Interview: Taylor Kitsch on The Grand Seduction, The Normal Heart, and his love of Montreal

Taylor Kitsch may be best know as Tim Riggins on NBC’s supremely underrated Friday Night Lights, or as the star of John Carter, considered one of the biggest box office flops of all time, but Kitsch’s recent work has eschewed the football pads and space operas for smaller, more heart-felt roles.

In the 2013 Canadian comedy The Grand Seduction, Kitsch plays Dr. Paul Lewis, a big-city plastic surgeon who is coerced into becoming a family doctor in the tiny town of Ticklehead, Newfoundland for a month, after being caught with cocaine while boarding a flight in nearby St. John’s. Unbeknownst to Lewis, a down on his luck local named Murray French (Brendan Gleeson) hatches a plan to trick Lewis into staying long-term, in the hopes that having a permanent doctor on the island will convince an oil company to open a factory in town, providing the desperate townspeople with secure work.

Gleeson is typically great as the conniving Murray, enthusiastically rallying the town’s elder residents to pretend they have a strong cricket team (the doctor’s favourite sport),  encouraging the cute post-office clerk (Liane Balaban) to flirt with him, and even monitoring his phone calls to learn about his habits, all in the hopes of convincing Dr. Lewis to stay on in town.

Directed by Don McKellar, and featuring a great comedic turn by Canadian treasure Gordon Pinsent, The Grand Seduction is a sweet-natured comedy, that still manages to have a distinctly Canadain point-of-view. Set against the beautiful natural landscape of Newfoundland, the film does an admirable job of showing how the devastation of a community’s livelihood can lead to some pretty desperate measures, which while played primarily for laughs here, still send a strong message about the importance of community labour and self-reliance.

We caught up with Kitsch at the film’s Montreal premiere back in May to discuss the film, his work on the HBO AIDS drama The Normal Heart, and his love of Montreal.

You starred in a number of big action films before this, what attracted you to this role?

The script, you know, the material. This guy on my right here, Brendan Gleeson. So, I mean, it was a great little formula. The script was hard to put down, and there’s like a charm within it when you’re reading where it just was at ease, nothing was forced. [I was] laughing out loud, and it just kind of stays with you after you read it, which says a lot, and you’ve got to listen to that.

When you’re going through scripts do you have to relate to the character itself, or is it the big picture you’re looking at?

Well, it’s like reading any good book or anything, you see it in your head, and with this, it was an ease, and I felt I could do it justice, and bring some kind of honesty to this guy, and ground it and play him. I was excited, and it was fun to go to work with this guy (points to Gleason) every day, it was great.

Did you have to convince people around you that you wanted to do this lower-key film set in Newfoundland?

No, if you know what I’ve been doing, I started in tiny roles, you know? So that’s never been a thing for me. It’s more or less the material that’s going to dictate it.

What’s coming up next for you?

I just did a film that comes out at the end of the month called The Normal Heart with Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo, Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer, and Joe Mantello, about the AIDS epidemic in the early 80’s in New York City. We’re very, very proud of it, it’s the true story about the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the first 6 guys that kind of created that, what they stood for, and Larry Kramer’s story, in the sense of activism against all odds. And then, I might go do a gangster movie in New York, that’s another true story, called The Westies. So, we’ll see. That might be even next year, we’re just developing that now.

Can you relate to the movie’s theme of being able to take a back step when things get too hectic?

Right, I think it’s more just about opportunities, and who’s involved. And when you do get to take a break, I’ll tell you, you want to make the best of it. Like even right now, I have 3 days off after this, so I’m just going to chill in Montreal, hang out.  I love this city, and I’m not saying that because I’m being interviewed in Montreal right now. I’ve travelled all over the world about ten times, and this is top 3 on my list.

What’s something you look forward to when you come here?

Oh, the food’s unreal, it’s the tone, the weather’s perfect of late. And the atmosphere right now with the Canadiens just kicking ass. Me and my best friend are going to go to the game on Saturday, and so it’s going to be a great time, to say the least.

The Grand Seduction is available now on Blu-Ray / DVD and iTunes.