In a genre often driven by reboots, legacy characters, and fan service, director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson had something more thoughtful in mind with I Know What You Did Last Summer.
The new film acts as a sequel to 1998’s I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, with a fresh cast running from the serial killer known as the “Fisherman.” Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Jonah Hauer King, and Tyriq Withers are the new group of friends on the run from a horrible mistake. With nods to slasher classics, twists of modern genre subversion, and a heart that beats for its female characters, Robinson’s take on I Know What You Did Last Summer brings back familiar faces, but with purpose.
Eric Charbonneau/Sony Pictures via Getty
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and Sarah Michelle Gellar at the ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ premiere
In addition to featuring two original franchise stars — Jennifer Love Hewitt as Julie James and Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Ray Bronson — the director managed to pull off two major surprises: the return of Sarah Michelle Gellar as Helen Shivers in a haunting dream sequence, as well as Brandy Norwood as Karla Wilson, Julie’s college roommate, still alive and thriving years after surviving the events of the 1998 sequel.
Robinson says she explored “a couple of different iterations of how Helen was gonna fit in the movie” before landing on Gellar’s Croaker Queen dream sequence.
On set, the production kept the scene hush-hush, so much so that some members of the cast didn’t know it was happening. In fact, one of the actors in the scene had no idea who his scene partner would be. He was left in the dark until the moment he walked onto the set.
“Josh (Orpin), who played Wyatt, who was dead on the floor in the dream sequence, didn’t know,” Robinson says. “No one had told him what he was shooting. So he came in to do one more thing for the film and was in the makeup chair, and they were making him look dead. And he looked at Madelyn and was like, ‘What are we doing today?’ And she’s like, ‘Oh my God, no one’s told you.'”
Using a skeleton crew to film the scene, the director adds, “It was one of those things where it was kind of lock and key. It was never even in any of the pages. They were kind of pages unto themselves, and we really tried to do it as secretively as we could, so that it didn’t get out that she was in the movie. I think we succeeded.”
Another big reveal for fans: Brandy’s return as Karla, one of horror’s rare Black final girls. In Robinson’s film, Karla isn’t just alive, she’s winning.
“Her house has to be gorgeous. Her man has to be gorgeous. Her life has to be perfect,” Robinson says. “Karla is living. Capital ‘L’ living. And I needed her to have the best life ever. That was so important to me.”
Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Brandy Norwood and Jennifer Love Hewitt in ‘I Still Know What You Did Last Summer’
That scene, which closes the film, wasn’t just fan payoff; it was the culmination of intentional character work. “Just like Helen, it was kind of like a couple of different iterations of how Karla could fit into the movie. But all of that also was in tandem with how Julie James fit into the movie,” Robinson explains.
“Once (Hewitt) and I nailed down what her arc was going to be and what Julie was going to be in the movie, then I was able to think about how do we bring Karla into this in a way that feels purposeful and fun and not just like shoved in there to be there,” she adds.
When Robinson first called Brandy, the reaction was instant: “She was so excited. She was like, ‘Yes, of course, I wanna come back. I love I Know What You Did Last Summer.’
“Of course, it’s a big deal,” adds the filmmaker. “I wanted to set up an empowering return for Karla and Julie. That was always the goal.”
In an era where legacy sequels often cram in every possible returning character, some fans wondered why Barry Cox, played by Ryan Phillippe, didn’t pop up, especially after Gellar posted a photo with him from the set of the ’97 film.
© Columbia-Mandalay
Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Jennifer Love Hewitt in ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ (1997).
“I mean, I think honestly it just starts to become too many things,” Robinson admits. “I love Ryan. I think his performance is amazing. I think Barry Cox is amazing. But… we wanted to make sure that we weren’t doing fan service for fan service, but that it worked with the story.”
Instead, she focused on character cameos that reinforced the arc of Julie James and the overall story of survival, healing, and growth.
From the callback to Hewitt’s famous “What are you waiting for?” line, to the themes of female friendship and reclamation, Robinson’s film may be steeped in nostalgia, but it’s rooted in something fresher.
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“There is no Julie James without a good ‘What are you waiting for?'” she said. “The way that we tried to subvert it and have fun with it and who she’s talking to and all of it is, to me, very fun.”
Ultimately, Robinson hopes audiences embrace this next chapter of I Know What You Did Last Summer for what it is: a love letter to girlhood, survival, and evolution. “That’s what I wanted it to be,” she said. “And you know, I hope that everybody can enjoy it… even if it is an empowering film for women.”
I Know What You Did Last Summer is now playing.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
