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Now playing in theaters, The Private Eye is a mystery/comedy about Mort Madison (Matt Rife), a private investigator who takes on a case by a mysterious woman named Michelle (Clare Grant). Mort is tasked with spaying on David (Elliot), a man who might be romanticaly involved with Michelle. Eric Roberts co-stars in this indie feature from filmmmaker Jack Cook. It’s a twisty, Los Angeles set narrative that appealed to my sensibilities. Grant and Elliot talked to Deepest Dream about why The Private Eye was a unique experience.
The Private Eye’s ensemble includes Denzel Whitaker, Lexy Panterra, and King Chip. It’s an intricately populated indie, as director/writer Jack Cook refreshingly turns the narrative on its head midstream, and the viewer comes up with an entirely different perspective. My first question deals with physical media mainly because the opening moments takes place in a video store. Private eye Mort (Matt Rife) wears a fedora in modern day Los Angeles, and Michelle (Clare Grant) may be keeping a secret or two. David (Elliot) has his own motivations, and by the end of this film you might wonder if the key to the story lies in Eric Roberts’ version of the truth.
Speaking of Roberts, Grant and Elliot spend a chunk of the interview reflecting on working with the iconic actor. Lots of things to talk about regarding The Private Eye, check out the full interview below!
I’m a huge fan of physical media. Do you guys still have a love for DVDs and Blu rays, or are you trying to get on board with the digital age streaming?
Clare Grant: I like all of it. I still have hundreds of CDs, and I still I collect. My record collection is bigger than it’s ever been. I still have all of my collector’s edition DVDs. I still have all of my favorite VHS tapes from childhood that I’m just never going to let go of. But I also love having them digitally because when I travel, I prefer everything on an iPad, so it’s nice to have it all digitally.
Elliot: Yeah, I can agree. It’s hard not to kind of just jump on board with the digital train. It’s everywhere we look, and it’s just kind of the way the world is today. But I have my album of all my DVDs that I grew up with and CDs as well, and still some VHS (tapes) too. But yeah, I’m pretty much I’m full digital anymore. Even my DVDs. I mean, it really takes me, uh, I have to be kind of in hibernation mode, rainy day to really dive into that collection anymore. Typically I’m on streaming somewhere or downloads or, you know, that sort of game. But I love a good classic. Classics are still my favorite overall genre. And, you know, just because it’s labeled a classic doesn’t mean that it’s 50 years old, per se. I mean, The Private Eye has classic written all over it, so. So, yeah, I’m for the digital, but I lived before everything went fully digital. I have a lot of love for that, too.
Speaking of love, can you guys talk about working on a film where I don’t mind movies that are that four quadrant thing and entertainment stuff with the big budget, but this movie, it really feels it was handmade and tangible and blood, sweat and tears went into it. It just feels real. Can you guys talk about that experience?
Elliot: It’s just bringing people together with a similar mindset and vision and just goal. It just kind of flows magically. A lot of favors went into this and a lot of passion, of course, but really just on set, I mean, it was all about business. But at the same time, there was a sense of, lightheartedness that, you know, we knew that we all had each other’s backs, and we wanted to make this happen regardless of any tests that were coming our way or any obstacles or hoops or loops that we had to get through it was really just like a collective of no one was bigger than anybody else, and we were all in it to to win it and make sure that we got the best product that we could get with the resources that we had.
And Clare, just playing a character who’s very multi-layered and there’s just a lot of things beneath the surface. I’m sure that must have been a plum role for you to tackle in this project.
Clare Grant: Yeah, it was really fun. I feel like my character was in a little bit of, uh, two worlds, the fantasy world that Matt Rife’s character was living in through the movie. And then the reality, which is my character’s point of view of the movie. And it was fun for me to think about each scene like, okay, well, is this scene a Matt Rife fantasy version of what’s going on? Or is this scene my character’s more grounded reality version of what was going on.
So it was fun to think those things through. I felt like there were tangible differences between those sort of realities of the movie.
Elliot: That was very well said because it’s like that’s that was such a challenge to I mean, it was it was a fun challenge. But, um, like Clare said, there’s so many different perspectives going on in this film and layers and depth, and it’s definitely an actor’s piece.
It was fun to really pull off. And I think it’s going to surprise some people.
Both of you got the chance to work with Matt and Eric. I remember as a teenager watching Runaway Train for the first time and thinking this Eric Roberts guy back in the 80s, this guy’s a bonafide star. I’m sure you guys felt that way growing up, but then you’re also, I had questions about whether Matt could pull off a lead role, and he seemed to me to be very natural and an upcoming star. So as collaborators with these two actors, what was it like working with them? And I’m sure it must have been a great kind of feeling, seeing someone you grew up with and adored, and seeing someone who’s new to the game actually leveling up as well.
Clare Grant: I can start with this one because I didn’t grow up knowing who Eric Roberts was. I never saw Runaway Train. I don’t really know him as an actor. As I got to be older – this is so embarrassing, but I was like, oh, Julia Roberts has a brother? That’s how I found out about him. And it might have even been his daughter. When I became aware of his daughter, my husband was like, ‘oh, that’s Eric Roberts’ daughter. And I was like, what are you talking about?
I loved him. He was wonderful, a delight, such a pro to work with. Working with Matt Rife, I became friends with Matt Rife in 2014 and had been very close friends with him for many years when this movie was being made and it was actually Matt who came to me and was like, “hey, I’m doing this movie.” And from knowing Matt all of this time, I actually I already knew how talented he was, and I already knew how much charisma he had. And when he pitched the movie to me, he was so passionate about it. And I just really I saw it on him. I was excited to be a part of something that was going to allow him to be the star that I always in my heart he was.
It was absolutely incredible to work with him because our friend chemistry is so great. Our real life chemistry was translating on screen the way that it was meant to be in the script, and that that feels really good as an actor.
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And Elliot, you your character David, he’s I like to think maybe is it part of him a little bit empathetic because he’s, he’s seen through the lens of different people. Is there a good part of your character?
Elliot: Oh, I mean, yeah, it can go in so many different ways. And I’ve been asked many times lately to, to give a description of my character. And, you know, there’s so many layers to it and, and the best thing that I come up with is I play a spiritual guru who has fallen for Michelle. And and through falling for her, I start to make some very questionable decisions, most of which go against my belief system or the person that I’m portraying to be. And so I think there’s a lot of sleazy (aspects) to my character, which was kind of fun for me because it’s not really who I am in real life.
Like Clare said too, working with these talented actors around us, I mean, Matt, this this was the second project I worked with him on. And it’s inot hard to see right from the get go working with a guy like that, just his discipline and his passion. And he commits to something, he’s all in. That was one of my favorite things about this project too, was I had been I had been invested in this for eight years before we even filmed it.
I don’t go around shouting that off the top of mountains because, you know, people hear, oh, why did it take so long? Must be low budget. Yeah, it always takes that long. So when I got to work with Matt for the first time and you really got to meet him, I just could when he read the script and committed to it, he took it on as his own. And we rehearsed for a good month before filming.
We pulled in friends. We pulled in everything that we thought would make this the best project we could possibly turn it into in terms of quality wise, story wise, uh, actors, everything. We were all on board for that. And and then Eric too, you know, he’s an OG. So I met Eric in maybe 2016, and we kind of became friends on set before I really knew, uh, much of his work I have since I’ve gone down the whole Eric Roberts marathon and the Runaway Train, King of the Gypsies, The Pope of Greenwich Village, all of these movies that he was just a movie star. He was the bad boy. He was the pretty boy. He did it all – (he was) nominated for an Oscar.
I’m just a big fan. But also, he’s a great friend. He’s a he’s a really great role model and always has great advice when it comes to just being a young actor. Um, you know this guy? He made it big when he was 20 years old, so he spent the majority of his life as a celebrity. And so taking a notes from someone like that, I just like to just soak it in. Watch how he kind of carries himself and and yeah, when he steps on set, everybody knows he’s there and he’s just ready to work.
So nice. Professional learns people’s names like make sure he’s just like incredibly personable with absolutely every everyone on set and any event that we’ve done. He will walk around and introduce himself to absolutely every single person and make sure they all feel like they had a moment with him, which is awesome. Yeah, and that’s hard. Especially someone that works as much as him. He’s in different time zones daily. And I asked him one time because he went from a red-eye straight to a set, you know, and then he’ll call me up at 4:00 in the morning sometimes not realizing it’s four in the morning.
And I’m like, “how do you how do you like, stay so like just cheery and happy to be here?” His answer was just like, “well, you know, I’ve tried the grumpy. I tried being grumpy before and that doesn’t work for anybody and it just makes your day a lot worse. So while I’m working, you might as well just be pleasant to be around.”
Be happy and you know you’ll get your rest eventually. So I thought that was pretty cool because part of our industry is a lot of travel, a lot of crazy hours, a lot of early mornings, a lot of late nights, and and then too. It’s just fun. I mean, you could definitely see Clare and Matt’s chemistry on set, like, you know, you two, it was. And that’s something that for me, my character being so involved in both Clare and Matt’s character’s lives, seeing your two’s chemistry really, um, made me want to bring more and deliver more to the table to to really kind of up, up my acting chops and then and then same with Eric and Matt.
You know, those two, they’ve they’ve known each other for years. And so they were just, just very playful with each other. And the dialogue just kind of just fell out of their mouths. It was just so, so just fun how this all came about. And I always just say on set is where the magic happens. And I feel like The Private Eye is a true testament of that.
Can both of you name your favorite movie and also mention a movie from your own body of work that you feel is underrated and you would like more people to see?
Clare Grant: My favorite movie is Clue. I love that movie. I love everything about that movie. I love that everything is intentional. Every frame, every. There’s, like, hidden jokes in every single line of dialogue. Things that even to this day, when I watch this movie, I’m like, oh “my God, I can’t believe I never caught this before.” It’s amazing. They’re like, just just brilliant. Just absolutely brilliant. I love that movie.
Probably the most underrated movie I did was a movie that my husband directed called Change Land. I thought it was very beautiful. It was a movie about friendship. So surprisingly, like, sweet and sentimental movie from, like, the creator of Robot Chicken, you know? Not at all what you’d think from him. It has beautiful messaging (and is a) beautiful movie.
Was that movie shot on Thailand?
Clare Grant: So yeah, it was. We were in Thailand for two months. We got tax credits in Thailand and we shot with an all Thai crew and just it was just like they – I fell in love with the people. I wish people bowed to each other when they see each other all the time. That’s like such a beautiful way to represent like another human being in your presence. I loved everything about it.
My favorite movies changed a lot, but two that I can always go back to. I would say The Notebook and then also Shutter Island, I think that those two, because there’s a lot of just like, just it’s very deep, um, the love story is there the heart melting moments, especially in The Notebook, but even in Shutter Island. I like the ones that really make you dive deep into the brain and think. And some of those, you can’t even really try to even figure out what’s going on until you watch it all. And then you have to spend days processing it. And I feel like that’s how Shutter Island was, whereas The Notebook was just like a, you know, just like a love story for the ages.
It’s funny because I feel like both of those movies are kind of in a lot of ways related to The Private Eye too. It’s, you know, there’s like there’s the mental health aspect, there’s the psychological mystery aspect, but then there’s also the romance. And of course the small little perfect doses of comedy too.
So for me, I’m still getting into, like my first movies. I’ve done a few over the past few years now, and the one that I will probably, I’ll shout out, it’s not out for everyone to see just yet, but it’s close. It’s called The Perfectionist Hairstylist. It’s about a serial killer. It’s crazy – we get really detailed with every murder being different and my character in it kind of was one that . . . I don’t want to say held the story together, but definitely played a big part in and the drive of the serial killer. And so for that one, I would suggest everyone go watch it. It’s real like kind of grungy and grimy, but it has “cult classic” written all over it.
Thank you guys so much for your time again. I really enjoyed The Private Eye.
Clare Grant: Thank you.
Elliot: Thank you very much.
The Private Eye is now playing in theaters.
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