‘Speak No Evil’ Star Scoot McNairy Explains Why the Reconceived Ending Intrigued Him Most

Ten years ago, Scoot McNairy’s first collaboration with Mackenzie Davis on Halt and Catch Fire had just completed its first season on AMC, and the “little drama that could” gradually became both a critical darling and cult hit. Set in the personal computing and internet revolutions of the ‘80s and ‘90s, McNairy’s Gordon Clark and Davis’ Cameron Howe played computer geniuses who had great respect for each other’s intellects, and together with their impermanent romantic and business partners of Kerry Bishé’s Donna Clark and Lee Pace’s Joe MacMillan, the quartet’s interpersonal relationships continuously evolved amid the ever-changing landscape of the industry they helped shape.

McNairy and Davis’ characters often had a very brother-and-sister dynamic, so the Halt fan base was rocked when James Watkin’s Speak No Evil dropped its first trailer last April, unveiling McNairy and Davis’ married couple of Ben and Louise Dalton. Both actors have admitted that there was a little awkwardness at first on the set of their new psychological horror-thriller, but since the Daltons are in the throes of marital problems, they could use that trait to their advantage. Ultimately, McNairy credits Davis’ skill set for swiftly dispelling their existing on-screen baggage. 

“There’s the whole rigmarole of chemistry and trying to force that or make that happen, but there was already a built-in chemistry with her,” McNairy tells The Hollywood Reporter. “When you play a role for so long, the dynamics of that character can sometimes bleed into the dynamics of a personal relationship. That being said, Mackenzie is an incredibly professional actor, and I felt like we adapted so quickly. I just feel really lucky that it all worked out now that there are a lot of Halt and Catch Fire fans who are doing a triple take at this.”

As a reimagining of Christian Tafdrup’s 2022 Danish film, the Daltons take a trip to the English countryside farmhouse of James McAvoy’s Paddy and Aisling Franciosi’s Ciara after befriending each other’s young families in the middle of a previous Tuscany-set vacation. The getaway soon goes awry, and the biggest question surrounding Blumhouse-Universal’s own take was whether it would maintain Tafdrup’s impressively and oppressively frightening ending. Watkins instead decided to take the conclusion to a more hopeful place, something McNairy immediately welcomed. (McNairy being a father of two children likely factored into his perspective on the matter.)

“Both films are great standalone films, but one of the things that frustrated me about the original was that I really wanted the parents to fight or make an effort to help their kid. That was something that didn’t sit well with me, personally,” McNairy admits. “So to be able to remake that film and take certain themes and stuff that they had before, but change that ending, was what was really exciting to me about it.”

2024 is a rather significant year for McNairy, as Speak No Evil is the first of his three high-profile films that are releasing before the end of the year. Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch just premiered at TIFF, and McNairy, as a longstanding Amy Adams fan, was thrilled to have a front-row seat to her latest go-for-broke performance as a new mother who believes she’s turning into a dog. A few weeks after its December release, McNairy will appear in Searchlight Pictures’ other awards play, A Complete Unknown, which is helmed by James Mangold. McNairy plays Woody Guthrie in the Timothée Chalamet-led Bob Dylan biopic, and he’s eager for audiences to see the Chalamet performance that he saw on set. 

“A Bob Dylan biopic, that opportunity comes once in a lifetime … I think the whole world is really excited to see this movie and to see what Timothée [Chalamet] does with the role as well, and I thought he did an absolutely exquisite job playing such an iconic character,” McNairy shares.

Below, during a conversation with THR, McNairy also reflects on Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly and Blonde, as well as John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place Part II.

Scoot McNairy, congrats on another great movie.

Cheers, man. It’s good to see you again. I have to say thank you for that piece about four years ago. 

I’m shocked that you remember, but you’re welcome.

Well, it was a very nice piece. I’m grateful.

As established in that piece, I’m a big Halt and Catch Fire fan, and seeing Cameron Howe (Mackenzie Davis) and Gordon Clark (McNairy) as a married couple in the first trailer for Speak No Evil broke my brain. How did this reunion go down?

Well, as you know, I worked with Mackenzie for four years and so on that TV show, and so coming into this film and knowing who was going to play my wife was such a blessing. There’s the whole rigmarole of chemistry and trying to force that or make that happen, but there was already a built-in chemistry with her. So it’s always awesome to work with somebody that you’ve worked with before from your past, and we were really lucky that it all worked out. 

Your Halt characters would play video games and bicker like siblings. There was another instance where she shot rubber bands at him. So was this new dynamic as husband and wife awkward at first?

For sure, when you play a role for so long, the dynamics of that character can sometimes bleed into the dynamics of a personal relationship. That being said, Mackenzie is an incredibly professional actor, and I felt like we adapted so quickly. The chemistry was already there, and so you didn’t really have to build upon that. That felt like the biggest blessing of all because you understand and know the person. Again, I just feel really lucky that it all worked out now that there are a lot of Halt and Catch Fire fans who are doing a triple take at this.

As I mentioned to Mackenzie, any awkwardness probably served your characters well since they’re both disconnected from each other right now. 

Yeah, we both had a lot of fun playing with that sort of rub and frustration of a grounded-in-reality marriage that’s going through all these complications. It was such a different dynamic than Gordon and Cam, and it allowed us to step out of that shell and play into this new thing, which is obviously a challenge when you’re so used to a certain relationship. But Mackenzie is such a great actor, so it all worked out great. 

Did you set up a conference call with Kerry Bishé and Lee Pace so that they could hear the news from you first? Did you ease them into this transition?

(Laughs.) I’m sure a few texts were sent.

Once the trailer came out, did any other Halt castmates and crew members reach out to you in shock?

Not necessarily. Some of my close friends already knew that I was going to do this movie.

To button up the Halt subject, I spoke to your Halt producer Melissa Bernstein not too long ago, and she thinks that Lee and Kerry should do an eye for an eye-type thing in their own movie. 

I would love to see that movie.

So Ben and Louise are at odds over something she did. They’re well off, but he’s restless since he’s currently out of work. His job has always defined him. Their daughter is a bit stunted, as well. Does Paddy (McAvoy) pique Ben’s interest at the hotel pool since he seems to be everything that Ben is not?

Absolutely. When we pick up with Ben, he’s in this vulnerable place. He’s disconnected from his daughter; he’s having complications in his marriage; and he’s lost his job. So seeing somebody like Paddy — who’s this masculine, improvisational, charismatic character, and has a great relationship with his wife and child from the outside — Ben thinks that if he could be more like this other person, then all these other facets of his life will be fixed. So that’s something I definitely leaned into, and it became such a predominant point of his character. You also have the push and pull of him trying to appease his wife, while also trying to lean into this guy that he thinks is going to fix him. So that’s the rub of both relationships.

I’m glad your film went its own way in the end. The original ending of the Danish film is just too singularly bleak to do again. But if your movie had in fact replicated that brutal ending, do you think you would’ve signed on still? Would you have wanted to experience that? 

The things about the original that I loved so much were the tones and the themes, and we ended up keeping those in the remake. Both films are great standalone films, but one of the things that frustrated me about the original was that I really wanted the parents to fight or make an effort to help their kid. That was something that didn’t sit well with me, personally. So to be able to remake that film and take certain themes and stuff that they had before, but change that ending, was what was really exciting to me about it. The script that James Watkins had written and how he had written that third act gave me that feeling of like, “Oh, I’m going to go make this movie, and I’m going to mess with, not fix, an ending that didn’t sit well with me to begin with.”

Yeah, the Danish version of your Ben character, Bjørn, is utterly helpless, and while your character is outmatched, he still puts up some semblance of a fight. So it sounds like you were pleased that he wasn’t a complete pushover.

One thing that James Watkins did a great job with was keeping the character grounded in reality. He’s pushing back as much as he can, but he never ever gets that Hollywood ending or that moment of redemption. So I loved that about this film, and no matter where it went, it always kept it in a grounded reality.

Apparently, it’s a real thing, but do you recommend primal scream therapy? Did you feel lighter after that day?

(Laughs.) Yeah, screaming at the top of your lungs in a beautiful landscape location, no matter who you are or where you are, seems like it would be a very cathartic thing.

I’m stretching on this one, but has this movie affected your desire to host or guest in the future?

I don’t know if it altered my desire, but I have learned through the process of making this film that I am quickly trusting of people. Until someone does something that steers me wrong, I’m pretty trusting towards everyone.

2024 is another great year for you as you’ve got a couple other high-profile projects landing later this year. Can I ask how your time with James Mangold went on A Complete Unknown?

Amazing. I’d been wanting to work with James Mangold for a very, very long time, so I was really excited to be able to come aboard a project like [A Complete Unknown]. A Bob Dylan biopic, that opportunity comes once in a lifetime, and I’m just as excited about seeing the movie as everyone else. I think the whole world is really excited to see this movie and to see what Timothée [Chalamet] does with the role as well, and I thought he did an absolutely exquisite job playing such an iconic character.

You’ve also got Nightbitch with Marielle Heller and Amy Adams. We just saw a photo of you and Amy at a kitchen table not too long ago. [Writer’s Note: This interview took place six weeks before the recent TIFF premiere.] Was that a memorable experience, as well? 

It was awesome. Mari Heller is another filmmaker that I really love and had been wanting to work with, and Amy Adams is just a beast of an actor. She’s very much like James McAvoy. I’m a longtime fan of Amy Adams, and she’s done a slew of incredible characters in incredible films, so I was just so lucky and happy to be a part of this project. It’s nothing like people think, and I’m really excited for people to see what the movie is actually about.

I almost wore dishwashing gloves today out of respect for Killing Them Softly, and it’s been too long since you and Ben “Mendo” Mendelsohn have annoyed each other on screen. Can this be remedied?

(Laughs.) Looking back on [Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly], I just can’t tell you how much fun it was to mess with Ben. After working with him and seeing everything that’s happened to him and his career, I would love to reunite with him somewhere down the line in the right fit.

I remember being at a Quiet Place Part II press screening a few years ago, and as soon as your heavily bearded character appeared in the distance, I instinctively blurted out, “Scoot McNairy,” before we got a closeup of you. I’m never one to talk at the screen, but it was just a result of watching so much of your work. Would you characterize that Promised Land reunion between you and John Krasinski as a favor of sorts? 

I’m a huge fan of John Krasinski and his films and everything that he’s done with that franchise. I wouldn’t call it a favor, because I was chomping at the bit to get there and do the part. I just really wanted to work with John again and also work on such a great franchise. So the fact that he called and asked me to come play, I was over the moon. I felt really lucky for the opportunity.

Lastly, how surreal was it to recreate that famous The Seven Year Itch scene in Blonde?

Oh man, everything about that experience was so surreal. We were at the same location that [The Seven Year Itch] used, and I got to see [Ana de Armas] play Marilyn up-close and how well she did with that. I’m also a huge fan of Andrew Dominik’s storytelling and filmmaking. So, to see all the photographers there, the whole thing was just so surreal, and I was really happy to be a part of what was a controversial, iconic film.

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Speak No Evil opens in movie theaters on Sept. 13.