Things get very eggs-istential in Scrambled, the hilarious new comedy from Leah McKendrick, who’s been generating buzz for penning the I Know What You Did Last Summer requel directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge). McKendrick wrote, directed, and starred in her new film based on her own experience deciding to freeze her eggs.

The irreverent, witty, and heartwarming indie movie tracks eternal bridesmaid Nellie Robinson (McKendrick) feeling the biological clock ticking amidst thirtysomething life and bleak romantic prospects. Mustering up courage, Nellie embarks on an empowering journey to freeze her eggs, only to realize that she’s “the one” she’s been looking for.

The comedy also stars Ego Nwodim (SNL), Andrew Santino (Dave, Beef), Adam Rodriguez (Criminal Minds, Magic Mike’s Last Dance), Laura Cerón (Station 19), and Clancy Brown (What If, Billions). The film marks McKendrick’s directorial debut. It’s yet another creative coup for the filmmaker, who’d been tapped to write the Grease prequel Summer Lovin’ before I Know What You Did Last Summer came along. In excerpts from this very candid MovieWeb interview, McKendrick opens up about her new film, indie filmmaking, the requel we’ve all been waiting for, and her love of comic books. Actually, let’s dive in there first.

Her Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn Trifecta
Lionsgate

Leah McKendrick says she always knew Hollywood was part of her destiny. She shares more about that in greater detail—from past lives to not feeling in sync with childhood—in our interview, and by the looks of it, the filmmaker is on a roll. She’s also set to direct the new Paramount romcom Better Late Than Never and will write the screenplay for TriStar’s reboot of the ’80s cult classic Troop Beverly Hills. Meanwhile, it’s her love of comic books that captured our attention, too. McKendrick grew up around the corner from a comic book store, and it was there where she and her older brother found inspiration.

“Comics have been very formative for me. I would walk around the comic book store and not see any girls. And when you’re a little girl, the way that you know what your section is in is because it’s really pink. So, I’d be looking for my girl section, and I was like, ‘Wait, but this is for kids, but there’s no girl section.’”

She said she found it very confusing, but thanks to her brother, she was drawn to comics featuring Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and many others.

“That’s why I made a short film about the origin story of Poison Ivy (Pamela & Ivy) that I directed, and I starred in, because she holds a very dear place in my heart. She was a woman in a man’s world, which is how I have felt a lot of my life and career. Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn are very near to me. I’m also a very big M. Night Shyamalan fan. The Sixth Sense is my favorite movie of all time. I’m a very big Jordan Peele fan. I mean, Get Out is perfection. I’m a very big Lena Dunham [Girls]. She was doing it before anyone was doing it—letting it all hang out. She writes, she directs, she stars in her own stuff. She’s fearless.”

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She’s also a big fan of filmmaker Julia Ducournau. “I’ve been mentioning her a lot because Raw is one of my favorite films, and Titane, I just think she is a wild woman. She keeps moving, and she doesn’t care if you are on her level. She’s going to do what she’s going to do, and she doesn’t wait for you to keep up. That’s so epic. That’s why I try to make my scripts snappy.”

About The Scrambled Script

Quick, breezy, and filled with laugh-out-loud moments, Scrambled is pure indie film magic. McKendrick’s writing and acting style recall Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, whose intelligence and fervor enliven their material. It makes sense then that the filmmaker says she grew up watching women in comedy. Even horror films. To that end, the screenplay for Scramble is fueled by these diverse creative leanings.

“There are no breaks for the characters to laugh,” the filmmaker says of her Scrambled script. “It’s like, ‘This is just them living.’ I admire the filmmakers that don’t hold back for the audience. I believe that the audience is smart, and they will catch up. They are on your level, and there’s no need to spoon-feed them. I believe you can trust your audience is with you.”

Between all the banter, McKendrick mentions how she’s always been drawn to fearless women. When asked if she, herself, is fearless, she laughed.

“No. I’m afraid all the time. I’m constantly in a state of fear. Very afraid. I’m terrified right now. I can barely sleep at night because I’m so scared of what the world or how the world is going to receive my film or not receive my film. Is the world even going to watch my film? I’m in a constant state of fear, but I’m very brave. I will say that. I feel a lot of fear, but I do it anyway.”

Why She Made Scrambled
Scrambled Release Date February 4, 2024 Director Leah McKendrick Runtime 1hr 37min Writers Leah McKendrick

In basing the movie on her own real-life experience, McKendrick used plenty of creative license, but in watching the story—and the actress—a rare authenticity shines through. McKendrick remembers where it all began.

“I thought I would be writing like Aaron Sorkin. The entire two weeks of freezing my eggs, I was like, ‘I’m going to write a masterpiece.’ And I was so sick and bloated and hormonal that I was just on the couch, to be totally honest. I didn’t have the energy or creativity in me to be dreaming. And I just wanted to watch a film that reflected my experience. It didn’t even need to be about egg freezing. To be totally honest, I wanted to see a single chick in her thirties fighting for her goddamn life, like I was. I didn’t feel like I was finding that. I was finding a lot of films about IVF and couples holding each other through the process, and I was like, ‘Nobody is holding me.’ So, I was taking notes when I could, and I would kind of put down thoughts and try to capture at least an emotion or a moment or a thought while I was going through the process.”

It wasn’t until a year later that several of her big studio films got killed in one day. What was originally intended to be her directorial debut, coupled with a bigger franchise project she had been working on for two-and-a-half years, took a detour.

“I thought, ‘I can’t keep devoting my nights and days to building dreams that are just going to be wiped away by the powers that be,” she said. “I have to be the cavalry. I can’t keep waiting for the cavalry, as Mark Duplass says.”

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She took one month to regroup to buy some time with her “overlords,” and thought: “I’m going to bang it out, and I’m going to direct it, and I’m going to star in it, and I’m not going into development, and I’ll make it for $5 with my friends if I have to, but it’s too dear to me to enter a system that will pick it apart and change it, and I won’t recognize it anymore.”

On I Know What You Did Last Summer
Lionsgate

To be sure, Leah McKendrick is jazzed to be on board with I Know What You Did Last Summer.

“I’m so excited. As soon as I’m hating the studio, I’m like, ‘Let me tell you how much I love my studio movie.’ I have to say, I had a conversation with Sony before pitching my ideas because I told her this exact story that I just told you—’I’m heartbroken. I don’t believe in this process anymore. I don’t want to give you my blood, my sweat, my tears, my soul, because that’s what I do. That’s how I write. I don’t know any other way of writing, but to give my entire heart to it. And I love this film. I love this franchise. I was such a huge Sarah Michelle Gellar fan. I mean, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is so formative for me. So, if you’re going to just pay me and maybe make it, get another writer. Because I can’t handle more deaths. I can’t handle more grief.’”

What transpired in the following conversation changed everything for McKendrick. Her brutal honesty changed the course of the next iteration of I Know What You Did Last Summer.

“There’s a hunger for nostalgic films,” McKendrick mused. “I Know What You Did Last Summer… Scream is really working. I Know What You Did Last Summer checked off a few boxes for me. There’s a great director attached who just came off of Do Revenge, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, and I wanted to work with Jen. I wanted to write my dream requel of this film. And this will be my goodbye, my bow out of writing studio film after studio film. So that’s going to be the last one.”

In the meantime, there’s Scrambled, which opens in theaters Feb. 2. Watch the trailer below.