LaRoy, Texas tells the story of Ray (John Magaro) who, broke and depressed, is mistaken for a dangerous hitman and given an envelope of cash. Along with his P.I. friend Skip (Steve Zahn), he must escape the actual hitman to make it out of LaRoy alive.
It's Dylan Baker (Road to Perdition, The Good Wife) who plays the aforementioned hitman and, earlier this week, we got to sit down with the actor to learn more about how he approached this role. On the surface, Harry is an unassuming nice guy, but in LaRoy, Texas, Baker takes him to some very dark places.
In this conversation, we hear from the actor on how he figured out who this hitman is both beneath and on the surface, getting some compelling insights into Baker's process and what it took for him to convincingly portray this dangerous killer.
He also opens up on Sam Raimi's original plans for Spider-Man 4, confirming his Dr. Curt Connors was indeed supposed to transform into The Lizard!
Check out our full interview with Baker in the player below.
I had a great time watching this movie and I wanted to start at the beginning with the conversation in the car. You’re playing this unassuming guy and things quickly turn around. What’s it like getting into the shoes of someone like this?
Oh, I really enjoyed that. When I first looked at the script, the opening scene for me was like, ‘I don’t know where this is going, but boy, it starts good.’ In my career, I have had the opportunity to play a few people where you lean the audience to think they’re going this way, and then all of a sudden, everything shifts. I loved that. I love to create some looks that aren’t telling the whole story. Certainly this guy, Harry, had a lot going on that the audience is not aware of, but as it goes on, they learn more and more about him. I also loved the scenes that had nothing to do with what he was there for and, instead, we’re just part of his daily life and interactions with people [Laughs] which got very odd. I think at times, he wasn’t even aware it was odd. He thought it was normal, specifically with the waitress in the diner. I love stuff like that. The scene was just magic to me.
I’m glad you mentioned the diner scene because Harry seems to have this sense of justice even though he is a relentless hitman. Was the fact he did have some sort of twisted moral code a big part of helping find the character?
I think so. You come to understand that wherever he’s coming from, he thinks his business and what he does for work is totally separate from him as a human being and what he does when he goes home. You start seeing he’s influenced you in many ways you might not be aware of [Laughs] and that starts to come out. I love that about Shane’s script. It’s true for the other people too; for Steve and John, definitely. You really get to see them go through a lot as they come to do things they never would have dreamed of themselves doing. I love that. I think it’s great.
There is an interesting switch we see; later in the movie when he’s talking to those cops, he’s a pretty innocent-seeming guy who could be someone’s dad or uncle and then we see a really sinister side. What was the fun of going to those two extremes?
The fun is really in the script. The ability for this guy, who looks like he could just be watering the grass next door and probably is…he’s a guy who, when it comes clear in the newspapers what he did, there will be all these neighbours going, ‘He was such a nice guy. He was so quiet and just the nicest guy,’ and yet he’s going this private life going on that [Laughs] will be a real shocker to everyone.
Did you talk with Shane, as the writer and director, about Harry’s backstory or was that not necessary for you?
I always feel like a lot of my work. If it influences how I’m playing things in the script, then I’ll definitely go to him, but Shane and I came to an understanding that, for this guy, getting excited or getting angry in order to do whatever he has to do, is not a big help in his profession. Staying calm and very businesslike and getting things done and not letting it affect you at all is just a needed aspect of his business. We both agreed on that, so what I did as an actor was go back and figure out a lifestyle and backstory that would fit that and let that happen. I had all kinds of things going on in my mind as I’m sitting in the car at the end of the film and saying goodbye to certain things. I wouldn’t mind if Shane went ahead and wrote a whole new movie for that backstory; I’d do that too [Laughs].
There is a sense of underlying menace to the character, but are there any specific challenges with getting that across through your performance as an actor?
It’s interesting. I think it’s all about the actors you’re playing the scene with. I was really lucky with the fella in the truck. He was fantastic and the young woman at the diner. I don’t think she’s done a whole lot before and there was something wonderful about this fresh face saying, ‘Can I get you another cup of coffee?’ [Laughs] And then all of a sudden, I’m asking these questions [as Harry] and she’s like, ‘Huh?!’ It was really fun. I think it’s again that thing of leading the audience along the way of ‘This is where it’s going to go’ and then just skewing it a little bit. In terms of menace, the second that you try to create that, I think you’re in trouble. You’ve got to try and affect the person you’re talking with as an actor because I left it to Shane to bring out whatever he wanted to bring out. I think he did a fantastic job of it so for me, it was just doing my work and letting the director go ahead.
The movie keeps us waiting for that scene with you and John together and there’s that great final sequence in the motel…what was it like working on that back and forth?
John and I are old buddies. We’ve known each other in New York for quite a while and have done a play together. I know his wife and he’s a great guy. When we got to spend this time together working on the film, that was fantastic. He was also producing it so he was busy and he had a lot of things going on, but we really enjoyed being able to work on those scenes together. He’s such an excellent actor. Past Lives that he was in earlier this year is such a beautiful film and the couple you see the most are so important, but John is amazing in that film and so good. It was a joy to get to work with him again.
I grew up on Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and, like a lot of fans, I’d hoped to see The Lizard in Spider-Man 4. Was that something you and Sam ever spoke about or was it one of those things the internet just ran wild with?
I’m afraid that Sam told me, ‘I was writing a script for number four and here came The Lizard. [He was going] all the way.’ They made a change because Sam felt like he would need more time and they said, ‘No, it’s got to open here’ and it wasn’t going to happen for Sam. When he left the franchise, I left the franchise! I would have loved to have continued and found what The Lizard was for my Dr. Connors. Luckily, we’ve seen some great Dr. Connors and Lizards since then.
It’s a shame we didn’t get to see that, but it was a couple of years ago that Tobey Maguire returned as Spider-Man alongside Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina. Could you ever see yourself returning to the role with the Multiverse in play? Sam has said he’d like to make Spider-Man 4…
Oh, I’d go in a New York minute. Absolutely. Sam Raimi also did the film, The Simple Plan, which my wife was in, Becky Ann Baker. He is a filmmaker who can do so many different things. Drag Me To Hell, Evil Dead, the Spider-Man trilogy…he’s just awesome. Then, he goes to Oz and everywhere. Whatever Sam wanted, I’d go there.
When you were part of the Spider-Man franchise - which was groundbreaking - was it an exciting thing for you to be part of at the time?
Well, you know, I remember the first scene I had was on the campus of Columbia University in New York. So, I went up there and we worked for six or seven hours and, as I left, I think I had a cell phone at the time, I can’t remember, or when I got home, all of a sudden, my friend called me up and said, ‘There are these pictures of you online.’ ‘What are you talking about?’ ‘You’re in Spider-Man!’ I said, ‘How do you know that?’ I went to where he was looking and there were pictures online already of the scene we did today of me and Tobey! I had no idea they could happen that fast. It was just crazy, but really fun. I got more into the effects in Spider-Man 3 with that glob and running all over and everything, and having to do all of that. Yeah, it was really fun. It was a lot of fun.
It’s so important that we get indie movies like this that tell different kinds of stories, but what does it mean for you to be part of projects like this one?
Well, you know, there’s a little secret that actors have that probably isn’t that secret: the smaller the budget, the less waiting time. The fact you get to go the set and you get to work…you’re not sitting around for three weeks waiting for the next day. You’re working. It’s kind of great. For this, there was very little off time. We were there on set, working, working, working, and getting it done. That’s a really big plus for a low-budget film, I have to say, because there’s no time to hang out and wait or do this effect or that effect. Whereas something like Road to Perdition, I was there for four weeks for one scene. Luckily, I got to hang out with Tom Hanks [Laughs] so that made up for it. I’d happily be there for thirty months just to hang out with Tom Hanks, but it was a scene where the room was built on one set and there were whole other sets and a different thing of shooting it. It was all these different sets and that meant it took four weeks to shoot one scene. In LaRoy, Texas, I think we got the whole film done in four weeks!
Finally, I know we talked a lot about hiding the sinister side of this character, but the hammer scene means you get to have fun being the bad guy. What do you enjoy about a violent scene like that?
[Laughs] That’s one time where he really shows where he’ll go because he will do anything to get the information. It doesn’t matter to him. If he has to shoot this person, he’ll do it. If he has to do anything to them, he’s going to do it and they’re going to tell him. Sure enough, he gets the information!
LaRoy, Texas arrives in theaters and on Demand on April 12.