People who have lost connections with their families and friends can often find happiness and acquaintance in the most surprising places. In order to fill the void of loneliness, people who have had no previous interest in pets can open their minds to the possibility of truly caring for an animal. The love humans begin to feel for their new pet can surely open their minds to rekindling their strained relationships with the other people around them.
This is certainly the case in the new comedy ‘Darling Companion,’ which is set to hit select theaters on Friday in New York and Los Angeles. The film follows Beth Winter, who is emotionally estranged from her surgeon husband, Joseph (portrayed by Kevin Klein). Feeling lonely after her two daughters, Graced (played by Elzabeth Moss) and Ellie (portrayed by Lindsay Sloane), left home, Beth decides to rescue a dog she sees on the side of the freeway. Much to Joseph’s hesitance, Beth decides to keep the dog, and names him Freeway.
Grace later marries the veterinarian who treated Freeway, Sam (played by Jay Ali), at her family’s lodge cabin. After the ceremony, Beth and Joseph stay behind with his sister Penny (portrayed by Dianne Wiest); her new boyfriend, Russell (portrayed by Richard Jenkins); Penny’s son Bryan (played by Mark Duplass); and the cabin’s caretaker, Carmen (played by Ayelet Zurer). Freeway becomes lost while walking with Russell, and tensions arise among everyone as they search for the beloved dog.
Kline generously took the time to discuss ‘Darling Companion’ and the positive effects of pets during a recent roundtable interview at New York’s Regency Hotel. The actor discussed, among other things, why he decided to take on the role of Joseph, and why he reunited with director Lawrence Kasdan for their sixth movie together.
Question (Q): What drew you to this particular project?
Kevin Kline (KK): I’ve done five other films with Lawrence Kasdan, and I’ve always loved the whole process. I love the way he writes, I love the way he directs. I love his trust of actors, and we all trust him. It’s a great working relationship. So I almost said yes without reading the script. But I also happened to really like the script.
Then when the cast was coming together, wow. Diane Keaton, Richard Jenkins, Dianne Wiest. These are actors I’ve loved for years, but I’ve never worked with them. It turned out to be just as I hoped. It was a lovely experience.
Q: Did your feelings about dogs change after doing this movie?
KK: I’ve always had dogs. When I was young, I grew up with dogs. We grew up with a rescue dog. My family rescued a dog 12 years ago, who’s happily still with us.
Q: How about the rams?
KK: We have no rams. (laughs)
Q: How was it working with them?
KK: Very difficult. No, they were fine, but dogs are easier. But that’s with all animals, I think that’s why we have the old cliche, never work with animals or children. That’s who everyone’s looking at. (laughs) So you’re worried about being upstaged.
Q: What about the snake?
KK: Oh, I wasn’t in that scene. But I like animals. Snakes, I’m a little concerned with.
Q: What about the location? Is there anything that you discovered, that you didn’t know before?
KK: Well, I had been there before, because it’s sort of the area where the Sundance Film Festival is, most of it is around there. But the Sundance Film Festival is in the dead of winter, and this was fall, and it was just beautiful. But it wasn’t nearly as populous as during the festival. It was a fun, beautiful place to work.
Q: At this stage of the game, you’ve seemed to have done almost every role possible. What is it about a script that grabs your attention, like with ‘Darling Companion?’
KK: I just trust my instinct. It has to do with taste and upbringing. There’s not a lot of rational thinking that goes into it.
Agents think, you should do this now, because this is going to be a very commercial film. You need to do a commercial film, because you’ve done two independent films in a row, that a total of 14 people have seen. So let’s do something big. I go, but have you read the script? They have, and they seen dollar signs, this is going to be very commercial. I have said, I have no doubt it will, because it appeals to the lowest common denominator. But it’s stupid.
I’ve done some stupid films, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t want to do things because they’re going to be commercial. I want to do things because I’m going to enjoy them, and I don’t care how many people see them.
Q: Like you mentioned before, you’ve previously worked with Lawrence. Can you talk about the differences in filming?
KK: The only difference was the speed, the tempo of the shooting, the budget, the schedule, the digital aspect. They were all good things, they kept a nice momentum. On a big studio picture, you have a lot of time. You can become rather indulgent. There’s no risk of that on this.
Larry had never done an independent film before, with a schedule or budget like this. I think most of us actors had, and enjoyed it. He’s never worked this fast, but he took to it quite readily.
Q: You’re famous for declining a number of roles. Do you ever have a role that you regret declining?
KK: I don’t regret. I’ve seen roles that I’ve turned down that are being very successful, and that’s fine, I’m happy for them. That wasn’t why I turned it down. Not because I didn’t think it would be successful, I didn’t think it was something that I wanted to do at that time. Either I had done something similar, or had a funny vibe from the director.
This movie was such a joy. A lot of the decision is, is this someone I want to spend two or three months of very intensive, rather intimate, time with? Aside from their directing style. It’s not just the script, it’s also the process. Is it going to be fun going to work every day?
Q: Were you interested at all in the Richard Jenkins role? Was that on the table for you?
KK: Never. Larry only asked me to play this part.
Q: What did you think of that role?
KK: I didn’t actually see it until I saw Richard doing it. I love Richard, I’ve known him since college, but I’ve never worked with him. It’s a great character, a very colorful character.
It’s sort of like when we did ‘The Big Chill,’ and Larry, before he cast it, he wanted me to play the part that he offered me. I said, have you cast the People Magazine reporter? I loved the parts that Tom Berenger and Jeff Goldblum played. They were funnier and more neurotic.
I said, this guy’s a regular guy. But on the other hand, Larry said it’s good, I want you to do that. I thought after doing ‘Sophie’s Choice,’ it would be good to play a regular guy.
Q: Speaking of your selection of characters, you used to focus a lot on Broadway, in the 1970’s and ’80s. Did you lose your focus in doing theater, and primarily do film now?
KK: Yes and no. I stayed away from Broadway for about 20 years, but I never stopped doing theater. I preferred Off-Broadway, working for the New York Shakespeare Festival. I did ‘Richard III’ and ‘Henry V,’ produced ‘Hamlet,’ ‘King Lear,’ ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ some of the greatest films ever written.
Broadway, a long run of a commercial play didn’t interest me as much. But I had continued to go back to the theater.
Q: Is it a point of yours not to be associated with the Broadway element, per-say? You don’t want to involve yourself with a long run?
KK: Usually it’s the long run. I did a production of ‘Cyrano’ about four years ago on Broadway, but it was a limited run. It was 12-14 weeks. It was a huge cast and a huge production, so we all agreed to do it for very little money. It’s a very expensive proposition. That’s why you don’t see a lot of Shakespeare on Broadway, because he wrote big casts.
But it was fun. I could have done it Off-Broadway, too, in Central Park in the Delacorte. But Broadway usually requires a more extended run, and most of the fare is commercial, to appeal to tourists. It’s so expensive, you have so much riding on it. I’d rather do 12 weeks of ‘Hamlet’ down at the public theater.
Q: You said earlier that you’re a long-time dog lover. A lot of people who have pets have had the experience of losing a pet. Did that ever happen to you? What did you think of the psychic-would you and your wife ever consult one?
KK: I love the way the gypsy-psyhic functions in this movie, because you’re never quite sure if she’s real or not. What you are sure of is that she believes in giving people hope. I think she is gifted, I think she’s one of those people who has a more highly-developed intuition than others. I believe there are people with that gift.
There are also people who turn it into a big money-making thing. But some of them are truly gifted. Whether my wife and I would have consulted one, I doubt it. (laughs) But if one materialized in our own home, like in the movie, the housekeeper is a psychic, maybe. I tend to be rather skeptical.
Q: Did you ever lose any pets in your life?
KK: One of my early traumas as a child was watching my dog get run over by a car. I was all alone, locked out of the house. I was about to go play baseball, and I was 10 years old. My dog always chased this truck that came through our neighborhood.
He wasn’t terribly bright, and one time, he got a little to close to the wheel. I watched him get run over, and then I had to drag him out of the street. Nobody was home, and I’m still recovering.
So that’s a dog I lost. But in terms of missing, sure. I think we all do, but not for days. But praise the dogs, they’ve always found their way home.
Q: You won an Oscar, you have Tonys and you were nominated for an Emmy. You also have a musical past, and you’ve studied the piano. Would you ever considering doing an album?
KK: I’ve sung, but I’ve always preferred playing characters who sung. It’s funny, when I did my first musical, I didn’t know it at the time, this was in 1978, and there were all these cabarets. They said, you can come and do your cabaret act.
I found out a lot of these Broadway performers have a cabaret act, ready to go. I said, I know one Randy Newman song (laughs), from beginning to end. It would be a very short set. So I think I’ll pass.
But the prospect of doing cabaret, you’re naked. That’s like doing stand-up comedy. That’s pure singing, and I don’t have the chops for that. I’ve done it, for benefits and things like that, played the piano and sung a little bit.
Q: Do you read reviews of yourself?
KK: Not anymore. (laughs)
Q: How does it feel to watch yourself on screen?
KK: I try to avoid that, as well.
Q: Have you seen this movie, though?
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KK: I have seen it. I was very curious to see how it would turn out.
When I first started out, I would go to dailies and watch the movie. I would analyze it and criticize it and myself. But it can be very disruptive to the job.
When I do theater, I try to avoid people coming back stage. I try to sneak out. It interrupts the process.
Q: Films often explore couples exploring love for the first time. Rarely do you see couples in the latter stages in their relationship, who are re-kindling that passion. Do you think that’s starting to change, particularly with this film?
KK: I think this film has the potential to bring an older audience. It’s not geared, and not not for the 18-24-year-old demographic. But it’s for adults of all ages. But it is more about sustaining a relationship than falling in love. It’s a little more complex, and more of an adult theme.
So I think it will get a lot of adults up and going to the movie theater. It would be nice if this got them out of their recliners or beds.
Q: Would you consider doing television, or a mini-series?
KK: Yeah. With films being what they are, and cable being what it is, some of the best writing has been on HBO or Showtime or AMC.
Q: What shows do you watch? Have you seen ‘Luck,’ even though it was cancelled?
KK: No, but I did see that thing that Al Pacino did, ‘You Don’t Know Jack.’ ‘Angels in America’ was very good. I don’t follow series that require too much regular viewing. But I think it’s mostly the specials.
Q: Were you able to input your own personal experiences into your role in the film? Was that accepted by Lawrence?
KK: Oh, yeah. You have to input your life into your work. You don’t have to, but I immediately respond to it. That’s part of the work of Larry’s writing. These are characters that you can identify with, and people can recognize. You can recognize yourself in them. I had brought myself to what he had written.
But there’s a lot of Diane, and Dianne Wiest. I think it’s part of actors’ jobs to learn what to bring, what to omit, what to exaggerate, what to downplay, what to focus on. What’s right for this particular piece.
You marry yourself to the part, in a way. You find a place where you meet this particular character. You make it personal, whether it is or not. But all of Larry’s characters, I can relate to all of them in a personal way, the same way audiences can relate to them. He writes recognizable human beings, in recognizable situations.
Q: There are talened, award-winning actors in this cast. What did you learn about your co-stars, like Sam Shepard, that surprised you in the process of doing this movie?
KK: Yeah, he’s a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright whose plays I’ve seen since I started out. When I came to New York, he was just sort of emerging. I read some of his fiction, and seen his acting. He’s a wonderful actor.
He’s funnier than I thought. I haven’t seen him play a character like this. He’s not zany or anything, but he has a comic sense in his performance that I haven’t seen before. It was nice, just getting to know him a little. We didn’t have that much together.
Dianne Wiest, I’ve known for years, and have seen her work. What surprised me was to get to know her as a person, and get a really good front-row seat to watching her process.
Same with Richard Jenkins, I’ve known him since college. I’ve always admired him, he’s always been terrific. He’s starting to be recognized. He’s one of those actors who’ve been watching for years. But it wasn’t until ‘The Visitor’ that he was getting a lot of media attention.
Diane Keaton is an utterly unique human being. (laughs) To get to work with, and get to know, her was refreshing.
Q: Have you ever thought of writing, and directing yourself in, a movie?
KK: I got out of film school, finally. (laughs) Yes, I’ve thought about writing, but I get very antsy. I want to get up and do it. Same way when I’m directing.
The one time I was directing, I was directing myself in a big cast, we were doing ‘Hamlet.’ I think it may be hard for me to just watch other actors doing it.
Q: Are there any projects you’d like to do?
KK: I’ve always liked ‘Don Quizote.’ If a play or film of that comes, I would probably jump at that.
Written by: Karen Benardello
