Exclusive: Editor Terilyn A. Shropshire talks The Old Guard and Long Standing Relationship With Its Director Gina Prince-Bythewood

Currently on Netflix is Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s action fantasy film adaptation of The Old Guard. Oscar winner Charlize Theron stars as Andromache of Scythia, the leader of a small group of immortal soldiers. Some of the main cast include KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Luca Marinelli, and Marwan Kenzari.

Other cast members include Chiwetel Ejiofor, Harry Melling and Veronica Ngo.

Led by a warrior named Andy (Charlize Theron), a covert group of tight-knit mercenaries with a mysterious inability to die have fought to protect the mortal world for centuries. But when the team is recruited to take on an emergency mission and their extraordinary abilities are suddenly exposed, it’s up to Andy and Nile (Kiki Layne), the newest soldier to join their ranks, to help the group eliminate the threat of those who seek to replicate and monetize their power by any means necessary.

Editing the film is Terilyn A. Shropshire, who has worked on most of Prince-Bythewood’s films and TV projects, including Love & Basketball, The Secret Life of Bees, Beyond The Lights, Fox’s Shots Fired, and Freeform’s Cloak & Dagger. For Shropshire, who has also worked on action drama films such as Biker Boyz and Miss Bala, this film required more action scenes that she was used to handling in the past.

BlackFilmandTV.com spoke exclusively with Shropshire about working on this film and watching Gina Prince-Bythewood grow over the years as a director.

What was your reaction when you got the script and realized that you would be editing more action scenes than before?

Terilyn A. Shropshire: I was excited by it. I loved the script, and I loved the characters and I loved the way that action was incorporated within the story. You always have a little bit of anticipation when a new gauntlet is thrown down, and you have to rise to the level. I always love that. That's what I love about working on a craft like editing. You're able to flex new muscles and different muscles. Being able to be involved with Gina and Tammy and the crew in terms of early storyboards and previews and seeing what the early vision of what the film is going to be and being able to really communicate with the second unit directors and stunt coordinators, it was a new. It was a new experience for me to be involved with so many people, but it was great. Gina had such a vision for what she wanted to do and how she wanted to choreograph, and the way that she wanted to reflect action. That was exciting as well.

Was there any point of your editing that relates to the graphic novel?

Terilyn A. Shropshire: Wow, that's a good question. I had read the graphic novel, but I didn't really harken back to it too much. Once the footage came in, that became my roadmap. There were certain images that you have within the graphic novel of these amazing silhouettes, and the characters standing or moving through the darkness. To be able to see those images also come come into play with the footage like when they start to fight or and when they're walking across the desert, was really exciting. Those are images that were very similar to the graphic novel. So it was great to recreate those in the film.

How was editing the different time periods that Charlize’s Andi was placed in?

Terilyn A. Shropshire: What was great about the film was being able to create a language and a nonlinear discovery aspect of Andy's character. Gina and I talked a lot about when and how to bring in a memory or flashbacks of Andi’s past as you got to know her better. We wanted to allow the audience to get to know her as Andi in present day and dealing with what her mood was in present day in 2020. That you had to understand, to some degree, how she was feeling about the world and then you could then take the audience back into moments that explain why she feels that way; and the losses that she's had and the fights she's had to encounter her life. That part was great, choosing those moments of showing her skills and her efficiency as a fighter, but also showing the audience why she's as good as she is.

Is there a challenge that when you're drawing out the story with Gina, how much attention is being paid to the other characters?

Terilyn A. Shropshire: Absolutely, especially with the film because even though Andi is so much the driving force of The Old Guard, it's so important for you to understand all of them because they work as a team. They've moved through history as a team. Through them, you don't just see them as these paper cut superheroes. They have dimension. They have lives. They experience pain. That's important. When you're first introducing these types of characters, you hope that people will then go off and read more of the graphic novels and maybe want to see more of these characters. I felt we had a tremendous responsibility to allow the audience to get to know who they were. We spent a lot of time talking about and balancing the story between Andi and Nile and Andi and Booker and Joe and Nicky because you have to care about all of them to root for all of them.

You’ve worked on most of Gina’s films going back to her first film Love & Basketball 20 years ago this year. Can you talk about her growth as a director?

Terilyn A. Shropshire: When Gina and I first got together, we were both relatively young in our careers. At the same time, we were pretty stubborn artists who wanted to be able to show what we were capable of. Gina has always had this very quiet intensity about her that sometimes can be misinterpreted. As she has progressed as a filmmaker, her voice has always been there, but I feel that it continues to get honed. 

Definitely more specific as to the types of film she wants to make and the types of characters she wants to see in the world, and she fights for them. As you work with an artist, you're working at a certain moment in time in your life, and then you go away and you mature and you live life and then you come back with a different set of skill set and maturity and confidence. It's been great to watch Gina broaden her spectrum of the type of films she's doing, but staying completely focused on uplifting and keeping her characters, especially her female characters, strong with humanity; showing their power and their place in the world. 

What's your takeaway from doing this movie as you go on to your next project? 

Terilyn A. Shropshire: Honestly, I just want to be a part of good stories and not necessarily be limited by someone who can't look beyond what I've done before. In some ways, it is about what I've done before because that does inform the next. But I also would love to be able to step into an interview on any type of film like a cool drama, maybe another action film, another love story, a musical, or any number of films that move us. The stories that we lean in and get excited by when we go to the movies. To be able to go in a meeting and know that the person across the table is really seeing my skill set and not limiting what their perception of what I can do. I don't know what's going to be next. That's the exciting part. What's going to be the next script that I get the honor of reading and getting really excited about. I don't know what it is and that’s exciting.