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It’s Amy Ryan who opens the action in Wolfs, Apple Original Films’ George Clooney–Brad Pitt reunion that sees those longtime co-stars go head-to-head as rival criminal underworld ‘fixers’. In an extraordinary scene that spanned some 30 pages of script and took several weeks to shoot, Ryan stars in Jon Watts’ crime comedy-thriller as a powerful political figure who finds herself in hot water and makes the fateful call that brings in the two competing men on a night that spins out of control.
Here, Oscar nominee and three-time Tony nominee Ryan digs into the experience of shooting with Pitt and Clooney and co-star Austin Abrams (Euphoria) in the film that earned a five and a half minute ovation at its Venice Film festival premiere, and why she’d return for the already-set sequel in a heartbeat. She also discusses her surprise return to runaway hit series Only Murders in the Building and whether her homicidal character will be back for more.
DEADLINE: Without spoiling the details of Wolfs, I felt a lot of discomfort watching your character covered in blood for so long.
Glass and blood and sweat. All of the above. The comfort factor was being barefooted and not in high heels. I was glad for that costume choice.
DEADLINE: What’s the story of how you came to the film and how much did you know going into it?
My agent sent it to me. He said, “I have an offer for you, and it’s written and directed by Jon Watts, and it’s a long, extended scene with George Clooney and Brad Pitt.” I remember typing back in the email, “Well, of course this is going to be a yes.” I hadn’t even read it. But when I sat down… It is always a telltale sign for me I am excited about a project when I read it in one fell swoop and my imagination is racing along with story with, “Can I picture myself in this? Yes. OK. What does she sound like? What does she wear?” Jon wrote just such a beautifully economical, tightly-packed, densely-woven script. I feel there’s no excess fat, there’s great humor, there’s suspense. Not that it reminded me, but I was familiar with his first film, Cop Car.
DEADLINE: I love Cop Car.
I love that it’s a simple idea of a story told in moving pictures. You can really advance the story along, as that film did, and I believe Wolfs does really well just by the imagery, with very little dialogue up front, like, “Oh my god, OK, what’s the situation?” I love playing that as an actor, getting to use all parts of my five senses to help tell the story. That part was easy. Also, I was struck by how bold it was of Jon to write a 30-page scene, basically. Everything seems so condensed and quick little snippets in the world of content. He really lays it out almost like a play. The set working with me, the shades are not going down fast enough. And all the genius of the props department, making that bar cart and the stunt double stepping in. It was really wonderful to watch all hands on deck, from actors to crew, director, making that scene work. Even the reset of making sure the exact glass is in the same spot. That scene took about two and-a-half weeks to film.
DEADLINE: What was the process of meeting Brad and George and Austin? Did you have much rehearsal time?
I had met George socially before, years ago. I knew him a little bit. But I’d never met Brad, and I hadn’t met Austin. I met them the first day of shooting when we carved out a little bit of time to just walk through scenes. I got a call from a friend who said, “Oh, you’re working with Austin. We love him. We know him from this.” He’s fantastic. I think he’s just so stellar in this film. He’s such a remarkable person to spend time with.
George and Brad have talked about, and I feel similarly—they’ve had quite a very different career from mine—but one common thread is we want to be around our families, and yet when we go to work, we want it to be fun and we want it to mean something. And if that means something to a greater audience or ourselves, it’s what we get to do in that day. That was true of this for me. There is a flurry of excitement of like, “Oh, you’re working with George and Brad.” It’s easy to fall into that like, “Oh, they’re so dreamy.” But honestly, there were moments of working with them like, “Oh my god, they’re so good. They’re so good.” I’ve seen all their films. They’re extraordinary actors. When you cut away the larger title of who they are, and you just see these two guys who work really hard and they’re on time, and they know their characters, and they’re creative and they’re funny and they’re not warping the project towards their own star ego, they’re there as team players. I don’t think George ever goes back to his trailer. He sits there on set all day long. Down to it, you’re a group of actors working in a room, and that’s what anybody wants, that you can just get straight to the work, and you don’t have to carve through anything.
DEADLINE: So, almost three weeks of shooting this scene, tell me about that experience with Jon?
We would do a lot of takes, and I would say it’s not because he didn’t know what he wanted, he would go back to the video village and quickly edit the scene together for himself to see. Then he’d go, “Oh, I do need another angle. I do need another take. I want to see the back angle.” Again, it was a very economical way of working, but I felt like he wasn’t going to miss. We didn’t have to go back for reshoots, put it that way, because he crossed every T, dotted every I. He didn’t forget any detail. He was also really flexible. That first take where I pulled my purse out from under [the body], it was really just meant to be a couple of flicks of blood. At that first one, I guess I pulled it too hard and I drenched myself with the fake blood. We all started laughing afterwards. He’s like, “It’s kind of great. Let’s just keep it.” I appreciated that flexibility. But it did mean, yes, being soaked in blood for three weeks.
DEADLINE: You have to somehow convey to us that this is a woman who is in control of herself. She’s pretty powerful, even though something terrible has happened. She’s not hysterical. Then you are also showing her surrendering. It’s a great dance. What did you talk about with Jon in terms of who she was?
We did say this isn’t something she always does. I think that’s true when she says, “I don’t do this.” But I think, again, you get to know her by the location, that’s the hotel room she chose. That’s a $10,000 room. She’s got money. She has taste. I imagine she has a staff that she’s like, “You do this, you do this, you do this.” And they’re a well-oiled machine, and here she is coming undone and she’s alone except for this anonymous number on her phone. Giving up that power, this doesn’t feel good, but I have no other choice. I feel like that was fun playing that part that was conflicted with her. She wasn’t just a sharp know-it-all and, “You’re going to do this because I say so and I have the power, and I have the money.” But she knew she was in an incredibly vulnerable position, backed up against the wall. Yet at that last moment, I love that in her panic, you probably see the great politician she is where she tells George, “You’re on those tapes too,” at that last moment. And you go, “This woman knows what she’s doing.” I think it’s just a great comedy moment, but they both [Clooney and Pitt’s characters] bring her clothes and she’s going to decide what she’s going to look like by choosing a piece from each guy. She’s not going to be told ultimately what to do. George does pretty much get her to do that in the beginning by saying, “Just sit there, don’t touch anything.”
DEADLINE: But when he loses some of his composure…
Yes, when he realizes he has really good stiff competition. The device also, that Jon shared with me before we started the scene [similar to] Eyes Wide Shut, where a dead prostitute is found in a prominent politician’s hotel room, he was like, “I really just want to keep that level of panic.” He’s like, “If you need a breathing coach, I don’t want you to pass out, but I’m going to need you at this high level for the entire time.” That’s kind of all we really talked about. Then Amy Westcott, the costume designer, was like, “Let’s find a look that you can move around in but that is well put together.” I just fell into that world, which was so perfectly established by Jon and our set designer and our costume designer.
DEADLINE: This extended scene really does feel like watching a play because there’s this chaos that happens, where you are going in and out of doors, and there’s something happening off-screen, then you come back in and your demeanor has switched and the power reverts to your character.
Yes. Entrances and exits and the two guys. That felt fun. That for me helps give just a really strong boundary, here’s the world we’re playing in, but yet you have this freedom to use this entire room, and there they’re able to capture the photography they need within that.
DEADLINE: I can’t help thinking that with a sequel planned, we should see your character again.
I like your thinking.
DEADLINE: Of course we might see an entirely new scenario, but there could be more story to tell for your character.
My character is definitely on the line, and there are some nefarious connections.
DEADLINE: So, you’d definitely want to reprise this role?
I wouldn’t even care to read it. I would just sign on.
DEADLINE: You recently made a surprise return as killer character Jan Bellows in Only Murders in the Building. How was that experience going back?
Similar as if that should happen with Wolfs, it was just like, “I don’t care what they ask me to do, I’m coming back.” That is such a joy-making set and extraordinary people to be around. It makes me laugh, like, “Really? This is how she managed to work her way back?” But that character is unpredictable and wonderfully ridiculous and just kind of a hopeless romantic really.
Even though it’s a comedy, I always try to think, “OK, how is this person real? Who is this person?” Especially living in New York. There are a thousand stories, you don’t know really anybody’s life.
DEADLINE: Is there any chance that we will be seeing more from Jan?
I don’t know. I’m not holding any secrets, but there was a line that she talks about, and she says that she’s “endgame” with Charles. So I like to think that leaves use a little bit of room for the writers. If they’re stuck for a scene, they’re like, “Oh, we could always bring Jan back.”
DEADLINE: All she has to do is burst out of that closet with the secret passageway.
You ask any New Yorker, they’ll all talk about, “I have a friend who still has his rent-controlled apartment that he doesn’t live in, he has it sublet out.” A good New Yorker never gives up their apartment. So Jan has just got a foothold there in that building.
DEADLINE: What do you think is your criteria now when you’re looking at roles, what do you consider and what attracts you?
I don’t have any firm ‘no’s, but I’ll always read something in case I’m wrong. I don’t want to have a prejudice against something. After 31 years, I would like to just keep surprising myself so I can therefore keep surprising anyone who sees me in a project. I enjoy that part of it. I would like to do more comedy. I feel like we could use more of that. I could use more of it.
I get asked a lot, “Oh, you worked with all these formidable men, who else?” And I’m like, “Actually, I want to work with the ladies next.” I want to work with Julianne Moore. I want to work with Frances McDormand. I want to work with Meryl Streep. All of them are on my bucket list, and the list is long.
Wolfs is in theaters from September 20th and available to stream on Apple TV+ from September 27.
