A Minute With: ‘No Sudden Move’ Cast on Twists and Filming in COVID

Jon Hamm. (Reuters)
Jon Hamm. (Reuters)
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A Minute With: ‘No Sudden Move’ Cast on Twists and Filming in COVID

Jon Hamm. (Reuters)
Jon Hamm. (Reuters)

Oscar winning director Steven Soderbergh brings together an all-star cast for crime drama “No Sudden Move” in which a bunch of criminals are called on to carry out a heist that goes wrong.

Benicio Del Toro, Don Cheadle, Ray Liotta, Jon Hamm and Brendan Fraser star in the movie, set in 1954 Detroit, where the robbers embark on a mission to find out who hired them.

The actors and co-stars Julia Fox and Frankie Shaw spoke to Reuters about the movie’s unexpected twists and filming during COVID. “No Sudden Move” is released on streaming service HBO Max on Thursday.

Below are excerpts edited for length and clarity.

Q: Did you agree to this film without reading the script?

Del Toro: “For me it was, Don Cheadle in the film, Steven Soderbergh ... I said yes before I read the script. I assumed that Don reads the script for me and then I go.”

Hamm: “We shot this movie in deep pandemic in October, November in Detroit ... you couldn’t be in better hands than to be in Steven’s (Soderbergh) hands ... he works tirelessly, he is editing while he’s shooting. He’s got everything in his head ... That feels very good. In a mode where we were very much uncertain about everything, this felt very certain.”

Q: What was filming during the pandemic like?

Shaw: “The crew was pretty pared down because of COVID, which also led to probably more intimacy because there weren’t like a lot of people around.”

Q: Did you figure out the twist in the film when you first read the script?

Liotta: “What you think might be happening doesn’t exactly happen, it goes off into a different direction, so you never really know what’s going on ... who knows who.”

Q: Can you describe the film in one word?

Fraser: “Everyone wants something desperately in this film and everyone gets what they deserve.”

Hamm: “Suspense ... it’s a very complicated story and it pays off.”

Cheadle: “Entertaining.”

Del Toro: “Fun.”

Fox: “I would say greed.”



Where's Marty McFly's Guitar? Search Is on for ‘Back to the Future’ Prop 4 Decades Later 

Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
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Where's Marty McFly's Guitar? Search Is on for ‘Back to the Future’ Prop 4 Decades Later 

Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 

Marty McFly grabbed a guitar in “Back to the Future” and rocked out with the band at a 1950s high school dance, helping him narrowly avoid blinking out of existence before time-traveling back to the 1980s.

The guitar, in real life, wasn't as lucky.

Filmmakers went looking for the instrument while making the movie's 1989 sequel, but even now it's nowhere to be found. Four decades after the blockbuster film debuted, the guitar's creator has launched a search for the iconic Cherry Red Gibson ES-345.

Gibson, which is based in Nashville, is asking the public for help tracking it down as the movie turns 40 and as the company produces a new documentary about the search and the film, “Lost to the Future.”

In a video by Gibson, with the movie's theme song playing in the background, “Back to the Future” stars such as Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Harry Waters Jr. make a cinematic plea. There's also a surprise appearance by Huey Lewis, whose band Huey Lewis and the News performed the soundtrack's headliner song, “The Power of Love.”

Lloyd, in the cadence of Doc Brown, says in the video that the guitar has been “lost to the future.”

“It's somewhere lost in the space-time continuum,” says Fox, who played McFly. “Or it's in some Teamster's garage.”

In the film, McFly steps in for an injured band member at the 1955 school dance with the theme “Enchantment under the Sea,” playing the guitar as students slow dance to “Earth Angel.” He then leads Marvin Barry and the Starlighters in a rendition of “Johnny B. Goode,” calling it an oldie where he comes from even though the 1958 song doesn't exist yet for his audience.

Fox said he wanted McFly to riff through his favorite guitarists' signature styles — Jimi Hendrix behind the head, Pete Townshend's windmill and the Eddie Van Halen hammer. After digging and dancing to “Johnny B. Goode,” the students at the dance fall into an awkward silence as McFly's riffs turn increasingly wild.

“I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet,” McFly says. “But your kids are gonna love it.”