Written for the screen and directed by James Watkins, the writer-director of Eden Lake and the award-winning gothic ghost story The Woman in Black, Speak No Evil is based upon the screenplay of the 2022 Danish horror sensation Gæsterne, written by Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup.
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What was it about the original Danish movie this is based on that inspired you to write and direct Speak No Evil?
I just thought it was an incredibly well made and thought-provoking film. I loved the relatability of the story’s premise: ‘two couples meet on holiday…’ It’s almost like the first line of a joke! From a character point of view, I liked the idea of people on holiday questioning the direction of their lives and befriending a couple who they think might hold the answers. The film really hooked me with its grounded ‘social horror’: its exploration of how modern society shackles us with rules and how the horror in the movie plays on our social anxieties. I just thought it was a very well executed film that I could find my own way into.
What aspects of the story were you most interested in exploring?
I was excited to explore the horrors of everyday life and of social interaction. You know, the world is a complicated place, and as you get older you ask yourself questions like, “What are the rules? Am I playing by the right ones?” So, toying with those questions and anxieties was something I believed could be fun and relatable to an audience.
In relocating it to the UK and introducing Americans protagonists, I saw a way to make it more personal to me, and to bring a different cultural perspective. I think an American couple would react very differently to a Danish one! I wanted to explore Ben and Louise’s choices and agency when the dam of politeness finally breaks and conflict explodes into the open. When society’s rules become caveman rules, what then? In real life, very few of us are equipped with how to deal with conflict, with overt aggression. So how do normal people confront this abnormal situation? At what point do our primal needs overcome society’s shackles? And, in this cauldron, I wanted the notions of character that had been set up to be stress-tested. I wanted Ben to have to confront the false binary of masculinity—raw caveman strength versus modern “liberal” weakness—that Paddy thrusts upon him. I very deliberately wanted to challenge lazy gender stereotypes: for Louise to be more proactive in the final act, more ‘alpha’ than Ben. But I wanted to keep things chaotic and cack-handed and full of fear. I hate it when ‘normal people’ suddenly start acting like Navy Seal ninjas in the third act!
How would you describe Paddy, the main character of this story? And what do you believe Ben and Louise Dalton find so appealing about him and his wife Ciara?
Paddy is a very exuberant and outgoing guy, sort of the life and soul of the party. He has fun, pushes boundaries and is very much an outdoorsman. So, I think when Ben—who is a slightly more closed character—sees him, he recognizes in Paddy a vehicle to show him a better way of living. Ben and Louise see how free and untethered Paddy and Ciara seem to be, possibly looking up to them a bit as role models. That’s when they visit them on their farm, where Paddy represents this promise of a simpler outdoor life, back to nature and uncluttered by all the rules of modernity. Unfortunately, it’s a false promise.
Paddy and Ciara have a son named Ant that suffers a speech impediment. What is their relationship like?
Well, in Tuscany they are presented as these loving and outgoing parents, but I believe that as the story develops you will see there is a much more complicated truth behind it all.
And who are the Daltons in your eyes?
The Daltons are an American expat couple living in London. They moved there for Ben’s job which fell through, but they stayed because they had a visa. He’s a middle-aged man who worries he’s on the scrapheap. He’s not sure how to negotiate the modern world and its new codes. And his relationship with his wife Louise is at risk of fracturing. And on top of that they have a daughter that suffers from anxiety and has this comfort bunny, Hoppy, who she probably should be growing out of (or at least that’s what Ben thinks). So, they’re sort of struggling through life a little bit locked in that relationship. Then, when they meet Paddy and Ciara and later get invited to their farmhouse, they almost see it as a kind of couples retreat or something they can go do to possibly help unlock themselves. But, obviously, it doesn’t turn out that way.
How did you construct the character of Paddy with James McAvoy?
When I started digging into it with James, we talked a lot about a modern crisis in identity, that sense of disenfranchisement that leaves people—mainly men—open to bad mentors like Paddy, who reject all the rules, who reject the packaged and the polite in favor of some notion of ‘authenticity’. We talked about demagogue politicians and brought up classic references, whether it’s Shakespeare’s Iago, Mephistopheles, or these other sorts of manipulative characters that get under people’s skin. I wanted the audience to slightly fall under Paddy’s spell in the way that Ben and Louise do and show how easy it is for a ‘normal’ man like Ben—who has fragilities but is by no means an extremist or an oddball—to buy into this dream and thus become complicit in the mess that it creates. As Paddy says, when Ben and Louise ask him why he’s doing what he’s doing to them: “Because you let us.”
And James is incredibly smart and really understood his role and how to walk that line, keeping the truth within the character. Paddy is a narcissistic sociopath, who ultimately likes to be the cleverest person in the room and push people’s buttons. But it was important to have him be as seductive as he is scary, with some truth in the stuff he says, like with demagogues—they get a little bit of truth and then they sprinkle it with a lot of bullshit. On top of that, he is fun, with this quirky sense of humor that make the Daltons, as Americans, wonder if this guy is saying the unsayable or just being a cheeky Brit. So, there’s always that social coding they’re negotiating with while trying to work out how he operates. Paddy plays on that, and James McAvoy is brilliant at portraying that kind of devilishness with micro gestures, almost smiling and smirking at the same time. Also, we were quite keen to develop Paddy’s relationship with Ciara that ultimately is abusive and controlling and coercive, even though they also share this weird and incredibly messed-up love. Funnily enough, in a way it’s the villainous characters that have love, whereas the sort of heroes of the story are struggling and trying to find it.
What did you enjoy about working with an actor of the caliber of McAvoy?
I wrote the part with James McAvoy in mind. Beyond his outrageous talent, he is 100% the most dedicated professional actor you could ever work with, always curious, committed, and laser focused. Paddy is the mercurial king of micro-aggressions: it takes a world class actor to map those tiny shifts and walk that line.
How does Louise Dalton, played by Mackenzie Davis, feel about Paddy and Ciara?
I think Louise isn’t buying into them in the same way her husband is. She has reservations, and she’s aware that this guy is pushing her buttons. So, she doesn’t quite have the sort of bromance I suppose that Ben has with Paddy, and I believe it irks her. But, at the same time, she’s carrying a bit of guilt about her past behavior and thinking, “Okay, well, let’s give it a go,” against her better judgement, perhaps. She is suppressing her instincts that tell her that something’s not right here, constantly trying to keep to the social contract and be polite, until the point where she can no longer hold it. I think Louise picks up on Paddy’s energy and his microaggressions and the sense that he is messing with her in a way that Ben doesn’t necessarily notice upfront—she’s ahead of the game. And Mackenzie Davis, who plays Louise, is someone I’ve always admired. She’s sharp and brilliant, and there’s a unique intelligence about her that you see on the screen. Mackenzie was so insightful in working with me to develop the character.
And how was your collaboration with Scoot McNairy to bring Ben to life?
I love Scoot McNairy as an actor. Here he was a good sport because, in a way, Ben is this kind of beta guy struggling with himself and a lot of actors don’t want to necessarily play that guy, but with Scoot there’s no vanity. So, Ben’s not always the most likeable character, but at the same time we understand him and the fact that here’s a man who’s a bit lost and doesn’t quite know what his place in the world is anymore. I think that is quite relatable, which is something Scoot recognized. I also love the understatement of Scoot’s acting: I thought that would help ground the film and create a really interesting tension against the performative aspects of Paddy’s character.
Aisling Franciosi is also outstanding as Paddy’s wife, Ciara.
Ciara is sort of Paddy’s secret weapon, and Aisling brought a unique softness and warmth to that role. When Paddy is a bit too laddish, she softens him. And so, they are a team; but she can be dangerous too, hiding in plain sight as this warm and nice person. I didn’t want them to just be villains, but to have this sense by which, when the other couple look at them, they look at something they might want to imitate. So, there’s a genuine warmth between Paddy and Ciara, as well as an unhealthy codependent love. There’s an interesting complexity to her character, where you are not sure if she is complicit or a victim, and that was something I wanted to explore with Aisling, who was so smart and considerate.
And the kids Agnes and Ant – portrayed by Alix West Lefler and newcomer Dan Hough respectively – play key roles too.
When we were casting the part of Agnes we looked at a lot of young actresses in America and Canada, and Alix West Lefler, who is incredibly talented, immediately stood out. She gave a great read, but it was much more than that, as we felt she understood the complexities of her character and, crucially, was always alive and responsive to what the other actors were doing.
And Dan was also a real find. Ant represents a real acting challenge: to communicate convincingly, non-verbally, without ever ‘acting.’ Dan has never acted professionally before – and never on camera. So in auditions, I ran a live camera test – because it’s one thing acting in a room with me and a casting director, and it’s something totally else acting with a big camera and thirty crew. When he screamed on that test, he gave us all the shivers. Because he brought an inner truth: he lived the moment, rather than tried to act it. He really went there. He couldn’t speak for three days afterwards. I’m so proud of him.
The farmhouse is almost another character in the story.
It is definitely another character. And a real find by our production designer James Price who through his ingenuity enabled us to shoot the interior and the exterior of the farm in the same location, which is incredibly rare.
We always wanted an ambiguity about the house: is it charming or is it sinister? Is it shabby chic or shabby grim? This ambiguity starts from when the Dalton’s car first drives in: I liked how the farmyard buildings formed a courtyard enclosed on all four sides that made it feel almost as if you were trapped in a prison yard or a castle keep. It was both beautiful and terrifying, both protective and imprisoning.
Inside, the cottage-y rooms could feel rustic and charming and like something from The Hobbit. But equally the warren of small rooms, with their low ceiling beams, created a sense of enclosure and claustrophobia. The detailing of set decoration maintained this duality: antiques and knickknacks that might appear collectable and enticing; but in some of their detailing, disturbing elements, like the Dutch Delftware tiles in the kitchen with images of people beheaded or hanging from trees, or all the little figurines facing away from the centre of the room toward the wall, as if averting their eyes from the horrors of the house.
And the result is enhanced by the communal experience of watching the film in a theater, right?
Yes, and not just due to the size of the screen, but because of the audience and that collective environment too. Everything is amplified, as the collective is bigger than the individual and so is your experience, and you see it with all great movies. It’s almost as if there’s this buzz that goes through the room with an energy that you just can’t get at home. And if you have a film that can create that energy, then the energy feeds off itself, creating a feedback loop. So, if you watch Speak No Evil in a movie theater you will have two hours of a rollercoaster ride where you come out exhilarated and kind of exhausted. You will have had an experience and feel transported—which is what a film should do—that’s what I think merits being in the cinema.
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