‘The Family Plan 2′ Combats Holiday Chaos, Teen Angst, and New Foes

The holidays are already stressful as it is with chaotic family trips, overbearing parents, and tourist traps—but throwing in a nemesis from the past coming to settle old feuds? Now, that’s a holiday the family will talk about over the dinner table for years to come (if they survive, at least).

Dan Morgan knows all about high-stakes family vacays, if The Family Plan was anything to go by. After surviving a catastrophe when his secret government assassin life is exposed, the Morgans are trying to return to normalcy with a Christmas holiday in Europe. That is, until an unexpected enemy (Kit Harrington) sets his sights on the family to settle unfinished business. 

Ahead, we speak to director Simon Cellan Jones on the bigger stakes and stunts in The Family Plan 2, as well as the Morgan family played by Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Van Crosby, and Zoe Colletti, and newcomer Reda Elazouar on holiday chaos, kicking butt in Europe, and more.

There’s a challenge with sequels. How did you approach The Family Plan 2 so that it felt fresh and exciting, but also still familiar to fans who loved the first one?

Simon Cellan Jones: For the sequel, what we thought would be exciting as well as make the biggest difference and the best change was to take them out of America and into Europe. Suddenly, it’s a whole new environment that they have to navigate. Rather than fleeing killers, they’re going on holiday, and crazy things happen. Seeing the tables turn was a really fun development from the first film.

What went into deciding where they would go and do?

SCJ: We were very excited to make a holiday movie because that’s something that makes families come together. I think London is one of the greatest cities in the world, so I love the idea of a group of Americans out of their depth in London. [laughs]

Kit Harrington is known for being a heroic figure on TV. Did he hesitate about playing the villain?

SCJ: I think he was thrilled to do it! You’re right, he has been a great heroic figure in a brilliant serial for years. But I think he loved the opportunity to push himself in a different direction, and he was excited about the width of the character and his dark history.

You and Mark have formed a partnership in film. Why choose a story of a government agent trying to change his life, but the past continues to haunt him?

SCJ: I think Mark is one of the few actors who can play this character. You believe him as a sort of physical military kind of person, but you also believe him as a normal dad. So what I loved about working with him on this film was that he had the range to cover this character almost perfectly.

The Family Plan 2 is an action-comedy. How did you make sure you had a good balance of both?

SCJ: You’re absolutely right, you have to balance everything in this genre. For this film, you want to have a grounded family and make it fun, funny, but also action-packed. The thing I enjoyed the most was putting the humour into the action itself. You want the stakes to be high and for it to look dangerous and have your characters in peril, but at the same time, give audiences a little sense of humour about the action as well.

Speaking of action, the film features many high-octane scenes. Which was the most challenging?

SCJ: The most challenging was the car chase scene in Paris because it took place in a very big area, and we only had a week to shoot it. We had to close a few places down, and of course keep it safe, but also make it look very dangerous. It was the most challenging but also the most fun.

The location brings a unique aesthetic to the film. How did the place influence the film’s visuals and narrative tone?

SCJ: London and Paris are very beautiful and famous cities. We wanted to see the famous landmarks from them, but didn’t want The Family Plan 2 to be another picture postcard movie. So, to do that, we made sure to include different angles, side streets, rougher areas, and rooftops to get the full scope of these places. It was important to capture the beautiful stuff, but also see the underbellies of the cities.

Mark, you play both a suburban dad and an action hero. Which one did you find yourself enjoying more?

Mark Wahlberg: I’ve done the action hero stuff before quite a lot, but I also love the idea of playing a dad with a secret, juggling these two things, and trying to hold it all together. I enjoy playing a dad and perhaps even a grandad in the future. [laughs]

What is the biggest challenge in making a sequel?

MW: Making it better than the first. But it was always the goal; otherwise, it wasn’t worth doing again. And rather than doing it with just bigger set pieces, action and different backdrops, we wanted to focus on what made the first one so good, which was the family dynamic and introducing new family members.

You spoke Mandarin in that restaurant scene. How long did it take for you to memorise the dialogue, and how hard was it compared to French?

MW: Thank you, it was very difficult! Fortunately, I spoke to my Mandarin teacher a lot. He spent some time in Vegas with me, and he was actually in the scene with me on the day. I always want to make sure I try to at least be in the ballpark of whatever foreign language I’m learning, and that’s something I take seriously. It was months and months of practising.  

We see more action in this film. Michelle, you also take part in a fair bit of them in the sequel. What has Mark taught you about stuntwork?

Michelle Monaghan: I love doing stunts. I love being on a wire, I’m not afraid of heights, and  I love a good fight sequence. But it takes me a lot of time to choreograph, rehearse and make sure I’m doing it properly so I don’t hurt myself and most importantly, not injure anyone else. 

But I look at Mark, and I’m so jealous of him! [laughs] I’ve seen him learn a 30-second sequence, and it’s, like, 10 to 12 different moves. He just watches it, and he gets it almost immediately! That’s something that takes me a good month to learn, but he just rocks up on set on the day and gets it flawlessly. It’s a testament to his agility and experience of doing action throughout the years. He’s just great at it.

Do you guys do a lot of improvisation, and were there any times a take didn’t go according to plan?

MW: That happens quite a bit. They only use the good takes! I remember one scene in particular where we had to get out of the house, but I was drugged. I was purposefully grabbing things and making it difficult for me to get down the stairs. Getting everyone into that car was a nightmare. I didn’t make it easy! 

MM: Yes, and we were packed into that car like sardines for hours. Thank goodness we all sincerely like each other! [laughs] As far as improv goes, it was a great opportunity for us to do our thing respectively. Simon really encourages that, and we did it a lot in the first film, where we were in the van a lot. We all naturally found a rapport, and it was fun bringing that on screen. 

How would you compare the action between the two films, and which sequence was the most fun to shoot?

MW: We tried to amp up the action a little bit while still making it feel grounded and real. The most fun for everybody was probably the car chase and the fight on the bus. With the parkour sequences, seeing Paris from a totally different point of view was really nice because we were on a lot of rooftops and even a bell tower. 

MM: Being able to have the action sequences set against the incredible landmarks was really fun. I got to do a long jump and be on the wire. Flying through the air was really fun for me. 

What is the most powerful message the film delivers?

MM: Being there for each other throughout any challenge or struggle in life. It was so special seeing that in The Family Plan 2. As much as the family has evolved and grown into new directions in their lives, they’re all using their own respective skills and strengths to be there for each other and support one another. 

Just seeing how families grow together is another one. All these new milestones happen so fast, but at the end of the day, family is the most important thing, and  I think that’s something audiences around the world loved about the first film, and you’re going to see more of that in the sequel.

Zoe and Van, how did it feel to reunite with your on-screen family for the sequel? And Reda, what was it like to be welcomed into the Morgans?

Van Crosby: It was so exciting to come back and do something like this again. A lot of the time, as an actor, you will do a project, and you never see these people again when it’s over. It’s kind of sad in a way! Zoe and I stayed so close between filming that we immediately got on the phone together when we got the call that we were doing a second one. We spent so much time together, especially in a tiny car, that we actually became an actual family, so it was nice to revisit that for sure.

Zoe Colletti: It was the most exciting call you could get that we’re all going to be together again and do the work with some of your favourite people in the world. It was especially fun for me because my boyfriend in the first film was such a turd! [laughs] It was cool to know someone much cooler, and fun was coming in to film my scenes with.

Reda Elazouar: I was received very well. It was nice. I did wonder what it was going to be like joining a close-knit group, but it was everything and more. For me, Van, Zoe, Michelle, and Mark have been doing this longer than I have, so they have a lot more experience in the industry. As a new actor, being able to watch them and learn from the professionalism on set was amazing.

I was also over the moon when I found out I was cast. After seeing the first one and how the family dynamic was, I was interested to see how Omar would fit into that, and I was really happy with how it turned out.

What did you think of this script where everyone in the family has secrets?

VC: In this film, there’s a new dynamic of ‘we don’t keep secrets from each other, but we still do’. Some people are still going to come after Dan, Nina is hiding a new boyfriend, and Kyle is doing his hacker thing. So, there was an element of this in the first film, but it’s definitely different this time around, for sure.

ZC:  I think it’s interesting to see how badly Dan reacts when he finds out Nina is hiding something from him. It’s a funny dynamic, especially for Omar and Dan’s relationship.

RE: As a viewer of the first one, it was interesting to see how a lack of communication causes everyone to not tell the truth to each other, and it happens again in the second film. People are going to like watching this because they see themselves in this family and can fall into the same traps. 

What was it like having your own moments to shine in this sequel and playing to your character’s strengths?

VC: For Kyle, it was a natural progression from gaming to becoming this hacker that hijacks the mainframe! I get to be the guy in the chair, which is the second coolest job in every spy movie. [laughs] It was really awesome to be able to have something like that finally.

ZC: I was honestly really interested in what the progression of my character would be. For Van, I could predict that Kyle would be the tech guy, but I didn’t know the direction they would go for my character. She’s super passionate about being an activist. Introducing her boyfriend and why she’s learning to speak other languages, and using that as a strength, was really creative and a fluid progression of Nina from the first movie.

RE: It was amazing for me. Being a new character coming into this, you don’t really know what your involvement is going to be like fully once you read the script or even when you’re on set, because things really do change. But I feel like Simon and Mark were so gracious to kind of let me have those moments. 

I’m opposite a huge action movie star who’s a veteran in this industry, and even then, Mark would give me advice or let me have those moments to shine. He very much wanted me to look good, as well, and I really felt that kind of love on set.

Reda, you had to do parkour in the film. What was the training for you?

RE: I’ve never done any parkour before! I was trained by an amazing stunt team and by people who actually began the parkour movement for five weeks to get me up to scratch. But even then, I still had a stunt double who did most of the scenes. I would begin and end the stunt, but he would do everything in between that was dangerous.

At the rooftop, we didn’t know what they would look like exactly, so we were on the harness and just running as fast as we could. There was an amazing stunt team taking care of us, but it was a lot of making sure you don’t fall. If there are outtakes, you’ll see everyone tripping up because those Paris rooftops are slippery! If there is a third film, I would love to do more.

Sometimes, family movies make us reflect on independence and togetherness. What did this story teach you about that?

ZC: For my character, she moved out to a completely different country at the opposite side of the world. Nina clearly needed space to figure out who she was, and you can see that it was good for her. It’s a good representation of how space and allowing yourself that time can make you come back even closer, especially for the holidays. 

RE: Despite the distance, just watching Nina and her dad’s relationship was nice because communication brings them back together. They understand that Nina needs her own space, and they get to speak about that in the film.

Did you give any personal input to Simon in shaping your character?

ZC: Simon is the type of director who wants to have super open communication and make it collaborative in terms of what you want to bring to your character. I had calls with Simon and made Pinterest boards of how Nina would dress now. I got a lot of freedom in this film to talk about how she would be as a person now. 

RE: I had a sit-down with Simon at the beginning. Omar was written as French Nigerian, and I’m French Moroccan. I asked if he could change it, and he was like, “Yes, done!” [laughs] He was interested to see who I thought the character was. We had long conversations about it, and he really allowed me to inject my own self into who I thought the character would be in this film. 

VC: Once in a while, there would be some things we would tweak. As a young person in this role, I would mention how Kyle would say or phrase certain things. Simon is very graceful in giving us that freedom. In the first one, with the gaming stuff, I was able to bring that jargon to the table since I myself partake in that in real life, too.

For all of you, what advice would you give from the perspective of your character to succeed in a family high-stakes mission?

ZC: Don’t take your really young sibling with you on your mission. Don’t get taken hostage. They’re going to yell for your mom and cause the guy with the gun to come towards you. 

VC: Sometimes, your dad is right.

RE: Always listen to mom and dad. 

VC: You would be dumped if I listened to them!

RE: Okay, maybe not all the time… [laughs]

The Family Plan 2 is available to stream on AppleTV now.

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