Since appearing on the pre-teen show Are You Afraid of the Dark? back in the mid-90s, Montreal-born actress Emily Hampshire has had a steady stream of roles in the Canadian TV and film industry, appearing in everything from the sci-fi series Earth: Final Conflict to the 2009 hit comedy The Trotsky. She’s also lent her voice to animated shows like Ruby Gloom and Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends, and is currently working on David Cronenberg’s thriller Cosmopolis. But it’s her movie landing in theatres this week that has the potential of making her Canada’s ‘It’ girl.
In the dark comedy-thriller Good Neighbours, which sees Hampshire reunite with The Trotsky writer-director Jacob Tierney, she plays Louise, a woman who is turned on by a local serial killer, and would rather spend time with her cat than with her two male neighbours (who both seem to be competing for her affection) . With Hollywood hitters Scott Speedman and Jay Baruchel (who also worked with her on The Trotsky) starring alongside her, Hampshire’s beauty and grace shines through onscreen and firmly plants her as one of Canada’s best talents.
Criticize This! spoke with Hampshire about Good Neighbours. Read our interview below.
Brian McKechnie: What attracted you to the part of Louise?
Emily Hampshire: First of all Jacob is my oldest and dearest friend so I would do craft services for him [laughs]. The role is a dream role for me. I don’t know if it would be for many people, but for me personally this character I found so fascinating because it was like no other woman role I had read before. She’s so confident in the most passive way. If someone asks her to go to dinner, she says ‘No!’, and it’s that black and white. I just found that great to see. And this is my type of movie. It’s the kind of movie I’d like to see, which is so rare to get. Usually I do a movie where I like the script but it might not be the type of movie I’d personally go and see.
BM: What do you like most about working with Jacob?
EH: Because we know each other so well we have this sort of psychic connection. Our first few things together, because we had this friendship, we could work on them really early on together. That creates a relationship that perpetuates more creative stuff.
BM: Do you think his background in acting helps him as a director?
EH: Absolutely. I think it helps him direct in ways you’d never think of. People often say someone is an “actor’s director” and it usually refers to them being good when working with actors. Jacob is that, but he can also think like an actor too.
BM: How important is it for you to get strong female leads?
EH: It’s utmost important. And this one really felt like that. It’s rare to get a lead woman in a movie like this, surrounded by two equally great guy characters without her suffering from that. And she doesn’t at all.
BM: You’re becoming one of the great Canadian actresses of our time. What or who inspires?
EH: First of all, that is wildly generous and I will take it [laughs]. What inspires me is stories really. I like fascinating stories wherever they are. If I had read Inception and someone said it was going to be performed on the street corner or whatever, that stuff doesn’t matter to me as a great character or a great story does.
BM: Do you ever want to direct?
EH: I always thought that I never wanted to direct. I definitely want to produce and write and control every other aspect though. What I would like to do is have someone like Jacob, but not Jacob, who I can control like a puppet and tell what to do and have them tell the people to do it [laughs].
BM: How did you handle sharing the screen with a cat?
EH: What was amazing is that these high-paid actor cats would not do what we needed them to do. They wouldn’t even look at the fish! That was a real nightmare for Jacob. He had to change a lot of stuff because they wouldn’t even walk down the stairs without this special carpet.
BM: What do you hope the audience gets out of the film?
EH: It’s really weird for me with this movie. I can honestly say that this is the first time I just want to like the movie. I feel if I like it, it’s going to be that movie for someone else. I hope they take away what I get from a Shallow Grave or types of movies like that.
Good Neighbours opens in Montreal and Toronto on June 3.
Top image: Emily Hampshire in a scene from Good Neighbours. Courtesy Alliance Films.
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