'Murder Mystery 2' director says he lied to Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler about changing the ending to keep them 'a little bit unsure' of the final reveal
- "Murder Mystery 2" is now streaming on Netflix.
- Director Jeremy Garelick told Insider that tried to trick the cast into thinking he had changed the ending.
"Murder Mystery 2" director Jeremy Garelick said that he lied to the cast, including Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler, about changing the ending to the film to keep them guessing who the killer was.
In the sequel, which is now streaming on Netflix, Nick (Adam Sandler) and Audrey (Jennifer Aniston) Spitz are on a mission to save their friend the Maharajah (Adeel Akhtar) after he is kidnapped at his own wedding.
The pair soon theorizes that the kidnapper, and the killer of the Maharajah's bodyguard, is likely a member of the wedding party. The cast of suspects is played by Jodie Turner-Smith, Enrique Arce, Zurin Villanueva, Melanie Laurent, John Kani, and Kuhoo Verma.
In an interview with Insider, Garelick said that the cast knew ahead of filming who the assailant would be, but he tried to trick them into thinking the ending had changed.
"I think I told all of them that we were thinking about changing the ending, depending on what was happening and just to get in their minds," Garelick said with a laugh. "Keep that a little bit unsure."
The 47-year-old director also said that he instructed the cast to say lines in different ways in order to have multiple takes to choose from and create more suspense for the viewer about the mystery.
"We did make sure to get levels from everybody in different moments where one person may have been a little bit meaner or sweeter," Garelick said.
"We really wanted to find that balance of: 'Is this person the bad guy?' 'Is this person the bad guy?' 'Oh, wait, no. Oh yes, actually I was right.' Murder mysteries are kind of like a game where you participate as an audience member ... going along the journey with Nick and Audrey trying to figure out who did it, and thinking that we're smart and then being told we're not."
The tricks may not have been necessary because Sandler and Aniston told "Entertainment Tonight" Canada that they forgot who the killer was by the time they filmed the final reveal.
The sequel has a new director in Garelick and leans more toward action-heavy sequences compared to the first movie.
Garelick told Insider that he hopes "deep down" that critics like this movie more, but his focus is on the audience.
"I never set out to make a movie for critics," Garelick said. "I set out to make a movie for the audience and for people. I like to make a movie that I would wanna watch, and that's my intention."
"I hope that we have some critical success," he added. "Obviously, I'm a person with feelings and worked really hard on this movie, and when people say they like the movie, no matter who it is, I'm always like, 'Oh, that's great.' And when people say they hated the movie, I'm like, 'Oh, you know, I feel bad.' It's a challenging thing to have your work judged by so many people — unless, of course, they love it. Then it's amazing."
"Murder Mystery 2" is now available to stream on Netflix.