Star Apps: Dan Stevens
War is hell, and so are ungracious houseguests. That's what one unsuspecting family discovers when David, a soldier just back from combat (played by Dan Stevens), crashes at their home in "The Guest." I chatted with Dan Stevens, the British actor best known for playing attorney and would-be heir Matthew Crawley on "Downton Abbey," about his latest role, becoming an American heartthrob, and his favorite apps.
Dan Stevens' character in The Guest is Downton Abbey's Matthew Crawley minus the good breeding and proper etiquette.
(Credit: HanWay Films)
What was the appeal of playing this particular character?
When I came here to the States, I was looking for different challenges and didn't quite know what form it would take. But when "The Guest" popped up, I leapt at it, because it was so insanely different from anything I had done before.
Why did you decide to leave "Downton Abbey" in the first place?
I told them I wanted to leave, because I was looking for new challenges, so I came here and started exploring a range of things.
What drew you to the US?
I first came over to do a play on Broadway. I did "The Heiress" with Jessica Chastain, so I was here for six months. While I was doing that, Scott Frank, who directed "A Walk Among the Tombstones," came and saw that and was looking for someone to play a drug trafficker in this movie, and I was thrilled to get my head around that. That was a darker territory than I had previously done, and that opened the door to doing "The Guest." So those kinds of challenging, interesting roles kept me coming over here.
Is the movie making a statement about war or the military?
I think that it could be taken on a number of different levels. But first and foremost we wanted to make an entertaining movie -- a movie that took the audience on a bit of a ride and kept them guessing about what they felt about this character. I suppose that one of the themes that we were amused to explore was this idea of a character going into a situation ostensibly to help these people and yet wreaking utter devastation and destruction, which I think is something we can all recognize on a global-political scale at the moment.
Does the character have any redeeming qualities?
Yeah, of course. He's a charming guy. We certainly went with the premise that he was there to help the family and out of loyalty to his friend Caleb. The only thing is that he carries these things out in ways that are different than you or I might do them.
Were you nervous to work with a cast of relative unknowns?
That was never a question, really. The material was so strong, and I was so keen to work with Adam and Simon, having seen "You're Next," which was an insanely funny movie. Also, very often in an independent film, you're not going to see the names you recognize. But it's refreshing to see a cast of actors that you don't recognize sometimes.
Which scenes were the hardest to film?
They were all challenging in different ways, but I guess the action sequences were pretty unfamiliar to me. The big shootout at the climax of the movie was a tricky challenge for all of us on the set. I had certainly never gone through it before. But it was a very exciting day.
You look much more muscular in this film than on "Downton Abbey." Was there any special training that you had to undergo to play this character?
Absolutely, yeah. I spent five to six weeks even before we started shooting training with various facilities and getting a basic boot camp that really fed into the character: a lot of work in the gym, a lot of martial arts, a lot of weapons training, a quite strict nutritional program, and just getting myself quite disciplined about things. It was a lot of work, but the physical transformation was something that I was very keen to explore.
I think the soundtrack is exceptional. What are your thoughts on it?
Yeah, the soundtrack reflects a mood that we wanted to capture with the film, which is a celebration of a lot of the movies we loved in the '80s and '90s -- particularly a lot of John Carpenter movies. We had all the synths used on "Halloween III," so we were able to communicate the joy we experienced when watching those movies.
Is there a message that you want audiences to walk out with?
At the end of the day, we wanted to create an entertaining movie. The fact that audiences can laugh and be thrilled and shocked at the same time is more than we can ask for.
In addition to "The Guest," you have such a variety of movies coming out, from "A Walk Among the Tombstones" to "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb." Which are you most excited about?
"Tombstones" is a very different journey as well, much darker than I've explored, and also "Night at the Museum," which is a sillier comedy, where I get to do some comedy again, which I haven't done for years. So it's very exciting and refreshing.
You've become quite the heartthrob thanks to your shirtless scene in "The Guest." Can you talk about this response from fans?
Yeah, I guess it's funny to see that David from "The Guest" has been received in that way. It's very flattering that guys and girls all over the planet seem to be excited about seeing David leaving the shower in a towel.
No black tie affair: Dan Stevens cleans up nicely in The Guest.
(Credit: HanWay Films)
Is there another TV show in your immediate future?
Not immediately, but I never turn anything down just because it's TV. It's about the quality and the other people involved. I'd love to get back to theater in the next couple years, because I adore being on stage. It's where I started out, and I think it's always valuable to return there. "Downton" was the first long-format thing I had ever tried, so if the right thing came along, then yeah. But I'm enjoying exploring the intense bursts of focus that feature films have brought me at the moment.
What are your top five mobile apps?
Shazam is an incredible innovation in our age. It blows my mind every time. When someone comes over, you don't want to be hugging the iPad, picking songs, so it's nice to entrust that to an app like Songza or Spotify. They come up with some pretty cool, out-there stuff that I like. Audiobooks from Audible, because I'm a big audiobook fan. I read voraciously, but when I'm not able to, I like to have an audiobook when on the go. I like the wordlessness of Instagram. Sometimes it's nice to just throw an image up there without any words or interaction.
"The Guest" opens on September 17 in select cities and on October 3 nationwide. Catch the trailer:
