Dermot Mulroney as “Sage Parker” in the action/thriller, ‘Lights Out,’ a Quiver Distribution release. Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution.
Streaming on digital platforms now is ‘Killing Mary Sue’ from writer and director James Sunshine.
The movie stars Dermot Mulroney as a corrupt senator arranges for the murder of his biggest liability, his erratic burnout step-daughter Mary Sue (Sierra McCormick), only for her to unwittingly discover her natural talent as an untouchable killer.
Related Article: Dermot Mulroney Talks ‘Gone in the Night’ and Working with Winona Ryder
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking to Mulroney about his work on ‘Killing Mary Sue,’ as well as his own directorial efforts, and his interior monologue acting skills.
Dermot Mulroney appears in ‘Killing Mary Sue’.
Moviefone: How did you react when you got the script for the first time? Because this is a really bonkers movie.
Dermot Mulroney: I was so thrilled when I read it. I just loved the script. I thought it was, bonkers is a great word for it. My first thought being, ‘gosh, who makes movies like this anymore? Let’s go.’ High concept, murderous, bloody dead bodies, comedy, backstabbing. I mean, it’s really unique.
MF: For those who don’t know, what is a Mary Sue in fiction?
DM: Mary Sue represents that sort of super girl image that’s kind of comics, kind of movies, kind of nineties TV shows where they can do anything. They get out of every sticky situation. So she is named Mary Sue, but it’s a play on itself on a thing that I didn’t even know how to name. So I was that guy from this generation catching up to the world!
Sierra McCormick in ‘Killing Mary Sue.’ Photo: Samuel Goldwyn Films.
MF: How was James K. Sunshine to work with as a director?
DM: James saw the whole thing in his head and it was completely unconventional, even some of the filming. It was sometimes challenging because he’d skip parts of the scene because he knew he wasn’t going to see that, and I’m fine with all that, but on each of those terms, I had to say, well, I’ve worked with a lot of young filmmakers. I’m, ‘you sure you don’t want that part in the middle in case for the edit?’ But the way he put together is exactly how he saw it. And I love the creation of it. It’s high color, it’s high-paced, it’s weird, it’s got graphics on it, it tells the story out of time.
MF: You’ve directed in the past. Does that change how you interact with directors going forward?
DM: No, my approach to directors of any sort has blossomed over the years. I’m a well-seasoned actor who really wants to deliver for whatever the director wants, and in this case, it turned out great. Honestly, I’m frank about it. If I was younger or less experienced, I might be questioning that more. And so, now I really want to embrace the voice of the filmmaker. I’ve learned a lot from the greatest directors of the 20th century, and yet, I still don’t want to try to impose that on somebody else.
‘Killing Mary Sue’ opens in theaters on June 20th.
MF: There are a couple of moments in ‘Killing Mary Sue’ where you have an internal monologue going and you’ve got to react. How does that work? And do you have a particular trick to internal monologue acting?
DM: No. I was so thrilled to do the internal monologue acting! I remember recording it, and it is what they used, but we recorded that in the closet. Or I would say, it was in the mansion from the movie, so the closet is really about the size of a room anyway, great place to record sound. I didn’t have to do that in ADR, so I’d have the person on set, and I think that’s how we did it. I can hear how I might say it if I was having my inner monologue so that my facial expressions, which obviously I used to the thickest extent in this performance, really over the top, so that they matched what I was thinking.
MF: What did you do to try and get into the head of Bradley Weiner? Or was it just, ‘I’m going to have so much fun playing this, I don’t need to do a deep acting dive on him?’
DM: The way I describe it is sometimes the character overtakes you. I’ve had characters overtake me and I’ve been wrong about it. But I know some of the parts that I did the best on that have lived the longest were very peculiar. And really, I didn’t plan to play Dirty Steve in ‘Young Guns’. I didn’t plan to play him that way. He just came to life within me. I won’t take special credit for that, but I can really attest to when that happens it can be magic too for film actors.
What is the plot of ‘Killing Mary Sue’?
A corrupt senator arranges for the murder of his biggest liability, his erratic burnout step-daughter Mary Sue, only for her to unwittingly discover her natural talent as an untouchable killer.
Who is in the cast of ‘Killing Mary Sue’?
‘Killing Mary Sue’ opens in theaters on June 20th.
List of Movies and TV Shows Featuring Dermot Mulroney:
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