Matthew Daddario Interview: Wild Game

Wild Game star Matthew Daddario chats about collaborating closely with director Brock Harris and finding the right people to work with.

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Matthew Daddario is an actor who loves what he does, a fact that is as evident as ever in Wild Game, the new western thriller arriving in select theaters and on demand December 17. Conceived by director and fellow actor Brock Harris, the film follows a rancher who goes on an ill-fated elk hunt out of season in order to fund his wife’s fertility treatments.

Daddario, who rose to prominence with his unforgettable role in Shadowhunters and was recently the talk of the town in Why Women Kill, plays the callous movie star who hires the cash-strapped Clay Wilson (played by Creed Garnick) to take him hunting. Little do either of them know, trouble awaits them in the form of a bumbling game warden and his vengeful brother (played by Harris himself).

Daddario spoke to Screen Rant about the planning that went into the passion project and the aspects that draw him to a production in the first place.

Screen Rant: How were you first introduced to the project and what was it that really made you want to be part of it?

Matthew Daddario: The project actually goes back a few years. I met Brock Harris while filming a movie way back in the day called Breathe In, and we continued to work together in a certain capacity trying to figure out how to make some films.

After a while, we ended up making a film called The Last Hunt; a short film out of Wyoming at Creed Garnick’s place. We used that, essentially, to tell us if it’s possible to try and do something on a larger scale. The opportunity presented itself, and we ended up putting together Wild Game and getting that made.

Really, it was a thing we expected to make years ago. It just kept getting put off, and eventually, we had time to make it.

You ended up getting to make it in a very strange time, in the midst of a pandemic. How did that affect the process, and how did you work around those challenges?

Matthew Daddario: There were safety issues, and it was early on, so we didn’t exactly know what the situation was. The protocols weren’t all there, but we took care to make sure no one was sick, and then we kept everyone completely isolated. That’s what we did: we were isolated away, with no new people coming in or out. And we managed to make that work.

When we filmed Why Women Kill out in California, it was much later in the year. That had very secure testing three times a week, and they did an excellent job with masks and shields and all that. It messes with filming a little bit, but it’s ultimately necessary. I think we’re all kind of excited to go back to normal eventually – soon, I’m praying.

Yes, hopefully very soon. Donny is a very interesting and unique character, and it must be fun for you to play another actor with a very different process from your own. How did you get into his mindset?

Matthew Daddario: Donny is a collection of a number of actors that I’ve worked with, or other people that I’ve met through the course of my life, who I find unpleasant. I find they have certain personality traits that are maybe reprehensible.

But I tried to make him as empty a person as possible. This is a guy who doesn’t believe in anything. He has no principles; he’ll change whatever his opinion is on something just to match whatever he believes is the current mindset. This is a person with nothing that holds him to the ground, except for the desire for something specific: some fame, something unusual, something that he really doesn’t need.

He gets out to do this hunt, and he starts sort of acting like he’s of that land when in reality he is just some actor. Obviously, he feels like he has to go method in order to be valued. That’s what all the other actors do. “I’m playing a hunter, so I’ve got to go on a real hunt. Otherwise, people will say to me, “Hey, how are you a hunter in a movie when you’ve never been on a real hunt?” Which is nonsense, but he’s insistent on it.

And as a result of his demands, he takes down some people with them.

Now that you mention that, it is a little bit ludicrous. I’m sure no one has ever asked you if you actually ingested angel blood in order to be a Shadowhunter.

Matthew Daddario: Yeah, no. They do ask if I’ve shot arrows, but not the rest of the magic things and all that.

You mentioned how empty and almost callous Donny is, but there are moments throughout the film where it feels he’s forming a bond with Banjo and Clay. How do you strike that balance?

Matthew Daddario: I’m curious what people think about that because part of the thing is that he’s very skilled at making friends in the here and now. It’s a talent that some people have that is a cross between charisma and a kind of indifference to other people. He definitely has that.

When it feels like he’s making a connection, how much of it is just complete bullshit that he’s gonna forget ten minutes later? As soon as he leaves this hunt, he’s never thinking about these people again. Unfortunately, that is a character type that we see in a lot of different businesses – but Hollywood is a good example of one. You want to avoid those kinds of people.

I wanted to reveal a little bit of that element of his personality because it is something so frightening and scary to see a person who can connect with you and who you feel connected to. You’re like, “Oh, I feel bad for him in this moment,” and then you realize, “No, there’s nothing there. They don’t care about you at all.”

I tried to make that come across with Donny a little bit, and I hope it does. Although it’s not exactly the film for that kind of character study, I do love that kind of thing.

You had a practice run for this film, working with Brock Harris before. What was that collaboration like, working with someone who is wearing all the hats?

Matthew Daddario: Brock is an extremely capable person, in the sense that he can handle pretty much whatever kind of work you throw at them. He’s spent the last few years getting very good production work and very good at putting these projects together.

It’s kind of lucky that there’s so many like that around because it makes my job a lot easier. I don’t have to handle certain parts of the production process that I don’t want to handle, and it gives me time to focus on other elements. But we all kind of worked together writing the story, acting, doing a little bit of direction here and there when he’s acting, or we’d have Chris Sibley directing. We moved around a lot because in this case, it was a small number of people. We were filming for very few days on a very limited budget, so it was about getting a team to work together – and that’s something we really had.

I’m really happy with everyone who worked on that. I would do it again in a heartbeat, and that’s easy to say about these kinds of things. Usually, people on lower-budget films are like, “Thank God that’s over. That was a nightmare.” But no, I would do it again.

You’ve also had your own experience in directing and even producing in recent years. Would you say that that has affected how you view your work as an actor, or that your acting experience has affected your process on the production side?

Matthew Daddario: It’s about exposure, right? That’s true in any job: it’s how much you have done of a certain thing. In my case, Shadowhunters plus Why Women Kill and the various films I’ve done – that’s a lot of hours of TV and a lot of different directors. I’ve met all different kinds and worked with all different kinds intimately.

You learn what you like, and you don’t what you don’t like, and sometimes you can decipher what doesn’t work ever. It’s rare that that’s the case, but you can find things that are universally appealing – especially to the actors and to the crew. And part of direction is managing a set a little bit. Some directors don’t involve themselves in that at all, and some do. There’s the artistic element, but you also have to trust your team and the people involved.

You learn a lot as an actor about these different parts and different roles, as long as you’re interested, as long as you ask questions, as long as you pay attention. And that’s provided far more training than any training I’ve had actually directing because that’s very limited. I’d like to continue into that area, but I don’t have enough hubris to believe that I could just turn around and do it. There’s a lot more that I have to study and a lot more to look at in order to accomplish that.

With Shadowhunters, Why Women Kill, and now Wild Game, you’ve covered a wide range of genres and very different styles. Is there any common thread that you look for or types of stories that speak to you when choosing your roles?

Matthew Daddario: I think a lot of people have the same opinion, and it might be true in everything: it’s good people. I’m looking for people who are talented, competent, and enthusiastic. Enthusiasm is contagious, and competence is always rewarded with an outcome. If you have people [with those qualities], then it doesn’t matter what the script is, for the most part, because it’s not going to be a bad script. It doesn’t matter where the shooting location is or what the subject matter is because it’s all going to be interesting.

As an actor, you have to learn how to adapt to a variety of different situations and different characters. You can’t say, “Oh, I only do one thing,” or, “I don’t like this character, so I’m not going to play them.” You find a way to make it interesting. It’s very rare that a character is so poorly designed or poorly written that there’s no opportunity for you to adjust the character and make them interesting, especially with a competent and enthusiastic crew and development team.

So, it really doesn’t matter, honestly. It’s always exciting to do stuff with people who care and are good.

Finally, what is next for you? What are you looking to work on or currently working on?

Matthew Daddario: I just finished Into The Deep up in Cornwall, England. I’m excited for that. That’ll be coming soon-ish. And next year, we’re going to be filming a few more movies. Some with the team from Wild Game, but they’re going to be slightly different genres that we’ve been working on a long time.

We’ve been trying to figure out a time and a way to do it, and I think we’ve kind of got that settled. We’re gonna do that, and then we’re gonna see if we can go from there using that material to do something that’s in a similar vein. It’s very funny stuff. I’m really excited about it.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/wild-game-movie-matthew-daddario-interview/