IR Interview: James Badge Dale & Riley Voelkel For “Hightown [Starz-S3]

The Inside Reel

Actors James Badge Dale & Riley Voelkel talk to The Inside Reel about motivation, growth, evolution of character and finding balance, in regards to the 3rd and final season of their Starz series: “Hightown”.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 I'm either going to kill myself or something's

00:14 going to change, but I don't want to be like this anymore.

00:17 I just don't know how to stop.

00:19 You lied to me.

00:20 We all have secrets, right?

00:22 You need to think long and hard.

00:29 About what side of this thing you're going to be on.

00:31 We've talked all the way through this,

00:40 and it's always interesting to see how people--

00:42 how characters change, but also they stay the same.

00:45 Could you talk about looking at that?

00:46 Because they have ambitions, they have wants,

00:49 they have desires, but they also have the bottom line

00:51 they both have to deal with.

00:53 Can you each talk about that?

00:55 Because it's sort of ingrained in each of their psyches.

00:57 It's always interesting to see how people change.

00:59 Yeah.

01:00 I think-- you know, I think there's a part of Renee

01:04 that has convinced herself that all she wants

01:06 is to be a good mom, a stay-at-home mom,

01:11 and to have a normal life and a better

01:14 life for her and her kids.

01:16 But I think a lot comes to the surface in season three,

01:20 and I think we start to see a side of her.

01:23 Like you mentioned, there's the old Renee

01:26 that she's trying to run from.

01:28 But is the old Renee something she really wants to run from,

01:31 or is it something that will always really be a part of her?

01:34 And is that void that she's feeling,

01:36 you know, actually missing the rush of that old life

01:40 or the power, really?

01:41 I feel like most her life, she's felt powerless,

01:45 she's been underestimated.

01:48 And there were moments in her old life

01:50 that even though it was dangerous, she felt powerful,

01:53 and she felt like somebody.

01:55 And now that she has this more docile lifestyle,

01:59 I think there's a part of her that maybe misses that.

02:04 You know, change is a funny thing.

02:06 You know, we all think we're changing and adapting.

02:08 But what I struggled with so hard

02:11 in this last and final season is I was really hoping for Ray

02:14 to--

02:15 you know, at the end of season two,

02:17 he was going to change and adapt.

02:19 And I think for Ray, he's falling

02:23 into some of his old behaviors, you know?

02:25 And that to take a deeper look, sometimes

02:30 you got to fail a few times.

02:31 Sometimes you got to hit the ground

02:33 and hit your face back into the dirt and hit bottom again.

02:36 And I think we lose sight of that bottom

02:41 when we start feeling good.

02:42 [MUSIC - "DOWN IN THE DISTANCE"]

02:43 Well, if you told me you were drowning,

02:49 I would not lend a hand.

02:52 Jackie, can we talk to you for a second?

02:55 You know why you're here?

02:56 I've seen your face before, my friend.

03:00 But I don't know if you know who I am.

03:04 No idea.

03:05 And I can feel it coming in the air tonight.

03:10 I'm working a missing persons case, which left me here.

03:14 I'm on to something big.

03:16 A murder big.

03:17 You safe?

03:21 You should be ready for what's coming.

03:23 Listen, our entire case is about to go down the drain.

03:26 I mean, both of them seem to have--

03:28 it's interesting watching sort of the first six episodes.

03:31 Their heart is in the right place,

03:32 but choices and circumstances always dictate otherwise.

03:36 Could you talk about looking at--

03:38 you know, they have empathy for what they're going through.

03:40 They have empathy for each other.

03:41 They have what they want to do.

03:43 But sometimes life gets in the way.

03:45 Could you talk about sort of that irony

03:48 with these two characters, both apart and together?

03:52 Yeah, you know, Rebecca Cutter really

03:56 weaved together an excellent ending storyline for us.

04:00 And because of all these past behaviors

04:03 and all these things, I think Ray and Renee

04:07 are forced to come together in a way that they hadn't before.

04:10 You know, their relationship is going to be forced

04:12 to hit that breaking point of are you going to latch on

04:17 and get deeper and get honest?

04:19 You know, or is it are you going separate ways?

04:25 Yeah, they both have such--

04:27 I don't know, created such a web of lies and secrets

04:31 and bad choices, like you said.

04:33 And so it's just a matter of time

04:35 before that all comes to the surface.

04:37 And they kind of have to decide if they're in it together

04:40 or maybe they can't trust each other.

04:43 You know, they started their relationship on lies.

04:46 Maybe they really can't trust each other.

04:49 It's just another bad choice after another bad choice.

04:52 Another bad choice.

04:53 Sometimes it's an accident, you know?

04:55 Double down on it, you know?

04:56 Sometimes it's an accident.

04:57 [CHUCKLES]

04:58 [DOOR SLAMS]

04:58 [INDISTINCT CHATTER]

04:59 Hey.

05:00 Hey.

05:01 [INDISTINCT CHATTER]

05:03 It's a miracle.

05:05 They're both asleep at the same time.

05:09 Come watch "Love Island."

05:10 [INDISTINCT CHATTER]

05:14 What, um-- what happened at the mom group thing?

05:21 It was good.

05:26 Yeah, the, um, leader girl said that me time

05:32 is really important.

05:33 So I asked my mom to watch the baby for a few hours tomorrow.

05:38 If that's OK?

05:39 Yeah, of course it is.

05:47 Hey, I just want you to be happy, OK?

05:51 Now, you know, having played these characters

06:02 for multiple seasons, I mean, do you

06:04 have to look at their behavior as they're, like, inherent?

06:07 Is that just them as people?

06:09 Or do you have to sort of just accept certain parts

06:12 and sort of just understand other parts of them?

06:15 You know, because you can probably

06:16 accept certain things about the character, maybe others.

06:19 Not, like, certain details will pop up.

06:21 Has that happened over these seasons

06:23 with both Ray and Renee?

06:25 I think that's actually kind of one of the themes

06:28 throughout the show is, like, can you hit rock bottom?

06:33 When you hit rock bottom, is there still hope for redemption?

06:36 You know?

06:37 Can you get there?

06:38 Do your biggest mistakes define you?

06:41 So I think we see that through all the characters.

06:43 And they're all extremely flawed,

06:45 which I think we all are.

06:46 And that's where we can relate.

06:49 But I also think it's dependent, I think, for some people,

06:53 some characters, it kind of is who they are.

06:57 And that's not-- they're not necessarily good.

07:01 And/or there's parts of them that aren't necessarily good.

07:04 And they just feel like they're doing everything they can.

07:08 You know, they're just trying their best.

07:10 And sometimes that comes with wrong or bad decisions.

07:14 But they're really just trying to survive.

07:16 So I think it depends on the character and the person

07:19 and the perspective, ultimately.

07:21 There are moments where I cannot believe how dumb Ray is being.

07:26 There are moments where I'm like, Ray, man.

07:31 And you got to find empathy.

07:33 You know what I mean?

07:34 Our job as an actor is to dive back in.

07:36 And I've learned to be kinder to Ray.

07:41 And in turn, I got to be kinder to myself.

07:43 So that's kind of-- just from the actor's perspective

07:47 of diving into it, like you said, over and over and over

07:49 again.

07:49 We've played these characters for a while.

07:52 And you get close.

07:55 And it becomes this intimate relationship.

07:59 So I'm just trying to be nicer to myself.

08:03 Yeah, you do have to find empathy for the characters.

08:06 Sorry.

08:08 I think that's a really good point.

08:10 Like, when you're playing, you have

08:12 to be able to understand or try to understand

08:14 the perspective of this character,

08:15 no matter how different their life is from yours.

08:18 And through that, I think you have to find empathy for them.

08:23 By the way, just as me as a human being watching Riley

08:26 play Renee through this third and last season

08:29 and the places that she has to go through the darkness

08:33 and come out to the other side and still be like, hey,

08:35 I'm a righteous person and I'm a good person.

08:38 I mean, it's-- I love this show and I love this job

08:44 and I love my fellow actors.

08:45 Thanks, Nadji.

08:46 I love you, too.

08:47 Best partner in the planet.

08:48 Close the door.

08:55 I'm going to ask you one question right now.

08:57 Are you [BLEEP] serious, Jackie?

08:58 I know. I'm sorry.

08:59 You're going to be late for your first day off desk duty.

09:01 Throwing a debrief with the major?

09:02 It won't happen again, I promise.

09:04 It's just my car was stolen.

09:08 What?

09:10 In P-Town?

09:11 For real? - Yeah.

09:12 I mean, I think so.

09:13 You think so?

09:14 You think your car was stolen or did

09:15 you forget where you parked it?

09:17 Really, dude?

09:18 I get P-tested like every other day.

09:20 If I was partying, you would literally

09:21 be the first person to know.

09:23 I had to ask.

09:24 OK, want me to start over?

09:26 I'm going to start over.

09:27 Welcome back to the field, Agent Quinones.

09:29 You are off desk purgatory and I absolve you

09:31 of your sins, my child.

09:33 See?

09:34 Good.

09:35 Well, I mean, that's the thing.

09:36 You can see these moments of joy between them,

09:39 despite all the crap that they're going through.

09:41 You see those moments, like either in the bed

09:43 or actually in episode six when you go in.

09:46 And you're cooking, I think, Riley.

09:48 And there's this moment of just elation

09:51 before everything sort of goes to crap again.

09:53 Yes.

09:54 Could you talk about finding those moments of joy,

09:57 finding those quiet moments between the characters

09:59 and how that sort of evolved between the two of you?

10:02 Well, I think those are real moments between them.

10:07 It sucks that it's so just out of reach all the time.

10:11 As soon as they have one of those moments

10:13 or think that they're safe, especially for Renee,

10:16 I think she's just starting to be like, OK, maybe I'm safe.

10:20 Maybe now I don't have to have this weight on my shoulders.

10:22 And I do love this person.

10:25 I think she really does love Ray.

10:27 I don't think that's ever the question.

10:29 I think the question is always, can she trust him?

10:34 So I love seeing those moments between them, though,

10:36 because I think it really propels

10:39 the story of or the relationship between the two of them,

10:42 which I believe to be real.

10:44 There are real feelings there.

10:45 And it's just a matter of their past choices.

10:50 Is that going to sabotage it or not?

10:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]

10:55 Do you think the day will come when

10:57 you feel like enough's enough?

11:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

11:05 There's no bigger lie we tell ourselves

11:07 than it's just business.

11:09 It's always personal.

11:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]

11:13 [SCREAMS]

11:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]

11:18 [SCREAMS]

11:19 [MUSIC PLAYING]

11:23 (whooshing)

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