Hey, friends. You know, I get to speak with a lot of really awesome people through this gig, and I am always pleased to discover how cool almost everyone tends to be. In fact, just last week, I had three incredibly enjoyable interviews, but speaking with James Tupper about his film THE REQUIN proves my favorite.
As someone who lived abroad for a few years in my youth, I developed a somewhat silly sense of humor, partly influenced by British humor…I mean, British humour, and partly just inherited goofiness, so I found it delightful that James had a similar sense of humor.
The silliness begins before we actually officially connect on Zoom and just continues from there. While we do discuss the film, which also stars Alicia Silverstone, we side-step into numerous tangents. In trying to decide whether or not to write an article about the film and insert his quotes, as applicable, or to just post the transcribed question/answer format, I first think that the article would be the cleanest and best route. Yet, I realize that it’s not the most fun, and maybe you’ll appreciate this version a bit more. I might regret this, but I haven’t had adequate sleep in days, so I’m doing it. I won’t share everything, and I will cut and rearrange some phrases and add some clarifying words so that this proves easier to read. I hope you enjoy! 
Hey James. How are you?
“I spent the last hour this morning driving around my neighborhood, looking for parking. After you've been chased by a shark, everything looks great. You look at that stock market, you're like, “Whatever.” The shark is a metaphor until it's chasing you in the water. You can quote me on that.”
I will quote you on that, for sure. I consider myself pretty intelligent, but I actually had to look up the word “requin.” Did you know what that word meant before you got involved in this movie?
“I speak a little French, because I grew up some in Quebec, so yes, I did know, but that's a fair question. Lots of people say, "I love that movie The Requiem." I'm like, "Oh, I haven't seen it."”
What did you learn from working on this film?
“Well, I learned that sharks don't like us. When they bite us, they spit us out. We're like…I don't know what…like okra. They're looking for a seal, so after much consultation, surfers decided to dress exactly like seals. It's unbelievable. Sharks aren't that dangerous; that's my takeaway.”
How much of this was filmed on location?
“The whole thing was on location. It takes place in Vietnam. We go on vacation, and we just end up encountering some harshness. The nice thing about this film is that they really spent the time to make it a relationship drama. You get to know the people really well, and the shark doesn't appear until halfway through.”
Right. I find it funny that in movies, people always seem to go on vacation together when they're dealing with a certain problem. Do you think it's a good idea for couples to travel together when they're trying to work through some issues?
“I think, yeah. I think if everybody knew the truth about it, therapists would go out of business. I think you should take your money, take your therapy fund, and go to Hawaii; that's it.”
Here's my thought. People seem to always get stressed out on vacation. I think that sometimes that could have the reverse effect.
“Are you sure? I get stressed out getting there, but then I find a hammock, a good book, and I’m like, that's it. I feel great.”
Yeah, I could see that. I just know that when I've been places, I hear people arguing and stressing.
“Well, they've got to see this movie, because this movie is a little bit about that. I think the underlying ethos is “Embrace the moment; live today.”
How many hours did you spend in the water filming, and how long did it take for your skin to recover from being in the water that long?
“The hours are not countable. And it was really sad, because we shot in order, so we finished the first third of the film, and then we got in the water and never got out for the rest of the time. They had a hypothermia check on us every few hours. They checked to see if our core body temperatures dropped, and it was wild, yeah. It got pretty chilly. That's stuff you can't control, right?”
Right.
“But the harshness of the shooting conditions were mirrored in the work.”
Right, yeah. This is clearly a sort of a vacation gone wrong. What’s your worst vacation story?
“I don't know that I have a bad vacation story. Vacations are one of those things that I really enjoy. I look forward to them all day. I'll tell you what I did this summer. I took my son – I have a 12-year-old boy – and I took him to Greece, just the two of us, father and son. It was like a pre-bar mitzvah. I'm not Jewish, but I think that's a great celebration, his entry to manhood, a great tradition. And I thought I'd take him there, and we spent two weeks swimming every day. We met friends. I put him in Greek school. He hated that, by the way. He's like, "Why am I in school during the summer?" It was seminal.
“I read this happiness study in the New York Times, and they say the thing that people remember most, that makes them the happiest, it's not job promotions. It’s not a new car, and it's not a new house. It’s vacations, the things that they remember at the end of their lives that were really special, set aside moments. I try to live by that a little bit and go on a vacation every year or two. Americans aren't very great vacationers, are we? The Europeans really figured it out. They do six weeks a year.”
Yeah. I try to go on a trip every year, because I think it's important.
“So smart, I totally agree with that. Where'd you go?”
Well, my last trip was to Australia.
“Let's go!”
I love it there. Have you been?
“No, my brother lives in Melbourne though.”
Oh, you should go down and visit him.
“Yeah, I got to go.”
It's beautiful, there's so much diversity across the country, you can go many times and see different things, which is what I like to do.
“That's so nice. I've driven across this great country five times.”
Wow.
“I'll tell you, this country is so immensely beautiful. I know this is off topic for the film, but honestly, it's unbelievable how beautiful this country is. It's endlessly beautiful.”
[Back on topic], you work with Alicia Silverstone on this. I feel like if I were around her, I would just want to quote Clueless all the time. What was your experience working with her?
“She's wonderful; she's a doll. She's subtle. She’s impactful. I had a front row seat to what she did. It was unbelievable. I think we became deep friends. She got me in a vegan bubble. When we arrived on set, we couldn't go wandering off because of COVID stuff so she's like, "Do you want to be vegan with me?" And I'm like, "You're the lead on Clueless. Hell yes, I do." And by the way, after doing that for a couple months, my body felt amazing.”
Are you still doing vegan?
“I do mostly, yeah. I grew up in a place with fish, so I eat fish still, but I'm trying to eat much better, much cleaner. I'm not joking, you feel less inflammation in your body. Your body switches over. Mine did. My joints felt good. I just felt really good all the time.”
How long did it take for you to start feeling good?
“Three days. Two days. Like nothing. As soon as your body gets in a nice rhythm, it's like, “Oh, okay.” It helped with the filming too, because [the shoot] took a level of health. It's like that old thing they say: “Don't shoot night exteriors in Alaska." "Get on a nice half-hour sitcom and just ride it out." "Don't shoot a shark movie in cold water.” And why did they have the live shark? I don't get that. They drop it in the pool, and you're like, "Wait a minute, guys." "Go ahead, swim." That was my nightmare right before I was getting ready to fly. I was like, "What if they have a real shark, and they make a mistake, and they let it go?" So irrational and so stupid.”
That's funny. Of all the characters you've played, who do you think would handle the situation in the film the best and why?
“Well, it wouldn't be Nathan from "Big Little Lies," that's for sure. I think it would be Jack from "Men in Trees." He would be like, "Well, yeah. Okay." He'd be fun.”
What do you think he would've done differently?
“He just would've looked amazing while he was doing it. You better write, "he joked."”
No, I'm not going to write that. (Laughing) I'm just kidding.
“He joked, "He would've looked amazing."”
In people versus shark movies, I almost always tend to cheer for the shark, just because I think they're kind of amazing.
“I feel you there. I like that."
What are your thoughts on sharks?
“Well, here we are judging them, but they're just hungry. Just keep in mind, they're really suffering when they eat us. They're like, "Oh God, this is awful. Yuck! Oh, gross! Anybody have any barbecue sauce? Like, anything? Seaweed, to make this go down easier?" This is getting out of hand.”
(Laughing) That's all right, I like it.
“No, we got to be careful because they're the natural predators of the ocean, and they serve an important function, obviously. They’re getting slaughtered by the millions.”
Yeah, they're really important to the ecosystem.
“Oh yeah, very. The shark-fin soup thing is the big cause right now. They’re killing millions of sharks, cutting off their fins, and then throwing [the sharks] back. Terrible for the environment.”
What was the most memorable day on set and why?
“The most memorable day was when we were shooting and shooting and shooting, and we were coming right up to the crux, and it was the emotional climax, and the assistant to one of the associate producers got COVID. Luckily, they're okay, but the whole production had to stop for three days. Everybody had to get super tested, and luckily nobody else had it, but those three days, that rest, was phenomenal. We would go outside, and we lit a fire, and we would just sit around the fire and talk, masked up and everything. We had drinks, and it was just a beautiful time. We connected; we rested. I think I slept 16 hours, three days in a row, and then we were able to shoot the final, but that little respite was fantastic.”
Well, after our conversation, I would love for James Tupper's next project to be a comedy. Currently, you can see him, along with Alicia Silverstone, in THE REQUIN, a story by Le-Van Kiet about a couple vacationing in a tropical paradise when disaster strikes. It is in theaters, on demand and digital. Here's the trailer, with its many spoilers, if you want to check it out.
