Canadian filmmakers Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson lampoon the world’s most powerful people in Rumours, a spooky and hilariously bonkers satire of the G7 (Group of Seven) – a political organization consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the non-enumerated European Union. The venerated cast, including Cate Blanchett, Alicia Vikander, Charles Dance, Roy Dupuis, and Denis Ménochet, portray the G7 leaders as inept bureaucrats lost in a German forest without any support. They’re so embroiled in drafting a comical “provisional statement” that an apocalyptic scenario catches them completely by surprise.

Rumours Mocks Power and Politics, Not Specific Politicians
Rumours is a comedy film directed by Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, and Guy Maddin. The film centers on seven leaders of rich democracies. While attempting to draft a global crisis statement, they become lost in the woods and struggle to find their way out.Release Date October 18, 2024 Director Evan Johnson , Guy Maddin , Galen Johnson Cast Cate Blanchett , Rolando Ravello , Charles Dance , Nikki Amuka-Bird , Roy Dupuis , Denis Menochet , Takehiro Hira , Alexa Kennedy , Ralph Berkin , Alicia Vikander , Tomi Kosynus , Zlatko Buric Runtime 118 Minutes Writers Guy Maddin Studio(s) Square Peg , Buffalo Gal Pictures , Maze Pictures Distributor(s) Elevation Pictures , Plaion Pictures Expand

The directing trio made it clear during our interview that they weren’t mocking any current or past G7 leaders, like Germany’s Angela Merkel or US President Joe Biden. “We were pretty careful not to get specific. For one thing, movies take a while to make. There might be different leaders in office by that time, and we were just not interested in doing specific parodies or satires,” says Maddin. Evan Johnson concurred:

“Even if we gave them their real names, they still wouldn’t have been based on them. That was kind of a rule we set out for ourselves. Angela Merkel, for example, happens to be the most famous German woman politician. So everybody sees our chancellor and says, ah, it’s a Merkel, but there’s zero Merkel in that performance. There’s another German woman politician who it’s more based on, but she’s more obscure, and so I won’t even mention her name.”

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“Likewise,” added Johnson, “there are elements in the other leaders that it’s easy to discern because they have a human quality. Certain presidents are old, and they get tired, but we were not thinking of ‘Sleepy Joe’ when we made our president fall asleep.” Galen Johnson humorously adds:

No, we wrote this like four years ago, so sleepy Joe wasn’t quite as sleepy back then. We thought it was an original idea, but no.

How to Make a Film with Three Directors

Maddin (the brilliant auteur behind films like My Winnipeg and Brand Upon the Brain) and the Johnson brothers have worked together on multiple features and short films over the years, including critical hits like The Green Fog and The Forbidden Room. Rumours marks their biggest production yet. How do they work so well together? What’s their division of labor between three directors on one film? Maddin explains their collective process:

“While the camera’s rolling, we were all together, watching on the monitor and talking about how the shot looks. Then sometimes the actors like to come in and look after the take on the monitor to see how they’re doing. But
we just form a united front
. We’ve been working together so long in prep for the movie, that we were pretty much of one mind.”

“We were pretty careful not to disagree with each other vociferously. We don’t do it much anyway,” adds Maddin. “One fear we had was that the actors would be like children playing parents against each other to get their way, but this proved to be unfounded. It just never came about. We’re all one big happy team going in one direction.”

Related Mid-Year Report: The Best Movies of 2024, So Far Take a look at the greatest films released in 2024 so far to find some new movies you may not have heard of (after you’re done disagreeing).

Evan Johnson agrees, saying, “We rehearsed with them a little bit. There are seven of them. That’s a very collaborative number of actors to be in every scene together. And so adding three more guys to that seven, it just fits right into the sort of large, collaborative atmosphere. I think it ended up not being an issue at all.”

“It’s a real treat to get these actors from completely different countries and backgrounds working together,” continues Johnson. “We knew that whatever salient differences they had would actually only strengthen the idea of a G7 Summit and the various different characteristics of the leaders.” Maddin extrapolates further on the talented cast:

And frankly, the actors worked out a lot of the business among themselves. They could kind of just ignore us.

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Rumours Might ‘Poke a Stick in the Eye’ of Some People Who Need It

Our conversation ended on a more serious note with a question about whether some audiences would be offended by certain characterizations. This is a time when people are embracing nationalism to a violent fault. The example used was Rolando Ravello’s simpleton portrayal of Italy’s prime minister. Were they worried that some would say that these guys from Winnipeg were being snarky and disrespectful? Galen Johnson responds brilliantly: “If you’re a nationalist like that, I don’t really care what you think.” Evan Johnson doubles down on that sentiment:

“I would welcome it if people get annoyed at the movie for that reason. Then that would be great. I like a certain amount of putting off people for the right reasons. I like to poke a stick in the eye, if we can do that a little bit.”

Well, get your eyes ready for one of the most original films of the year. Rumours is currently in limited theatrical release from Bleecker Street. You can find showtimes and locations here.