From author Gillian Flynn, showrunner Marti Noxon and director Jean-Marc Vallée, HBO’s eight-episode limited drama series Sharp Objects follows what happens when Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) returns to her small hometown to cover the murders of two pre-teen girls. Trying to understand the crimes puts her in the direct path of her own past and forces her into the line of fire of her disapproving mother Adora (Patricia Clarkson) and her impetuous 15-year-old half-sister Amma (Eliza Scanlen).

While at the HBO portion of the Television Critics Association Press Tour, Collider got the opportunity to chat 1-on-1 with actor Chris Messina (who plays Detective Richard Willis, in the small town of Wind Gap to assist with the ongoing murder investigations) about why he’s so proud of Sharp Objects, how he came to this role, adjusting to the way director Jean-Marc Vallée works, with no marks, rehearsals or lighting, the challenge of going back to the way other directors work, why he enjoys playing an outsider, why he watched Chinatown for inspiration, and the attraction of someone like Camille. He also talked about his experience on The Mindy Project, and his desire not to be typecast as just one thing.

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Image via HBO

Collider:  Terrific job on this show! Even though it’s beautiful to look at, this is really, really dark material, and I love the whole vibe and atmosphere of it.

CHRIS MESSINA:  Yeah, I’m really proud of it. Jean-Marc Vallée is fantastic. Of course, with this source material, we’re already starting from a great place. What Gillian [Flynn] wrote is rich, but cinematically, he elevates everything he does with these incredible images. He’s the most improvisational director that I’ve ever worked with, and I don’t mean in language, I mean in images. Working with him is very frustrating, in that there’s no rehearsal, there’s no blocking, there are no marks on the ground, there’s no lighting, and it moves very fast. You’re not quite sure what’s happening, some of the time, especially early on. Then, you get to a place where you feel incredibly free on the dance floor that he’s creating for you and you learn to really trust him, and then you fly. But, it took a little time to understand it ‘cause I’d never worked that way. I think that’s why he gets such raw performances, in all of the projects he does, out of the actors. He takes the acting away from the actors. If you get a lot of takes and if you over rehearse, you then to over-think and get in you head, and there wasn’t time for that. I really appreciated his style, but it took me a moment.

Is it weird to then readjust back to the other way of working again, once you finished this?

MESSINA:  Yeah. When we were doing this, we all talked about how it would be strange to return back to the norm, and it was strange. I’ve only done one small movie since. and there were marks on the ground and there was rehearsal, and I kept being like, “Let’s just shoot it and see what happens. Why do you need that light? It’s fine the way it is. Let’s just put it in the shadows.” So, yeah, it was an adjustment. One of the great things about what I get to do is that you get to travel into these different worlds, whether it’s books or scripts, and different characters, but also different philosophies on how we tell a story. You groove better with some than others, but it’s fun to give yourself over to other people’s philosophies and see where it takes you. That’s something I really enjoy doing, but it’s still sometimes painful to do that, and often, you might come out the other end not agreeing with their way of working. This is not that example. Working with Jean-Marc Vallée, you have to come prepared. You have to come with an understanding of the character and what you want to do, and why you’re in this story and your purpose. And then, you have to really surrender to the moment.

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Image via HBO

Did it feel like you had a little bit of freedom with this character because he is so unfamiliar in his surroundings, not being from this town?

MESSINA:  Yeah. It’s fun to play the outsider. I worked on it and really didn’t tell anybody about this because it wasn’t necessary, but I thought this guy has a past of heartbreak and he is damaged, just maybe not as severely as Camille. In a way, he’s at the other side of the coin. If Camille’s the head, he’s the tails, or vice versa, just not as severe. He wants to be seen and heard, and he his own problems. In a way, that’s what intrigues him about Camille, besides the obvious attraction. She also has information, and the town is full of people that don’t want me around while she’s the only one really talking to me. It’s all of those things combined. It was a fun character to work on. I grew up feeling like an outsider, so I really relate to those characters.

Do you think he senses just how messed up she is, or is there no way to have really sensed the extent of that?

MESSINA:  As the episodes go and he starts investigating her just as much or more than the investigation itself, he starts to put it together. But just how far gone she’s gone and how much pain she’s had, I don’t think he can fathom that. I don’t think he knows what to do with that. It’s really interesting ‘cause it deals with all of those cliches of a man being like, “I can save her. I can fix her. I’ll be the hero here.” That’s very naive of him. I watched Chinatown a lot for this movie. I had that on repeat in my trailer because it’s a great movie and Jack Nicholson is one of my favorites, but also because, as he investigates, he finds himself investigating her, and I thought there were similarities. She’s definitely in pain, as a lot of people are, in this show. That’s why I felt that, whether you see it or not, Richard had to have his own cracks.

This series really shows us how many levels of and layers to grief there are, and how it’s different for everybody.

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Image via HBO

MESSINA:  Yeah, there’s a lot of aching and a lot of skeletons in the closet. This show is almost like a western, where Camille comes into town and she’s like, “I’m gonna clean up this town.” She’s gonna drive out the evil. Amy is amazing in it, and that’s the reason that I’m here. I wouldn’t be talking to you about this project, if it wasn’t for her. We did Julie & Julia together and we said that we wanted to work together again, but I wasn’t quite sure if that would ever happen. And then, years later, she said, “Hey, take a look at this book. I’m doing this part.” And I read the book and loved it and said, “I’m in.” I knew exactly what needed to happen with Richard. It was very cinematic and I felt like I could do it. And then, I read for it with Amy. Jean-Marc Vallée didn’t know who I was, so we read. I don’t even think it was a done deal, after I read. She really had to push for me, so I’m very grateful to her. I’m not a great tennis player, but acting with Amy is like if you played Serena Williams, or something. They’re gonna make you better, and she made me better.

The character dynamics and relationships really are so important and crucial to this story, and to making the audience want to keep watching this story.

MESSINA:  Yeah, it’s a great bunch of actors. Matt Craven, who plays the chief, has been around for a long time, doing fantastic work. He’s just phenomenal. It’s not acting. It’s just beautiful. With Amy, it was wild because he’s my friend, taking on this really complicated role. It’s very dark, obviously. You can imagine what a day in the life of Camille is, and she was doing that, 60 days in a row, or however many shooting days it was. And then, she would take off that hat and put on the producer’s hat, ‘cause she was also a producer on this, and she would talk about scheduling and scripts, and she’d get the cast and crew an ice cream truck. That was really inspiring, and it was pleasure to watch her do that. You end up being proud, as a friend. She’s that good, and she’s also that good of a producer. That’s talent.

After being on The Mindy Project for six seasons, were you ever worried about being typecast?

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Image via HBO

MESSINA:  Yeah, and thank goodness I got the chance to be different and that the opportunity was there. I grew up in the New York theater scene, so I got to play this plethora of delinquents. And then, after Six Feet Under, I did get stuck a little bit, being the nice guy. I was the nice, schmucky guy in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona. And then, in Julie & Julia, I was the, “I love your food, babe,” guy. I felt like I got stuck in that. The reason I became an actor was to try to push myself, scare the hell out of myself, and try different things. When I was on Mindy, I had a blast. I love those guys. The writing was so funny, and I felt like that was a comedy class, but you definitely have the fears. People really liked the show, so you worry, “Will I just be Danny Castellano, to the people that watch the show?” That’s not a bad guy to be, by the way, but I was definitely thrilled to have opportunities. I will keep searching out those opportunities, to scare the shit out of myself and try different things.

This is such a funny business because, if you’re good at doing something, people want you to keep doing that same thing, instead of allowing that to transition into the next thing.

MESSINA:  Yeah, if you do something half-way decent in Hollywood, they’re like, “That’s who he is!” Unfortunately, I do that to actors, too. I get pissed off at myself when I watch them in a movie or on TV, and then you hear them getting cast as something else and you go, “What?!” But then, usually, you go to see them in that piece and they blow your mind. That’s why we’re actors. Hopefully, we’re malleable.

Sharp Objects airs on Sunday nights on HBO.

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Image via HBO
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Image via HBO
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Image via HBO