MATT HAMILTON TALKS HOAX

Interviewed by Culture Coast Talks editor Daniel John. Interview transcripts might have been edited for length and clarity.

Usually when portraying a role like this the character is either likeable or not. You manage to put Keith in the middle. How did you find the grey area of this character?

Thanks Daniel, I appreciate your kind words. I think you kinda nailed it with the grey area. That’s how I saw Keith and preparing for a character like that is easier because that’s more accurate to what most people are. People are very rarely “good” or “evil”, people contain multitudes so it was finding the right place for Keith. While he didn’t do anything implicitly, indirectly his behaviour to her or in the marriage did have some affect on Sherri and her mental state, while I don’t think he deserved what happened to him and his family, it would be naive to suggest that all the blame lay at Sherri’s feet. Something led her to that.

It’s easy to see why the story of a woman who disappeared while jogging claiming that she had been kidnapped, only for it to later emerge that she had lied, became a global news sensation. Jaime Pressly said she wanted to give a voice to the person, not the popularized opinion. How do you approach a true-story-role as this?

I understand what Jaime wanted to do because there is so much more nuance in the situation than “Sherri went crazy.” I didn’t study Keith all that much before the movie because I only had a couple days of prep but also I didn’t want to get into a situation where I’m doing an impersonation of a real person. I wanted to create a character based on what was in the script because I didn’t have any chance to talk to Keith or research him extensively.

You don’t always have much time between signing on to a role and hitting the set. What time did you have to explore your marital bliss together with Jaime before she went missing?

I actually didn't have any time with Jaime before. I was shooting a movie right up until the day we started shooting. I went from set to set and the first couple of scenes we shot were some of our last scenes in the movie. So, was an intense introduction, but Jaime was very lovely and we got to connect nicely during the filming. Jaime is a wonderful scene partner.

Better than any Oscar nomination, that was a real lie detector test in the film. Were you just that good acting to get those results?

(Laughs) Yes, that was a real lie detector. There was a couple tricks to make the needles move, taking a deep breath through your chest, and moving your fingers which were attached to the test. Then when we had a close up on the machine, the director would ask questions she knew would be lies to get them moving just to create some suspense in the scene. It was funny, a couple of the questions she asked, “Are you looking forward to this movie being over” and, “Do you think I’m a good director”.

Did you pass?

I passed on the director question, thankfully.

You graduated from film-school as a writer. How did you first get into acting?

I got into acting through screenwriting actually, graduated and started acting in shorts and sketches I’d shoot with my friends, then a friend of mine, who is an actor, had seen a bunch of it and told me to go to Vancouver and get an agent. So, I did, and the rest is history. Do I wish I’d gotten into real estate? Well, I do now, Daniel. Just kidding. Kind of.

Acting is arguably a different challenge than writing. After all acting is a luxury you only get once the story is on paper, do you still write as much while moving from set to set acting?

I still do write, not as much as I should. I have a feature in development right now, that this producer wants to shoot this summer so that would be fun. I do more acting at the moment because writing is trying to convince someone to spend a lot of money. With acting that’s already happened so you can just show up and have fun. Unless you’re shooting 'Hoax', where my character wasn’t almost always in distress, crying or confused. That is less fun. (Laughs) But still rewarding.

Has this role given you a taste for lingering within the grey areas or is it time to lighten things up?

Grey areas are always fun, that’s usually the more interesting characters. But this role was really emotionally draining. It came at a perfect time in my life for that emotion was available to me. But, next, it would be fun to do comedy, something lighter. I just finished up a small role in a friends' movie that was fun but ready for whatever comes next.