Austin-based writer/director Rob Thomas’s film “Veronica Mars” hits theatres this week. But South by Southwest audiences got to see it first.
The film revisits the characters Thomas created for the “Veronica Mars” TV show – which was canceled back in 2007 after three seasons. But fans demanded more. And an enormously successful Kickstarter campaign provided the budget for the much-anticipated follow up.
KUT sat down with Thomas to talk about the journey of making this film:
On Making the "Veronica Mars" Movie:
"It's been an Odyessy. I had various levels of belief in it ever existing again. Kristen Bell I think was always optimistic. I was on more of an emotional rollercoaster about it."
On Pleasing 91,000+ Kickstarter Backers:
"The movie might have been a bit different if it weren't a fan-funded movie. I think I was more conscious of knowing what those pleasure zones for "Veronica Mars" fans and wanting to give them what they wanted."
On Whether This is the End for "Veronica Mars:"
"I suppose that we hope it's not the end. When we were shooting the season finale in Season 3. The network came to me and said, 'You know, there's a good chance you won't be around for a Season 4 so maybe you'd like to write the neat ending for Veronica Mars – the one that ties up all the loose ends and puts Veronica in a good place as the series ended.' And I didn't want the show to end so I wrote a very unsettling end to the series, one that left a lot of looming questions and left Veronica in a troubling spot because if we were going to go down, I wanted to go down swinging. I just didn't want it to be easy to cancel us. And I think that's the reason that we're getting to do this movie today. I think had the series finale tied up in a neat little bow I think fans would have missed the show but they wouldn't have had this aching or this passion to see what happened next in "Veronica Mars." The movie, I did try to give an ending where if we never see Veronica again, I think fans will at least feel satisfied knowing where she is at the end of the movie. That said, we all hope it doesn't end."
On Premiering the Film at SXSW:
"I played in a band in my 20's and I played the first couple of years of SXSW when you could still get in as a mediocre local band. So I've had the experience of being at SXSW as a mediocre band playing like a Thursday night at 6 p.m. showcase. This feels like the other end of the spectrum where it's fun to come back and be like a big deal at the festival. This is like a nice bookend on a journey here."
Rob Thomas talks Veronica's love life, how the film is different than the TV show and more in the extended version of the interview:
