Trio of actors shine through the grit
Haddish, McCarthy and Moss take charge of New York City’s streets in 1970s Mob drama
In the new film The Kitchen, Tiffany Haddish co-stars alongside Melissa McCarthy and Elisabeth Moss as a trio of women married to members of the Irish Mafia in the 1970s. After their husbands are arrested and sent to jail, they take over ruling the streets of Hell’s Kitchen in New York City.
Director Andrea Berloff rounds out her rogues’ gallery with supporting actors including Margo Martindale, Brian d’Arcy James, James Badge Dale, Domhnall Gleeson and Bill Camp. Haddish, McCarthy and Moss spoke with Postmedia News about the adaptation of the 2014 DC Vertigo comic.
Q
How did you relate to the dilemma the women faced after their husbands went to jail?
A
McCarthy I just looked at it from the point of view of one mother to another. If I couldn’t feed my kids, if I couldn’t put a roof over their head, I can’t say what I would or wouldn’t do.
Haddish (My character) Ruby had a dream and she wanted to build something, and she found a group of women she could do that with. I liked that about her.
Moss For me, I’m obviously partial to a character who has no voice and finds it. I just find that really interesting.
Q
When I spoke to you last year, Melissa, and asked you about this movie, you told me it was going to be brutal. Were you surprised at how cutthroat these women become?
A
McCarthy Part of the story that we’re telling is rattling. But in this movie, it’s for a reason. It would be more frightening and jarring to see if it wasn’t.
Q
Tiffany, had you been looking to do a drama?
A
Haddish I wasn’t necessarily looking to do a dramatic role. I’m looking to tell good stories. Something that makes me say ‘I’d go to the movies and watch this’ is what I’m looking for. It doesn’t have to be a comedy or a drama. It has to be a good f---ing story.
Q
Were you unsettled by the film’s high body count?
A
Haddish It didn’t shock me at all. I grew up in South Central Los Angeles ... in the ’80s. Do you know what that’s like? Violence schmilence.
Q
Your characters live in a world where they hear the word no. You’re big stars now, but I’m sure at the beginning you heard no a lot. How did you deal with rejection?
A
McCarthy I still hear the word no all the time. I hear it about every 14 minutes from my two kids (laughs). But it’s not just as an actress that you hear the word no. I produce movies and I hear that word a lot. Hearing no means you have to be able to switch gears and make something happen in a different way. I think to be afraid of the word no means you can’t live in the world. No just means figure out a different way. I don’t really register that word.
Haddish When I hear no my first thought is, ‘So I should turn left instead of right.’ It just means take an alternate route to where I want to be.
Moss I’ve been in this business for a long time, so I’ve certainly gotten a lot more noes than yeses. But what I’ve learned is a lot of those noes mean what Melissa and Tiffany just said: find another way. No is not the end of the story. But I also think that’s why we love what we do. We love the challenge.
Q
So along with that, who gave you your biggest break?
A
Haddish I ain’t going to lie to you. I thought I had made it when I did the Arsenio Hall show. I thought I was going to have his babies.
McCarthy Jennifer Coolidge was in The Groundlings theatre troupe with me, but I didn’t know her. I didn’t have an agent, I didn’t even think she knew I existed, but she went out of her way to call the casting director on Go, which was my first movie, and told them to audition me. She did that for no gain of her own. She put her neck out for me and that ended up as my first movie and I got my agent because of that. I always remember that kindness.
Moss Aaron Sorkin cast me in The West Wing when I was 17. It wasn’t just the professional aspect of that, but it was being part of that cast. It taught me how you’re supposed to behave at a young age and that was very formative.