Summary
Ed Harrisis a living legend.
What was it about him and his voice that attracted you to this project?
ED HARRIS: I had been sent the script, and I think Kyle had written me a letter.
Image via Briarcliff Entertainment
He was very honest, he was very intense, he was very passionate about this project.
HARRIS: Well, I think the executive producer capacity was something that was offered.
It didn’t involve anything other than doing the best job I could as an actor.
Image via Briarcliff Entertainment
I imagine, as an actor, you’re always looking for new experiences and new challenges.
HARRIS: All of a sudden, I’m asking to be playing grandparents granddads.
[Laughs] So it wasn’t entirely new being offeredthatrole.
Image via Briarcliff Entertainment
It was just another human being to investigate.
There are so many.
This is not just a character in a film.
Image via Briarcliff Entertainment
He reminded me a lot of my own grandpa in a lot of ways.
He left his family, and I was working with him in a gas station.
He had lost his right arm and his left leg he had a hook on his right arm.
Engaged in a mysterious relationship with her dead best friend from the Army, a female Afghanistan veteran comes head to head with her Vietnam vet grandfather at the family’s ancestral lake house.
We lived together for a while, and he was suffering, man.
It’s that kind of thing you know?
It’s in there, so it comes out.
Yeah, 100%.
How did you find that balance of humor and drama?
Because I feel like this film seamlessly balances that.
There’s a life to it.
Natalie’s character is very funny, and offers a lot of comic relief in a way.
You just give a shot to keep it alive.
That’s hard to talk about.
It’s innate, you know?
It’s what I do.
It’s what I’ve been doing for years.
I definitely think it shines through.
Was there a moment that you found especially difficult to keep a straight face during?
HARRIS: Not so much because I didn’t really work with her hardly at all.
She wasn’t around very much when I was doing it.
But in watching the film, it cracks me up a lot.
There’s a little thing in the car there that kind of cracked me up.
I don’t know if it cracked anybody else up, but it made me laugh.
I feel like there are a lot of parallels between those two characters.
How did you two build your chemistry together?
Because you play off each other so beautifully.
Can you talk about how that detail sort of informed this character?
Because I found it very illuminating for him and their dynamic.
HARRIS:Yeah, Dale’s one of these guys who scoffs at the idea of PTSD.
In other words, Get over it.
You were in a war things happen.
Theres a bit of denial going on.
You have to or not.
It’s just human nature.
No, I think you definitely are.
You don’t have to deal with it by yourself.
HARRIS: Kyle’s granddad was this fellow.
It’s just that awareness and how things start changing in your mind.
Your whole reality starts shifting a little bit, and things get a little surreal at times.
HARRIS: Hes pretty cranky.
[Laughs]
Hes a little cranky, but we love him still.
I feel like that’s part of his charm.
I’m curious if theres a character of yours who stands out to you as the biggest scumbag.
HARRIS: [Laughs] Oh, boy.
Im going back and trying to think…I’m not coming up with anybody.
You got someone in mind?
Yeah, he ranks up there for sure.
I’m also a really bigPollockfan.
HARRIS: Yeah, I don’t know, man.
It’s just hard to get something going.
I haven’t been able to get the financing together.
Im manifesting that and putting it into the universe because I would absolutely love to see it.
My Dead Friend Zoeis now playing in theaters.
