‘The Mother’ with Jennifer Lopez was streamed so much on Netflix in 2023 that it is now one of the most successful and most viewed titles in the history of the streaming service. A mother who does everything for her child and goes to the extreme is likely to be well received by the public. Producer Basil Iwanyk probably thought so too, because he is now making his own film with similar content and also calls it (after all, the title is difficult to improve): “The Mother”.
The fact that Iwanyk is familiar with action cinema, having launched the series “John Wick” and recently produced “John Wick 4” (see article image), helps increase our expectations. But the leading actress plays a role in this: Michelle Yeoh.
The Oscar winner (Best Actress for ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’) and action icon (including ‘Yes, Madam’, Police Story III, ‘Tiger & Dragon’) plays a woman who emigrated from her home country to America to build there a better life for their family. But when her two teenage sons end up in the Boston underworld and have to deal with a corrupt cop, this new life is threatened. But luckily the woman has a past that gives her the right tools to really clean up. And she does that because nothing can stop a mother when her children are in danger…
“The Mother” with Michelle Yeoh by Melanie Laurent
While Michelle Yeoh in “The Mother” is a strong woman eager to get in front of the camera, someone else works behind it. Because the actress Melanie Laurent directs. The Frenchwoman is best known for Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”, but also for “The Incredibles – Now You See Me” and “6 Underground”. In addition to her acting work, she has also directed several films, such as the thriller “Galveston” and most recently the Netflix actioner “Thieves”.
“The mother“ is scheduled for filming in the summer of 2024 and should therefore be released in 2025. The distribution rights are currently being offered on the Berlin film market. And maybe it’s not a theatrical distributor there, but Netflix, so that they can celebrate another ‘The Mother’ success (although the streaming service might consider renaming it to avoid confusion).
By the way, ‘The Mother’ isn’t the only Oscar-winner action film set in Boston and currently being presented at the Berlin film market: