Among the various world premieres taking place at the Galway Film Fleadh on the west coast of Ireland, Stephen Wallis’ The Martini Shot boasts among the most curious plots. The drama — shot in Ireland before the pandemic — stars Matthew Modine as an ailing director embarking on what he thinks will be his final movie.
But what sounds like a somber film about filmmaking, having its first bow in Galway on Thursday night, turns into an existential exploration of mortality and one’s profound effect on the world. It’s also, as co-star Fiona Glascott — who plays Modine’s more level-headed producer — explains, extremely funny.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the premiere, the Irish actress, whose list of credits includes Brooklyn, Fantastic Beasts (playing a young Minerva McGonagall) and the upcoming second season of HBO Max series Julia, describes the last-minute call that led to her sitting with Modine in Ireland less than 48 hours later, the joy of spending time with Derek Jacobi and why the word ‘Martini!’ is called out on set.
The Martin Shot‘s plot sounds interesting. Could you describe the film and your role in it?
The Martini Shot is about a director who has a terminal illness and he’s making his last great work of art. And he’s also God, or certainly has the powers of God. So he’s in Ireland. He wants to make this film. And I’m his producer. And because he is God, he’s able to bring back great people from the past. He can kind of do whatever he wants and at the same time, he’s battling with his own demons of doctors and psychiatrists. And I’m in charge of getting all this madness together and dealing with his capriciousness, but also trying to get him to face up to the reality of his life. And I think that’s one of the gifts about this movie. It’s an interesting look at how we behave as people — if we’re not happy in our situation, or who we are, often,we will try and change that person, or where we live, or we’ll go and buy something or we’ll go and do something, instead of actually doing what is incredibly difficult and taking some time to really look inside and accept those parts of ourselves that you don’t like.
How did you get involved in it?
It was all very last minute. Somebody dropped and I got a call. I think it was on a Tuesday. And they said, “Could you play this part? We kind of need to know, because we’re gonna need you to film on Thursday.” And it was exciting, and very unusual for me in the way I work, because I like a lot of preparation. So I was sort of wrenched out of my comfort zone in that way, and got over to Ireland and found myself sitting down with the wonderful Matthew Modine, less than 48 hours later. It was kind of insane, but also kind of suited the film itself. Because it’s about trying to drag people out of their comfort zone into having a look at yourself and shaking things up. And what happens when you do that? Do you start to crumble and is that a bad thing?
So if this God-like character Modine plays is making his final film, what sort of film is it?
That’s the interesting thing — what sort of movie would God make? But the movie this God in this movie is making, it seems to me, is trying to correct wrongs, or wrongs that we feel that we’ve done, things that we haven’t said that we wish we’d said. And that’s why I think he’s bringing people back from the dead. He’s also giving these actors an opportunity to have a look at their lives and the things that would have done, for example, if only they had told their son they loved him before they passed away? But it does all this in a very funny way.
As the producer of a director who may or may not be God and who’s bringing actors back from the dead, does your character spend her time trying to control the madness?
I mean, can you imagine how complicated and difficult it would be to be that producer? He keeps changing his mind. And she gets so frustrated as she goes along as she’s saying, not only is that actor dead, but I think there’ll be a problem with the union. So you’ve got this real genuine woman, who’s very good at her job, trying to get this sorted and the director’s just not listening. He’s also dying and keeps going back and having these conversations with his doctor, played by John Cleese. So he seems to be grasping on to straws and she tries to be the voice of reason.
Alongside Cleese and Modine, the film also stars Derek Jacobi. Did you get to spend much time with them on set?
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet John Cleese, but I did get to spend some time with Sir Derek Jakobi, who’s an absolutely delightful person. So warm. So sweet. So funny. I just really enjoyed being in his company. I love the sort of natural camaraderie and conversations that come up. Also what was great was the wonderful respect Matthew and Jacobi had for each other and Matthew very much revered Derek. It was really lovely to be around.
I didn’t know about this until I started reading about this film, but the term ‘Martini Shot’ actually refers to the last shot of the day during filming. Were you aware of this? Is it common knowledge on shoots?
I’m so glad that you brought it up with me because that is obviously a really good point. Yeah, you hear people going “Martini! Martini!” around the set. It’s really lovely.
I understand that it was named the ‘Martini Shot’ after a director who after his final shot would then have a martini. Were martinis drunk on The Martini Shot?
I wish! But I think there was a bit of Champagne. But I do love that story.
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