'High Heat' Interview: Chris Diamantopoulos

Moviefone speaks with Chris Diamantopoulos about 'High Heat.' "This is a hybrid action-comedy with real emotional moments. There's something for everyone."

Opening in theaters, on digital, and On Demand beginning December 16th is the new action comedy ‘High Heat’ from director Zach Golden (‘The Escape of Prison 614’).

The movie stars Olga Kurylenko (‘Quantum of Solace’) as Ana, an ex-KGB operative turned chef, and Don Johnson (‘Knives Out’) as her husband, Ray. As Ana’s new restaurant opens, mafia boss Dom (Dallas Page) sends his enforcers to burn it down and collect the insurance money to pay back Ray’s debts.

Now, Ana must rely upon her lethal skills as she goes on a deadly rampage taking out the entire crime syndicate one-by-one to save her restaurant, her marriage, and survive the night. But she will also have to face off against her former friends, assassins Mimi (Kaitlin Doubleday) and Tom (Chris Diamantopoulos), a suburban couple that moonlight as deadly killers for hire.

Actor Chris Diamantopoulos has appeared in such popular films and TV programs as ‘Red Notice’ with Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds, ‘The Sopranos,’ ’24,’ ‘The Office’ and ‘Arrested Development.’ But he is probably best known for playing Russ Hanneman on HBO’s ‘Silicon Valley’ and Moe Howard in the Farrelly brothers’ ‘The Three Stooges.’

Diamantopoulos will next be seen on the big screen in ‘The Boys in the Boat,’ directed by Oscar-winner George Clooney.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking to actor Chris Diamantopoulos about his work on ‘High Heat,’ balancing the action and comedy, creating his unique character’s backstory, working with Kaitlin Doubleday, and meeting the great Don Johnson, as well as working with George Clooney on ‘The Boys in the Boat.’

Chris Diamantopoulos in 'High Heat.'

You can read our full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Diamantopoulos and director Zach Golden.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about how you got involved with this project and what was your first reaction to the outrageous screenplay?

Chris Diamantopoulos: I've long been a fan of both Don's and Olga's. That was really the genesis of my interest in the film because the notion of getting a chance to work with them and see them in process was really enough to engage me. Then, I love capers and I love this genre of film, which I think was really prevalent in the mid to late 90s and early 2000s.

We don't see it as often anymore. I mean, this is really a prototypical hybrid action comedy, but with real emotional moments. At the risk of sounding cheesy or a boiler plate, I think there really is something for everyone in this movie.

MF: Can you talk about your approach to playing Tom and the dynamic between him and his wife, Mimi?

CD: I really love working with Kaitlin. I think she's such a dynamic actor and she's super collaborative. I enjoy finding characters in roles that allow me to try something different than I may have tried in the past. A character like Tom is one of the first times I've played someone that's a wallflower, maybe a little henpecked and a little trepidatious about throwing his weight around, or maybe he lost his confidence somewhere along the way.

I look to the writing and then within the collaboration with my scene partner with Kaitlin. We find a dynamic that feels organic and funny, and that allows for a little crackle to it. It was a lot of fun.

Kaitlin Doubleday in 'High Heat.'

MF: The characters of Tom and Mimi are so rich, you could really have a series of spinoff movies just about them. Did you and Kaitlin Doubleday talk a lot about your characters’ backstory and what did you create for yourselves?

CD: Totally. No, they're great characters and we talked a heck of a lot about the backstory, actually. On a film like this, as you can imagine, there's so much to service, particularly with Don and Olga's characters, there just isn't enough time to extrapolate some of the other roles to the degree that would be perhaps as satisfying as we might like. Maybe if it were a miniseries, that'd be a different story.

But Kaitlin and I talked at length. The writers and Zach, the director, to his credit, they were very flexible about us adapting, adjusting, and shifting dialogue to help point in the direction of ideas that we had found, Kaitlin and I, that felt natural for the characters and allowed us to perform in a way that felt not stilted and really over the moment.

MF: In addition to comedy and action, you have a few really emotional moments in the movie. Can you talk about balancing all the different tones of the film?

CD: Comedy can really only be funny if there's a real emotion behind it. I mean, I've had the great fortune of being able to play some pretty big, broad, funny characters in my career. I find that the ones that resonate the most are the ones whose insecurities or vulnerabilities are the most true or the most prevalent.

So, it really comes down to, would I, the actor or the character, would I buy what's happening to me? Is it real? Would I actually feel something about this situation? How would it make me feel? That was particularly gratifying playing Tom because he has moments where he's so henpecked by Kaitlin's character, by Mimi, that it pulls us in, in a way where we almost feel sorry for him.

Then he has some moments where he actually opens up about who he was and who he wants to be again for her. Those are really human ideas. I don't think that there's a person out there that can't relate to the notion of maybe having lost part of the dream version of who they wanted to be when they were younger. Life got in the way and they've gone down a path that maybe isn't the path that they thought they would go down in terms of who they have become. It's really a question of finding the road back to the character and to what makes Tom tick. But that was fun to look into.

(L to R) Don Johnson and Olga Kurylenko in 'High Heat.

MF: You mentioned being excited to work with Don Johnson and Olga Kurylenko. I know you don’t share any scenes with him, but did you get to meet Don Johnson? What was he like and was it everything you were hoping it would be?

CD: He’s Sonny Crockett! He’s a movie star, and he’s terrific! A film like this, which is a down and dirty quick movie to make, and a fun film to produce and put out there, it really requires everybody to come in with their best attitudes and just collaborate as best they possibly can. That's what happened in this instance. Everybody was super prepared and super professional. It was great to watch and see why these pros are as successful as they are.

MF: What was it like working with director Zach Golden and watching him execute his unique vision for this project?

CD: He’s a really talented young director. I think we're going to see a lot more from him. He's very communicative. At the core of it, a director's job is really to be direct and to know what their vision is for the film, and to put the actors at peace by being able to let them know that the director knows where this movie is beginning and where it's ending.

Zach, to his credit, did a really great job of that. He was fun to be around. We had some crazy hours, a lot of night shoots in the cold, and he had a great attitude that kept everybody engaged. That was really a lot of fun.

(Right) Chris Diamantopoulos in 'High Heat.'

MF: Finally, while we are talking about directors, I understand that you just worked with George Clooney on his upcoming movie ‘The Boys in the Boat.’ What was it like working with an actor and director of his caliber on that project?

CD: I mean, it's everything I would've hoped it would've been and so much more. When I grow up, I want to be George Clooney, and that's the understatement of the century. I mean that's a guy that's been doing this for so long and you can feel his love for it is still so potent. I think what impressed me the most about him was how present he was and engaged in the moment. I never saw him on his phone.

He never disappeared into a director's tent or into a trailer. He was on set all day. Those lighting setups and camera setups can take a great deal of time, and he stayed there engaged, engaged with the extras, talking with the crew, and talking with the actors. He kept the energy of the process going. He, I feel like, single-handedly held it up as we went along.

Then add to that a steely confidence with regard to the movie that he was making. So that if I had any questions about a moment, a scene, or a line, I'd need nothing more than to look to him and there was just such a placid resolve of, "No, we got it. We're good." I never wondered, “Do we need another one, did you get that, or do I need to do this?”

If he needed something, he gracefully would ask for it. If he didn't ask for something, you knew that we were in great shape. I said this to him, that I was going to have a real hard time going to any other project after doing that because I was working with the best of the best on every level and making an epic feature about such a beautiful story. If you haven't read the book, you should because it's just a gorgeous read. That could be your holiday read, curl up and read that book and you'll thank me for it.