Tall Girl 2 makes its Netflix debut on February 11, two and a half years after its predecessor sparked plenty of conversation and a record number of views. But any audiences who weren't sold on the story's views on body positivity can rest assured that the sequel deals with many other forms of teen anxiety and insecurities. Though Jodi (Ava Michelle, Dance Moms) has grown much more comfortable with her height, director Emily Ting gets to explore a whole new host of problems when her protagonist tries out for the school musical.
But she's also not the only teen in the film going through some growing pains. The film shines a spotlight on her classmates as well, especially her best friend Fareeda (Anjelika Washington, Moxie) as she confronts her parents over her passion for fashion. Jodi's ex-crush Stig (Luke Eisner, Timeline) must also deal with the fallout of his ill-fated bid for popularity, while she and her new boyfriend Dunk (Griffin Gluck, Locke & Key) hit a few of the stumbling blocks of any young relationship.
Ting spoke to Screen Rant about her approach to the sequel, and especially about how she handled the musical numbers as a newcomer to the genre.
Screen Rant: I felt like Tall Girl 2 had a different tone than the first one and was a fresh take on the story. Since this was your first time coming into the franchise, what is it that you wanted to bring to the film?
Emily Ting: I already adored the first film but, when I read the script for the second one, I found it to be even more emotionally resonant. Because I feel like, "Well, not everyone could relate to being tall. But everyone can relate to having self-doubt and having that negative self-talk." We all go through it; we all have imposter syndrome, at one time or the other.
I felt like Jodi is on a very different journey in the second one. She starts off in a much more confident place than the first one, so I wanted the whole world to feel warmer and a little bit more colorful - because her world has become more colorful. But throughout the course of the film, she gains new insecurity, and it's just sort of capturing that visually.
Even though I came into an established franchise, the studio and the producers were all very gracious in terms of, "You could do your own take. This is not episodic television directing. Jody's on a new journey, so go ahead and give us your take." They gave me complete freedom in terms of reinventing the look.
You also got to deal with a few more musical numbers than the first film did. What was your approach to the Bye Bye Birdie scenes, and how much fun was that to deal with?
Emily Ting: Oh, it was so much fun. I have never done anything musical-related. We left that for the last week of filming, because I'm like, "I just don't want to deal with it. I just don't want to deal with it." But by the time we got to the Bye Bye Birdie performance, we were ready.
The cast and the dancers, they've been rehearsing for weeks. And the costume department had been sourcing costumes and making her costume. We were so ready. The sequences that were given me the most anxiety turned out to be the easiest things to direct in the end, because we were so in sync and we were so ready. We'd been practicing for so long that it was like magic. The dancers didn't miss a single beat. They just did the choreography over and over and over again, and we shot from different angles and different cameras.
And now I want to do more musical films, because I thought that was just like such a magical experience.
Aside from getting to see a new side of Jodi with her insecurities, we also got to meet some new characters. How do Stella and Tommy shake things up for the world, and how did you cast them?
Emily Ting: I can't wait for the world to meet Tommy, and I think they'll probably fall in love with him the way we did.
Tommy straddles a very precarious role in the franchise, because ultimately this is Dunk and Jodi's love story. So, I think Tommy coming in kind of throws a small wrench into things and definitely shakes things up a little bit. But you'll have to watch the film to see how everything turns out. I think JL [Jan Luis Castellanos] is a real find, and I think the girls are really gonna swoon over him.
And then we also have a new Swede in town, which is Stig's sister Stella. And for her, we had to find someone [special]. Our casting directors were like, "Okay, now you want us to find a tall girl and someone who could do a Swedish accent? As if our job in the first movie was not hard enough." But they're pros, and they found our Stella.
They're both really fun additions to the franchise, and I can't wait for the fans to meet them.
Tall Girl 2 premieres February 11 on Netflix.