David’s new movie The Perfect Host is now available on demand from iTunes, Amazon and other outlets … but only in the US so far, we think.

US folk – feel free to share your thoughts on the movie in the comments section.

The Perfect Host kicked off proceedings at the USA Film Festival in Dallas, and D Magazine featured an interview with David and director Nick Tomnay about the movie.

This is your first feature-length film, but I noticed you had a short in 2001 called The Host. Is this a spin-off of that?

Nick Tomnay: Yes. The Host was a short I did in Australia. Same story. And I expanded it into a feature.

So tell me how the idea for the story came about.

NT: It was based on a story I heard a friend of mine tell me about an incident that occurred with him and a guy that escaped from prison, which I thought was pretty interesting. I took that story and then kind of channeled some loneliness that I was feeling at the time into the script. Then it just sort of evolved, as these things do, and became funnier and darker.

At what point during that nine, 10-year process did David get involved? That’s such a key part, getting the right person for Warwick.

NT: Towards the end. It had gone through three different production companies and the final production company, we got the money, we got everything lined up. We just needed to find an actor. So we then went through that process: talking, drawing up a list, and thinking about who would do that. Then one of the producers rang me up and said, “I’ve just been watching Frasier and what about David?” And I said, “Yeah, that’s a really good idea.” And so a meeting was set up between David and I, and we talked, and he agreed.

And you’ve been doing a lot of Broadway and theater work lately, so this is kind of a good segue, the “I’ve just been watching Frasier bit.” I mean, in terms of the parts you are looking for, are you concerned with breaking out of that role, or is it something that you can embrace?

David Hyde Pierce: Both. I loved the part on Frasier and loved doing it. And what was great about this particular film is it allows, when you first see my character you think, “Oh, OK, this is like we’ve seen David before, it is kind of a Niles type, sort of a person. And then it turns out that it’s really nothing like that. And that was great for me, a) because it was really fun to do, and, just professionally, that it is good to open that up for people and to do it in the course of, actually, one film. To say, “Okay, this is how you are used to seeing me, and this is something else — this is the other side.”

Watching it, that really struck me, what a range of performances that need to be stuck into a single character. Even towards the last half hour, you think there are really two or three types of characters, and then all of a sudden it gets even more complicated.

DHP: It is a real gift to an actor to be able to do that.

It is kind of an actor’s piece. I thought of the movie Sleuth too, as a forerunner of it.

NT: Actually, you know, Death Trap, because I always think of those two together. I mean, yeah, Sleuth, but Death Trap in particular. The idea of presenting something and it revealing itself more and revealing itself more — and more of a reveal than a twist. It is sort of like the audience finds out more, and because of that, the understanding of what happens changes. I love plays, generally, I like the theater. I mean some of my greatest experiences in entertainment have been watching a play that I’m really enjoying. I like the simplicity of the actors and text and staging. There was an aspect of that that was in the writing of this film. And there is a sort of theatrical aspect to the film.

DHP: Well, it is theatrical, in the sense that Warwick’s character in particular is a little bit larger than life. But also theatrical in that it is not a special-effects film. It is a film where you capture what happens between the characters and between the actors.

NT: There’s something interesting about a confined space as well. As an audience member, when you are watching a film that is in a confined space there are rules that are set up and you kind of sit into that, and there is a meter and a pace that develops that is different than other films where you have an open world. I guess it is something called a “closed film,” and someone like Roman Polanski is very good at doing that.

So much of the film relies on those two performances. Can you talk about getting those performances and then the experience of being involved in it?

NT: With David, I had written Warwick a certain way , nd there was a certain attitude in the script, and then it was a matter of thinking “is David the right man for this role?” And the answer for myself was, “yes.” So then at that point it is really about me trying to help David achieve what he wants to achieve with that character. At that point it is not me anymore. So my job at that point was to just be a truthful object eye, to see if the performances were true and real and working. The way that the script was written, the two characters are quite different. Warwick is more flighty and cerebral and more eccentric, or whatever. And John is more sort of salt of the earth. So, inherently, that is different. By putting two people in a room like that who are like oil and water, to some degree, a dynamic is going to occur. I think it became clear to me when we were rehearsing the film that we made the right decision. I started to see that dynamic unfold.

DHP: And that was the cool thing. Nick was able to cast two people who were suitably different, even in our acting styles. But we could work together — happily work together. We enjoyed working together. Because as much as there is conflict in the film, there is also a lot of chemistry. I think the film really hangs on that perverse chemistry between those two characters. We had a really good time — all of us, doing that.

At least one of the last movies you’ve done before this was Full Frontal, in 2002. And you’ve been doing a lot of theater in between. Are you waiting for the right kinds of projects, because that was Soderbergh; it was a very particular kind of movie. This is very theatrical, and it is a particular kind of movie. Are you sitting and waiting for those kinds of projects?

DHP: I’ve kind of gone back to the theater because that is where I came from, and I love it. There are a lot of things about film that I don’t enjoy, as an actor — part of it being that so much of it is out of your hands. But when I am drawn to a project, because of the people, because of the material, then it is very exciting for me. Because it is not like I am in the film world doing films all the time and I think, “Oh, here comes another one.” I do it because I really want to.

Filmmaking is also such a start and stop process as opposed to being on stage.

DHP: Yeah, and it wasn’t in this case, because of the way Nick chose to shoot it, and because of the way Nick had to shoot it, given the budget and the time constraints.

NT: Yeah, we had to shoot it very quickly for no money, really. So I think it was really lucky we had that rehearsal period because we were able to work it out like a play, like one whole piece. And so when we got to actually photograph it, it was like, okay we are doing this chunk now, and there was very little downtime.

DHP: Right. We all were clear on what the arc of the story was, because we worked it out in rehearsal, so if we had to shoot out of sequence or something, it didn’t matter as much. And the main thing as the actors was that we were constantly shooting because of the schedule. So it wasn’t like stop and start, and you go away for a month and come back and do two days. It was a sustained, very intense, and really creative process.

Lots of news on David’s new movie! There’s a new poster, a new website, and most importantly, a US release date! The Perfect Host will be available on demand from 27 May and in theatres from 1 July. The new website also has some great new images:

Another Sundance video surfaces …

Nick Tomnay’s The Perfect Host starring David Hyde Pierce, Clayne Crawford and Helen Reddy, sold in seven territories including: French Connection Films for France; Festival Films for Spain; All Interactive Media in Australia/New Zealand; Bejing Asian Culture for China; Front Row Entertainment in the Middle East; Videx for all pay TV rights in Latin America; and Jaguar Films for all international airline rights.

Here’s hoping we get a chance to see it soon!

“You can’t kill me, I’m having a dinner party” could be the tagline …