Charlie's dude

Director McG on why his "Charlie's Angels" is a kung fu "The Breakfast Club" with one part "Grease," some "Singin' in the Rain" and a bit of "Rocky." Or something like that.

By Michael Sragow

Nov 16, 2000 | The director of the new version of "Charlie's Angels," who goes by the name McG, has a very slight résumé. He grew up in Newport Beach, Calif., studied psychology at the University of California at Irvine and began committing images to film when he borrowed a pro friend's camera gear and shot some grass-roots music videos for the alt-rock band Sugar Ray.

But his ebullience is boundless, which may have been key for giving pop conviction to a giddy spree like "Charlie's Angels." In a 7:30 a.m. phone call from Los Angeles, he sounded either saturated in caffeine -- or, to use a suitably '70s phrase, "high on life."

First things first: What's your real name, and why is it McG now?

My real name is Joseph McGinty Nichol. My uncle's name was Joe, my grandpa's name was Joe and they just called me McG, short for McGinty, from the day I was born. It was challenging when I was making those first hip-hop videos. Everyone thought it was just some nickname I gave myself to sort of make things happen. But, honestly, it's my name since the day I was born in Kalamazoo, Mich.

You were called that even in school?

Yeah, I mean the first day of school was always hell because teachers were like, "There are no vowels in it!" But that's it.

How did you and Drew Barrymore hook up?

She was set to produce and star in the film, and I'm a big fan of hers personally -- and a big fan of hers professionally. I just thought she would probably have an interesting take on the tricky genre of films coming from old TV shows. I tried to hook up a meeting with her. She canceled on me five or six, seven, eight times. She's got a busy schedule; she probably didn't want to hear from another knucklehead. Then finally she agreed to meet with me and we just got to talking about a bunch of common influences. About our love for John Hughes movies. Our love for bad '80s heavy metal. We realized we wanted to make this film and make it explosive and colorful. We wanted to make a film that reached out and hit the pleasure center of your brain.

No matter how frivolous the movie, there's got to be ground rules. What were the ones you settled on from the beginning, and how did they change as the project developed?

Well, we just wanted to take all the elements of filmmaking and just crank them to 11. I told Drew, Cameron and Lucy that when we go for action, I want the toughest action conceivable. I want to blow boys away that were raised on John Hughes films. When we make it sexy I want it to be the sexiest thing ever. When we make it funny, I want it to be funny as what the Farrelly Brothers are doing. No matter what we went for, I wanted to go for it all the way. I wanted it to be the most colorful film. Like the first time you see color when Dorothy lands in Oz and your jaw hits the ground. That's the sensory-overload, explosive ride that we were going for. I just think that's the way to do a "Charlie's Angels" movie. You're never going to make it an introspective piece.

I don't quite get the John Hughes connection here.

Really? I just wanted, as far as tone and humanity and empathy for our audience, to tap into what John Hughes did with "16 Candles" and "The Breakfast Club" and just have a good time with it.

So "Charlie's Angels" is kind of a kung fu "The Breakfast Club"?

Yeah, with a hell of a lot of "Grease" and "Rocky." It's difficult to slap one label onto this film. We clearly are influenced by a great many styles. To me it's like the computer business: There was a time where you could have a really fast chip or big color screen or DVD player. Now you got to have it all. I wanted to bring it all to a movie, as far as comedy and action and just excitement.

Not to digress too much, but as a Midwestern kid, were John Hughes movies particularly big for you?

That might have been [a reason] why they resonate. I was pretty much raised in Southern California, but I still have that Kalamazoo, Mich./York, Pa. blood in me. My whole family's from York, Pa. Everyone in my family went to Penn State. But my dad got a job for the Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Mich., and that's where I got squirted out. And I do have this affinity for John Hughes. What can I tell you? It might have something to do with me looking just like Anthony Michael Hall, with the neck-gear and orange Afro. Now I cut it short enough that you can't really tell, but my hair's like a genetic defect, man.

How did you get started in film?

I was involved in the theater when I was a kid. I was always a still photographer, and the music scene was really happening in Orange County when I was growing up, with Sugar Ray, the Offspring, Korn, Rage Against the Machine, No Doubt. It was really hot then. I had the good fortune of making the videos for Sugar Ray, my old childhood friends, and Korn, and the Offspring. Just kept putting one foot in front of the other as a filmmaker, trying to hone my skills until I started making a few commercials. And when I got the chance to do this film, I said, "Let's go shake it up and make a film that isn't terrible that comes from an old television show."

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