The Wrath of Becky explodes into existence like a cross between Kick-Ass and Green Room, taking the structure of the first film, Becky, and duplicating it while continuing the overarching story. A teenage girl was left a mysterious key by her mother before she passed away, and there's something about the key that interests a collective of neo-Nazi scumbags. The first film found her becoming an orphan but fighting back against the killers, and in The Wrath of Becky, fate leads her to a neo-Nazi compound to retrieve her stolen dog and to satiate some bloodlust.
Lulu Wilson returns as the titular tough girl, a sardonic semi-psycho straight out of an anime. She's been training after the incidents of Becky, and she's seemingly itching for a fight. She finds one with The Noble Men, a group of alt-right extremists led by Darryl, played to perfection by Seann William Scott. She has the upper hand, and unleashes a gory plan to take them down. Co-directors Suzanne Coote and Matt Angel (who also wrote and stars in the film), Wilson, and Scott spoke with MovieWeb about the badass sequel which premiered at South by Southwest.
Matt Angel and Suzanne Coote Punch Nazis
The Wrath of Becky is entertaining as hell, partly because it doesn't take itself too seriously. It flirts with ridiculousness, but this makes it more enjoyable, giving audiences license to enjoy watching a teenager kill people. It also helps that those people are Nazis; in a weird way, the two Becky films are some of the most fun reactionary movies released to combat the Trump years. The Noble Men and their operation are of course a reflection of the rising alt-right extremism across the world, but especially in America.
"I very intentionally wanted to lean into the — sadly not as satirical as it should be — but satirical nature of this world without ever saying Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, or Trump," explained Angel. "I never wanted to say the words, I wanted this to exist in its own reality. But I wanted to make sure the name was an absolute, obvious, ripped name. Literally, I was like, 'I don't know, they're like the Proud (noble) Boys (men) [...] They should have a flag right? Should it have a snake on it? It should have a snake on it!"
While The Wrath of Becky isn't an ideological film, it is a politically reactive one. In a way, it feels like wish-fulfillment, a vicarious fantasy getting to watch the violent extremists get defeated. It's kind of like Inglourious Basterds that way (if Brad Pitt was a teenage girl). It's cathartic. "The email I sent, when we sent the first draft to the team," said Angel, "the email just said, 'Care for some catharsis?' with the Attention."
"I wear it as a badge of honor, because I love the movie," explained Coote when asked about the idea of liberal wish-fulfillment. "Matt and I talk about how we broke it, he wrote it in three weeks, and I think that was possible because it's a reality we're all living. I'm not gonna say it's our dream to go around killing people off the bat, but it is cathartic in a lot of ways. And I wear it as a badge of honor because it's a really fun movie."
"Is it okay to punch people? No. Is it okay to punch Nazis?" smiled Angel.
"He's nice, he says maybe. But I'm like, yes," laughed Coote. "We punch Nazis in this house."
Bringing Up Becky with Lulu Wilson
What's even more delicious about punching Nazis? A teenage girl owning the fist. Wilson returns in The Wrath of Becky and she's even more interesting and enjoyable to watch. She was as happy to return as we were to see her. "I've known about Becky for so long, since I was 11," said Wilson. 11 for her, though, is already multiple years into a successful career that includes Deliver Us from Evil, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Annabelle: Creation, and Wyrm.
"The script came to me, and immediately I was so damn excited. Like, for an 11-year-old girl, that is a crazy opportunity," gushed Wilson. "And stepping back into it, I mostly had to just be able to evolve this character, and to be able to see where we could take Becky and how far we can take this whole movie. I was so lucky to have Matt and Suze because they're such collaborative people, and they took Seann and I's ideas so to heart and so seriously, and it was amazing." Wilson continued:
We just really worked on making sure we addressed what had happened within those two years between the first and the second movie, how that's affected Becky and the way she views things now with her life, and just what's going on. And then obviously sh*t hits the fan, and it gets crazy, and it's amazing. Obviously that drew me to the second one too, because it's a million times bloodier and crazier than the first one.
Becky bathed in blood — a resistance figure.
Seann William Scott Perfects a Villain
The antagonists in The Wrath of Becky are phenomenal, a group of maliciously misogynist Nazis (like there's any other kind) led by the surprisingly complicated, fascinating Darryl. The awesome Seann William Scott, known for his comedic roles in the American Pie films and the sports rom-com masterpiece Goon and its sequel, is stunning as the lead villain here. It's a difficult role, a character who embodies hatred and the worst impulses of ideology, and yet someone who is oddly complex, very intelligent, and sometimes even thoughtful. Still, asking a comic actor to play a neo-Nazi out to kill a teenage girl is a tall order.
"I loved the first Becky, and I heard that Suzanne and Matt were interested in me for their movie, and then I read the script and just loved the script," explained Scott. "We got on the phone, and it was such a great it was such an awesome conversation. Because, you know, you can have ideas for a character and share them to a director, and that can really piss them off. Like, 'F*ck you, man. I love what's in here.' And then it wasn't like that at all. They were interested. Then the character sort of evolved." Scott elaborated:
It was already just a really different and cool creative experience, even before I got to set. So it was a totally different character than I've played. I have played some darker guys, but this was just different, because the movie was different [...] I had this opportunity to do something like totally different, and really sink my teeth into it, so it was just exciting all around. I feel like it was an opportunity to show a different side of what I can do. And then we're on set and I was like, "Okay, now I gotta make sure I don't ruin this movie. That was my motivation."
"What Seann brought to this character and this film, we can't say enough about," added Angel. "The great directors talks about this, like when you have an actor sit down with you and go, 'I like it. I want a monologue, I want this backstory,' it's so exciting, not only as a fellow actor but as the writer and as the directors. Because you have someone who wants to sink their teeth into something. What the character was, was one thing, and what it became when Seann got involved, is a completely different level of human and disturbing."
"He is likable," said Coote. "Leaders have to be likable in a lot of places."
"When we were shooting it," explained Scott, "we were talking about his military experience. That informs so much of how he thinks and what he does. There's this level of him having a real respect for this young girl, for Becky, as he's starting to put it together. And you know, as opposed to just wanting to destroy her, that there was this like [feeling of], 'Wow, well done.'"
Lulu Wilson Longs for Becky 3
It's true — the battle of wits and wiles between Becky and Darryl is thrilling and oddly affecting, and ends The Wrath of Becky on a somewhat haunting, unique, and clever note.
"It's so important, and it says so much," added Wilson, "and Becky's reaction to that too is, I think, kind of telling about where this could go." So where could Becky go? The Wrath of Becky certainly sets up a third film that could be extremely different, and Wilson is more than down.
"I friggin love Becky. I love playing Becky. I've already seen the second one over four times. I would like to see what is gonna happen to this girl next, because she gets into a lot of crazy stuff. And she's doing it for me. I don't have to be murdering, punching — I'm living vicariously through Becky."
We all are. From Quiver Distribution, The Wrath of Becky will be exclusively in theaters beginning May 26th.