The Big Picture
- Welcome to a new episode of Collider Ladies Night with a returning guest, Mackenzie Davis!
- Davis returns to the show to celebrate her latest release,
Speak No Evil
, a remake of the 2022 Danish psychological horror thriller of the same name. - During their chat, Davis tells Nemiroff about her “joyful” collaboration with James McAvoy, and reveals a very interesting take on the end of the movie.
I’ve been a very big fan of Mackenzie Davis’ for some time. I quite enjoyed our very first interview for What If back in 2013 and, like many out there, absolutely adored the AMC series, Halt and Catch Fire. While my enthusiasm for Davis’ work continues, the more we talk, the more why I’m drawn to her work in general comes into focus. During this latest conversation, Davis noted, “I do really give a shit, and I’m not a good liar.” That right there sums up her vibe in all interviews. Her answers are always impassioned and honest. Not only does that make her an especially wonderful Collider Ladies Night guest, but those qualities bolster every single film she’s in, including her latest, Speak No Evil.
Inspired by the 2022 Danish original, James Watkins’ Speak No Evil stars Davis and her Halt and Catch Fire co-star, Scoot McNairy, as Louise and Ben, a couple vacationing with their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) in Italy. While there, they meet Paddy (James McAvoy), Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their son, Ant (Dan Hough). After enjoying their getaway with this far more free-spirited couple, it’s time for Louise and Ben to return home where they must face relationship woes and financial struggles. When they receive an invitation to visit Paddy and Ciara’s countryside home, they accept hoping that another day-to-day shake-up could be just what they need to put them on a better path. The trouble is, this particular getaway is destined to become a psychological nightmare.
The original Speak No Evil is an exceptional film, which left many wondering, why remake it, especially so soon after the original’s release? Admittedly, I was quite skeptical myself, but then I saw the new movie. Not only is Watkins’ Speak No Evil a hugely entertaining and effective thrill, but it’s also one that sparks a fascinating conversation about human connection and how far one is willing to be pushed. In particular, how far can Davis’ Louise be pushed before she’s had enough and must leave that house? The movie’s success hinges on Davis’ ability to get the audience on board with Louise’s internal struggle and, courtesy of her pursuit of truth in her work, she pulls that off exceptionally well.
With Speak No Evil now playing in theaters nationwide, Davis joined me for her second Collider Ladies Night conversation to recap how she developed her approach to her work as an actor, and how she applied it to Louise in Speak No Evil to ensure you’re with her every single step of the way throughout this extremely twisted vacation.
Mackenzie Davis’ Tip for Aspiring Actors: “Take Time”
Davis always had a passion for acting, but she took time before committing to pursuing the craft as a career.
While revisiting her very first steps toward becoming a professional actor, Davis emphasized one particular thing that heavily contributed to putting her on the right path — time.
“I thought it was like any profession where you go to the school. If you’re gonna be a doctor, you go to med school, and then after that, you intern and then you become a doctor. I thought you went to theater school and then you would do some student films and then you would act in professional productions. And that is what happened for me. I think there’s so much chance that goes into it, so there’s no one way, but I definitely think going to school just for the experience of either university and not studying acting or going to an acting school if that’s just something you really wanna do, just take time.
I took time to start doing it professionally.
I did it my entire life. I was in plays all the time as a kid, but the idea of becoming professional wasn’t something that I explored or even craved until I was older. I just liked doing it.”
When the itch to turn acting into a career kicked in, that’s when Davis zeroed in on the value of the most important compass one can have while navigating this complicated, and often trying, business. It’s your gut. “Do really try and listen to your gut if people have your best interests in mind.” Davis also warned, “Don’t believe people’s compliments, because everyone is highly skilled at seducing you.”
Mackenzie Davis’ Career Could Have Gone in a Drastically Different Direction
“I’m not desperate to just work, work, work, work. It really matters to me what I do and how I do it.”
Yes, there are many people in Hollywood who’ll put business goals far above what’s best for an artist personally, but there are also those gems who know how to do their job and do it well while recognizing and embracing what an artist needs to grow in film and television in a way that feels true to them. For Davis, one of those people was her first manager, Brandon Bisig.
“I think maybe it was my first manager, Brandon Bisig, who right out of
Breathe In
, and before it had come out and before anybody knew anything about me,
he just really believed in me and really supported my ambitions
in the sense that I was like, ‘I’m a slow person. I’m not desperate to just work, work, work, work.’ It really matters to me what I do and how I do it, and the content of the things I’m making. And from day one, he was down not to compromise on any of that stuff.”
Had someone like Bisig not been in Davis’ orbit early on, her filmography might look drastically different today. She continued:
“I was 24 at this time. That’s adult enough, but you feel like a baby because, I don’t know anything about the industry. I don’t know what the rules are. You think there’s a whole set of rules and a way of doing things. And so, if I had agents and managers who are pushing me to go in a certain direction, and there’s plenty of those, I could have had a really different career because
I would have had people who weren’t supporting or hearing who I genuinely was and what I genuinely wanted, and instead were trying to roll out the next ingenue
.”
Instead of building a career that fit how others defined “success in Hollywood,” Davis amassed a number of film and television credits that she believed in, credits that further proved to herself and others that she has something special to offer this industry, and that something is uniquely hers.
“I think when I first started out, I was so happy that I was working on things I really liked, and at all. I was so happy to be invited, and I retained this sort of thankfulness for a really long time and sort of surprise that I was here. I felt, not not ambitious but just delighted to be here. Now I’m really resentful and jaded. [Laughs] No, I feel like
I am more aware of having something to offer and it being uniquely mine
, and it not being better or worse than anybody else’s, but knowing that the thing I have is my own and that that’s special in its own way. And that takes a long time to articulate to yourself or believe. Even now, I’m like, ‘You liar.’”
The Shocking Thing James McAvoy Taught Mackenzie Davis While Making ‘Speak No Evil’
The film may be a twisted and violent psychological thriller, but it was joyful to make courtesy of McAvoy.
Davis gets a dream performance opportunity in Speak No Evil. She gets to bring what’s uniquely hers as an artist to a set where she gets to play opposite some of the very best in the business, including James McAvoy. When asked for a co-star with a similar approach to the work as her own and also for one who challenged her to adapt, Davis immediately pinpointed McAvoy for both answers.
“I’m not saying this just because of the movie, but James McAvoy works in such a similar way, and
I’ve learned so much from him about just adding joy and invention all the time
, that it doesn’t have to be hard and punishing, no matter what it is. It can be difficult, but he’s so joyful, and he’s so spontaneous and he’s so open to other things. Weirdly, I’m gonna say him for both answers where
he kind of added a bit of a way into text for me that I struggled with
, a way of understanding how the story was being told. It’s hard to describe exactly what that means, but he really helped me with it. And I think that we’re quite simpatico in terms of an improvisational spirit — not improvising words, but the energy of the scene feels fresh with each other.”
While McAvoy helped Davis find a way into the text, I have to imagine Davis had that effect on others as well. In the Speak No Evil press notes, Watkins mentions that he knew Davis would be a great creative partner and “challenge the material to be as truthful and psychologically real as possible.”
“It’s nice that that’s the residue because every moment of every day on set I’m like, ‘Um, actually, I just wanna …’ [Laughs] I think I can be quite annoying or very squeaky-wheel, but it is truly coming from a good place, and I’m glad that that’s how he feels about it. Because
I do really give a shit, and I’m not a good liar. It just makes everything easier if I believe every beat
going into it, and so good for him for allowing me to do that.”
Her drive to believe in every beat of a story led her to incorporate a “subtextual conversation” in her Speak No Evil performance, and I’m a big believer that “subtextual conversation” is a heavy contributor to the film’s thematic heft, and it’s success in convincing an audience why Louise was willing to stay in that house just a little longer.
“One of the, I guess, structures I had inside of me was that we had made deals in therapy, the way that you do in couples therapy, to be like, ‘Okay, well, what’s a way that Louise can make you feel more seen when you’re out in decision-making things?’ And it’s like, ‘Well, I’d like her to allow me to make a decision sometimes, or at least listen to me or ask me what I want to do.’ And so that’s the subtextual conversation that’s happening between them all the time, where
she’s like, ‘I don’t want to ruin my marriage, and we made this agreement, and I’m atoning for something. [But] I
really
want to leave this place …’
There are these compromises that are constantly in motion underneath the larger, ‘we’ve got to get out of this place.’ It’s also such a good device for a horror movie to justify, ‘Why are they going back? Why are they going back? Why are they making these bad decisions?’ Because there’s not one objective. There’s, like, three. There’s me just as a person, and then there’s us, and get away from you.”
Mackenzie Davis Reveals Her Take on the ‘Speak No Evil’ Ending
It’s probably not what you expected …
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Speak No Evil.]Perhaps this has something to do with being conditioned to believe, “Couple survives a horror movie and then lives happily ever after,” but I didn’t quite expect Davis’ take on life after this nightmare for Louise and Ben. When I asked what she suspects could be next for them, she bluntly stated, “I think divorced.” She continued:
“I’m a big advocate for divorce.
I think it’s not working, and I don’t think this is a thing that brings them closer.
I think it’s like, ‘Okay, well, all the best. Let’s all do therapy as a family, of course, because we’re never getting over this, but I’m going to take care of myself now because I have a child to raise, and I am competent at that, and I need to be secure.’ And I think Ben would be happier, too. I think we’re not a match.”
Looking for even more from Davis on the making of Speak No Evil and her journey in film and television thus far? You can catch our full conversation in the video at the top of this article, or you can listen to the chat in podcast form below:
Speak No Evil is playing in theaters nationwide. Find showtimes near you below:
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