Missi Pyle plays Constance, an actress who is none too pleased when she’s upstaged by Hollywood’s reigning silent screen idol, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin). Goodman portrays Al Zimmer, the cigar-chomping mogul of Kinograph Studios, who walks the line between coddling and corralling his contract stars during the silent film era. In 1929, Kinograph is preparing to cease all silent film production as Hollywood transitions to talking movies, but some actors will prove more adept than others at making the change.
We sat down with Goodman and Pyle at a roundtable interview to talk about what attracted them to the unique project set during a pivotal moment in Hollywood history and told in a silent format. They told us what it was like playing characters that had no dialogue and where everything had to be conveyed visually, why they found the process liberating once they realized they didn’t have to worry about remembering their lines, and how shooting on location in Los Angeles helped inspire their performances.They also discussed what projects they have coming up next, including updates on Robert Zemeckis‘ Flight, Pixar’s Monster’s University, the Awards contender Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, whether or not Goodman will appear in Kevin Smith‘s Hit Somebody and more.
Question: How receptive were you to the pitch of a silent movie? Did you read the script first and say “Of course” or did it get pitched to you as a sound movie and then you looked at the script?
MISSI PYLE: I think we had different experiences. (to John) Did you read it before your meeting?
JOHN GOODMAN: Yeah, I got a scenario. It just sounded so different. I was intrigued and then after the meeting I was more than willing to jump on because it was different. And what the hell, I didn’t have to learn lines. “I’m your boy. Sign me up. It works for saps.”
PYLE: I just thought what is this? Okay, that sounds interesting. I actually auditioned for Penelope Ann Miller’s role and I knew when I walked in that it was a special role and I was excited when I got the call to come and play the role because that’s what I went to set thinking, that I was playing the wife, and nobody told me that I wasn’t. I don’t think anybody knew until I was sitting in the make-up chair. She was like “So you’re playing the actress” and I was like “Ahhh” and then it ended up being even more improvisational and more thinking on your feet.
Missi, I’ve always admired how expressive you can be with your face and the characters you play. When did you know that this was a talent of yours?
PYLE: I found out when I was too tall to play any other leading roles that I had to do something else. I grew up in Middle America and I don’t think my family was very funny, but I watched The Princess Bride. I always wanted to be an actor. I didn’t know anything about it. I’d never seen any plays or anything and I watched that movie over and over and over again. I was just like “Oh!” I didn’t have an extensive film background or anything like that. I think it was just out of necessity because I couldn’t really … I always wanted to be funny like that. There was a male sketch group in my college. I was like why isn’t there a female sketch group? So then I started doing sketch comedy and all that stuff. It just happened. I don’t know. Sometimes it’s too much.
Don’t you have the clout now to create for yourself a more modest character if you’re still interested in playing that?
PYLE: I do. For some reason, characters that are closer to the center, if they’re not off center, it’s a little bit harder for me to gauge how to play them because so much of what I do is also based on the reaction of an audience, too. I mean, obviously, as one of the characters, especially in theater which is what I grew up doing, I think it’s also more interesting for me to play.
Both of these characters are in one sense comedic but you still have to play them with a certain degree of straightness and reality and no dialogue. How did you wrap your head around what you wanted to do coming into this movie?
GOODMAN: You don’t. You don’t worry about whether it’s comedic. You don’t worry about whether it’s funny or not funny. You have a pretty good root of a character and you’re just expressing the truth to the person you’re sitting across from and a camera just happens to be running. In this case, there’s no printed dialogue so we made up our own.According to the scenario, certain things have to happen. It’s just basic storytelling. That’s all. The other stuff is for guys like you to worry about.
Did you ever dream in your career that you’d be able to do a silent film?
GOODMAN: I never gave it much thought. I never thought the electricity would turn off or anything like that. But it’s great. It’s a nice change.
PYLE: I never really know what’s going to happen.
GOODMAN: That’s for sure.
PYLE: It’s like we’re just professional temps constantly going out and doing what someone puts in front of you.
Did either of you watch some silent films for inspiration?
PYLE: Not right beforehand. I think I flipped on Turner Classic for a little bit. Again, obviously in this movie, the film within a film is a different story, but if the acting weren’t truthful, you wouldn’t have fallen in love with it the way you did, so that’s what’s the most important thing, even though these particular characters are larger than life in the sense that John’s a big guy who runs a studio.
GOODMAN: You’re not going into it with the thought that you’re doing a silent movie. You’re just doing a film.
PYLE: It’s just so much more…
GOODMAN: There’s no mics.
PYLE: And you don’t have any dialogue other than at the time that you know the intention, you know what’s supposed to happen, and I find it’s so much more liberating. You’re able to be more present because you’re not worried about what’s my next line. And in film and television, you don’t usually have as much time to learn them so on some level, unless you have a photographic memory, it’s harder for me to remember. Sometimes that becomes a part of it. The process is trying to remember and in this one you didn’t have to do that. You’re just able to be more present.
