Interview: Lance Reddick Discusses Playing a Nice Guy in THE DOMESTICS
Michelle Swope
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Lance Reddick is well known for his more serious roles, but he has the opportunity to showcase his wide range as the smiling, outgoing Nathan Wood in The Domestics.
The film tells the story of the only survivors of an attempt by the government to wipe out humanity. The people who haven’t chosen to join one of the sadistic gangs who hunt humans for fun are known as the domestics. A couple named Mark (Tyler Hoechlin) and Nina (Kate Bosworth) are traveling and trying to avoid the gangs when they encounter Nathan, who invites them over for dinner. Nathan is amiable on the outside, but he may be harboring secrets.
Dread Central recently spoke with Lance Reddick about what it was like to play a nice guy like Nathan, what he would do in the case of an apocalypse, working with director Mike P. Nelson, and more.
The Domestics will be in select theaters June 28th and on demand June 29th from Orion Classics.
Dread Central: The character you play in The Domestics is different from a lot of your other roles. What appealed to you about Nathan?
Lance Reddick: He was so different from the other stuff I’ve done. Honestly, it was a lot of fun because I don’t feel like I get to play a lot of the working class every man, so that was a lot of what appealed to me about it. Just being in the film, because the story is so crazy and the turn the character takes is so wild, I just thought it would be a lot of fun.
DC: When I spoke with the director, Mike P. Nelson, he commented that we don’t get to see you smile in a lot films.
LR: (laughter) In that way, he’s probably a lot closer to who I really am. I mean, I don’t cut people up and eat them, but other than that he’s a lot like me (laughs).
DC: What was your initial reaction when you read the script?
LR: I saw the short the film is based on before I read the script and I was blown away by the short. Then I read the script and I thought, “Wow I like the setting and it’s really well written.”
DC: In the film Nathan is trying to ensure his family’s survival in a post-apocalyptic world and he seems like one of the good guys. How did you get into his headspace?
LR: There’s a line from the trailer, and I remember distinctly because when I read it I thought a lot about it. Nathan says to Tyler Hoechlin’s character Mark, “Good people didn’t survive. We did.” The gang members are pretty bad, but I think that at the end of the day it’s about survival. It’s about taking care of his family and when you’re living in a Wild West situation and you’re in small tribal cultures fighting for resources, as opposed to large industrialized areas where we have the advantage of living like we don’t have to worry about that stuff. When you’re in a tribal culture fighting for resources and survival, human beings are like every other animal. It’s every man, woman, and child for himself or every group for themselves. Nathan is kind of amoral and that’s kind of what the movie is exploring on that level. I mean besides having great action and lots of gore. It’s really exploring what are we without the benefit of being part of a large, organized culture that kind of takes care of us.
DC: The environment the people in this film find themselves in seems very plausible to me. Do you agree and if you were in the same situation in real life, would you be like Nathan or do you think you would choose to be one of the bad guys?
LR: Well, that’s a great question. It’s interesting because The Walking Dead explores this, too. I think I would do both. The reason I brought up The Walking Dead is because the world Mike has created with The Domestics, in some ways it’s different from The Walking Dead, except for what you find at the end, which then gets kind of destroyed. You don’t find large groups of people that are trying to live in a “civilized” way. Partly because of my personality as Lance I’m not a savage guy, I’d have to kind of find that. Some people have alpha personalities and are comfortable living in competition and violence a lot. I’m not that, so I’d be more comfortable trying to be part of a larger group that was trying to live in more, I hate using this term because it’s so loaded, civilized way, where people have standards of etiquette and simplification.
DC: What was it like to work with director Mike P. Nelson?
LR: It was fun. It’s hard to win an argument with Mike (laughs). The only person I saw successfully win an argument with Mike was Tyler (laughs) and it was tough going. I think the movie speaks for itself. He knows what he’s doing and he has a very strong vision. It’s kind of what the creative process is. Everyone is fighting for what their vision is and what comes up in the compromises in the collaborative process is what you see. I mean quite frankly, he’s got a lot of great things ahead of him as a writer and director.
DC: What are you working on now that you can tell me about?
LR: I may have a little bit to re-shoot for Angel Has Fallen, which is the third film in the Olympus Has Fallen franchise. I wrapped principle shooting of that at the end of April. Then I just wrapped the second season of the Comedy Central show I’m on, Corporate, last week. I’m at the tail end of my shooting of John Wick 3 right now in New York. Those are the three big things I’ve been doing this year. Then of course, we start season five of Bosch at the end of July.
DC: I really appreciate you taking time to talk with me today!
LR: Absolutely! It was a pleasure.
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