Speak No Evil' | Variety Studio presented by Google TV - video Dailymotion

Variety

James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, James Watkins (Director) step into our video studio at San Diego Comic Con 2024.   Presented by Google TV

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00:00I feel like the audience had been thrown around a lot between entertainment, comedy, discomfort

00:06and just fear as well. And then by the time it all kind of blows out, I think they were

00:11left quite shaken, which is great. That's what you want, isn't it?

00:15Sorry, I felt quite aggressive there. I apologize.

00:17Yeah, I know.

00:25They are going to kill us.

00:27What?

00:29He went dead.

00:30The original film is, needless to say, messed up. Very scary. A true psychological

00:38horror masterclass. What made you want to take on this film and put your own fresh spin on it?

00:47Loved what it was about. Loved the setup with these two families that meet on holiday and

00:51thought it was just an amazing opportunity to make a real rollercoaster ride.

00:54Oh, yes!

00:58Yes. This is our second interview and we're already like, whey!

01:03Yeah, I didn't see the original until after we finished our one. So really, it was just

01:08responding to James's response and try to treat it as something fresh. So I can't answer that question.

01:15Wait, so neither of you, had you watched the film before any of this or you went in fresh?

01:20I'd heard tell of it, but I hadn't seen the full thing because it has quite an insane ending.

01:24We managed to change the ending, put our own spin on it and still retain that gripping,

01:31heart-stopping thrill ride.

01:34Yeah, absolutely.

01:34I love that you'd heard the tale of it. I was like,

01:37have you heard about the new horror film? It's coming.

01:40It ends with a stoning.

01:43There'll be a stoning.

01:45So for audiences who might not be familiar with the original, who are coming in

01:49blind to this one, how scary is it?

01:53Oh, judging on audiences, I mean, it's just a ride. You know, there's a tension,

01:59you can see them, a lot of audience participation, people going, no, don't do it.

02:04Yeah, yeah, yeah.

02:04I mean, you were there last night, weren't you?

02:06Yeah, listen, there's weirdly a lot of laughter, but there's a lot of like,

02:10like cranking of tension and what he does so brilliantly is this like really long, long

02:17drawn like hour and 10 of like comedy and scary stuff.

02:21But really, it's about tension, tension, tension, tension, tension.

02:24So like for the last 20 minutes, when it all kicks off,

02:27the audience, it feels like the audience are really like this.

02:29And also really with us, ready for it all to just like explode.

02:34And it was, I was quite, I mean, I feel like they were quite squackled by the end of it.

02:39Like squackled?

02:40Yeah, like, like I feel like the audience had been thrown around a lot between

02:45entertainment, comedy, like discomfort and just fear as well.

02:51And then by the time it all kind of blows out, I think they were left quite shaken,

02:56which is great.

02:56That's what you want, isn't it?

02:58Sorry, I felt quite aggressive there.

02:59I apologize.

03:00Yeah, no.

03:02So one of the interesting things about this film is that, of course, yes, it is scary,

03:06but it's also a very interesting character study in these two conflicting relationships,

03:11which are so drastically different.

03:14We have, you know, Scoot is a little different of the type of man that James, your character,

03:21is.

03:21How did you approach that conflict between their two kind of parenting styles,

03:27for lack of a better word?

03:30I mean, it's written in the script.

03:32So I think it's just trying to really understand.

03:34I mean, there's an obviously more attractive, dynamic, exciting relationship to be in.

03:40And it is that of the psychopaths who seem to have so much fun and so much sex and so

03:45much like dynamism.

03:47And then there are like the good guys who seem to hate each other and are just in this

03:54constant negotiation of like, OK, well, you made me feel this way and I would like to

03:58move forward this way.

04:00And I don't have an end to this sentence.

04:04Yeah, what she said.

04:08Absolutely.

04:09Like, you've got the good guys with a relationship that seems like empty inside and just gray.

04:14And then you've got the bad guys who just have got like everybody wants to love that

04:18like they love.

04:18And that was so exciting to to play that that dynamic, that juxtaposition as well.

04:25So something interesting, obviously, in the production of the film, I understand you were

04:28just five days away from finishing when the strike happened.

04:33So how did it feel returning to the project after several months and sort of having that

04:38time away from it?

04:39It felt great.

04:40I have to say we so we stopped the day before one of the like very critical scenes in the

04:45movie that's like, you know, you're building up to this really big, dramatic sort of insane

04:50scene.

04:50And you're like, all right, it's up tomorrow.

04:52And then we stopped and it was five months later.

04:54But like, I had so much fun making this movie that it didn't feel I was just so excited

04:59to get back into it.

05:00Started that scene day one and it was so well.

05:02So I also like whatever it was, 10, 12 weeks.

05:05I had all that time in the edit.

05:06So even that scene that Mackenzie's talking about, I had time to we knew the characters

05:11I had.

05:11I did a little rewrite on the scene and then we all talked about it and we had a couple

05:15little rehearsal days.

05:16And then so it just we could feed in terms of because we came back, we had some third

05:21act stuff to shoot.

05:22So it was just we were able to just actually we did it all along the shoot.

05:25But at the end, it was just like we could just do little tweaks as we all got to know

05:28the characters more and just, oh, let's just dive into that.

05:31Let's you know, Paddy's kind of, you know, playing with his food narrative and how he

05:36is and how he enjoys the cat and mouse.

05:38Just I think we added a couple of moments there and it was just, oh, let's lean into

05:42that.

05:42It's just it's great.

05:43It's a real opportunity.

05:45I mean, I would always love to have that sort of opportunity.

05:48Yeah, because you know the movie and you come back and you go, yeah, of course, we can just

05:53tweak that dial a little bit.

05:55So you want there to be another strike?

05:57No, I shouldn't say that.

05:58Sorry.

06:02I'm WGA.

06:04And so did that also bring a new understanding of the characters having all of that time

06:09to think about the work?

06:12No, no, no.

06:15Just came in with the exact same performance.

06:18I didn't think about it that much.

06:19Yeah, no, sorry.

06:21Sometimes no is the right answer.

06:23That's perfectly fine.

06:25I love the honesty.

06:26So I also now, James, I have to ask you on the weekend of Deadpool and Wolverine.

06:31Yeah, yeah.

06:32Have you seen it yet?

06:33No, I have not.

06:34There are a lot of love letters to sort of the 20th century Fox era.

06:40You're in the credits.

06:41I know.

06:42I know.

06:42I knew I was going to be in the credits.

06:44Yeah, yeah.

06:44I demanded.

06:47Was there ever a world where you were going to be a part of it?

06:50No, no, no, no.

06:51Not this one.

06:52I don't think so.

06:53And if there was a world, they clearly threw that idea out the window before calling me.

06:58So no.

07:00Would you ever want to return to the role?

07:02I think I've always said if there's a good role,

07:05if there's a good opportunity to tell a good story,

07:07I'm always going to be interested in it,

07:09no matter whether it's something I've done before or something completely brand new.

07:13So if there's good material, I'm always ready to respond.

07:16I'm always ready.

07:18Ever ready.

07:19Actor ready.

07:21But it's got to be good.

07:22And they've got to want to do that.

07:24So it's all hypotheticals.

07:26So obviously, this weekend is all about celebrating TV and movie that get the fans excited.

07:32So I'm curious, what is on?

07:33By the way, where's the comic-con for the stuff that nobody likes,

07:36that nobody's excited about?

07:38That would be amazing.

07:39Shit can't.

07:41That's what I'm going to start.

07:44Speaking of shit.

07:46You will shit your pants when you watch this movie.

07:49It is so scary.

07:50So I'm curious, what is on your watch list?

07:55What are the movies and TV shows that you guys are excited about right now?

07:59I want to see Twisters.

08:01I really want to see Twisters.

08:02I just watched Love Lies Bleeding the other night,

08:04which I think is perhaps perfect,

08:07like just in every way satisfied me.

08:09So good.

08:10And I recently watched The Real Housewives of DC.

08:14There was only one season of it.

08:15And it is one of the most perfect seasons of television I've ever seen.

08:19And just as a character study, I really recommend everybody watch it.

08:22It's about the scammers who entered the Obama White House,

08:24or some characters on it.

08:26A wonderful program.

08:28Incredible.

08:29I could not agree more.

08:30Good.

08:30I'd love to talk with you after this interview.

08:33James, what are you watching?

08:34Well, I've definitely got to see Deadpool and Wolverine.

08:38Well, I want to thank all of you so much for taking the time to chat with us in the studio.

08:42I'm excited for everyone to see the film.

Speak No Evil' | Variety Studio presented by Google TV

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