Interview: Depravity’s Dermot Mulroney on Screen Presence, Only Having 1 Line

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke to Depravity star Dermot Mulroney about the new thriller movie directed by Paul Tamasy. Mulroney discussed his unique role, only having one line, and more. Depravity also stars Victoria Justice, Devon Ross, Taylor John Sith, and Sasha Luss and is now available to buy digitally.

“When three residents suspect their reclusive neighbor is a serial killer, they break into his apartment only to uncover a hidden fortune in stolen art. But their discovery turns into a nightmare as they’re ensnared in a sadistic game of survival, where every corner hides a new horror. Outsmart the killer or become his next victim,” says the synopsis.

Tyler Treese: I was so interested in talking to you about this because this is largely a non-verbal role. You say one word, but your character’s so important to the plot and you also dominate so many of these early scenes just with your pure presence. So like how did you approach that as an actor?

Dermot Mulroney : It was its own challenge. For that reason alone, what I had was a great director, Paul Tamasy, who had the whole vision worked out in his head. So, I had very little to do with how the character appeared. He suggested that haircut, and maybe I have partially a goatee, so that look was his choice and the wardrobe. But really just the mood, the cinema of this movie is so impressive. It goes to show you how little you can say to make a big impression. It’s used so wisely in this screenplay, too, the non-verbal aspect of my character.

You mentioned that you buzzed your hair. Was there ever any hesitancy for that?

No. I did have to promote a larger project right thereafter. I’m not sure they were so crazy about it, but I didn’t mind the look. That was all Paul’s doing. I love it when a director has a look for the character. Otherwise, I usually figure something out, but it makes it so interesting to be given a specific look and to try and achieve that, and look how well that worked here. Just like you said, that character does so much just with his image in that hallway and the non-human character I work with. It’s an amazing character.

You mentioned the non-human, you have this lovely dog throughout the film. How was it working with this little canine thespian? He was great.

He was great. He was not a trained movie dog, which made him really great, so they just did the best they could. The owner, of course, was right on standby. I didn’t make friends with him or anything, very friendly dog, but I thought it was best that I’d just have a business relationship with him.

So we worked together really well, and he took to commands. Stuff he really had to do, like get up on the laundry shoot and look in, and things like that. You’d have a dog working on that for months, and then they’d come in and do it kind of like a robot dog. This guy did an incredible job. Literally, he was just a dog. They got him for his look. You’d have to remind me what that breed is, but it’s a huge brown Rottweiler offshoot. We had a great time. So that, too, was fully part of this character and lent to that mysterious but threatening and, in fact, guilty-seeming character that I played.

You mentioned that Paul, the director, just kind of had everything planned out. This has been a project that he’s been passionate about getting on screen for 15-20 years. When you’re working with a director who just has that type of vision, how does that aid you as an actor?

Again, this just fit like a glove. He had a great idea. Gosh, it’s great to hear that he worked that long on it, and it wound up being me in this movie, you know what I mean? That makes me feel really grateful about how things time out sometimes. Do you know what I mean? 15 years ago, this had been a completely different actor because of all the reasons, I wouldn’t have been old enough, et cetera. The trailer’s amazing. So everybody who’s not gonna see it on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu, and more, at least look at this trailer, and that’ll lead you there. It’s incredible.

They do in that show that I meet my demise. So that’s not a spoiler. But consequently, my shooting schedule, my filming schedule, was rather brief. So it helped even more that Paul knew exactly what he wanted and that I was on channel with him to try and deliver. Then really that hallway, this bizarre building, I don’t know if it’s in the press package or what have you, but I’m gonna say we shot this in Bangkok, Thailand, so wherever it takes place doesn’t seem to matter. But that lent to this otherworldly semi-gothic feel in this film.

So a lot of the creatives, the departments, the camera were from this amazing studio over there. So that ended up blending into the vibe of this movie, which is almost really palpable. Um, um, but then working with Victoria and Taylor, Devon and I didn’t have scenes together as much, and the others, of course. That’s so weird. What we’re doing down the hall. We’ll never know, right? We’ll never know.

You only have one line in this film, so I was curious, did you spend a lot of time thinking how to deliver that? Was it just natural? Because I could see just having one, you could kind of overthink it.

I could overthink it. I think it’s just that one line that has one word, just a three-letter word, right? It’s a command to my dog. That’s really where mayhem ensues. So that’s such a great question, I guess. Yeah, there was a moment in time when a lot of us wanted the movie to be called that. It’s a little harder to promote, but you gotta see the movie to hear me say the line. I’m not gonna give it away on the interview.

How’s that sound? I gotta draw you in and to figure out what’s going on down the hall. It’s worth a look. Ultimately, it shows you that jumping to conclusions and judging a book by its cover, and overstepping your personal boundaries is still not such a good idea. Bizarrely, the film carries a strong message. You’ll have to see it for that too.

You’ve also gotten to contribute to so many movie soundtracks in your work as a cellist. How has it been getting to have both of these passions impact your film career?

Incredible. They really have only crossed over a few times where I was in the orchestra playing for a film that I was in. I played on Jolene, I played recently on Shooting Stars. Chris Robinson, the director, insisted, but mainly because of The Family Stone, where Michael Giacchino did that soundtrack, that beautiful score. That’s when I met him and played for him for really 10-12 years on probably 20 scores. Beautiful, some of the best that have been written in the last 20 years. It’s thrilling. I started at the same time as a kid. It’s obviously just supposed to be something that’s a dual part of what I’m contributing. So, it is a thrill to be asked about it, and stay tuned. There’s more music coming. I’m playing country music with Jackrabbit right now, so look that up on social media and I’ll see you soon on that.

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