In Agent Game, no one is safe. Harris (Dermot Mulroney), a CIA interrogator at an Agency black site, finds himself the target of a rendition operation after being scapegoated for an interrogation gone horribly wrong. As the team tasked to bring Harris in begins to question their orders - and each other - Olsen (Mel Gibson), a senior intelligence officer, and his subordinate, Visser (Annie Ilonzeh), raise the stakes. Now, it’s up to Harris and some newfound allies to uncover the truth and turn the tables.
Mulroney is at the heart of the action in this movie, and while we're reluctant to say too much for fear of spoilers, it's fair to say the actor has a standout role here and his character delivers a lot of surprises. Sharing the screen with Jason Isaacs for a big chunk of his screentime, Mulroney is given the chance to shine alongside a fellow heavy-hitter and it was a pleasure to speak with him about this role.
In our exclusive interview, the actor looks back at his time working with Isaacs and shares fascinating insights into his approach to playing a character like this. Mulroney also opens up on what attracts him to the projects he stars in and explains what it was like being thrown into the thick of the action.
Oh, and yes, we asked about those big Secret Invasion rumours...and he's giving nothing away!
You can watch the full interview in the player below or scroll down to read the full transcription.
Agent Game arrives in Theaters, Digital, and On Demand April 8, 2022.
It must be fun to have a movie like Agent Game to get out there and talk about?
Absolutely! I’m thrilled about Agent Game.
I particularly enjoyed the dynamic you have with Jason Isaacs in the movie. It’s so much fun to watch you guys bounce off each other, but was that something you had a chance to work on beforehand or did you find that chemistry on set in the moment?
As you said, Jason and I met each other pretty much on the day I started filming, so I don’t know, maybe it was meant to be, but we sure had no problem locking in. Jason brought a lot of knowledge from his own interest I think in terms of interrogation and all that, so that helped me a lot. I’m always grateful for a hand in and that kind of tight shorthand you have between the two characters seemed to come naturally to us. I had a great time working with Jason, for sure, on those half-named characters lurking in the murky securities world.
In that whole first act, you’re in these very confined settings, so what’s it like to explore these strong character moments in close quarters, particularly when we see so much big stuff happening in them?
A lot of the feel of Agent Game is this compressed pressure. Some of it is in an aeroplane, then some of it is in this Gothic feeling black site which we learn later is in Kosovo. That’s not a big spoiler, but we're shooting those scenes, of course, somewhere else in the world. This time, it happened to be Augusta, Georgia, which is a beautiful city, in an old factory there. Everything you see we were shooting as we found it on practical locations. All of that claustrophobic feel and pressure tank feeling came from those. It was incredible to work with Barkhad Abdi too who is incredible in those scenes. He brought so much to the role and so much tension and importance to the heart of the movie. It was cool to be in those scenes with those actors.
Your character, Harris, is so fascinating in the sense that we, the audience, don’t know if he can be trusted but the same can be said for the characters in the movie too. What’s it like exploring someone like this?
I don’t know if this is a glib way of saying this, but he’s a guy who has been so good at being bad for so long, he’s lost any distinction between the two. It’s just a matter of following orders and knowing you’re a small part of a bigger scheme and that it’s going the way it’s meant to. He’s an efficient spy manager and under the radar government man. Gosh, he gets himself in some trouble and, if I’m not mistaken, that’s because he’s trying to do the right thing. Then again, it’s one of the fun things about Agent Game is you’re never sure who is on who’s side. It really turns some of the bad guy imagery and iconography on their head quite a few times in this movie, so there’s a lot to look for.
These clandestine C.I.A. missions -
That’s the word I was looking for! Clandestine. You probably have it written down, though.
I do! I admit it. Of course, there’s not much you can research into those because they’re clandestine for a reason, but did you look anywhere for research and did anything you found help bring Harris to life?
Well, I don’t know. I feel like when we went to shoot this, we were really running and gunning. For me, it wasn’t extended research of anything of that nature, but of course, in my mind, I think of other characters I’ve played that operate in this murky world, so I know about it. Let’s just say I fell right into that role this time and that’s because I was in such capable hands with the script and the director, Grant S. Johnson, really gave us all a lot of confidence. You know, how the film’s broken down into different parts and different parts over time and those other parts were held down so well by the rest of the cast. Mel Gibson with his part and then really the triple threat on the plane with Katie Cassidy and Adan Canto and Rhys Coiro really nailed it in the movie and then, of course, all those plots collide.
You mentioned Grant and given, as we said, the confined nature of a lot of these scenes, were you given a lot of room for improvisation to find the dynamic between these characters or was it a case of sticking close to the script?
I think the script was written really well. I think you’d be giving me a lot of credit if you thought I could improv like a spy, but other than ‘Ugh,’ ‘Oof,’ and stuff like that [Laughs] I stuck right to the script. It was written really tight. Again, with the way it cuts back and forth, sometimes those little units aren’t that big and sometimes those little units are me really kicking the ass of one of my adversaries and throwing them through the window. It keeps coming at you in this film: action, story, plot twists, and the characters ring true throughout and I think it does a really good job with that.
Talking of action, you get to see a fair bit of that in this film, so was there a lot of prep and training for that or, like your dynamic with Jason, were you thrown into the thick of it?
That, on the other hand, was really intricately planned out and choreographed. On the day I mentioned, it was a basic tussle and fake hit where you pretend like you’ve been hit and then, somebody else throws him through the window. There are very complex stunt sequences throughout the movie, so in terms of those, no, that’s definitely also not the kind of thing…you don’t improv spy dialogue and you don’t improv stunts. Those were really well planned out and executed. There’s a lot of firepower, obviously, and pyro too as there are a lot of explosions. We were shooting outside at night and some of it is brilliantly enhanced with visual effects, but we shot it efficiently and super safe.
Are you someone who likes to get hands-on with the fight scenes and weapons training?
To some extent, I’ve done that over the years, so it comes naturally. In this case, we had a really terrific stunt crew all around, so that gives you even more confidence. I think I play the roles where you think I don’t have that many stunts, so I don’t, but then what I have is the stuff that isn’t a stunt where I have to get into the hitting and the falling. Falling against the wall and they put a pad on your back; I won’t say there’s no science to that, there certainly is, but there are no secrets. I’m not really hitting the guy, but since everyone knows that, that’s why it’s so skillfully done when it’s believable. Unlike acting, stunts everyone knows there’s an element of cinema in it. Acting isn’t defined by those same boundaries.
On another note, I’m not sure if you’re aware, but there have been some photos floating around recently that appear to show you in the new Marvel Cinematic Universe series Secret Invasion alongside Don Cheadle. The theory is you’re playing the U.S. President - is there anything you can say about that?
I don’t know…I did work with Don Cheadle and I think there’s some footage from that episode of Fame in 1986 dangling out there on YouTube, so please don’t watch that. Um, I’m sorry, was there another question?
Fair enough. You can’t blame me for trying! Of course, you voiced Green Lantern a few years in The Batman, so have those superhero projects come your way over the years or was that a one-off for you?
Yeah, whatever happened to that? I think I did a handful of episodes. Did he survive? Am I okay out there? Did somebody take over the voice? I don’t know! I never really heard. If I’m still the Green Lantern, will someone please let me know? I know I was for that brief time and I always enjoy that. To be honest with you, I can continue to audition for animated things, advertisement commercials and so forth all the time. It’s not really where I’ve had most of my success, but thank you. Green Lantern is [a] pretty obscure [role], except when you enter a world where there are superheroes and so forth I’ve heard. I’ve heard it can…maybe that’s all I’ll say. Again, maybe it’s best if we…yeah.
As soon as you get on the radar of a superhero fan, they’re going to follow you even if it is something as obscure as that.
I’m blessed that way, even with the little I have done thus far and may do in the near future. Or not. And other genres too. Of course, I’ve touched into horror, and those fans are so die-hard. Westerns, of course. I’ll always be grateful to those who love those movies as much as I. So, thanks for the superhero fan support too [Laughs].
That actually brings me perfectly to my next question as you have been part of so many genres, so when a project like Agent Game comes your way, is there something you look for in particular that appeals to you as an actor or is it just a case-by-case basis?
Well, all of the above. It’s definitely case-by-case, but when something like Agent Game comes along, I know it’s not something I’ve concentrated on or even been thought of for some of these roles, whether it’s the corporate evil guy or whatever. More of those are coming to me and so forth, but once I hit my stride, especially after the experience I had on Hanna…I joined a hit series in the second season, so that was a really nice training ground. That’s on Amazon Prime and you can start at the beginning and watch the whole thing again if you want! For me, I had a wonderful experience and so was thrilled to jump back into that world from there. I’m happy that I’m being used in that way in these roles because I love them.
As I mentioned, this character is very mysterious, but do you enjoy playing someone who is a bit of an enigma or can it be a struggle as an actor to tap into who this person is when you know as little about them as the audience?
Yes, that’s a really good question because sometimes you don’t know anything or are in a situation where the series is being written as you’re shooting episodes of it. In other words, you don’t know yet what’s going to happen to the character. Sometimes you do, so it’s always an adjustment. It does help an actor contain a performance because you can’t really commit to one thing if you’re not sure. I’ve only found myself cold in situations a time or two because usually, it’s more of a fluid thing and I really love that process of having some sort of give and take between the actor performing in the television series and the writer as they’re writing it. That can really come together in a great way at times, so I always look for that. Moreso in a film, of course, it’s already written with a beginning, middle, and an end. That’s a great type of job to approach also. Within that, you probably have more questions about how the character behaves in the storyline and narrative and how much truth you can bring to it because you know how it ends, basically. On a developing television role, that has its own thrill because you’re never sure what’s going to happen next.
Finally, without getting into any spoilers, the film very much leaves the door open to perhaps tell more stories in this Agent Game world. Would you, assuming your character survives this film, like to continue telling stories as part of a franchise?
For sure. You know, there’s nothing in my contract on this particular project that says I can’t spoil everything. I could blow the whole movie for you right now, but if you’re suggesting that maybe there’s an Agent Game 2 coming up that maybe gives away potentially and hypothetically that I survive, I’d be totally in favour of it. Any good, satisfying film in this genre leaves you with that and the limping, bedraggled team that can come together again to fight the next bad guy. I hope so on this one and it would be great to work with this whole group and crew again. Thanks so much and I’m so glad you enjoyed the film.