Sigourney Weaver & Kevin Kline on Reuniting After 25 Years on 'The Good House'

In The Good House, from directors Maya Forbes & Wally Wolodarsky, Hildy Good (Sigourney Weaver) is a successful realtor in an idyllic New England town who works hard at maintaining an exterior that everything is going her way when it’s very much not. When Hildy crosses paths with an old flame, local construction contractor Frank Getchell (Kevin Kline), things reignite between them, but that also brings old demons to the surface and forces Hildy to face her own bad choices and the damage they’ve caused.

During this interview with Collider, co-stars Weaver and Kline talked about reuniting nearly 25 years after their last project together, what made this script a unicorn, Kline’s attraction to playing a character that doesn’t care what other people think of him, and how their experience working together on The Good House compared to their first film together, Dave. Kline also talked about why he wanted to do the TV series Disclaimer, while Weaver talked about the fabulous experience she had making The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, and the two vowed to actively work on something they can do together again before another 25 years passes.

Collider: I was delighted with this movie and seeing the two of you guys together, and I’m thrilled to be talking to you both.

KEVIN KLINE: Well, thank you.

SIGOURNEY WEAVER: Thank you.

Did you guys go into this project knowing that it would reunite you, or were you individually interested in it, before you knew you were both interested in it?

WEAVER: Well, I committed to it first, and then it was at least a month later when I heard that Kevin was going to play Frank, and I thought it was a dream come true, to have him play this hunky garbage man that Hildy falls in love with.

KLINE: You’re very sweet, Sigourney. By the way, the hunkiness is all due to (costume designer) Ann Roth. She made me hunky. She said, “You’ve gotta be hunky. You’ve gotta wear this.”

WEAVER: Costume designer. It’s true.

KLINE: We did a makeup test and she said, “No, no, no, no, no. Five times the amount of makeup. Slather it on him. He’s gotta be sexy.” Jesus, I know it’s a lot of work, but God bless Ann Roth for trying. So, if I convinced you, Sigourney, then my hat’s off to her.

Sigourney, I love that this is a story about an older woman, that’s told from her point of view. She’s allowed to be imperfect, not have all the answers, have a bit of romance, and she has a real sense of humor and a wit to her. When you read a script like this, does it feel like something of a unicorn?

WEAVER: Absolutely. That’s the perfect word. To tell a story of an older woman from her point of view, who’s funny, I’ve never really come across it before. And to go on this journey with both her public self, and then her “let her hair down” self, which she shares with the audience, was such a wonderful dichotomy between the brave face she puts on, as if her life is fine, and what’s really going on, which is that her husband has dumped her, her kids have sent her to rehab, and her ex-assistant is trying to take over her clientele. She’s on a slippery slope and unfortunately turns to her old best friend, Pinot Noir, to help her get through the day. I love this character and the story. It’s a wonderful story, with lots of light and dark comedy and drama.

I love how it all just creeps up on you because you’re not really sure. It feels like this light, funny movie, but there are so many other layers there that get revealed along the way.

WEAVER: I’m so glad because I feel like, even as the actor, I was surprised. I was like, “Yeah, Hildy, if you wanna go home at the end of the day and put your feet up and open a bottle of Pinot Noir, who’s gonna begrudge you that?” I was caught by surprise, when that turned out not to be such a good idea. That’s one of the things I love about the story. It does sneak up on you, as these things do in life.

KLINE: It’s a credit to Wally [Wolodarsky] and Maya [Forbes]’ writing, as well as Sigourney’s acting that the character of Hildy is bright, she’s intelligent, and she’s educated. It shows that even the brightest people have a tremendous capacity for self-delusion and the rationalizations and lies that we tell ourselves like, “I’ve earned this. This is my comforting, chill-out reward, at the end of a hard day.” She doesn’t understand when she’s crossed the line. It would’ve been easy to make her stupid, but Sigourney’s very good at playing intelligent, (kidding) even though she isn’t.

WEAVER: It’s called acting.

KLINE: Yeah, I know. I play intelligent people too. (Kidding) It’s a stretch, but it’s fun. It’s fun to pretend.

Kevin, when you come across a character like this, who is just totally and fully who he is, and he’s not interested in changing or becoming what anyone else thinks he should be, is that refreshing? Is that freeing to play?

KLINE: Is it? It’s one of my favorite things. It’s a joy to play that because it gives you permission, as a human being and as an actor. It frees you. Actors are always looking for various levels of freeing themselves, to let unconscious sub-personalities to emerge, and just to be free to improvise and be spontaneous. He’s one of those people that doesn’t care what other people think of him. I always think of Cyrano de Bergerac, who has such a great speech about, “I love when people hate me because then I know I’m real, I know I’m authentic.” (Kidding) Authenticity is a stretch for me, but I like to play it.

WEAVER: And I think that Hildy puts a lot of energy into keeping up her front and making it look like she’s fine. She doesn’t need any help. She can continue taking care of her family, no problemo, but she’s paying a big cost for that. And I think being around Frank, who doesn’t put that pressure on himself and who seems to accept her for what she is, warts and all, just blows her mind. In that sense, the love story is so beautiful.

How did working together on this compare to what it was like when you guys worked together on Dave? Is there a different level of comfort? You did Dave and The Ice Storm only a few years apart, and then almost 25 years passed before you did this movie, so did it feel very different to work together again?

WEAVER: That’s certainly too long to have waited to work again with Kevin.

KLINE: I know.

WEAVER: I blame you.

KLINE: Let’s not let another 25 years slip by.

WEAVER: It was worth waiting for, may I just say. Time does move so quickly, and one is always so busy, and then suddenly, you realize it’s 25 years. It doesn’t seem that long ago.

KLINE: No, I can’t believe it’s 25 years. But then, I can’t believe I’m 86 years old either. But that’s time. Remember when you were young, you said, “Oh, that was 25 years ago.” That concept of something happening 25 years previously is ludicrous when you’re young. Now, it’s like it’s nothing. It’s yesterday. It’s been too long. But it’s no different now. We’re older and wiser, of course. How could we not be? But it’s still the same. We still have fun together, and we like to tease each other. It wasn’t that different. I’d say it was closer to The Ice Storm, in the sense that Ang Lee kept saying, “We cannot go one day over schedule with this one.”

WEAVER: Yes.

KLINE: “We have to make our days. We can’t go over the schedule.” There was no wasted time, not a lot of takes, and not a lot of coverage. Whereas with Dave, Ivan [Reitman], God rest his dear, sweet soul, would shoot a master, a medium shot, a close-up, an over-the-shoulder, a circling shot, and a reverse master. You’d get to play with it a lot. And once he was really happy with it, he always loved to say, “Now do one just for fun. Do whatever you want.”

WEAVER: For me, Hildy is such a huge, wonderful role, such a juicy role, and I feel like it really empowered me to get out there and show it all because I had Kevin as a partner. He’s such a pro. He’s so solid. If I could compare it to a trapeze, I knew when I let go that he would be there to catch me, and that’s a wonderful feeling for me, as the actor, going out into new territory and taking a lot of chances. I always felt such incredible support from Kevin, and I’m so grateful for it. He really helped me a lot.

KLINE: I’m always there for you, baby. Always there for you.

I love how different the three films that you’ve done together are. The relationships between the characters are different. The directors you’ve worked with have been very different. It’s nice, as the viewer or the fan, to get to see that, and not have to feel like you’re just playing the same version again.

WEAVER: Well, that’s for sure.

KLINE: Thank you.

WEAVER: This was the nicest love story we’ve had, the sweetest certainly, and the most enjoyable.

KLINE: It’s like a repertory company where, because I spent four years in a rep company with five plays in rep each season, more or less, and most of the time was spent touring, the audience would see you one night in The Lower Depths, the next night in The School for Scandal, and the next night in Measure for Measure, it was always about variety and stretching the actors. And Sigourney and I have always chosen roles that try to stretch us. That’s why we’re so tall.

WEAVER: Yes.

Kevin, what made you want to do Disclaimer? Obviously, it’s a top tier project, with the involvement of Alfonso Cuarón and Cate Blanchett, but what appealed to you about that, especially being a TV series where you get to really play a character for a bit longer?

KLINE: The usual things. It’s a very different sort of character. I’d never done a series. It had a lot of exotic attractions to it. It’s a different genre than I’ve ever done and a different way of working. There was the writing, the location, the director, the other actors, the caterer, the money, whatever. It’s hard to prioritize, but it’s usually the same old things.

WEAVER: I think we love doing things we haven’t done before. I’ve never played anyone like Hildy before. To have a woman, an older woman, tell her story from her point of view, as you say, who’s funny, is just like you said, a unicorn. I still can’t get over my good fortune.

Sigourney, what made you want to do The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart? That also sounds like a very interesting project, and again, is another TV project where you can live in the character a little bit longer.

WEAVER: Wow, I certainly live in her a long time. Yes, it’s a long form, and I really wanted to do it mostly to work with Glendyn Ivin, who’s such a wonderful Australian director, and his cinematographer. They’re an amazing team. I was also very touched by the book. It turned out to be a fabulous experience. I got to work with such wonderful Australian actors and be in Australia, where my husband could go surfing, so he was in heaven too.

KLINE: Is it a series?

WEAVER: It’s a miniseries.

KLINE: Oh, how many episodes?

WEAVER: Seven, darling.

KLINE: Oh, that’s what I’ve done. That’s a good amount. Not too many, not too few.

WEAVER: Yes. Mine was a shorter shoot than yours.

KLINE: Everything is a shorter shoot than mine.

You guys talked about not wanting to wait another 25 years. Do you feel like you might actively look for something to do together again?

KLINE: Yeah, a couple days ago, we talked about, “Well, what else should we do?” We spit-balled a few ideas.

WEAVER: I think we should do the Beckett play, where we’re in the garbage cans.

KLINE: Oh, yeah. Log and Bog, or whatever they’re called?

WEAVER: Nag and nog. I can’t remember the name of it, though.

KLINE: Endgame? No, not Endgame.

WEAVER: No. Is it? No.

KLINE: Is it Endgame? No.

WEAVER: Maybe. Hearing Kevin talk about a repertory company, it would’ve been great fun to do a season with him at the Guthrie, or something. We would’ve done The Guardsman, and all kinds of other wonderful shows. Maybe there’s some old geezer repertory company around that will allow us to go and do five plays. That would be really fun, wouldn’t it?

KLINE: The Guardsman would be great. I love The Guardsman.

WEAVER: Me too.

KLINE: Nobody knows The Guardsman. It was written by Ferenc Molnár, and is a play that Alfred Lunt famously did. It was the one film that Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne made. It’s about actors, and they’re pretty funny.

WEAVER: Are we too old to make the movie? Probably.

KLINE: No.

WEAVER: No? You heard about it here first.

The Good House is out in theaters.