwise the rest
of us will be watching it at home on our
tellies or at work. A few jobs like this and
you get to watch it at work. Do you think
(31:21):
this would have worked in cinema or is this something
that should only be consumed at home.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
I am so thankful that we have screeners like Netflix
now and I can watch it at home. I've got
young kids, so I used to go to the movies
a lot. I now rarely go to the movies and
it has to be a very big event to get
me there. This is so perfect to watch on your
couch with tea and cake. There's a lot of cake
in the movie. Love Makes Want more cake the whole time.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
The lemon drizzle cake, Oh famous lambash.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Just give me somewhere.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
I actually said to my partner when we're watching it,
I said, I think I need to get into baking.
That looks so fun and just joyful.
Speaker 5 (31:56):
The layers.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Do you know something else that I noted while watching
this is that it looked like a Netflix film. Now
if I said that, does that mean anything to either
of you? Okay, that's crickets. Like Whez Andersen films have
a very specific, strong aesthetic, like it's bright colors and
it's super camp yep. So I feel like there are
certain sections of the Netflix film and TV original canon
(32:20):
that do that as well. I think about like Knives
Out or The Gentleman, for instance, which I've mentioned twice
today because it's a really great series. Do you know
where I'm going with? So you picking up what I'm
putting down?
Speaker 4 (32:31):
I think so. I think I personally would have loved
it to be in cinema just to take my grandma too.
But also I can go to her house and watch
it with her on the couch and it be just
as special and we can eat cake and drink tea.
Speaker 3 (32:43):
Do you want to hear a really good thing about
the look?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (32:45):
And I'm obsessed with the look, Like I wanted to
live in every one of their apartments. I'd go like,
oh Joyce's, Oh no, Elizabeth, Like it was just every
scene looked so beautiful. So kubers Chase was filmed at
this beautiful Engelfield House in Berkshire. What the set painters
did is they went and they took pictures from every
window and every time you look outside in the movie,
that's actually painted set. So they have painted. What you
(33:09):
see from every window of this historic building they have painted.
And then when you see people do tai chi or
driving golf carts and stuff that's in front of this
big mural along the back, which they have painted. Isn't
that so clever?
Speaker 2 (33:22):
That's phenomenal. I would have never guessed that was a
painted set.
Speaker 3 (33:25):
And if you go and watch it again, there's one
scene where they're all standing in a room and through
the window you can seal these police cars. They are
all cardboard cutouts. How clever are set painters?
Speaker 4 (33:35):
Oh my god?
Speaker 2 (33:35):
I'm sure Georgie has a note here and it just
says police cars and I was like, wonder, I's just
going to go with that. That was not on my
binger car. She also has rude words. I want to
know about that.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
I want to tell you about the word plunker, which
you'll hear two minutes into the movie. So when they
were filming, Chris Columbus had to yell cut when Pierce
Brosnan ad libbed the word plonker and go, what is
a plonker? And when he found out it's such a
good word, I don't even know what the Australian equivalent
would be. It's sort of affectionate, but like.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Lovable idiot, like daft, it's like tossa. It's like tossa.
Speaker 3 (34:08):
Absolutely so it was so good he got Ples prosident
to use that again. And then apparently Helen Mirren ad
libbed the line calling police whankers, and so many people
on set got offended that. Chris Columbus was like, this
is brilliant. We are keeping this.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
I love that, Like that's the side of a good director, right,
It's like, no, no, no, you've outraged people. We've done
something here, Chea.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
This is the focus group.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Okay, Georgie, you told me explicitly. I was not allowed,
as in like I was actually banned like a naughty child,
from reading the second book until we recorded this podcast.
So I am desperate, now do you mean desperate to
know what is next in this franchise? This is like
book one of five in the Thursday Murder Club universe?
(34:54):
Are we going to get Thursday Metaclub number two on Netflix.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Would you like the quote from Chris Columbus, Yes, the
quote is all signs seem to point in that direction.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Oh yes, hell yeah. Do you know what I'm really
impressed by you said? This first book came out in
twenty twenty, and there's a how many books?
Speaker 3 (35:11):
Well, very excitingly, You're gonna have to get Taylor onto
the second book really fast. The fifth book comes out
next month, September twenty fifth. It's called The Impossible Fortune.
So we're about to see the movies of the Man
Who Died Twice, The Bullet That Missed, and The Last
Devil to Die. Bring them all on as their own movies.
I'm hoping. Also, if you are really deep in the fandom,
like me, what, I'm in Facebook groups for this thing,
(35:33):
no worries, truly.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Georgelie came over to my jest today and was like,
I've joined Facebook groups. I thought, she said I joined Facebook,
and I was like, you're about twenty years later? What
year is it? But no, no, She's like in Thursday
Murder Club Facebook groups now, which is great because we're
gonna be there too. I imagine they're all my people.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
I love it so much so some of the best
scenes will obviously cut from this, like all movies, because
they just don't have the time. Chris Columbus has said
that he has created some Thursday Murder Club shorts. The
first one is called for fans of Matthew Mackey The
Priest Who Wasn't a Priest, which is coming out on Netflix,
which is awesome, so you can actually dive deeper into
the film, which I really love. And big news, guys,
(36:10):
the Thursday Murder Club is being made into a stage show.
Get out, It's being made into a play. Stop great
is that so? Richard Osmond said that he recently went
to see The mouse Trap, which is the longest running
play of all time, the Agatha Christie who done it,
to see how they did it on stage. He's working
on a play at the moment of The Thursday Murder Club.
Let's all go.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
I mean, Courtney, as our resident theatre correspondent, I want
to like that. How excited? I mean, like, I'm excited.
How excited are you? Oh?
Speaker 4 (36:36):
I'm so excited. And I mean they've already got the set,
painting wheel that out and that's the show. You can
take your grandparent too.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
How cute. They'd love a matinee of that.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
I'd love a matto ma same.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Hey, thank you so much for listening to the very
first episode of the Spill's watch Party. We're going to
be here every time a new TV show or a
big movie drops and you require an emergency debrief session.
Speaking of which, what are we all looking forward to,
because there's so much Tellian film on the horizon that
we will absolutely need to cover. For me, it is
rich people behaving badly. It's the White Lotus, Georgie.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
It's all about Benedict and Sophie on Bridgeton. I cannot wait.
Hopefully early next year, the Phantom says.
Speaker 4 (37:16):
And I want life imitating art in nobody wants this
the show about podcasting.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Oh okay, I was gonna ask, did you marry a Rabbi?
Speaker 4 (37:24):
Not that I remember.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Okay, I'll pick that one up later. Hey, make sure
you follow us so you never miss an episode. Don't
forget to follow the Spill on Instagram and TikTok. That'll
all be linked for you in the show notes. And
while you're over there, slide into our dms and tell
us the shows and films that you are desperate to
hear more about too. Watch Party is produced by the
wonderful Minisha Warren, with sound production by Scott Stronik and
video production by Michael Keene. We'll be back here when
(37:47):
the next big show drops, because when the world is watching,
you best believe so are we.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Bye Bye Bye
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