Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Killing Mary Sue, Samuel Goldwyn Films

Killing Mary Sue Director, Star on Filming Schedule, Discourse & More

Killing Mary Sue director-writer James Sunshine & star Sierra McCormick spoke to Bleeding Cool about swift film shoot, discourse and more.

When you're up against the clock like writer-director James Sunshine was for Samuel Goldwyn Films' Killing Mary Sue, a lot can go wrong, but fortunately, he, star Sierra McCormick, cast, and crew were able to embrace and ride the chaos all the way until the end before the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes took place. While it is 2025, the two can laugh about the fun they had along the way. The action thriller follows a corrupt senator (Dermot Mulroney), who arranges for the murder of his biggest liability, his erratic burnout step-daughter (McCormick), only for her to unwittingly discover her natural talent as an untouchable killer. Sunshine and McCormick spoke to Bleeding Cool about whether there was anything production had to sacrifice due to the constraints, and how they feel about the current state of fan discourse.

Killing Mary Sue Director James Sunshine and Star Sierra McCormick on Hectic Film Schedule and Making Sense of Fan Discourse

Bleeding Cool: James, was there much that had to be sacrificed given the constraints of the schedule, and what would you say would be the most difficult scene to pull off? I also wanted to ask this of you, Sierra, too.

Sunshine: You have a tendency, I've noticed in films, and like, whatever the vibe is on set tends to become the vibe of the film itself. It worked out well because the vibe on set was like, "Oh my god! We must get this done! What's going on?! Try this! Try that! Let's go!" Which is the whole plot of the film, with characters being like, "We must kill this girl! This isn't working! What's going on?"

We had so many restraints, the biggest was that we had so much we were trying to crunch into each shoot day. On some shoot days, we were doing seven, eight, and nine pages. Other days, we're doing like entire action sequences. It was one of those situations where it's like, "If we don't make our day, then we don't have a movie," so we have to make our every day, no matter what. Even if that meant cutting a corner here or sacrificing a second or third take there, I felt fortunate I was editing the film, so I had a clear vision in mind that once we got something, I knew it was good for the edit. I was like, "Okay, we're moving on."

It's interesting. I would have loved to have more time for the actors to improvise because this would have been a great film for them to shoot around and try some ideas, but as it stands, we had to stick to what was in the script. There were a few cool moments where actors would throw something in, and whenever it happened, it was lightning in a bottle, so those are the big things.

McCormick: Yeah, I second that. The chaotic nature of the shoot contributed to the high-energy vibe of the movie itself.

Given the subject matter of the film, do you feel the discourse has gone worse, better, or about the same? How do you feel about the general critiques as far as your beloved IPs and the way the studio system has tackled them?

Sunshine: It's a mixed bag. Sometimes, they're right on with the criticism. Sometimes, they're wrong. What's hilarious is that since our film came out, I've been looking at some of the critics and user reviews, and the consensus is, "This is a film that you either love or hate." My favorite user reviews that I have been reading have been some people who are like, "Here's another movie with an unkillable girl boss [McCormick laughs] who's punching out guys who are six foot five. It makes absolutely no sense." I want to shake them, "But that's the joke. That's the job." You're criticizing the thing that we're making fun of.

McCormick: "Unkillable girl boss." I'm going to take that. I'll keep that. That's my goal for life: To be an unkillable girl boss. I also think we're exposed to more opinions than we ever have been in the history of the world. It's hard to make a true judgment as to whether it's gotten worse or better, because we didn't use to be subjected to every person's opinion 24 hours, all the time. It's harder to know.

When I think back to the most referenced Mary Sue argument in recent generations, point out with 'Star Wars.' We have original trilogy's Luke Skywalker and sequel trilogy's Rey Skywalker, right? They're both implausible; they're both people who didn't know anything about the Force, but become experts in it for narrative, seemingly overnight. When Luke did it over 40 years ago, no one said a word, and when a similar moment applies to a new character, like Rey, it's like, "This can never happen!"

McCormick: I agree.

Killing Mary Sue, which also stars Sean Patrick Flanery, Jason Mewes, Jake Busey, Kym Whitley, French Stewart, and Martin Kove, is available on digital.

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