An attack on Los Angeles sets up the events that unfold in the dramatic thriller, Right at Your Door, starring Mary McCormack and Rory Cochrane. McCormack and Cochrane play Lexi and Brad, a married couple forced to deal with the aftermath of the detonation of dirty bombs in their city. Lexi's stuck outside with toxic ash filling the streets and filling her lungs. Meanwhile Brad is holed up in their home, unable to open the door and let his wife in because of the risk of contamination.
Had you ever considered this type of disaster scenario before tackling Right at Your Door?
“Oh yeah, I think we all do now, which is horrifying. It’s not really science fiction anymore. It’s more just a story about something that could actually happen. I was in New York when 9/11 happened. I was living in New York, I was sort of mid-town, but definitely you get a sense of that’s the world now. Nothing’s ever going to be the same. We live in different code colors, so yeah. I mean, I’m always fearing disaster.”
Have you done anything to prepare, just in case?
“I definitely have first aid kits in both cars, and fresh water, and I have baby formula.”
So when picked up the script it really hit home?
“Definitely. Yeah, it really was a good read for me. It’s exciting anyway, terrifying, but yeah. And also it’s a great role so selfishly I’m reading it going, ‘I’m on every page! I love it.’”
You instantly knew this was the movie for you?
“Oh yeah, because it’s such a page-turner. It was such a good story. It’s so well written and I never had any of those moments where you’re like, ‘Wait a minute, why would she do that?’ Every time I would have one of those, he’d explain it – Chris [Gorak, the writer/director]. I just thought it was so carefully written and really relevant. I think it’s a fear we all live with and so I thought it was a story people would really respond to. And, selfishly, I thought, ‘What a big, juicy dramatic role.’ I don’t get a lot of those so you’ve got to go in swinging and hope to come out with it.”
This might be a difficult sell to audiences because it is so realistic and focuses on such a disturbing subject.
“It is a hard movie for people because this is something really real. It’s not a disaster like the bomb, this is terrorism. I don’t know. To me it’s like a love story, too. Like, ‘What would you do? What would you do?’ I think that’s the ride that people enjoy going on. That’s the ride people enjoy going on with any movie is like, ‘What would I do if I were in that situation?’ I think that definitely this movie poses that. It makes you go, ‘What would I do, what would I do, what would I do?’ I think that’s appealing.”
How did you manage to keep up that level of tension over the entire shoot?
“It was horrible. It was a 19 day shoot, this one was 19, but it was long enough for me because there was no happy scene, really. The day they dragged me away, the soldiers dragged me away, was like an easy day. I remember looking at the call sheet and I’m like, ‘Oh good,’ and that’s a horrifying day in the movie. But there are worse scenes like, more horrifying scenes, so I thought, ‘That’s a really messed up movie if that’s the light day.’ It was hard.”
In every outdoors shot there’s a lot of ash flying around. What was it made of and how was it to work in that environment?
“They said it was paper, environmentally safe. I don’t know. All I know is that we were coughing a lot. There was a lot of ash, tons. And for me, you know, it’s a fast shoot. I couldn’t get in and out of it and I’m covered, and I’m covered in it and I had to just be covered in it. There wasn’t any point for me to sort of walk away and come back. There was no time so I just sat in it and they would blow it. But the crew would have on… The first day, they were like, ‘Oh, don’t worry about the ash. It’s paper.’ I’d look around and there would be some people with handkerchiefs or whatever, some of the crew people. And then the next day there were like in painting masks. By the end they had on full [masks]. I was like, ‘Wait a minute, what happened to the whole sort of it’s safe thing?’ Everyone was covered with masks, with breathing apparatus. (Laughing) I couldn’t believe it.”
You share a lot of scenes with Rory Cochrane but for the majority of the film you never get to touch him or even be in the same room with him.
“It’s an unusual movie.”
Did that make it a little difficult to build up the relationship, to play a married couple?
“It was strange.”
How did you do it? How did you and Rory Cochrane go about finding that relationship?
“I don’t know. I think we work sort of similarly. It was hard, though, because you’re right, even our most intimate scenes, there was a piece of glass between us, which was really hard. It was hard to hear each other, and some of the scenes were very dramatic so you talk very quietly and emotional. I was like, ‘I can’t hear him! I can’t hear him!’ It was hard.”
Did you and Rory make up backstories for this couple?
“A little bit, yeah, just that they didn’t have children yet, why, and what their jobs might be. That I was probably working downtown banking or something like that because of the way I’m dressed and my hours and asking him to run sort of the errands. He was like a musician who generally has to do all the running around. We did kind of do it.”
You were able to take some time and collaborate on the backstories?
“Yeah. Chris [Gorak] is really smart. Chris got us together for like five days of rehearsal.”
Isn’t it unusual to get that much rehearsal time for a film that’s only supposed to take 18 or 19 days to shoot?
“Yes. Well, we just sort of… It wasn’t scheduled. We just did it.”
Do you think it helped you?
“It really does help. I wish more feature directors would do that, just sort of get together and discuss stuff. Not play out the scenes, just to talk about them or your story or where scenes might happen. It’s time well used, especially on such a short shoot. We didn’t have time to do it on the day.”
Page 2: On Chris Gorak, the Script, and Returning to Television
