Interview: Rachel McAdams & Viola Davis
What a Crime
Inspired by a BBC miniseries, the brainy crime thriller State of Play attracted an impressive ensemble cast. We speak with Rachel McAdams and Viola Davis about their parts in the intricate murder mystery
By Bob Strauss
It’s not often that a thriller — you know, a movie that’s designed primarily to entertain, rather than right some global wrong — attracts an ensemble cast that includes as many big stars as did State of Play. Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Ben Affleck, Robin Wright Penn, Jeff Daniels, Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams and freshly anointed Oscar nominee Viola Davis all signed up to share screen time in the murder mystery, knowing that with a cast that good few would have more than a handful of well-written scenes.
Canada’s own Rachel McAdams scored one of the larger roles as the ambitious young journalist Della Frye, hot on the trail of a murder-turned-sex-scandal that could implicate some of the most powerful people in the U.S. government and big business.
“It’s a political thriller that’s set in Washington, D.C.,” says the London, Ontario-born McAdams in a recent Los Angeles interview. “I’m a blogger who’s just recently become a newspaper reporter, and I butt heads with Russell Crowe’s character over how to present the story that we’re investigating.”
Viola Davis admits her role is small, she has but one brief encounter with Crowe in the film. But then, Davis is building a reputation on stealing movies with quick-hit performances. It was her single scene in Doubt, opposite Meryl Streep, that earned her the Oscar nod.
This picture: Viola Davis. Above: Rachel McAdams
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“I had one day of work on that, I’ll be dead honest with you,” Davis says of her role in State of Play.
“But it was fantastic. I worked with Russell Crowe! I played a
pathologist, I hope it doesn’t end up on the cutting room floor. It was
a good gig, it’s a really good script. I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Adapted from the acclaimed BBC miniseries of the same name, the Americanized State of Play
revolves around U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins (Affleck), an
up-and-comer with Presidential aspirations. But his White House dreams
are dealt a big blow when his research assistant — and, oh, mistress
(Maria Thayer) — is murdered. If Collins’ right-wing opponents have
their way, the scandal will kill his career. But there may be even more
to this story, and, with Frye’s help, investigative reporter Cal
McAffrey (Crowe) is on it — partly because it’s a great story, and
partly because he and Collins happen to be old friends. Meanwhile,
Mirren steps in as McCaffrey and Frye’s steely editor at the Washington Post clone, the Washington Globe.
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The complicated script was woven by a team of heavy hitters — Duplicity’s Tony Gilroy, Breach’s Billy Ray, Frost/Nixon’s Peter Morgan, The Kingdom’s Matthew Michael Carnahan. Add the fact that, last time out, director Kevin Macdonald guided Forest Whitaker to an Oscar-winning performance in The Last King of Scotland, and it’s no wonder both McAdams and Davis are stoked to be a part of this ensemble.
Yet the movie arrives at a time when, on the surface anyway, the two women’s careers appear to be heading in opposite directions.
Following an incredible hot streak in 2004 and 2005, when hits Mean Girls, The Notebook, Wedding Crashers, Red Eye and The Family Stone came out one after another, McAdams looked like Hollywood’s next big thing. Instead, she took a year off from acting, and reportedly turned down offers for such culture-changing blockbusters as Casino Royale and The Dark Knight. Though well-reviewed, neither of McAdams’ 2008 releases, Married Life and The Lucky Ones, sold many tickets.
“The thing is, there’s no handbook, there’s no right or wrong way to do it,” McAdams says of managing an acting career. “So sometimes you feel like you’re just stumbling along and hoping for the best. But that’s part of the fun, too.”
Born on her grandmother’s South Carolina farm in a shack with no television or running water, Davis grew up in the small town of Central Falls, Rhode Island, where her father was a racetrack groom. Like the middle-class McAdams, the poor African-American girl fell in love with theatre at an early age, got into every play she could as a youth, and wound up receiving a prestigious education at New York’s famed performing arts school Juilliard (McAdams graduated with honours from the drama department at Toronto’s York University).
But, although she won a Tony Award for a Broadway production of King Hedley II, on the West Coast Davis was essentially a journeyman TV and supporting film actor until this year, when a key role in Tyler Perry’s biggest movie hit ever, Madea Goes to Jail, added box-office potency to her awards season punch. “It feels really good,” Davis says of the accolades. “But buzz makes you very nervous. You can’t touch it, you can’t pay your bills with it, you can’t cash it in at the bank. And it can prevent you from enjoying the moment.”
As for McAdams, the future looks promising. She’s got an adaptation of the bestselling novel The Time Traveler’s Wife awaiting release and just finished making Guy Ritchie’s big-budget Sherlock Holmes reboot opposite superhot Robert Downey Jr.
“I feel great,” McAdams assures. “It’s nice to be able to work and do what you love. And all the other things that go with movies; it’s great. I feel incredibly blessed and I’m so happy that I get to continue to do this and I hope I can always do it.”
And with her movie career evidently on the upswing, Davis only longs for one thing: a little more screen time.
“It’s such a different medium,” the stage veteran muses. “Y’know, I met Russell Crowe and that was it, I didn’t meet anyone else. And if we hadn’t had done rehearsals for Doubt, I probably wouldn’t have met any of them except Meryl Streep. It’s kind of isolating, film. It’s not as all-encompassing as theatre is.”
Bob Strauss lives in L.A. where he writes about movies and filmmakers.
Brad Pitt (left) and Edward Norton
in Fight Club
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The first rule of State of Play...
The folks at Universal Pictures were jazzed after acquiring the film rights to the acclaimed six-hour BBC miniseries State of Play
because Brad Pitt and Edward Norton (in the roles that ultimately went
to Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck respectively) were attached to star.
It would reunite the Fight Club leads, a thrilling prospect since the two stars demonstrated such a flinty and combustible screen chemistry in FC. However,
Pitt dropped out when he disagreed with changes made to the film’s
script, which led to a production delay, which in turn meant Norton had
to drop out because he was scheduled to make the thriller Leaves of Grass.
—Ingrid Randoja
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