Writer/Director Nick Tomnay & Actor David Hyde Pierce
At a recent roundtable interview, writer/director Nick Tomnay and star David Hyde Pierce discussed The Perfect Host. It was quite clear the two had become friends and had respect for one another. David was always cracking jokes and Nick was modest and equally funny in his responses.
Nick described the process of turning his short film, The Host, into a feature film by changing the Australian dialog to American and that David had many great ideas that helped him develop the story. When asked why he decided to take a chance on a first time director, David jokes, “I had been drinking.” He then described how he read it and thought that it was a “really smart, funny, interesting, twisted, twisty, script” and he loved that aspect as well as the amazing character he’d play.
I asked about the distinctive walks that the main character, Warwick, has in the film. Nick said it was not in the script, but something that David contributed. David talked about the character’s aspects and described how he wanted to be able to “physicalize that in a way that was noticeable, but not so extreme that it wasn’t believable.” It was delightful to hear how an actor was able to enhance his performance with such support by his director.
When Nick was asked how he balanced all the aspects of the film, from the comedy, to the drama to the dancing sequences, he says that after he wrote the dancing sequence, it taught him a lot about the character and the tone of the film. He says he hopes the film is “equally weighted as dark comedy and a psychological thriller.” Mission accomplished, sir!
In getting a backstory or motivation for the character of Warwick, David says it was “all on the page in this script.” He normally does do a lot of research for his roles, but he said he just would read the script and study each action.
When asked about hosting their own dinner party and what guests to invite/not invite, Nick said he “wouldn’t want somebody like the Incredible Hulk turning up” because “I just don’t think he’d have very good manners, probably destroy things.”
Casting Helen Reddy, notorious composer and singer, in the role of Cathy Wright, was good fortune because she was also represented by Nick’s agent. She read the script and wanted to do it. David talked about how she was “nurturing and warm” and made everyone feel at home.
The shoot was only 17 days, so Nick described how he wished he had more time, but that preparation was the key. He had a clear idea of what he was going to shoot. They had a four day rehearsal period to experiment and flush out the bad ideas. Nick’s big lesson on this movie: “If you prepare well, that gives you the luxury to be spontaneous.” David said that he was given advice about shooting an independent film to study the script and know it.
Nick talked about how they didn’t rehearse certain scenes, but left them to when they would be shot and because of that “there was this electricity because we hadn’t touched them yet.”
The roundtable was very relaxed and fun. It’s a shame we couldn’t talk more about specific elements because it would take the fun out of the film, but they were both very delighftul.
This fall, David will take his first shot at directing with a musical, It Should Have Been You, and will be acting in a new play, Close Up Space, at the end of the year at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Nick is in the process of writing a thriller, fish-out-of-water story set in Sydney, Australia.
The Perfect Host opens in limited release on July 1st, 2011.
You can read my review here and Alex’s here
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