WGTC: My favourite scenes, naturally, featured Allison Janney, who elevates anything she appears in. Just having her presence automatically makes a scene better and she brings out the best in Chris [Lowell] as well, as those are some of his strongest scenes too. It’s a nice balance, as her character’s cynicism and his idealism brings a good dynamic to their scenes together.
MK: Working with Allison is fantastic. She is obviously an incredible actor. I will admit, I was a little intimidated. We shot her scenes at an observatory in Connecticut and I had to go in the car up there with her and I was very nervous. Immediately, she put me at ease and was such a real presence. What struck me most – she comes to do this role of probably two days of work, but she approached it like she was doing Shakespeare. She really came at it with such insightful observations and really specific questions. There was a wonderful astronomer at the observatory, I think he was 85, and she talked to him at length. She wanted to make sure that she completely understood all the pieces of the telescope she was working with. It was really wonderful to watch her work and it was a great experience for me to get to direct her.
WGTC: It’s really inspiring to watch an actor immerse themselves in a role, even if just for a few days work.
MK: She took it so seriously, as you would expect she would. But it was still quite impressive.
WGTC: You also assembled Clark Gregg, who was one of your acting teachers, for this film.
MK: Clark and I are both members of the Atlantic Theater Company, which is an off-Broadway company that William H. Macy and David Mamet formed. He was my acting teacher in college and we have remained friends and contemporaries. He’s someone I really look up to and he’s mentored me quite a bit. He’s a wonderful filmmaker on his own.
WGTC: As a director, did he give you any good advice for Brightest Star?
MK: He did. He was great on set because he was really paying attention to what lenses we were using and how we were framing things. That part of his brain is clearly at work as much as his actor brain. He’s been nothing but supportive to me, so if anything, he gives me a good kick in the ass to keep at it and work through the hard stuff. He also brought so much to that character. It was really fun watching him figure that out.
WGTC: Were you always interested in pursuing directing?
MK: No. I acted and I studied only acting in college. I came out to Los Angeles and I was still acting and someone asked me to direct a short film for them. I approached that with great hesitation and trepidation, and I loved every second of it. It was a wonderful discovery for me, of this other side of my brain I didn’t know I had access to. I mean, I absolutely love directing. Coming from acting and knowing actors and being on set, that part feels familiar. Understanding all the other elements – the visual side – has been really exciting for me, bringing all those worlds together.
WGTC: Are you working on anything currently?
MK: Yeah, I have a new movie we’re prepping and we’re shooting in March in Michigan. It’s called Dial-A-Prayer.
WGTC: To refer back to one of the running jokes in the film, are you a Mets fan or a Yankees fan?
MK: [laughs] I am a Yankee fan. My co-writer is too, but he gets all the credit for all the Mets jokes.
That concludes our interview but we’d like to thank Maggie for her time. Be sure to check out Brightest Star when it arrives on iTunes and in theatres this Friday.
