Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis) in Speak No Evil, directed by James Watkins. Credit: Courtesy of Susie Allnutt/Jay Maidment/Universal Pictures and Blumhouse
She may not be speaking any evil, but Canadian actress Mackenzie Davis discussed her on-set experiences, costars and more in relation to her newest film — director James Watkins’ “Speak No Evil” — at a virtual roundtable interview Tuesday.
At the roundtable, college-aged journalists were given an opportunity to ask Davis questions about the film, which resident Lantern film critic Sebastian Petrou Griffith recently reviewed.
Davis is best known for her roles in the science-fiction anthology series “Black Mirror” and the 2015 science-fiction film “The Martian.” In “Speak No Evil,” Davis plays Louise Dalton, a wife and mother who spends much of the film endeavoring to protect her family.
The movie — an English-language remake of Danish director Christian Tafdrup’s 2022 film of the same name — follows an American couple, the Daltons, and their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler), who befriend a British family while on vacation and agree to spend a few days at their seemingly tranquil country estate. It soon becomes clear, however, that the Daltons’ new friends are not what they seem.
Disclaimer: Spoilers lie ahead.
Inspiration for the role
Davis said she and Watkins drew inspiration from renowned director Michael Haneke’s thriller films, including “Caché” (2005) and “Funny Games” (1997), when characterizing the Dalton family.
“I was thinking about these bourgeois couples who live in this sort of intellectual space,” Davis said. “There is this elevated core of just being alive and maybe a bit divorced from their instincts that Haneke explores a lot, and I think that’s dealt with in this movie.”
Davis said she also drew real-life inspiration from her own mother when creating Louise’s personality.
“My mom is a really ferocious woman. She is very powerful, and she has a face that says everything but pretends to be polite,” Davis said. “I think that is such a funny thing — someone who is really trying to be a good guest, but you can see everything they think on their face.”
Davis said there was just one film she avoided when searching for inspiration: Tafdrup’s 2022 iteration.
“None of the actors were asked to, or encouraged to, and I didn’t want to, not until after we finished shooting,” Davis said. “I just don’t think it is that helpful to see someone else’s version because you want to see how your version of this would unfurl organically.”
Understanding Louise
Davis said at times, portraying Louise was a bit of a struggle. Being such an impulsive person, Davis said it was hard to understand why Louise never spoke out or stood up for herself throughout the film.
“I struggled at first with understanding why she was so silent because she seemed to have really good instincts,” Davis said. “[She] knew exactly what was what most of the time, and so that was a challenge, to figure out how to justify that for myself.”
Davis said she was able to bring a newfound sense of understanding to her role by creating a more detailed backstory for Louise in her head.
“I wanted her to be more layered and complicated, and so I made up a backstory that made it make sense for me,” Davis said.
Working with Scoot McNairy and James McAvoy
Davis said when she first entered the industry over 10 years ago at age 24, she felt like she was a “late bloomer.”
“At the time, you know, you feel like, ‘I’m middle-aged and I don’t even have a resume,’” Davis said. “When I first started working, I was just thankful to be there, and I think that’s a really nice energy to have, but it has been nice to sort of grow up and feel more collaborative in my participation in the industry.”
Despite feeling more grown-up, Davis said getting the opportunity to work with McNairy again — having acted alongside him in the 2014 drama series “Halt and Catch Fire” — brought her back to her career’s beginning and felt like a full-circle moment.
“It was great because I really respect Scoot, and it was one of my first jobs I had when I started working, and I really looked up to him as — I know he’s not that much older than me — but at the time, as like my elder and this really experienced performer, so it was fun to reconnect with him,” Davis said.
Davis said viewing McNairy as an elder proved to be a challenge while playing husband and wife in “Speak No Evil.”
“It was a bit funny because we were playing husband and wife this time, and we had to have this light sex scene in this movie, and it just felt like I was kissing my dad or something,” Davis said. “I’m sure there was a better way to describe that, but that was the difference; suddenly, I was romantic with this person who I viewed in a very different way and for good reason. That scene didn’t make it in the movie. I think the producers were also uncomfortable with what that looked like.”
Davis said though James McAvoy’s serial-killer character Paddy can be quite intimidating, McAvoy is entirely opposite off the screen.
“He’s so self-effacing, and fun and funny,” Davis said. “He’s really, really good at what he does, and it feels so truthful and insane, but it’s just something that he snaps into, and the rest of the time he is just a joy to be around.”
Underlying messages
The couples’ dynamics in the film, Davis said, serve as an investigation into gendered performances commonly seen in the film industry.
“There’s a whole history [of] people being married where I think, at least in my imagination, that they were much more equal, but there has been a transgression and, in order to atone for it, my character is being more compliant and allowing her husband to take the lead as a gesture of solidarity,” Davis said. “I don’t think that’s necessarily sexist or subservient, but I think it’s an element of just being in a relationship. [The film] serves as a fun exploration of how gender impacts our social behavior.”
Davis said she saw her experiences with social anxiety reflected in the film’s underlying messages.
“Something I love about the film is that it places that sort of social anxiety on the same plane as mortal danger because that is how it feels,” Davis said. “You want to die when you are doing bad socially, and the movie makes you feel that. On top of that, you are also being hunted by a serial killer, and that feels quite true to the feeling of being in those situations.”
Working in horror
Davis said working on the set of a horror film is one of the most distinct experiences one can have in the film industry.
“People gravitate to it because there’s something ritualistic about sitting in a room and having these cathartic moments together,” Davis said. “I was at a screening last night of the movie, and people were erupting into applause, and screaming at the screen and groaning. You could feel, like, the whole theater becomes one organism, and that’s so cool.”
Davis also said “Speak No Evil” was filmed chronologically, which is a rare occurrence in the film industry.
“Because we were in one location, we were able to shoot it right through, and it was like two months of that awkward discomfort that most of the movie is,” Davis said. “By the time we got to the end, I was really really happy to wield an axe and spray some acid because I needed catharsis after that long two months.”
Davis said though she hasn’t explored the horror genre much in her career, it is something she would gladly do again.
“I wouldn’t want to do nothing but horror movies,” Davis said. “This one was great because it was mostly shot in the day, and the thing about shooting horror movies is it’s all night shoots most of the time, and you’re probably wet and cold. This was dry as a bone and was almost all shot in the day, so if I could find another one like this, I would do it again.”
“Speak No Evil” is set to release in theaters Friday, with local showtimes being available at Gateway Film Center, Studio 35 and other local AMC and Cinemark theaters.
