Saturday Night Live, Hawkeye, and Comrade Detective director Rhys Thomas shared insights into his work and career in the Czech Republic on Wednesday, giving a masterclass as part of the Industry Days program of the 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF). Forget about an Englishman in New York! Thomas is a Welshman.
The Emmy Award-winning producer and director shared that when he joined Saturday Night Live, it took him a while to fully understand the brand of humor it represented. “As a Brit, I didn’t get it at first,” he shared about SNL, explaining that he couldn’t watch the show growing up in the U.K. “I wasn’t really that familiar with Saturday Night Live. [But] I knew that it was an institution.”
Thomas, one of the headliners of the inaugural Small-Screen Forum, organized by KVIFF with its partner CME, actually began his career on Saturday Night Live, where he directed more than 100 short films and headed up the film unit. After Cold War-era propaganda satire Comrade Detective for Amazon and A24, he directed and executive produced Hawkeye, the Marvel series for Disney+.
He is also known for his collaborations with John Mulaney and co-created and directed the doc satire series Documentary Now! Episodes of the latter are introduced by host Helen Mirren. So, how did he get such a big star for the project? “By asking Helen Mirren to do it,” Thomas told the masterclass. “Weirdly, she said yes.”
Thomas was asked on Wednesday if the show would return for a fifth season. “Very possibly,” he replied, without sharing more details.
Questioned about the Hawkeye series, he joked: “Hey look, we are all whores!” Thomas then shared that he had enjoyed Marvel content before getting a call about the series. “You get an opportunity for a bigger budget, and it’s Marvel, I mean, honestly, I’m not a stupid person,” he said. “I want to be entertained, and I like entertaining things.”
What drew him to the series? “Honestly, what interested me in that show was the Hawkeye character, which, amusingly, if you Googled him, … people were not interested in. Because he does not have any superpowers. He’s a real guy. He’s essentially just a guy who has an incredible work ethic. That’s what I found interesting.” The comic book run that the creators highlighted to him as “a tonal reference” was the popular and beloved Matt Fraction run, he added.
The creative also shared his tips on how to think about a show’s audience appeal: “I do think that sometimes that layer of jumping ahead to ‘what are people going to think about this’ can stifle and make you trip up. You kind of have to fly by your instinct. You do have to sort of just ground yourself in what you think works, and then build a team [around] that.”
KVIFF, which runs through Saturday, has already honored Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard, and Vicky Krieps, with Stellan Skarsgård set to receive an award later this week.