The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff sits down with producer Jerry Bruckheimer to talk about his latest collaboration with Disney,
Young Woman and the Sea
.
The film tells the inspiring true tale of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to conquer the English Channel in 1926. She’s played by Daisy Ridley in the movie.
Bruckheimer also shares an exciting update on the upcoming Untitled Formula One Racing Movie starring Brad Pitt.

Jerry Bruckheimer is a legendary Hollywood producer who seems to have his thumb on the pulse of blockbuster films. There’s a special magic that happens, however, when Bruckheimer teams up with Disney, resulting in epic adventures like Pirates of the Caribbean or heartwarming, inspirational classics like Remember the Titans. In their latest collaboration, with star and executive producer Daisy Ridley, Young Woman and the Sea captures both that sense of adventure and inspiration in the remarkable true story of Trudy Ederle.

“This woman was a worldwide phenomenon,” Bruckheimer says of Ederle, portrayed by Ridley in the film. Young Woman and the Sea is based on the novel by Glenn Stout about Ederle who dared to brave the English Channel in the 1920s, ultimately becoming the first woman ever to successfully conquer that 21-mile swim. Buffeted by strong currents and challenged at every stroke, the Olympic swimmer set her mind on an unbelievable task and became “a trailblazer for female athletics” at a time “when they said women shouldn’t be in the water.”

Ahead of its theatrical release, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff had the opportunity to sit down with Bruckheimer and discuss why this film, seven years in the making, was such an important story to tell. The producer shares the mantra he does business by, combining education and entertainment to make unforgettable films, like Dangerous Minds and Black Hawk Down, that celebrate extraordinary lives. In addition to Young Woman and the Sea, he also talks with Perri about Ridley as an up-and-coming producer, Brad Pitt’s untitled F1 project and why it’s the Top Gun: Maverick of racing movies, and Bad Boys: Ride or Die.

Check out all of this and more in the video above or in the transcript below.

Young Woman and the Sea The story of competitive swimmer Trudy Ederle, who, in 1926, was the first woman to ever swim across the English Channel.Release Date May 31, 2024 Runtime 100 Minutes Main Genre Biography Writers Jeff Nathanson , Glenn Stout Expand

The Secret to Jerry Bruckheimer’s Success
Image via Paramount Pictures

PERRI NEMIROFF: What is something about your approach to filmmaking that’s stayed the same since day one, but then can you also tell us something that you’ve been doing differently recently given how the industry has evolved?

JERRY BRUCKHEIMER: Nothing different. I always make movies I want to see. That’s the only mantra I have. I don’t know about you, I don’t know what the audience likes. I have no idea. If I read something or see something or hear about something that I would like to see, I try to get it made. But I don’t know, someday that’s gonna all change because I’ll like something nobody else will, and you’ll be talking to somebody else here.

Is there anything in particular you were surprised to like and pursue recently?

BRUCKHEIMER: Well, this is one of them. I mean, you’d never think I’d make a story this emotional about this woman, but we’ve been doing it a lot. We like to tell stories that educate and entertain, and this is a movie that does both. We told the story Dangerous Minds about this phenomenal teacher up in Northern California who changed these kids’ lives. We did Veronica Guerin, a journalist who lost her life because she was writing about drugs in Ireland. We did Remember the Titans about these two coaches that will never be forgotten, and Glory Road, the same thing. We did Black Hawk Down about those 18 men who were killed, and the parents came up to me, “Thank you so much for making the story about our sons.” They’ll never be forgotten. So, those are stories. Now, Trudy is a story that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s unbelievable.

That’s wild to me.

BRUCKHEIMER: When you see the archival footage at the end of the movie about the parade, you say, “Oh my god, this woman was a worldwide phenomenon who just completely got wiped out.” Now we’re bringing her back because women should know about her. She was a trailblazer for female athletics, for all the women today who are competing, when they said women shouldn’t be in the water. It’s a great story.

One of the things that I was thinking after I watched it is, this movie will inspire others to take up swimming, whether it’s competitively or as a hobby. Have you ever seen a movie that’s inspired you to do something or try something new?

BRUCKHEIMER: I think as a teenager, most probably yes. I don’t know what that was, but I think we all get inspired by movies. Top Gun, when it came out, recruiting for the Navy went up 500%. So, we do change things for the better. I’m just thrilled that we get to entertain the audience. We say we’re in the transportation business; we try to transport you from one place to another, take you away from your life for two hours, and make you feel something. That’s what Young Woman in the Sea does. It makes you feel something. When you walk out, you feel better.

I can very much confirm that that was my reaction to this movie, genuinely.

Even though it seems very obvious to me why someone would adapt this story into a movie, I was reading that it took seven years to get this film off the ground. What were some of the hurdles you had to overcome to make it happen, and what would you call the game-changer that finally made the green light happen?

BRUCKHEIMER: I think it was Disney. The people at Disney. Executive Sam Dickerman and his team there really fell in love with the script, and they kept bothering us. We were at other studios, and he said, “If you ever get it out of there, please bring it to me.” He really championed it and made sure it got made and was our cheerleader throughout the whole process.

What Took So Long for ‘Young Woman and the Sea’ to Make Waves?
“It’s a big epic look at her life and her world.”

I’m glad Disney swooped in, but why didn’t that happen sooner? How did no one bite sooner?

BRUCKHEIMER: Because conventional wisdom is that sports movies just don’t do well. They just don’t. They’re inspirational, they test well, but nobody shows up. So, we’ve got to prove them wrong, and the way you prove them wrong is by you talking about it, writing about it, and telling an audience what an extraordinary movie this is, what a great experience it is, that it’s something you have to see on a big screen. It’s a big epic look at her life and her world.

Absolutely. And also, I beg to differ because you made a high-quality movie, and we also had another phenomenal female-led swimming movie that was Oscar-nominated recently. Anyone can see that there is a lot of value in this industry with these kinds of films and stories.

BRUCKHEIMER: We had a screening last night with a lot of Hollywood people there, and David O. Russell was there, and he’s sitting in the audience and he says, “Oh boy, another just drama.” And then he got caught up in it and just loved the movie, and he went over to the Disney executives, “You have to keep this in theaters! This is such a good movie. You gotta let this build.” He loved it, and he’s somebody who tells you he doesn’t like it or if he likes it. So, he was really enthusiastic about it.

Diana Nyad was at the screening last night, and she went up to Daisy and loved the movie and thought she did an amazing job. She actually had met Trudy, so that’s really interesting.

Related ‘Nyad’ Review: Annette Bening and Jodie Foster Swim To Crowd-Pleasing Depths Based on Diana Nyad’s epic swim, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s feature is a riveting sports drama.

You brought up Daisy just now, so I’ll go to her next. You are one of the most prolific Hollywood producers we have. As of late, she is producing more and more, so what is something about her as a producer that you think will benefit the future of Hollywood?

BRUCKHEIMER: She has great instincts about the script. She really does. She’s a good storyteller. She’s very smart about her character. We spent hours and hours with her working on the script and reading things through with the rest of the cast, and she had a lot of great ideas and helped us enormously.

I like hearing that. I have all the faith in her in the world.

Brad Pitt’s F1 Film Is ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ for Racing
Image via Columbia Pictures

I wanted to ask about an upcoming movie. Before I even say “the Untitled Formula One Racing Movie,” are we going to get a title for that soon?

BRUCKHEIMER: So far it’s still F1 Untitled, but you’ll have a title soon.

I’ll take it. In general, I love Joseph’s work, but one of my favorite things about Top Gun: Maverick is how he revolutionized the way that we photograph fighter pilot movies. Is there anything in particular he’s doing on that film that will change the game in terms of how we photograph racing movies?

BRUCKHEIMER: Absolutely. The cameras on F1, we put six cameras in the cockpit of F1, and they were about this big, now they’re this big, and they couldn’t move, they were stationary. Now he’s got them panning. So you can be on Brad’s face and pan to the car next to him. It’s unbelievable what he’s doing. He’s got 14 different camera positions on the car. We use four at a time because we don’t want to slow the cars down. Brad’s been training in the cars. It’s an F1 body that Joe helped design with Mercedes over an F2 engine, which is a 200-mile-an-hour engine, and Brad’s learned how to drive it. The drivers who are training him say he’s a natural athlete and he’s a great driver. Damson, the same thing.

We just got back from Abu Dhabi. We spent two weeks there filming. We’re very fortunate, we’re one of the few people that the strike hurt but not as much as other people because Joe got to direct all the stuff with the cars that initially a second unit director was going to do. So last year, we were following all the races without the actors, shooting all the car footage and the driving footage. Now we’re putting our actors in the car and doing the dramatic stuff, and we go back to all the different places and film again. So, it’s really exciting. It’s a fabulous world. We’re so lucky to be part of it. They’ve been great partners with us, the F1 people. Those drivers, there are only 20 of them. There’s only 10 teams, 20 guys, and they’re picked by if they’re a great driver — and they start when they’re seven or eight years old — if they’re charismatic, and if they’re good looking. So you look at these young men, and they’re all very handsome, but they’re phenomenal drivers. They’re the best drivers in the world. Just to see them go over 220 miles an hour coming around these turns and going down to 50 miles an hour, it’s extraordinary, and you’re watching Brad do this. It’s a world that people are going to be captivated with. Another emotional story. So, it’s gonna be really good.

Oh, I believe it. I’m excited to see it. But now I’m even more excited to see the behind-the-scenes!

BRUCKHEIMER: But you have to see another one. We have Beverly Hills Cop [Axel F] coming out on Netflix, and then we have Bad Boys [Ride or Die]. Both of them are really good. We just had some previews for Bad Boys, and the reviews, fans flipped over it.

Young Woman and the Sea will open in select theaters beginning May 31 before premiering on Disney+ later this year. Click the link below for showtimes.

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