Nobody Producer Kelly McCormick Invents Another Action Star

Kelly McCormick knows a thing or two about creating action heroes. The producer has lent her skills to such films as Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw, John Wick, and Atomic Blonde. Now, she is working with a team that puts Bob Odenkirk at the front of an action saga which sees his Hutch Mansell character pull out all of the action-packed stops. Since Nobody's first trailer dropped, the film has been drawing parallels to McCormick's Wick and Atomic films but the team behind this new Universal film was more interested in creating something new here. While the action 87 North brings to the screen might feel familiar in its highly-choreographed and visceral nature, Nobody delivers a lead character who ultimately feels more human than most of his predecessors.

"Isn't he a more relatable character?" McCormick says, making a valid point. We never see Keanu Reeves' character getting frustrated over missing the garbage pick up. Charlize Theron's Lorraine Broughton doesn't have to track down a kitty cat bracelet for her daughter. "I think it's because he's going through a lot of things that a lot of us go through," McCormick says. "We get into our lives, we do our patterns, our routines, our everything, our rituals, and suddenly life has passed us by and we're not as spicy as we used to be. And then something happens and it flips the switch and it's like actually I want to be that guy and you go for it. And so I do think he's more relatable."

Still, the similarities in these hyper-intense action scenes have some fans already longing to see Odenkirk, Reeves, and Theron share the screen but this just isn't possible given where the rights to their respective characters lay. "I wish it was possible," McCormick says. "I love the idea that they're partners and they're not enemies, because I think they both are guys who go by a code and who have, you know a certain moral compass that would allow them to you know, fight side-by-side."

McCormick's team does have a history of making traditional items into deadly weapons when used properly by their action stars. Some people will never see things as simple as a pencil or a library book the same way again. Hutch is no exception to this trend. pulling some household items into battle to do away with some enemies.

"At 87 North, we're always looking for characters that have deep layers and intense stories, the backstories," McCormick explains. "And then it's like, 'Okay, what can we put... What environment can we put them in to allow for us to achieve original and bold action?' Hutch had that in spades because it is like sort of grounded in real life. I once had a conversation with my husband, David Leitch, and I was like in a hotel room and I felt like the guy next to me in one of those, like adjoining rooms was going to come and attack me for some reason. And I was like, 'What do I use in the hotel room?' And he's like, 'What do you got?' And we landed on the iron." This logic is applied to some of the sequences in Nobody which helped Odenkirk deliver the action bits in tremendous fashion. More seriously, Nobody star Connie Nielsen does have some real and important advice about situations like the one McCormick described.

As for the next stop, McCormick has several titles on her plate which is always subject to change in today's movie production world. She is at work on Bullet Train, has Image Comics adaptation Undying Love on the way, and is expected to produce the movie adaptation of The Division, a popular video game. As for whether or not she will be at work on Deadpool 3, McCormick is not sure yet. "I don't know. Look, I mean, it's Ryan's universe and we all live in it and he's amazing," McCormick says. "And he's a really good friend, and he is an extraordinary talent. And if he... If it works out, it's meant to be is all I have to say."

Nobody hits theaters on March 26.