‘Another Simple Favor’ Co-Writer Jessica Sharzer Breaks Down Sequel’s Biggest Twists, Blake Lively’s “Massive” Say in the Fashion and a Possible Third Film

A Simple Favor is back — however, it’s anything but simple.

Another Simple Favor, Paul Feig‘s follow-up to the 2018 film, sees the return of Blake Lively as Emily, Anna Kendrick as Stephanie and Henry Golding as Sean, and follows their lives when Emily is released from prison after murdering her twin sister. The next adventure shows them reuniting in Capri to attend Emily’s wedding, where she marries a new man, Dante, who is part of an Italian mob.

But to no surprise, not everything goes smoothly, as there are even more twists in this sequel. [Major spoilers from Another Simple Favor.] It’s revealed that Emily’s triplet, Charity, who is believed to have died during childbirth, is on a murder spree, killing Dante — as well as Emily’s ex-husband, Sean. She also has an obsession with Emily — which she tries to turn incestual — as she thinks they are one. Jessica Sharzer, who was a co-writer along with Laeta Kalogridis, told The Hollywood Reporter that the decision was made to embrace the “gay following” that the first film had and “to tell really great stories that also have a queer element to them.”

The film, which hit streaming on May 1, marks Lively’s first release since the ongoing legal battle heated up in December with It Ends With Us star-director Justin Baldoni. Sharzer says the drama surrounding Lively hasn’t affected her relationship with the film, though she admits: “I feel for what she’s going through right now.” Instead, Sharzer hopes people will “focus on what’s in the movie and not all of the extra stuff.” Up next, Sharzer is working on She Started It, an adaptation of Sian Gilbert’s thriller novel, which she is set to direct for Lyrical Media, Ryder Picture Company.

Below, Sharzer tells THR about the “twisted” love story between Emily and Stephanie, how her contracting COVID-19 inspired one of the scenes, Lively’s influence on the project and reveals that there have already been talks for a third film.

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Was it always the plan to do a sequel for this film? Or did you have any idea that the story would expand when you were working on the first one?

It was actually the opposite. We never expected there to be a sequel. We certainly didn’t plan for one, and if we had, we would’ve ended the first movie differently because we left one of our characters in jail for murder. So, figuring out how to handle undoing was the first challenge. There was no second book in the series, and we thought it was a one-off movie. Then, the success of the movie and its continued success on streaming were what led to the idea of a sequel.

When you were writing this film, were you writing it for a theatrical release or streaming — and did that change how you approached the script?

We always knew it was a streaming movie. We sold it directly to Amazon, and Amazon wanted it for their platform. So that was never a question. And as far as how it impacted the way I wrote, it didn’t change my process at all. It’s a really visual movie. It’s a big-screen movie, whether you’re watching it on a TV or not. Paul really wanted that visual panache and that big world-building that you see in the movie.

There are so many great additions to the cast, such as Allison Janney. Did you have anyone in mind for the roles you could envision when writing it?

For sure. I have to admit, I watched 365 Days, and as soon as I saw Michele Morrone, I thought he has to be our male lead, and I’m so glad it worked out that he wanted to do it. So, I always write with actors in mind. We don’t always end up with those actors, and of course, it’s the director’s decision who’s in the movie anyway, but for me as a writer, it really helps me to imagine actors as I’m writing just to get the cadence and the voice and the personality. It really helps my writing.

Emily’s lines are so witty, and she’s so quick. I’m curious if Blake Lively’s real-life sense of humor inspires any of her dialogue?

Definitely, I mean, she’s funny. She’s married to a very funny man [Ryan Reynolds], and I think they help each other with all of their projects. And so it’s a really collaborative process because Paul Feig is also a writer, in addition to being a great director, and Blake has great ideas for her character, to whom she feels very connected. It really is a collaborative process, and there are a lot of funny lines that I either didn’t write or don’t remember writing, and it could have come from a number of sources.

Could you give me an example?

My favorite line in the first movie that makes me laugh every time that I did not write is when Blake is at a playground with Anna, and she’s talking about working for a tough boss and she says, “Or they will fuck you in the face.” That line always makes me laugh, and I know I didn’t write it because I’ve never heard that expression before, but I just love it. So there’s always lines that are news to me and in a good way.

Oh wow. She came up with that?

I don’t know if it was her or Paul. I’m not exactly sure what the source was, but it definitely wasn’t me. (Laughs.)

There are so many twists and turns in the first movie, but there was even more in this one. Was there any pressure to make audiences more surprised by this movie?

I think there was. Whenever you do a sequel to anything, you’re trying to not only live up to the first movie but outdo it. And I think there was a real aspiration to make this one bigger in every way. It was a much more expensive movie, but going to Italy was a really exciting addition to the story. And as you mentioned, a lot of new characters were added. So, we definitely wanted more twists and turns in this second movie.

I truly wasn’t expecting Emily to have a triplet who is still alive, especially because we’re told she died in childbirth in the first film. What sparked that creative decision?

It was a combination of factors. One of the things Blake loved the most about the first movie was getting to play those twins who are identical but so different in every way. There was a real appetite for how do we do that again when that sister died, and because there had been this plant of triplets in the first movie, we were looking for a way to bring back that third sister we never met and find a way to explain how she is somehow still alive.

Charity’s obsession with Emily was also really shocking. What were the discussions like about wanting to include that?

The first movie has a really big gay following, which we wanted to embrace. We wanted to meet those fans and not disappoint them. And so we were looking for opportunities to tell really great stories that also have a queer element to them. There was a wonderful podcast that was completely devoted to the first movie and it was three queer women who were doing A Simple Podcast. They were a big reason why we ended up doing a sequel at all because they interviewed the key cast, Paul and me, and it just revived all of our interest in the project and gave Paul the idea to do a sequel. So the queer element of the franchise is baked in as far as we’re concerned to the storytelling and the relationship between Anna and Blake in the movie we see as a love story. It may not be a romantic story, but we see it as primarily a love story between two women. It may be twisted, but it is a love story.

What was Blake’s reaction to reading that in the script? What was Paul’s?

I was on strike during a lot of these developments and these conversations, and so I wasn’t part of all of them, but I think Blake really was behind this decision. I don’t think it was handed to her without her participation. My sense is that she really embraced it and wanted to do it.

I’m sure any director like Paul or even a big star like Blake will give notes on the script. Was there anything else that they brought to the table with this follow-up?

Yeah, one of the things that was really fun and that I didn’t know anything about going into the writing was this cottagecore phenomenon, and Blake is really interested in it. So, she brought that idea, which you can see in the Charity character, that she’s dressed in this really old gingham dress and she has this hairstyle that’s really retro and that came from Blake directly. She really is interested in cottagecore and I just didn’t know what it was when she brought it up.

I wanted to ask about the fashion in this film, because Emily’s extravagant style adds a lot to her character. Did you envision any of the looks for her character when writing the script? And did Blake have a say in additional costumes?

Blake had a massive say in the fashion, and I think she had a great collaboration with our amazing costume designer. I always knew that the character was glamorous in the first movie, but I also tried to stay in my lane. I’m not a costume designer. I’m not a fashionista. I’m not part of that world. And so I will indicate the feel of what somebody looks like without getting too specific about the items of clothing, because I know the costume designer and the actor are going to come in and they’re going to come up with something better than what I could imagine. And they did. Off of the first movie, we knew that Blake’s fashion would be a major element in the second movie. And I think that was a really exciting opportunity for everyone involved, mostly the costume designer and Blake, to really think, “How can we outdo what we did in the first movie? What new looks can we bring to the character?” Especially being in Europe on this location wedding.

There were two looks I loved, and I thought they were so funny. One was the huge hat that Emily wore because it was just so over the top.

That wasn’t part of her costume, and she found it shopping in Capri and bought it, and they put it in the movie. So that hat was a discovery while they were on the set.

Also, the all-black morning outfit, when it’s first revealed that it’s Charity.

Yes, It’s over the top. Everything about the movie is over the top, but we embraced the insanity of every element of it and just went for it.

Back to the twists, in the scene where Anna is on the truth serum and is blathering, what is the truth serum that is used and how did that idea come about?

That came from the very first draft of the script. I do have a funny story about this. I wrote that scene when I had a 102 fever with COVID-19 and was isolated from my family. I was in a kind of hallucinatory state, and I had this idea that it would be really fun to see Anna under the influence like that, where she just can’t stop telling the truth, but her truth is so much more innocent than anyone else in the story. Her truth is about lying to become PTA president and that kind of thing. So, that idea came from being so sick and having such a high fever that I myself was in that hallucinatory state and put it in the script.

Wow, I’m so sorry to hear that.

No, it was actually a gift. I was better a few days later, but actually, it’s kind of fun as a writer when things happen to you and you’re able to use them, not a bad thing.

What happened between Stephanie and Sean in between the films. We see Sean really struggling trying to cope with everything that happened in the first one. Why didn’t they get back together and explore their connection more?

We had a different ending to the first movie, which was they did get together. And when we tested it for audiences, they really did not like that ending. And I think the reason was because they wanted Anna to have a full arc where she is on her own and has moved on with her life on her own, that it wasn’t about getting a man. That’s not what the movie’s about. It was a confusing ending because it made it seem like she won because she got Sean, which wasn’t really our intention, but I can understand how audiences saw it that way. So we actually changed the ending of the first movie from what it had been, and we shot the ending where they got together at the end. It’s a flash mob scene where he proposes to her and it’s on YouTube and it’s an extra on the DVD, but we didn’t use it. So, we did get them together and that turned out to not be what audiences were wanting.

Why decide to kill him off in this one?

The truth is that it did not come from me. That was a decision made after I was involved with the script. So, you would have to ask the other writer.

It was interesting how it’s assumed that when Stephanie goes to Capri, Emily will want revenge on her for everything that previously happened. But it seems like that wasn’t Emily’s intention, especially since she saved her from being killed. Would you say Emily is a real friend to Stephanie, and is their friendship something you wanted to focus more on in this sequel?

In the first movie, we start them as friends and they end up as arch-enemies. We thought it would be interesting in the second movie to do the reverse arc. So they start out as enemies, and they become unlikely friends by the end. The thing that the audience expects is that Emily has some really dark plan up her sleeve for revenge on Stephanie. And if we did that, it would just play directly into the audience’s expectation. So, we wanted to subvert that expectation that Emily actually regards Stephanie as a friend, which may seem odd, but she really does not have very many friends in her life. She doesn’t have anyone she can trust, and she knows that at her core, Stephanie is a good person, that she is somebody with integrity and that she’s not evil. She really wants to have an ally on this trip where she’s venturing into a very dangerous world that she doesn’t really know and she needs a sidekick and protection. And ironically, that’s Stephanie.

Emily was a really good friend to Dante by helping to keep his relationship a secret. Do you think that she’s misunderstood?

I think she’s very complicated, and I think the best villains in cinema are very human and very complicated. And they, of course, have moments of sincerity and moments of vulnerability and moments of kindness because they’re human. And so I do think that she has moments of humanity that are just as surprising as all of the other twists and turns.

At the end, we see Emily stay in Italy and Charity go to jail, though everyone thinks it’s the real Emily. Why didn’t she come forward and say what really happened?

She’s already in so much trouble, and she’s at risk of going back to prison for her previous crimes. She wants to be free and ultimately to be with her son. At the end of the second movie, she finds a solution that checks every box. It gets her everything she wants, and Charity deserves to go to prison for what she’s done. So it’s not like it’s unfair to Charity.

Dante’s mom hands her a letter asking for another simple favor, but what revenge is she looking for now that Charity will be behind bars?

I guess we’ll have to find out in the third movie. The truth is I don’t even know! (Laughs.)

Well, that leads me to, is there more to her story you’d want to explore in a potential third film?

Definitely. I mean, it’s been talked about and I think we’d all love to revisit these characters in this story in success.

Do you think we’d have to wait another seven years?

No, I don’t, because honestly, as Paul pointed out, we didn’t even have the idea for the sequel until several years after the first movie had come out. So, I think now it’s on a more accelerated track if the second movie is successful.

With Emily staying in Italy, what does her future look like while kind of hiding out there?

I don’t really know. I will have to roll up my sleeves and figure it out if I’m invited back to the party.

Has the noise about It Ends With Us been a distraction surrounding this film, and how has that affected you?

I haven’t experienced it, I feel for what she’s going through right now, but last weekend, we had the premiere, and it was just a celebration about the work and the film, and that noise didn’t really come into play as far as I could tell. But no, it doesn’t really affect me at all. I’m excited about the movie. I’m excited for people to see it. We have so many fans of the first movie who have been looking forward to it, and I hope that they’re able to come to it and focus on what’s in the movie and not all of the extra stuff that really has nothing to do with the movie.

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Another Simple Favor is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.