Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem had a big influence on one of the biggest movies of the year.
In a clip posted by IMAX on social media, Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier explained how going to see Christopher Nolan’s movie Tenet at IMAX headquarters while working on music videos with the two cousins during the pandemic helped inspired how he went about shooting the MCU blockbuster.
“Something that happened during the pandemic,” he began. “I was shooting these music videos and they were these long oner [one-shot] videos. I did one for Baby Keem and did one for Kendrick. And we had this time on our hands and I went with pgLang down to IMAX headquarters because we all got to watch Tenet there together.”
He continued by revealing that they have IMAX versions of the videos they shot and they got to experience them at the headquarters. “And then we actually got to have this great experience of those music videos and the way they were filmed, and they’re all in a oner in these really spacious environments,” he said. “We made IMAX versions of these videos and got to watch them. And those are in the full 1.43 aspect ratio and play them at IMAX headquarters and to get to see them on that scale.”
Schreier then credited the guys over at pgLang and IMAX for helping spark his vision for Thunderbolts. “So that was where it really started,” the director noted. “Talking to those guys about that and all of the proprietary stuff that they have down there that you can do to get things to be practical on that scale and really resonate, and then getting to come back with a whole movie in hand to work on — it was really special.”
Jake directed two videos for Baby Keem, “Hooligan” in 2020 and “Issues” in 2021. His 2022 “We Cry Together” short film with Kendrick Lamar and actress Taylour Paige received some Oscar buzz but didn’t end up getting a nomination for Best Live Action Short Film.
Thunderbolts is the No. 1 movie in the country, according to Box Office Mojo.
