Matthew Tompkins stars in and produces The Harrowing, a chilling thriller about a detective determined to discover the truth about a murder and in turn is plunged into his own personal hell where demons might be real. In this exclusive interview, the versatile thesp – whose many credits include Machete, Parkland, Missionary Man and Bad Asses 2 – talks about working with friend and regular collaborator Jon Keeyes on the film, his back catalog and what’s next.
When did your film career kick off, Matthew?
Right after graduating from Whitworth University in 1989. I lived and worked in New York City for several years acting on stage, in commercials, and writing plays for a living. I moved to Dallas TX in the early ’90s after booking recurring roles in two TV shows shooting here and I’ve been very lucky that the work has been so plentiful over the last nearly 30 years in TV, Film, and professional Theater…but the legit Film Work REALLY started flowing in, I suppose, in the late 90’s and picked up speed over the last 18 years or so. I’m nearly 45 films in now.
Since your beginnings, who have you enjoyed working with the most? Anyone that has really impressed you?
So many faces and places it would be hard to single anyone out. For the most part, I have had very positive, collaborative experiences on both Film and TV sets. I will say that Billy Bob Thornton and Paul Giamatti, who I worked very closely with on a film called PARKLAND, are two of the FUNNIEST people to hang out with OFF camera. Just hilarious. Watching Robert DeNiro on MACHETE (after his own coverage was done) insist on staying BEHIND the camera to give a fellow actor an eye-line for their scene together was amazing and rare, as actors of that stature usually head for their trailer when they aren’t ON camera. I also played the lead bad guy in the Dolph Lundgren directed action film called MISSIONARY MAN for Sony Pictures and found Dolph to be the absolute OPPOSITE of what you might think he’d be based on how he looks and the bulk of the roles he chooses. VERY smart, hilarious, ribald, speaks multiple languages, very savvy about the craft of filmmaking. He was a delight.
When did the journey on “The Harrowing” begin?
Jon Keeyes, the Writer/Director, wrote the script about six years ago with the idea that I would play the lead, Ryan Calhoun. We lived with it, trying to get it off the ground and coming very close numerous times…even shooting a bit of it at one point with what we had at the time…but ultimately that footage was scrapped and we REALLY went for it, all in and with all guns blazing in the summer of 2016. It’s been a two-year process, through the edit and the balance of Post, the Festivals and Premieres, Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, AFM, and now Distribution and release through Film Mode Entertainment on Christmas Day, 2018. VERY excited☺
Being you produced the film, did you fashion the film to be a starring vehicle for yourself. Was that the idea?
The film as a vehicle for me was the Writer/Director, Jon Keeyes idea. We’d worked together before but he’d seen me carry other films and wanted us to join forces in that way, thinking it would bring the best out of us both, which it certainly did. Once he was satisfied the script was ready and I was too, I set about raising the funds for it and making it happen. I knew what I could bring to the role of Ryan Calhoun, as did he. But I am not an actor that’s interested in an exercise in vanity. If I don’t sense that I’m right for it, I won’t waste time and money doing it just to play a lead. It has to be a win/win for EVERYBODY, the story in particular.
How much say did you have in how your character was written?
Well, Jon and I are true collaborators, and were through the entire process…but I would say the majority of my influence was not in the writing of the script or character, but in the On The Day interpretation of the character when we were FILMING the story. We had a great many discussions as we went, and the character evolved well beyond what he intended it to be, as he would tell you, and the film was the beneficiary of that.
Did you have a backstory in mind for the character, even if it’s not on the page?
Yes, but not in a way that dominated my thoughts while playing him in the real-time narrative. I just sort of carried it in my body throughout. Ryan undergoes SO much trauma mentally and physically over the arc of his journey in THE HARROWING, that what’s happening to him in the RIGHT NOW was almost enough.
I imagine you had to pick up some law-enforcing lingo before shooting the movie – or had you picked that up from an earlier movie?
Yes. Over the years I’ve played all kinds of cops, FBI, Secret Service, small town Sheriffs, etc. It was already second nature.
Tell us about working with Jon Keeyes?
Jon really is a Pied Piper of sorts…his energy, positivity, organization, and passion are contagious…and while he is a VERY accomplished Writer and Director, he is a collaborator FIRST, and that puts us ALL at ease to do our best work, and feel that the work itself, and our ideas ABOUT it, are really valued. That’s rarer in this business than you might think.
What’s next for you?
We are developing a Slate of new films, a Victorian Science Fiction/Steampunk TV series called THE MECHANICAL GRAVE, and two new films will come out in 2019 outside of THE HARROWING-a heist thriller called CRYPTO (with Kurt Russell) and the psychological horror thriller called DOOM ROOM, a film we shot in London.
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