'The Greatest Hits' Director Says David Corenswet Is Superman On & Off-Screen
The Big Picture
- Collider's Steve Weintraub moderates an exclusive Q&A with The Greatest Hits writer-director Ned Benson and stars Justin Min and Austin Crute.
- Benson, Min, and Crute discuss filming all over LA, their favorite spots, the inspiration behind the movie, and the crucial part music played throughout production.
- Benson also shares his own experience with Superman 's David Corenswet and Min shares an exciting Season 4 tease for fans of The Umbrella Academy .
Ned Benson's (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) latest movie, The Greatest Hits, explores more of the writer-director's favored themes of "dealing with loss and relationships and love," in what he calls a love letter to Los Angeles. Starring the DCU's new Superman, David Corenswet, Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody), Justin Min (The Umbrella Academy), and Austin Crute (Booksmart), this is a romantic drama with a genre twist: Harriet (Boynton) discovers she can time travel when she hears the right song from her past.
Ahead of the movie's premiere on Hulu, Collider hosted an early screening of The Greatest Hits, where Benson, Min, and Crute sat down with our own Steve Weintraub for an extended Q&A. During their conversation, Benson shares his own experience on set with Corenswet, and his reaction to finding out the actor would be donning the cape in James Gunn's (Guardians of the Galaxy) upcoming Superman. They discuss filming on location throughout LA, their favorite spots, the crucial role music played from conception to screen, and working with Quentin Tarantino's (Pulp Fiction) music consultant, Mary Ramos (Kill Bill), on the playlist.
Check out the full interview in the video above, or in the transcript below, for how Crute made his Hollywood break in Donald Glover's (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) series Atlanta, Min's tease for The Umbrella Academy Season 4, and tons more.
The Greatest Hits
PG-13 Release Date April 12, 2024 Director Ned Benson Cast Lucy Boynton , David Corenswet , Justin H. Min , Retta , Andie Ju Runtime 94 Minutes Main Genre Comedy Writers Ned Benson Distributor(s) Searchlight Pictures ExpandCOLLIDER: I am a huge, huge fan of the time travel genre, so this is my kind of film. I'm all in, but before we get into this, I have a few individual questions. Ned, I'm gonna start with you. You made a film that you can watch multiple ways. I'm talking about The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. For people that aren't familiar with it, can you explain what you did with the film, and what is the version you want people watching first if they've never seen it?
NED BENSON: I made a movie in 2012 that basically looks at both sides of a relationship from the husband’s side, which is James McAvoy, and then the wife's side, which is Jessica Chastain. Essentially, that was the way that we presented at the Toronto Film Festival and how it should be seen. Then, when it was acquired by The Weinstein Company, it was merged into a third film called Them, to be more palatable for audiences, which I think took away from some of the concept. Again, dealing with loss and relationships and love, themes I kind of keep coming back to, I guess.
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So the best way to watch it is not the combined version?
BENSON: Just in terms of the concept and the way I made it, yes, for sure.
Justin, an individual question for you. You’ve been involved in a number of projects, but I’m curious, when did you realize that Beef was being watched by, like, everyone?
JUSTIN MIN: I realized that when I was at a restaurant and a random person came up to me while I was eating dinner and said, “Do you want some beef with that?” And I said, “No, I’m eating chicken, but thank you so much.” That was the moment where I was like, “Oh, people are watching the show.”
Austin, a lot of people don't realize that your first television appearance was on Atlanta playing the Black Justin Bieber. I'm just curious, when did you realize, “Oh, a lot of people are watching this show,” how did you get your break on Atlanta?
AUSTIN CRUTE: Well, the first time that I realized, “Oh my god, this is big,” was I was in Paris at Charles de Gaulle and there were two kids that were about to get on my flight, and they were like, “Oh my god, it's Black Justin Bieber!” And I was like, “Nah, I’m in Paris, and they’re talking about Black Justin Bieber?” So that was where I was like, “Okay, this is big.”
Then, I went to NYU — shoutout to anybody that went to NYU — and I was freelance auditioning with an agency in New York. Between classes I would audition, and then like a month later I got a call in the middle of one of my psychology classes, and they were like, “Pack your bags, you're going home,” and I was like, “Wait, are you serious?” And I was a sophomore. It was a good time, and that was my break.
Jumping into why I get to talk to you guys today. What is it about the time travel genre that resonates with so many people? And for each of you, do you have a favorite time travel movie, not including your own?
CRUTE: I don't know about a movie. I'll say a show, and I don't even know if this counts, but Heroes. Heroes was the first time that I ever actually sat down and watched something week to week to week, and made sure that I was at the TV. Now it's like more streaming, but that was absolutely the first time that time travel was like, “Okay, this is it.”
MIN: I love the movie Click. Is that time travel? That is, right? He’s going back and forth. Adam Sandler is amazing, and that scene with his parents always makes me cry, so I love that movie.
I think time travel movies and shows are connect to us because we all think about things in our past that we wish we could maybe tweak or change, and maybe even going into the future and what our futures would look like. So I think these are things that we're always thinking about. I think that's probably why it resonates with so many of us. Right, Ned? [Laughs]
BENSON: Get ready for the generation gap because I went to see Back to the Future, like, 10 times the summer it came out. I'm obsessed with that movie and always have been and always will be. That's my time travel touchstone, for sure.
The Book That Inspired 'The Greatest Hits'
What was it about this story that said, “I wanna make this?”
BENSON: There are a few reasons. One, I'm really transported by music in so many ways. Just living in Los Angeles and being in your car, the amount of music that I listen to in my car — I listened to music getting here tonight. I think music is such a huge part of the fabric of my life, and has always really emotionally resonated with me, and takes me so clearly back to so many moments in my life. So, that was one concept I was playing with. But I read this book in 2008 by Oliver Sacks called Musicophilia [Tales of Music and the Brain], which is about how music and the brain interact. One of the things he talks about is musical hallucinations or synesthesia, which is when a certain song can create these kinds of hallucinations in your brain. So, I read that and thought it was pretty interesting at that time, and started to conceive the idea for the movie.
From when you started writing to what people watched tonight, what were the big changes along the way in terms of what you originally envisioned versus the finished film?
BENSON: I think from the conceit, it was pretty similar. The script changed so drastically. I wrote a draft in, like, 2009 that then I put on a shelf because I wanted to make other movies and then write movies for other people. Then, during COVID, I took it off the shelf and rewrote the lead character as a woman and kind of re-conceived some of the music that was resonating with me now. There was one song that stayed from 2008, which is the opening song by The The, which is “This is the Day.” But everything else was new music that was kind of resonating in my life more currently.
For the stars of the film, for each of you, what was it about this project that said, “Oh, I'm really excited to be a part of this?”
CRUTE: Well, first of all, it was honestly one of two scripts that entire year that I read it and then I clicked and clicked and clicked, and all of a sudden it was over. It's just so interesting and different and cool. I'm a musician myself, and music is such a big part of life and storytelling. I thought that it was really interesting how you can narrate the grief journey with music in the way that this movie has done. Even just with your friend groups and how it can bring you back to places. And the sci-fi elements of what was going on, as well. It was just kismet. It was A1. I loved it.
MIN: For me, I was actually going through the process of grieving someone I knew and loved very much. The script sort of came at this very timely place in my life, and I connected very strongly and viscerally to the script. I met Ned over Zoom and I just fell in love with Ned and kind of his whole exploration of grief and music and all of these things, and I just wanted to do this project with him. That's how I got involved.
I have a follow-up for you guys. How nervous do you get before the first night of filming something? Are you especially in your head a lot or can you relax and be like, “Whatever happens, happens?”
CRUTE: I mean, for me, it's like, “Whatever happens, happens.” Once you get it, you got in it. You memorize it and then you show up and get a little crafty, and then it's time to go. That's how I approach it.
MIN: [Laughs] And that shows because you were so confident on set. I was a nervous wreck. Fortunately, though, we did have rehearsal beforehand, so we got to know each other and we had dinner and we felt very comfortable. So, that had already been established. But even so, I think the first day you get on any set, it's nerve-wracking for me.
Quentin Tarantino's Music Consultant Curated 'The Greatest Hits'
Music plays a huge, huge part of this film, and one of the things is you have to find songs that work for the material, but also songs that you can afford. Talk a little bit about finding that balance and finding songs that meet both criteria.
BENSON: I worked really closely with the music supervisor, Mary Ramos, who's incredible. She did all of Tarantino's movies from Kill Bill on, and she's just pretty spectacular in terms of guiding you with what you can get away with and what we were working with in terms of our music budget. I think if you listen closely, a lot of the songs are lyrically giving you the subtext of the story. So, “This is the Day,” or “Loud Places,” or Leon Haywood, “Don’t Push It Don’t Force It.” All of these songs are actually kind of helping tell the story, and we were pretty purposeful in finding tracks that had lyrics that were basically talking about what each scene was about when you were in those scenes, too. So, that was a very conscious process that we had in terms of choosing those things.
Then you have your heartbreak, because there are a few songs I was like, “Oh, I want a Prince song,” and she's like, “No. Not gonna happen.” [Laughs] So I was like, “Okay, fine.” But I do feel really lucky with what we did get, and a lot of it was a wishlist. We were sharing a lot of playlists before the movie in pre-production, making character playlists for each of these guys and the whole team, and got a lot of music going back and forth. Even on Saturday nights, they would come over to my house for dinner and we'd sing karaoke, and I can tell you that Austin has the voice of an angel. His Frank Ocean is insane. It's, like, second to none.
CRUTE: Thank you.
A lot of times films will explain the time travel, and you have an interesting choice in this where you are starting the film where she's already experiencing it and is in the middle of this journey. Talk a little bit about why you wanted to do that, and was there ever a producer or somebody saying, “Hey, we need more explanation, or we need this?”
BENSON: I've always been one of those people where I kind of like to start movies in media res and kind of unpeel the onion as you go, and sort of reveal things as the movie moves forward so you're not shoving information or expository information. You're showing, not telling is more what I'm interested in as a filmmaker. Some people can be frustrated by that, but I think in this case, it was more about showing what she was going through through her behavior. Then, obviously, having the David character and the Morris character kind of help us explain or understand what's going on with her in reality.
For all three of you, you see the shooting schedule — what day do you have circled in terms of, “I cannot wait to film this,” and what day is circled in terms of, “How the F are we gonna film this?”
CRUTE: My loving filming was the bears in space. That was the funniest thing ever. It was the party scene where everybody was there and you guys were on a date, and it was just really, really fun. For me, for my role, I don't think that I ever had a moment where I was like, “Oh, how are we going to do this?” Except for maybe when I was carrying that speaker, and I was like, “I better not drop this.” All of the equipment and the music and the analog equipment that was in the movie is 100% real and functional, and very well thought out and vintage, and so cool. And I honestly learned so much from Ned and Daniel. It just blew my mind, honestly.
MIN: I would say the scene that I was most terrified about, and I think Lucy would agree with me, was the karaoke scene. We were terrified of doing that. We didn't really practice it because we didn't want to practice it, so what you see on screen is really kind of our first time really doing that. There wasn't a lot of acting involved there. It was us being incredibly embarrassed and terrified, and that song is so hard to sing. I don't know why you made us do that song.
BENSON: To torture you, for sure.
MIN: [Laughs] I would say one of my favorite scenes to film was the scene on the Sears building where we are doing the silent disco. What you see in the movie is exactly what it was like. It was this perfect LA night and you could see all of downtown, and we were on this rooftop and we all had these light-up headphones on, and it just felt so special. It was a lovely evening.
BENSON: There were a few. That those days of shooting on the Sears building were incredible, but it was also like getting to the set was a horror movie. It's an abandoned building. They lit it with these lanterns at night, and it was super dusty, and you thought someone was gonna jump out of nowhere. It was the wildest thing. Then one of the elevators broke and we all had to share this old freight elevator. So, that was kind of a nightmare. Then we had to shoot at my house for a week to save money. I gave my house up for a week so I could get that location, the Sears building, and my wife was not happy. So that was the most dangerous, kind of insane thing that I did on the movie.
One of the other things you did, which is very ambitious, is you did all location filming in LA. I think you had, like, 36 locations, or something crazy. At what point did your line producer or someone pull you aside and say, “What the are you doing?
BENSON: From the beginning. [Laughs] But this movie is a love letter to Los Angeles. I love this city so much. I'm from New York, but my mom moved out here when I was 12 years old, so I feel a bit schizophrenic. But I've lived here for a long time, and I love the city so much, so I really wanted to not cheat it in any way. I was like, “Well, if I can shoot in my house for a week, are you cool that I can have all these other locations?” And they were cool with it. So, I mean, it was definitely ambitious. We were definitely pissing people off with the amount of trucks that we had and the amount of neighborhoods that we were annoying. But we did get some amazing locations, and I got to shoot the city the way I wanted to see it.
'The Greatest Hits' Is a Love Letter to Los Angeles
You shot all over LA. What is a location or a place you got to film at that most people don't know about, besides the Sears Building, that you would say to people who live in LA, “You’ve got to scope this out.”
MIN: Oh, easy: Civil Coffee. My brother lives in Highland Park with his family, so I've been to Civil so many times, and it was surreal to film in a place that I've been to and I love. Great coffee, would highly recommend it if you're ever out there.
CRUTE: I am a born and bred Atlantan. I've been in LA since 2019 and I'm still getting to know the areas, the neighborhoods, and everything like that. That whole area in Chinatown — incredible. That is my answer. [Laughs]
BENSON: Those were all great. I think the beach day was really special for me. I'd scripted the beach scene at night with, like, bioluminescence and everybody was like, “No.” Like VFX, “No,” the DP was like, “Everything's gonna just be so dark.” So he's like, “Why don't we shoot at sunset and shoot this during the day?” And that beach, which is Cabrillo Beach over near Long Beach, sort of San Pedro, it films really beautifully. It's one of the best shooting beaches I think you can find in LA because it's very secluded. That was a special one for me, and it worked out in a really nice way.
I'm fascinated by the editing process. Who did you show the film to in the rough stages for honest feedback, and what did you hear from them that impacted the finished film?
BENSON: I did a director's cut with the editor and we screened very early for about, like, 30 close friends, who I asked to be completely brutal on the movie, and they were. They were tough. It was just finding the right group of strangers, friends, collaborators who were willing enough to really beat us up. One thing that I think really helped was falling in love with Max and Harriet earlier. That scene of them that opens the movie, where it's the montage of their relationship, wasn't there. We kind of just dropped into her life where she wakes up, goes back in time the first time, and then goes to the library. We really didn't have the understanding of what this relationship was to her, so that was a creation that came from the early screenings of this movie where people were like, “Well, we wanna fall in love with them a little bit more and a little earlier before we really engage in the movie with them.”
Did you end up with a lot of deleted scenes?
BENSON: No, not a lot of deleted scenes. We editorialized the beach scene. It was a oner, but it was like a five-minute oner. That whole scene was actually them on the beach, and it just followed them into the water and they had this whole conversation, and kept going and going and going. And at some point, the studio turned to me and was like, “You're being super indulgent.” And I was like, “Yeah, I am.” I really liked the shot, but we kind of cut it up and made it more elliptical, and I think it works better for the movie itself. So, had to kill my darling there, but that happens.
David Corenswet Is Superman On and Off-Screen
"He's such an extraordinary actor, and he's such an extraordinary human being."
You are gonna be on Hulu in a week and it's hard to get people to watch certain things. There's a lot of competition. But we have to touch on the fact that one of your actors is now playing Superman. How happy were you when he got cast as Superman?
BENSON: I was really happy for him. I was in the sound mix and he called to tell me that he had been asked to test, and he's like, “What do you think?” And I'm like, “100 out of 100 times yes. Like, you don’t get this shot.” He's such an extraordinary actor, and he's such an extraordinary human being. I'm so happy for him. But I think we were all thrilled for him because he's such a great guy, and such a great actor. So, I couldn't be happier for him. He's gonna show up to a screening in Atlanta, I think, on Sunday and kind of sneak in and surprise some people, so that'll be fun.
Listen, there's a lot of competition for eyeballs, and I do think that if you're a fan of Superman and you want to see his work, hey, there's an example right here.
BENSON: Sure. I mean, he's a great actor in everything he's in. So, I think whether it's the Ti West movies or the Ryan Murphy stuff he's done, he's fantastic. I lucked out with an extraordinary cast of actors and I'm really lucky to have worked with each of them.
Talk a little bit about the rules of time travel in the film. What were the rules that you came up with and how much were the rules impacted by the budget and what you could actually accomplish with the film? Because each film plays it differently in the genre.
BENSON: I think the limitation that we placed on it just was the course of a song. She had the time allotted for the length of the song in order to go back. So, it kind of created these limitations that I think worked for the film so we could play out a song, or at least a piece of the song, and show that experience that she had. And she had a limited amount of time, so there was a ticking clock on each of those times that she went back. Then, on top of that, I think part of it is this big metaphor or analogy for acceptance in a relationship. I think the moment where she places that note in the desk for David to find really is more about two people who understand each other, and he accepts what she's going through in that moment. They really do kind of understand each other for the first time. So, I was playing with this idea of what love actually is in terms of applying it through the lens of time travel, if that makes any sense whatsoever.
No, it totally does. For your actors, I'm always curious about how an actor prepares for a role. Both of your roles are so radically different, and I'm curious for each of you, how early on before you stepped on set were you really thinking about the script, how you wanted to play it? If you could just take me through how you get ready for a role, specifically this one?
CRUTE: Well, it was a good time before Ned, as he mentioned earlier, had a comprehensive playlist for each character, and I really went through and listened to– I mean, it was a lot of music, but it really set the tone for the vibe. Morris's character is based on Larry Levan, who was a Studio 54 DJ. I did some research on him, and it's kind of integral to the entire musical heart of the movie, and that helped me just to get my mind and my spirit into the world that was being created. I would say that that was really the integral part of my preparation for the film.
MIN: Yeah, I would say, very similarly, we had these playlists that Ned and I would curate for David, which was really helpful. We also just had so many conversations before filming, and we had the rehearsal process. I think my preparation changes a bit from project to project and role to role, but this one was really engaging in a lot of conversations. Lucy and I talked a lot about how we didn't want each of our characters to be sort of bogged down by the grief, and that it was important for us to find moments of levity. For me, I think that the thing that really resonated most with, the thing that kind of broke David open for me, was this idea that he's in his head for most of the movie because of the grief of his parents, but Harriet's character sort of brings him back into his body in the present moment. I just really wanted to focus on that throughout the film process.
'Umbrella Academy' Season 4 Will Answer All Your Questions
Justin, I do have an individual question for you. There are some people in this theater, and probably who are gonna be watching this Q&A, that have heard of a show called The Umbrella Academy. I believe that the final season comes out later this year. So I am curious, what can you tease people about the final season? The role’s coming to a close and it's been so important to so many people, and I'm sure to yourself. What does it mean to you to play Ben again, and to let the character go?
MIN: We filmed the final season last year, the first half of last year. It was incredibly emotional, but we were just so thankful to have the opportunity to sort of close out the story. So many shows unfortunately get prematurely canceled, but we knew going in this was gonna be our final season, so our writers and our showrunner had the opportunity to wrap up all the storylines. It was just such an incredible opportunity for us to say goodbye to our characters, but also to our amazing crew in Toronto, our amazing directors, and everyone that we've known throughout the four seasons.
In terms of what to expect, I'll probably be killed if I say something. But I think I can tease — there are a lot of questions that have been brewing throughout the seasons of the show, and I do think they really do get answered in this final season. I think there's a real sense of closure, so I'm excited for the fans who've been waiting for certain answers to get those.
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What's interesting is I spoke to Gerard [Way], maybe for the first season before it came out, or really early on, and he told me that he had figured out all seven graphic novels, and he shared that information. So, my guess is he shared some of that information that hopefully will be added into the final season. It's not like it was made up, he had it already figured out.
MIN: I can neither confirm nor deny that. [Laughs]
The Greatest Hits is available to stream on Hulu now.
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