June Squibb is on a roll. At 94, the actor is currently starring in the newly-released thriller " Thelma ," voicing Nostalgia in Pixar's "Inside Out 2" and busy at work on a new project with Scarlett Johansson. "(It's) her first feature directing," Squibb tells TODAY.
com in a sit-down interview. A veteran of the stage, Squibb didn't begin her onscreen acting career until her 60s. She's since been cast in a variety of high-profile roles including Woody Allen's rom-com "Alice," the 2002 Jack Nicholson film "About Schmidt," Adam Sandler's "Hubie Halloween" and 2013's "Nebraska" for which she received a best supporting actress Oscar nod.
"It just sort of happened. I mean, I've never planned my career. It's always just happened as life happens with me.
And it's exciting, it's wonderful. I hope I can, you know, keep up with all," she says with a laugh. In her latest role, Squibb plays Thelma Post, a needlepointing grandma determined to track down the criminals who scam her out of $10,000 as part of a fake kidnapping scheme.
While the ensuing hijinks are pure fiction, Thelma is based on the real-life grandmother of writer-director , Josh Margolin. Margolin's close relationship with his 103-year-old grandmother is at the heart of the film, and he, himself, is a central character in the movie, played by Fred Hechinger. "We fell in love with Fred on ' White Lotus ,'" Margolin tells TODAY.
com. While it was initially strange seeing himself portrayed by Hechinger, he says it became "norma.
