The BAFTA-winning filmmaker opens up about staging real stunts, collaborating with Mark Wahlberg and keeping Christmas warmth alive through explosive action.
Simon Cellan Jones is a BAFTA-winning filmmaker known for his precise action choreography and ability to balance spectacle with heart. In The Family Plan 2, he takes the Morgan family out of their comfort zone and into a European holiday adventure packed with double decker bus chases, family tensions and Christmas warmth. The director sat down to discuss his creative partnership with Mark Wahlberg, the challenges of filming in London and his advice for emerging filmmakers.
The first film became one of Apple TV’s most viewed features. What core storytelling principles did you want to preserve and what did you deliberately reinvent?
Simon Cellan Jones: We wanted to have the same family in a completely different environment. We wanted to take them out of their comfort zone, put them right into the holiday season with all the fun and love and joy that that brings, but also all the family tensions. Your children, you love them, you want to protect them, but they sometimes just drive you crazy.
You brought the action from that double decker bus fight to all of the fighting scenes that were basically iconic. Walk us through how you staged and shot the double decker bus scene, the bus fight scene.
Simon Cellan Jones: We did that for real. We had very little stunt work there. There were the two main actors driving through London. We had to close streets and bridges and big areas of London. Of course, we were fighting the weather because it’s London, so it’s cold, it’s raining and we have to make it look like it isn’t. But that was one of the most fun scenes to stage.
Working with Mark Wahlberg and having collaborated on Arthur the King as well as Family Plan 2, what makes your partnership click, both creatively and personally?
Simon Cellan Jones: I love the guy. He’s very fun to work with. He supports the people he’s working with. He’s super professional and of course, he has that certain something we can’t identify that makes him so fantastic on camera. Je ne sais quoi, right?
You’ve worked across both film and TV from Boardwalk Empire to this film right here. What’s one piece of practical advice that you give emerging directors about balancing creative vision with production realities on a project of this scale?
Simon Cellan Jones: I think whatever the scale, it could be like a $5,000 short or it could be a multimillion dollar film. I think what you have to do is you have to put the money on the screen. So whatever kind of project it is, you have to be super prepared. You have to think of all the tricks you can do to save the money and look after your crew. But yeah, it’s a way of getting the most drops of juice out of the orange.
Your projects are also known for precision, from action choreography to location logistics. For emerging directors, how important is preparation and how do you leave room for spontaneity once the cameras roll?
Simon Cellan Jones: That’s a great point. You have to have a really major plan. You have to walk into the beginning of the day knowing exactly what you want, and then you have to be ready for it to either go wrong or maybe something better comes along. So you should be ready to go, wait a minute, that’s better than my idea. Let’s go with that.
As a storyteller, how do you keep your creative fire alive between projects and ensure that each film still feels fresh, personal and connected to your audience?
Simon Cellan Jones: I think it’s really important in this world to have a life outside your job. I have a family. I try and keep myself busy outside of work because if you just live for your work only, you can get a little stale.
What are some of those hobbies that you have outside of work?
Simon Cellan Jones: Managing children, dogs and cats.
Amid the explosions and the stunts, this film still feels like a Christmas movie. How did you weave in that warmth into the pacing and the visual tone?
Simon Cellan Jones: A city like London looks fantastic at Christmas. There’s hundreds and hundreds of gorgeous lights. The streets are crowded. Of course, Christmas or the holiday season is always a beautiful time. It’s when you get your family back together. And of course, it’s a time when people’s emotions get a little strong. So you have to remember not to sort of get too heightened and not to get into those huge family rows that sometimes happen.