Traci Shannon (AKA StarTraci) is a blogger at A Star in My Own Universe and is a entertainment contributor on FSM Media.
FSM Media had the pleasure of speaking with Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Zoe Colletti, Van Crosby and Director, Simon Cellan Jones during a roundtable interview about the new film The Family Plan, streaming now on Apple TV+.
Traci for FSM Media: Can you speak to the theme of the movie of how families and couples are always evolving?
Mark Wahlberg: We have to embrace the evolution and the growth. Sometimes we find ourselves wanting our kids to stay small and little forever and we know that is impossible. They’ll inevitably grow and change. You wanna be able to embrace that and you want to hopefully just guide them and protect them and teach them and point them in the right direction. Most importantly, be a good example. It is hard to see them grow and change and go off to college, but at the same time I am looking forward to my wife and I having more time together to do things on our own.
Michelle Monaghan: – It’s rediscovering that’s part of the evolution. They (as a family) get to rediscover each other which I think is something that we can all relate to as parents and couples. It is finding those periods of growth and rediscovering and reconnecting. I think that’s what is so beautiful about their relationship in the film is that they are all reconnecting and rediscovering one another through his lies.
Mark Wahlberg: It also helps you embrace getting older because you are spending so much time focusing on your kids that you realize “Oh my God my child is a teenager, and that you’ve also aged that amount of years. Being able to embrace that is what helps you to enjoy life.
Traci for FSM Media: In the movie, the parents torture the kids by singing songs in the car, I wondered if there was one song that your parents used to play that tortured either of you?
Zoe Colletti: To be honest with you my parents had such great music taste that I was forced to agree with them. All my mom listened to was U2, so I can’t hate on U2 I just have to join in. I was probably torturing my parents more with the music I used to listen to or still do. It’s more my Grandpa, so it’s kind of reversed, I torture my Grandpa more than my parents ever tortured me.
Van Crosby: I don’t think there were any specific songs, and I think it was more my older siblings and what they listened to. I can’t hate on The Beatles, the Eagles, Led Zepplin and all the classic rock stuff that my parents listened to.
Traci for FSM Media: How was this project different than your previous work?
Zoe Colletti: The biggest difference in my opinion from film and TV is the time it takes to film everything. TV is so fast-paced and film is usually just slower-paced. The fact that it did have a lot of action sequences, which take a lot of time to choreograph and to make sure everything looks good it was a long shoot because you have to make sure you get all the scenes right.
Van Crosby: I agree. This movie took four months to film and there were a lot of things we had to get right.
Traci for FSM Media: Having seen a lot of your previous work, a lot of it is a lot heavier than this film. This seems a lot lighter. Is the process any different for you and will you be doing more work in this vein in the future?
Simon Cellan Jones: I love the mix of comedy. This film was so fun to work on. The script, the story, the actors, Mark and Michelle, Van and Zoe. So for me, it was awesome, show me the next one, I am ready!
The family action-adventure The Family Plan is streaming now on Apple TV+!
Dan Morgan (Mark Wahlberg) loves his quiet suburban life as a devoted husband, father of three, and successful car salesman. But that’s only half the story. Decades earlier, he was an elite government assassin tasked with eliminating the world’s deadliest threats. When enemies from his past track him down, Dan packs his unsuspecting wife (Michelle Monaghan), angsty teen daughter, pro-gamer teen son, and adorable 10-month-old baby into their minivan and takes off on an impromptu cross-country road trip to Las Vegas. Determined to protect his family — while treating them to the vacation of a lifetime — Dan must put his long-dormant skills into action, without revealing his true identity.