PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Grief is such a nasty bitch. Over the last few years, I’ve really become attuned to the way that I grieve, but I also have become well aware that everyone has their own process, and that it may look very different than mine. And that’s okay. There’s no “right” way to grieve.
This is one of the reasons why Robert Schwartzman’s new comedy drama, The Good Half, really resonated with me. Starring Nick Jonas (who is so good in this), Brittany Snow, and David Arquette, The Good Half is really good at showing just how different everyone deals with it.
Renn Wheeland returns home to Cleveland for his mother’s funeral. Once there, he forges new relationships while healing old ones, before confronting his problems and trying to face his grief.
To celebrate the release of the film, I chatted with star David Arquette via Zoom about his character, Rick, what keeps him motivated, working on Beverly Hills, 90210, and more!
PopHorror: I really enjoyed The Good Half. I’m super excited to talk to you about it today.
David Arquette: Oh, thank you. I’m so glad you liked it.
PopHorror: What intrigued you about the role of Rick and made you want to be a part of the project?
David Arquette: Originally, just reading Brett’s (writer Ryland) script, it was based on an experience the writer had dealing with the loss of his mother. And then reading this character, he’s talked about quite a bit before he actually appears on screen so it was funny. I was like, “Oh, they’re talking about my character.” Then I got to it and I was like, oh, he’s this complete narcissist, making all these decisions without taking the children’s feelings into consideration. I don’t know, there was just something really funny about it. He really came off as this sort of narcissistic personally. I’ve always been a little fascinated by narcissists in general. In Hollywood, you meet a lot of narcissists. You kind of need it. There’s an element of self-confidence you really need as an actor. One of the biggest stars is the biggest narcissist. It’s just funny. I get a kick out of them. They’re interesting characters. But to be able to play one is really neat because it’s different from the way I think so I have to start thinking like my character. My character got annoyed quite a bit. He’d be annoyed if something was not fitting in with his schedule or he’d have to do what? Like why would I do that? This is funny. I would totally have a different take so it’s almost like I would have to go opposite of what my instinct was.
PopHorror: I loved watching him shove himself into that tiny car.
David Arquette: The Miata was a big focal in the script too, because it’s so specific. This guy with his Miata. When I first drove it in the first scene… He’s the kind of guy that drives fast. He’s the kind of guy I wouldn’t be surprised if he took his muffler off so it was just louder. It’s that guy. When I first did it, I did this like “rrrr” and kind of slid. They were like, “You’ve got to slow down!” But that’s Rick. He causes those kinds of feelings in people.
PopHorror: My favorite scene of the movie is when Renn gets really upset with Rick because Rick’s grieving differently than he is, and Rick has a very powerful speech about grief and about how everyone grieves differently. I’ve been dealing with my own grief lately, and while this is fiction, I felt very seen. This really resonated with me. People were mad at Rick because he was laughing, but sometimes that’s what you have to do to get through something like that. How did you prepare for such an emotional and powerful scene?
David Arquette: It’s going to be funny and it’s going to be a letdown, I think. No, no really. When you’re going through grief, as you know, and I’m sorry for your experience, but a lot of things come up. It pushes everybody’s… You know, if somebody’s controlling, they’ll try to control the whole thing or if they try to avoid everything, they’ll try to avoid it all. A lot of people will get angry about something but they’re really just angry about this loss that they don’t know how to put into words, so there’s all kinds of things that will come up. What’s funny in this scene was, the audience doesn’t know this, nobody really knows this until I start sharing it but there was a scene written in the script where the family, including Rick, all get into this limousine, and they go from the funeral to the memorial party. Robert (director Schwartzman – The Unicorn) called me up before and said, “Listen, I was thinking about it. I’m not going to have Rick in the limousine scene so you can come into work an hour later.” I was like, “Cool, thanks.” I was fine with that, but Rick was really pissed. He was extremely upset about that. He had picked this limousine out, he paid for it, but I’m not allowed to be in this limousine? Are you serious? Rick was pissed so that’s really where his anger came from in that scene. Even when I walked out the door, I ad-libbed, “I hope you enjoyed the limousine ride!” That’s really what it amounted to, to Rick. Although those lines – I think were really powerful in what he was saying – in a typical Rick world, he probably wouldn’t have gotten so upset. He would have just been like, “Get over it Renn. This is how I’m doing it.” He just wouldn’t have been so heated about it. He was angry about not being able to ride in this limousine. That’s at least where I drew it from because Rick, even at the end – I don’t want to spoil anything – but he sort of tried to make this moment of peace. But for me, it was like he woke up and he was like… He wants to be considered the good guy. He wants some credit but also all of this stuff is just getting in the way. It’s not looking at it as, aww this stuff his wife left behind, he’s looking at like, what am I going to do with all this stuff? I’m just going to take it to the dump? I’ll just drop it off at their place. So it seems like this big peace offering but in true Rick fashion, it’s another narcissistic moment.
PopHorror: Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. I didn’t think he was that bad. Obviously, as the audience, we don’t have the background with Rick, but I didn’t think he was that bad. He did try to make the peace offering after they broke into his house.
David Arquette: Yes, it’s this fine line. You want him to be likable and you want him to be like, you know… He’s just Rick.
PopHorror: One thing that I really like about this role for you, David, is that you can so smoothly transition from comedy, to drama, to horror. I mean, you’ve even done wrestling. You’re a jack of all trades. What motivates you to continue to create art?
David Arquette: Oh, man. I mean, I have to create art in some form or another or I just kind of go a little mad. That’s why I just keep going. In this business, you kind of have to have a lot of things going on because you never know what’s going to come to fruition. Like you can work on something for years… There’s something I’m working on right now that’s been like 17 years in the development of it and I’m finally getting some momentum going. It’s kind of a crazy business that way. Also as an actor, you have a lot of down time, so if you can find these different things that you love and then start developing them or working with people. You work with different people on different things. I’m supposed to have a phone call or Zoom with a children’s book writer. We’re developing something. So you just kind of have these different things to keep your mind occupied in between jobs because as an actor you can audition for something, you can go out for stuff, you could be offered some things hopefully. Then even those, you could say, “Yes, I like the script. I would love to do it,” and then try to find the rest of the cast and financing falls through, so there’s all these different things so you kind of have to just keep hustling, just keep going and not let it get you down. That’s the main thing, just to keep working and keep creating art, because that’s really what it’s all about. And you never know. There’s some movies that I’ve done that nobody’s ever even seen. There’s one that we shot the whole thing and it’s never come out so there’s these weird things. You pour a lot of time into some of that stuff. Instead of getting discouraged about it you just move to the next thing. I heard a really interesting thing that Roger Federer said and he was talking about tennis and he was saying, “It’s always just the next point, the next point. Once you’ve won or lost that point, it’s the next point that you have to try to win. Then the next point. You can’t really focus on the whole game.” I don’t know. That resonated with me when I heard it.
PopHorror: I love that. I’ve been watching you since you guest starred on Beverly Hills, 90210 all the way up to Scream and beyond.
David Arquette: Diesel Stone, Waste Management!
PopHorror: I love that when I mentioned to my friend that I was going to be talking to you today, his thing was, “He did that wrestling thing! I love wrestling!” You have an audience so broad and wide and you reach so many people. I love that you’re just so motivated to keep creating more for us.
David Arquette: Thank you so much. That’s so sweet to hear. It all stems from things that I do love. That was a funny experience doing 90210 because I was Diesel Stone, Waste Management. I’d been practicing the drums because I was supposed to be the drummer so I’m sitting there for weeks practicing drums and I show up on the set, and there’s a band that they’re using their actual song in a movie like Gazzarri’s, which is this legendary Sunset Boulevard place. They said, “You know what? We have a drummer and it’s the song from the band so he’s going to be the drummer.” I was like, “But I’m the drummer!” He’s like, “No, but we got this for you,” and it’s a keytar and it’s the cheesiest, 80s looking thing. It was just really funny. It was a really fun experience.
PopHorror: That’s hilarious! I just watched it last week. I’m doing a rewatch.
David Arquette: Sending my love to Shannen Doherty’s family. It’s such a loss.
PopHorror: Yes, absolutely. I have just one last question for you. If you could program a double feature with any two movies of your choosing, what would they be?
David Arquette: Wow! I’d probably try to find things that people haven’t seen as much, just so they could see them. But I did a movie called Roadracers with Robert Rodriguez that was a really incredible movie just to work with him. One of his first films after El Mariachi. He’s such an incredible director. And then there’s this other movie called Dream with the Fishes which I shot right after I’d shot Scream, the first one. I’d probably double feature that just because it would be interesting for people to see and they’re both pretty out there films.
PopHorror: What two movies would you choose that aren’t your own?
David Arquette: Oh, aren’t my own? Also I’d try to look for a couple movies that people maybe had not seen. It’s a weird double feature, but I would start with Funny Bones, a movie called Funny Bones which is one of Jerry Lewis’ last films with Oliver Platt in it. Amazing performance. And then The World According to Garp. That was a really wild film based on a book with Robin Williams. Amazing performance. And John Lithgow’s incredible in it. For some reason, that film too when I was younger, has all these weird elements, culty element, that reminded me a lot of my life for some reason.
PopHorror: The World According to Garp is insane. You don’t hear a lot of people talk about that movie. It’s so out there. How does it remind you of your life?
David Arquette: Alexis was trans and so is the John Lithgow character, and I was born on a commune. This is a different very creepy culty thing going on there. But I don’t know, the parents had a kind of dramatic relationship. There’s some bizarre elements about it.
Thank you so much to David for taking the time to speak with us. The Good Half is in theaters July 23 and 25, 2024!
