Shea Whigham and Carrie Coon are an unlikely duo in ‘Lake George,’ a new comedic neo-noir, road trip movie from writer/director Jeffrey Reiner. The film finds Don (Whigham) caught up in an impossible situation, and forced into a deadly project involving an energetic and somewhat kooky woman named Phyllis (Coon). From there the story really takes off. With twists, turns and a lot of truly funny moments set to this dark backdrop, the film examines much more than what meets the eye and showcases the talents of its leads in a new way.
To chat more about their experience on ‘Lake George’ Whigham and Coon sat down with Metro to dive a little deeper into this unique take on the genre.
What enticed you both about this project?
Coon: Well, Shea Whigham. [He] and I have been friends since we did ‘Fargo.’ Shea and I are character actors, we don’t get to play leading parts let alone with each other. So that was just too fun to turn down. And then the script itself was this noir buddy picture/road movie, and it was clearly really personal to Jeffrey Reiner who was going to be the writer and director. The personal stuff is always the best stuff, and I knew it would be an adventure.
Whigham: Jeffrey wrote it and came to me with it —so you have to honor that when someone writes something and thinks of you for it. It scared me in a good way…you’re looking for that. And I loved Don, to this day I still think about him. And with Carrie, when I read this, I knew we needed an A+ actress. You just can’t do this kind of film without that.
Since the story relies heavily on your characters, what do you love about Don and Phyllis? What do they go through?
Coon: Phyllis is very spontaneous and very positive. She’s always looking for the next path through her problem, which I admire. She’s also a survivor, which is something about her I relate to. I don’t have the same circumstances as Phyllis, but I have my version of that…I’m in a business that’s really challenging, so I just appreciate her energy. And in some ways too, her energy is actually a lot closer to mine—and that’s not a kind of energy you’ve seen in my work before.
Whigham: I agree with that. Carrie is a leading actress, I think she proves it in this and she proves it in ‘The Gilded Age.’ For Don, he’s a really good man that got caught up in a bad situation. I enjoyed reading it on the page and wondering, how is he going to get out of this? I knew it was going to be hard to execute.
With Phyllis, people ask me about our chemistry, and I say, you can’t create chemistry. It just happens. You know what I mean? Sometimes it can be a woman that I know or a man that I know, and you think you’re going to have great chemistry and you don’t—and you’re just great friends. And conversely, to that, she and I, whatever this is, we don’t question it. We don’t talk about it. It’s just there.
Speaking of the chemistry, what’s the hardest part and the most rewarding part about having to carry a feature film as a duo?
Coon: I don’t always get to do the gags, frankly. Getting buried alive and the scene where we kill Artie… I mean, that stuff is like physical comedy. That’s not something people are asking me to do. So in some ways, it’s really fun and exciting to get to try it, but it’s also not something I have that much experience in.
Sometimes you have to really trust your director and their vision. You come up against your inexperience maybe in moments like that, but at the same time, that day, just getting covered in dirt was one of the most fun days I’ve ever had in my entire career.
Whigham: People probably think that those scenes are easier to do and execute. But in actuality, the stuff with Artie, it’s on the page, but it just says Artie comes out with a gun and he holds Phyllis. There’s dialogue and then we got to hit him on the head, and then knock him out. A lot of that grew out of her, and I spotted the “thing” that we put him on—that wasn’t in the script. All of a sudden this grew, and we just went for it and continued to go for it. That’s where you find the gold.
With this being such a personal project for Jeffrey, what were some conversations you had with him about the genre and ‘Lake George’ itself?
Coon: He really is quite educated in the genre, and he had a lot of good comps that he was relying on tonally. But what I loved about working with Jeffrey is that yes, he had a very clear vision with the script and everything was on the page, but he was also interested in making it weirder than it was on the page. Some of those maybe odder versions of scenes came from him.
There’s a version of this movie where it’s done exactly how it’s written in the script, in the way that you would expect to see it. And then there’s a version where Jeffrey’s playfulness was also part of Jeffrey’s process. It was so personal and the stakes were so high for him, but he was also able to loosen his grip in those moments. That’s a gift, and so much fun.
Whigham: I’ll give you an example: The scene when we finally got the finger off and opened the safe and it’s gold, I had this long [dialogue] of, what are we going to do? It’s just all expositional explanation. And I said, it’s not working. It’s not, I’m bumping on this. Then I just said one word, “Gold.” And he’s fine with that. A lot of people wouldn’t be.
In your minds, what sets ‘Lake George’ apart?
Coon: I like that it’s not a traditional romance. There’s romance, but first there’s friendship. These are people of a certain age, and I don’t think of us as old, but there are people who are in the last third of their lives essentially approaching that. Those existential questions get really deep.
That’s part of what Jeffrey is exploring in this film for himself, why it’s so personal for him. I love that. In traditional casting, my part would’ve been a 28-year-old, but they cast a 43-year-old woman who has some life experience and she has actually survived a lot, she’s not pretending. I was so grateful that Jeffrey dignified that moment of age.
Whigham: I would say the same thing. It keeps you off balance, this film does. You think you’re seeing one thing and it turns into this vaudevillan [story.] I loved how it kept me off balance, and there’s a lot of love between these two characters and we don’t do the cliche come together. We did everything we could to keep that coursing through. It lends a depth as you see it, and I’ve seen it several times. It really is the way to go.
Catch ‘Lake George‘ in theaters and On Demand Dec. 6.
