The Netflix movie sequel “Murder Mystery 2,” which premieres March 31st, is the highest-profile directing gig Jeremy Garelick has ever landed. But it’s really more like an extra-curricular activity for the veteran writer, producer and director.
Garelick is best known for “American High,” the teen-movie franchise he launched at Hulu after making the audacious move of spending $1 million to buy a building that once housed a high school in Syracuse, N.Y., in 2017. The purchase enabled him to make multiple films at a third of the cost.
But “Murder Mystery 2” is a bigger-budget affair with more exotic locations than Syracuse — Honolulu and Paris, to be exact. He got the directing assignment having earned the respect of the film’s stars including Jennifer Aniston, who also starred in “The Break Up,” a 2006 romantic comedy Garelick co-wrote. That film was his career breakthrough.
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“I was on a short list of possible directors that Jennifer Aniston wanted to meet with,” said Garelick on the latest episode of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast. “Jen and I had been in touch ever since and always wanted to work together.”
“Murder Mystery 2” also represented a reunion of sorts for Garelick with Sandler, whom he first met when he was just 15 in a chance encounter as an audience member at “Saturday Night Live.” When Garelick later broke into the business, he got to know Sandler better playing basketball with him on the Sony Pictures lot.
But even a plum assignment from Netflix won’t keep him from running “American High,” a full-service production hub where he has cranked out eight movies for Hulu, including “The Binge,” “Plan B” and “Miguel Wants to Fight.” Last month, Hulu renewed its first-look output deal with Garelick, who strives to avoid formulaic filmmaking in creating the kind of teen-skewing comedies that don’t get made as much as they did back in the days of John Hughes.
“I think Hollywood is less friendly to that material, everything now is algorithms.,” said Garelick. “But there are companies like A24 and ‘American High’ where you are seeing a lot of original thoughts and vision that are outside the Hollywood system.”
“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. A new episode debuts each Wednesday and can be downloaded on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher and SoundCloud.
