PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The first day on a film set can oftentimes feel like the first day of school for actors. There’s excitement, but also nerves, surrounding this new experience. Will it be enjoyable? Will the rest of the cast be great to work with? In the case of Nicole Richie (Cursed Friends 2022) and Simone Joy Jones (Bel-Air 2022), who star as Rose and Tanya, respectively, in the new remake of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, they didn’t need to worry. Just as their characters form a close working relationship on-screen, the actresses became fast friends off-screen, even enjoying lunch together.
Both share the same level of excitement over being part of this reimagination of the 1991 classic starring Christina Applegate (Married… with Children 1987). Directed by Wade Allain-Marcus, it follows 17-year-old Tanya Crandell, who, after her mom (Ms. Pat, Drugstore June 2024) heads to a much-needed wellness retreat in Thailand, is forced to spend her summer at home with her three siblings instead of living it up in Spain with friends. However, things get worse when their elderly babysitter (June Squibb, Hubie Halloween 2020) dies. Rather than tell her mom and put more stress on her, Tanya gets a job working for powerhouse fashion executive Rose.
PopHorror recently had the pleasure of chatting with Richie and Jones about their strong dynamic both on and off screen, and how the remake shares the same heart and humor as the original, just with a 2024 twist.
PopHorror: To start, when you guys first got the script for this, what were your thoughts and what made you want to do this film?
Nicole Richie: Well, I am a diehard of the original. I’ve watched it a million times and playing Rose was something that I never thought I’d have the opportunity to do. But once it came my way, I jumped on a Zoom with Wade, who is the director, and he just had such a clear vision of what this reimagining would look like, everything from inspiration boards to color palates, references, even music. And it was just something that I really saw myself immersing myself into, and it was a very easy “yes” for me.
Simone Joy Jones: All of that, and when I first read the script, I was just laughing out loud. I was like, “Oh, my God!” Sometimes you have to imagine all of the parts coming together like, “Oh, that’ll be funny, I see.” But just to be laughing when I read it, I was like, “Oh, no brainer.”
PopHorror: I absolutely love the dynamic between your two characters. I felt like Rose could’ve been this Miranda Priestly-type boss, but that’s definitely not the case. What was it like working together and bringing all of that to life?
Nicole Richie: It was so much fun. The scenes that I was in, we shot at the house and then we shot at the office, so we didn’t have trailers in both of those locations, so our time off would be in the same area. So we were just moving through as friends being on camera and being off camera. It was just very seamless. We just showed up for work every morning just ready to have a good time, whether we were shooting or not.
Simone Joy Jones: Yes! And Nicole is just such a beautiful, kind and hilarious person. It was kind of like when you meet your first friend at school and you’re just like, “Oh, yeah, duh!,” like, “What’s our schedule now? What are we doing?”
Nicole Richie: What are we doing? What are we ordering for lunch?
Simone Joy Jones: That’s literally one of the first things that she said to me non-professionally, it was great.
PopHorror: I love it! Now, I feel like when a remake is made, people naturally compare it to the original, especially since that was such a classic. But what, in your opinion, sets this one apart?
Nicole Richie: First of all, I think that people should watch the original because I think it’s a really great movie. And I hope that when people watch this, they go back and watch the original because for somebody like Simone, she’s never seen it. So this is a great opportunity to introduce people her age to the original. And obviously this movie has such a modern take, but it’s not modern in the sense of, there’s texting and social media. It’s the way that we talk to each other, it’s what we feel that we can take on, how we talk to our families, all of the family dynamics. But at its core, it is a family adventure movie, which is very throwback. It is the late ’80s, early ’90s feel-good where you are just in it. You’re in it with this teenager and you’re having just the best time with her, and I really love that this version kept that from the original.
Simone Joy Jones: Yeah, I feel like they’re two different planets that live in the same universe, and I think in no way they’re competing with each other. I think it’s that we love the original so much, we want to come back to it. And just because there’s a whole new cast and a whole new world of 2024, it naturally is different. And so I think it does that really beautifully.
Thanks for speaking with us, Nicole and Simone!
Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead is in theaters April 12. Check out the video interview on the PopHorror YouTube page!
