Tom McCarthy directed this movie called The Visitor. It stars Richard Jenkins.

Note: This interview was conducted in a room at the Ritz Carlton in Boston. There were four or five people from the press along with Tom and Richard. One lady was really old. Before the interview started she was talking about how she didn’t know how to use the internet and how she still wrote all her reviews on a typewriter.

Enter Richard Jenkins.

Question One: Would you like a Jelly bean?

Richard Jenkins politely refuse. He raises his hands to his chest and shakes his head.

Question Two: They’re individually wrapped?

Richard Jenkins: We spare nothing.

Question Three: There’s the American genius for you. If they’re individually wrapped then it must be high class. And even worse now it looks like I’ve had a lot.

Richard doesn’t respond.

Enter Tom.

Tom McCarthy: How is everyone?

People mumble that they are well.

Question Four: Welcome back to Boston.

TM: It’s good to be back in Boston.

Tom opens a bottle of coke. It is one of those miniature glass bottles. You hear the seal crack and then the fizz. Then he pours it into the glass. You can hear the ice shift against the glass. Richard drinks a diet coke straight from the bottle.

Question Five: So Richard and Tom, the two of you on the road, are you selling some Callahan Brake pads?

Tommy: It short of feels like it.

Richard: But good ones.

There is a little chuckling. Not a lot, but enough to please the one who asked the question. He is very proud of himself.

Question Six: How long have you been taking the movie around for?

TM: For about a year.

This is sarcasm.

TM: No, about three weeks. The first premiere was in Toronto. There was a second premiere at Sundance. They invited us down. So we did.

Richard pours some ice into a glass. He is sick of drinking his warm diet coke.

Question Seven: How do you pick your subjects or your projects? How do you decide what to write about next?

TM: It’s a slow process. It’s not like I thought Richard needed a vehicle.

RJ: Richard did.

There are some more chuckles. People sometimes chuckle when they are nervous and sometimes they do it because they want a person to like them which is also derived from nervousness. I don’t know what kind of chuckling this was.

Question Eight: Was it tough to get this movie made.

RJ: With me it was.

TM: Yeah, with Richard on board it was. No, we had capital, movie capital, from The Station Agent. I don’t mean capital as in money. I mean trust. I could take an unconventional story and deliver a movie that people would want to watch. But you never know. I finished this script, with Richard attached and as you know that isn’t a slam dunk for financing, but the two companies who ended up stepping up, stepped up very quickly. They loved Richard in the lead role and we were off and running. I know a lot of filmmakers would read that and maybe tell you it’s not that easy, but in this case it did come together that easy.

Question Nine: Richard, I heard you never took drum lessons?

RJ: I used to play the drums when I was younger.

Question ten: Oh?

RJ: Yeah…

Question eleven: So you weren’t nervous about playing the drums.

TM: I was.

RJ: No, I talk to a guy and we kind of figured out what we were going to do.

Question twelve: How did you prepare for this role?

RJ: Drank.

TM: Very medicated.

RJ: Actually, I prepared in the rehearsal.

Question thirteen: How are you combining your acting and your directing, like your role on The Wire?

TM: I shot The Wire while we were editing this movie. It was a busy couple of months because it just came up and I loved the show. David Simon said it would be fun and I trusted him. It was one of those times when I overextended myself, as my ex-girlfriend would probably agree.

There are more chuckles. Tom laughs at himself too. It is unclear whether he is still hurt from it.

RJ: The operative word being ‘ex’.

TM: It was basically like, “Take care of the dog. I’ll see you Thursday for about ten minutes,” but yeah. That’s the nature of the business.