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HOPE DAVIS on 'THE MATADOR'
Contributed by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor
for Radio Free Entertainment
December 11, 2005
In the offbeat comedy The Matador, struggling salesman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) meets professional hitman Julian Noble (Pierce Brosnan) in a quiet bar while on a business trip to Mexico City. Wary yet fascinated by Julian's profession, Danny forms a strong bond of friendship with the so-called "facilitator of fatalities." Still, the suburbanite businessman is surprised when Julian pays him and his wife Bean (Hope Davis) an unexpected visit, showing up on his doorstep late one night and begging for help. Years of the assassination game have taken their toll on Julian, and he is in desperate need of one last successful hit after a streak of botched jobs.
In this interview, Hope Davis talks about co-stars Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear, her character, and her experience of working in Mexico City.
The Matador opens in limited theaters on January 6, and goes wider on January 20.
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The Interview
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MEDIA: What made you want to do this film?
HOPE: [Director] Richard Shepard kept calling me up at home, and he said he had to have me do this part. And he just wouldn't leave me alone until I said yes. After a while, it starts to get under your skin a little bit. And I loved the script. I thought it was really interesting and very unpredictable. We did a reading of it, and I thought Pierce was going to be just magnificent in the part. I thought it would really show what he can do.
How did you feel about playing a pleasant character for a change?
It was really nice for me to not be the heavy.
Have you ever had to deal with unexpected, after-hours visitors showing up on your doorstep?
You know, in New York City, you don't answer the buzzer after 10. Once the dinner's been delivered, you don't answer the buzzer again. So no, that has never happened to me. I'm sure I would not invite them in. That's the movie part--the fantasy.
What do your think your character finds intriguing about Pierce Brosnan's?
That's the movie part, too--like a dangerous stranger comes into the house. I think she leads kind of a quiet suburban life. And here's a little action adventure showing up on her doorstep in the form of Pierce Brosnan, who has got his charms, you know? That's what I thought was really sweet about the character, is how intrigued she is by this kind of bad boy walking into her [life]. She has the fantasy notion that he's really just like James Bond, and running around, having martinis, which is kind of what he's doing. But I think she's just swept away by the fantasy idea of it.
Your character Bean talks about being teased about her name. Is that something you ever had to deal with as a kid?
Oh, yeah. Me, with the name Hope? "Hope the Dope, ate a bar of soap, bubbles here, bubbles there, bubbles in her underwear"? You can see it made an impression on me. I was called Hope the Dope for years. But whatever. I was in fifth grade. It didn't wound me.
Bean and Danny are coping with the loss of a child. Does being a parent in real life factor into that performance?
I'm sure that made it very easy for me to connect to the character--just the fact that I have kids.
Your character also has a tree crashing through her kitchen. Ever had a similar disaster yourself?
A huge tree just fell right outside my building in New York. It was an old tree during a big storm. At two o'clock in the morning, everyone started hearing this huge cracking noise, and this mammoth--it must have been a 250-year-old--tree fell down in between all these townhouses and apartment buildings. It just demolished all these backyards and gardens. Nobody got hurt.
So how did you feel about shooting the tree scene for the movie?
We were actually really scared filming our tree scene. I was really scared. You could ask Greg Kinnear if he was scared. I know that he was, even though he's going to say that he wasn't. Because it was a low-budget thing and it's kind of an action adventure moment. And we're in Mexico City and...some people didn't speak Spanish, like Richard Shepherd. And I was hoping that everybody was really clear on what we were doing. When it got time to do it, everyone was scurrying around the set...And the first time it fell, it didn't work.
What was your experience of shooting in Mexico City like?
I was naive about Mexico City. I hadn't been to Mexico before, and now I know why. Before I flew down, I said, "Can I bring my daughter?" who was one at the time. I said, "Can I bring her with me?" And they kind of hemmed and hawed on the phone. The production coordinator said, "Well, you have two body guards around the clock, and if you're going to bring her, we'll get an extra bodyguard." And I was like, "What are you talking about?" I didn't really understand that it's actually a pretty dangerous city. Our wardrobe guy got snatched while we were shooting. He didn't show up to work one morning and we found out he'd been abducted. He was returned to the place that they'd taken him from later in the day, but I didn't feel very safe there. I didn't feel very comfortable. And I was pregnant with my second child and not feeling very well. And the food in Mexico is a touch on the heavy side for people in my condition. So Mexico City is not a place that I would return to.
So you spent a lot of time in your hotel?
Yes, we all did. Nobody was wandering around.
In keeping with the movie's theme of the matador, did you catch a bullfight while you were there?
God, no. Eight weeks pregnant at a bullfight? That wouldn't be pretty. You know, my husband went to see a bullfight in Spain years ago, and he's still not over it. When he talks about it, he still gets all gray. He said it was just horrifying. You know, I think it's really kind of a dying sport.
What's your impression of Pierce Brosnan in real life?
He is such a gentleman. He's so charming. He and Greg took wonderful care of me because they knew I was feeling very ill. He's a lovely, lovely guy, and it's hard to not be swept off your feet when he winks at you and looks at you right in the eyes. He's very charming.
Given that he has many more scenes with Pierce than you, how was your chemistry with Greg Kinnear?
It was great. I got there late into the filming. I was the very last piece that they filmed, and I could tell when I got onto the set that Greg and Pierce had really bonded. They couldn't stop talking to each other, they couldn't stop making each other laugh. And I thought, "Oh, God. How am I going to find my way in here?" But I think they were very relieved to see a female show up after weeks and weeks of kind of wearing the same shirt and being together. So Greg and I hit it off instantly. He's lovely. And right away, I think we filmed the scene where we sit on the bed and we talk about our dead son, which is a very intimate scene. But Greg made it very easy for me to just kind of walk on and start.
At one point in the movie, Greg's character grows a mustache. Did Greg's demeanor change in any way once he had it?
Well, he had it when I arrived. They all had them. The director had [one], most of the crew had them. It was like being on a set of a '70s porn film.
In light of the holiday season being upon us, have you received a gift in recent years that you particularly enjoyed?
This is so stupid, but...I'm very restless at night, and I'm up and down. And my husband, last year, bought me the Itty Bitty Book Light. It's like my little secret thing, and I snack and I read my book with this little light. It's this moment of total serenity and peacefulness. It was like exactly what I wanted, my Itty Bitty Book Light. It's a great gift.
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