TORONTO – The idea that anyone could out-sass Samuel L. Jackson on film seemed like an absurd proposition.
But that’s just what Hamilton-bred actor Luke Kirby found himself trying to do for the Canadian thriller “The Samaritan,” in which he plays a volatile conman intent on roping Jackson’s character into a swindle.
The 33-year-old performer admits to initially being star-struck by his seasoned co-star, whose big screen roles as foul-mouthed crooks and renegade action heroes have established Jackson as one of today’s most imposing leading men.
“Sam Jackson, of course, is so iconic and kind of etched into my cultural memory…. It was stunning to kind of encounter this guy who I’d seen in ‘Do the Right Thing’ and ‘Jungle Fever,’ ‘Pulp Fiction,’ ‘Goodfellas,’ ‘Jurassic Park,’ ” Kirby said in a recent phone interview from Brooklyn, N.Y., where he’s lived for about seven years.
“(But) once we were sort of there and doing it – and this is often the case – you realize that what you have is a partner who is there to play. Obviously, he’s a very nice man but also is very playful. That’s all you can really hope for.”
Kirby plays the dark but damaged Ethan, whose crooked father was killed some 25 years earlier by his best friend and former partner-in-crime Foley, played by Jackson.
Recently released from prison, Foley is eager to start a new life and put his dark past behind him. It all seems tantalizingly possible when he meets the sexy Iris, played by Irish actress Ruth Negga, but Ethan makes it clear he’s got other plans for his father’s killer.
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Ethan’s game involves forcing Foley to spearhead a delicate hustle targeting Ethan’s crooked boss Xavier, played by Tom Wilkinson. Running is not an option when Foley learns he’s already been ensnared without realizing it, and that everything he ever hoped for is on the verge of slipping away.
Kirby says he was attracted to the various plot twists in film, helmed by Toronto’s David Weaver. That, and the gradual revelation that all is not as it appears.
“I was mostly drawn to the challenge of constructing a story that demands a certain degree of holding back from revealing too much,” said Kirby, who began his career in the theatre and was a regular on the HBO series “Tell Me You Love Me.”
“I kind of found that compelling and also just Ethan is a character I was sort of left a little bit shaken and disturbed by. I sort of felt like it would be interesting to try to tap into whatever motivates him to behave so nauseatingly.”
The film’s neo-noir aspects offered an intriguing challenge, as well, he adds.
“Some of the dialogue even is kind of hard-boiled,” notes Kirby. “I was impressed with the (tone), how it was … able to move through the movie sort of seamlessly, like it wasn’t like banging it over your head or anything.”
Still, he admits the escalating doom that envelopes each character was a bit overwhelming at times.
“I found it a bit heavy, to be honest with you, because of the content of things. Not to give away the game at all but I found it all a bit troubling.”
He admits part of that had to do with the fact that the film is literally dark too, with so much of the story set at night. Kirby says about two thirds of his scenes were evening shoots, which generally wreaks havoc with his mood.
“It’s really fun to do that for a while and then it becomes just this horrible zombifying experience. It takes weeks to kind of come out of it, you’re just sort of collywobbled for a long stretch.”
Kirby notes that’s in stark contrast to his upcoming romantic summer feature, “Take This Waltz,” in which he romances a married woman played by Michelle Williams.
The Toronto-shot feature, the second directing outing by Sarah Polley, cast Kirby as a charming artist who offers the woman a dizzying escape from a humdrum homelife.
“I was a goofy bubble for the shoot of that and just happy, happy,” he recalls. “I just got to do one joyous thing after another and just be googly eyed for the whole summer.”
“The Samaritan” was also shot entirely in Toronto, and features Jackson in almost every scene. Wilkinson was only on set for three days but Kirby said he was also inspired by the Oscar-nominee’s genuine work ethic.
“One of the selfishly gratifying things about it is seeing them being challenged and finding the work challenging and still being interested in it and wanting to make it as good as they can on that day,” he said.
“The Samaritan” opens in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal this weekend.
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