Based on the title alone, you might think that The School for Good and Evil has some fairly black and white ideas about morality. That couldn't be further from the truth, though, and was something director Paul Feig was very keen to avoid.
"I have a real hatred of movies that try to preach and try to say too much, because it should just be through the actual story that it happens," Feig tells the Inside Total Film podcast.
The movie, based on the teen fantasy book of the same name by Soman Chainani, follows two friends, Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie) who find themselves chosen to attend the titular school. Split into two, one half educates the next generation of fairytale villains, while the other coaches a new cohort of heroes. The friends are split up and left to the mercy of the school's no-nonsense faculty, played by Kerry Washington and Charlize Theron.
Feig continues: "I never set out to make this a kids' movie, I really wanted it to be for everybody and so by doing that, it made me not try to pander to a younger audience or to pull our punches. Netflix was very clear when I came on, because I'd said, 'Look, I don't want to do a kids' movie, I don't want this to be just light' and they were very much, 'No, we want to make this an anti-Disney movie, it can still be dark.'
"So we were able to do that and that allowed us to stay away from preaching, but I don't think I would ever do that anyway, just because I hate when movies have a message that is so on its sleeve. I have a real problem when people go, 'It's an important movie.' I love movies, but there's something that's so self-important about calling a movie 'important'. It just should be good, and it should entertain people, and then if they get something out of it beyond that then that's icing on the cake."
For more from the director, make sure to listen to the full interview on the Inside Total Film podcast, out tomorrow and available on:
You can listen to our full interview with The School for Good and Evil director Paul Feig on our podcast, Inside Total Film. The School for Good and Evil is out on Netflix now. For more viewing inspiration, check out our picks of the other best Netflix movies to watch right now.
