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”.
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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)