2024-08-10 07:10:02
Hong Chau was wearing her junket smile, that polite expression assumed by Hollywood actors as they endure the same questions over and again from a string of eager if unimaginative entertainment journalists, in this case in support of her latest film, the Boston-set action-comedy “The Instigators.”
Then she heard the magic words and, like any good New Orleanian, she lit up.
“The Times-Picayune! I feel so much more at ease now,” she said, her smile broadening. “You’re my people! I’ve been talking about Boston all day! Let’s talk about New Orleans!”
Chau’s desire to discuss her hometown is understandable. For starters, few topics of conversation flame the passions of New Orleanians as much as New Orleans does. But also, after growing up in the Crescent City (Eleanor McMain and Ben Franklin, FWIW) and getting her showbiz start in earnest on the locally set, locally shot HBO series “Tremé,” things have been happening pretty darn quickly for her.
The only time she gets to visit home, in fact, is when work brings her back, most recently for this past summer’s intriguingly absurdist dramatic triptych “Kinds of Kindness.”
“I’m always asking people to please shoot a movie in New Orleans, because I would love to keep going back there and getting to eat and see my friends and listen to good music,” she said.
As busy as she has been, she’s not complaining. Since her first feature film role, a small but memorable turn in 2014’s “Inherent Vice,” she has appeared in 11 films – a tally most serious actors would trade their Ozempic for.
A 2023 Oscar nomination for her supporting performance in “The Whale” has been an undeniable high point of her past decade. But almost as impressive is the list of heavyweight directors with whom she has worked in that time: Paul Thomas Anderson, Alexander Payne, Kenneth Branagh, Darren Aronofsky, Wes Anderson, Yorgos Lanthimos, Kelly Reichardt and, now in “The Instigators,” Doug Liman.
And therein might lie part of the secret to her success: a discriminating taste in collaborators.
“The question I’ve gotten a lot, because we’re doing this junket for ‘Instigators,’ was, ‘Do you want to do another action movie, because this is your first?’” Chau said. “Well, to me it’s not so much about an action movie or a rom-com or a kitchen sink drama. It’s, who is the director and what is the script? Because whether a movie sings or whether it’s memorable, it really boils down to a director’s voice and the choices that they make – and those choices start most obviously with who they cast.”
Whatever else it has done, that approach has helped her build a name for herself inside Hollywood. In fact, aside from Aronofsky’s “The Whale,” she hasn’t had to audition for a role since Payne’s “Downsizing.”
That was the 2017 film in which she starred alongside Matt Damon. After generating no shortage of critical attention in it, she booked a small drama called “Driveways.” After seeing her in that, Reichardt offered her “Showing Up.” After seeing her in that, Lanthimos offered her “Kinds of Kindness.”
For “The Instigators,” it was Damon – who co-stars in addition to producing – who suggested Liman consider her for the role, based on their work together in “Downsizing.”
“So it all has happened very unexpectedly and organically, and I’m just delighted that this is how it’s happening,” Chau said.
In the process, she has had the enviable opportunity to polish her skills in an array of genres, from the heavy drama of “The Whale” to the kitschy horror of 2022’s “The Menu” and, now, the action-comedy of “The Instigators.”
In Liman’s film, which was written by co-star Casey Affleck, she plays the therapist of a disillusioned and desperate ex-Marine (Damon). When he becomes ensnared in a heist-gone-wrong, he and Affleck’s characters go on the run but – plot twist! – with Chau’s well-meaning character in tow.
There are surprises along the way, of course. That’s how this kind of movie works. That’s also part of what piqued Chau’s interest in it.
“What excites me when I’m reading a script is I think, ‘Ooh, this is really interesting, but how are they going to pull it off?’” she said. “And I thought it was so clever for them to take a character that we think we all know – the psychiatrist, the therapist – take her out of the office and put her into a car in a high-speed car chase. Like, that’s brilliant! And she’s still doing everything she has to do inside the office but she’s doing it inside of a fast-moving car. It’s so funny.”
Describing the set as “alive” and “fast-moving,” Chau characterized the project as a true collaboration, with Affleck – who wrote “The Instigators” partly to prove he’s not just a dramatic actor – encouraging improvisation in the interest of getting the best possible takes.
The improvisation didn’t stop there, either.
Because action sequences are usually so meticulously choreographed, they can sometimes be tedious for actors to shoot, Chau explained. For that reason, she said, she never really pictured herself as part of an action film. Working with Liman, however – whose openness to new ideas during filming has been described as controlled but highly creative chaos – changed that.
“If I had the opportunity to work with Doug Liman again or work on another action movie that was shot in this way, I think I would definitely sign up for that,” she said.
That goes double if said film is shot in New Orleans.
“Yeah, keep on upping those film credits, those tax credits. I want to keep coming back to New Orleans to shoot!” she said.
Then, she put her junket smile back on before moving on to the next interview.
Mike Scott can be reached at [email protected].
