Film noir, as the crime pictures of the 1940s and 1950s came to be called, left a deep imprint on popular culture. Even if you haven’t seen The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, or Out of the Past, you are probably a fan of something those films inspired, like True Detective. Classic film noir often revolved around a femme fatale, a sexy, duplicitous woman with an agenda of her own, often seen secretly pulling the strings of a twisted criminal conspiracy. Actresses like Jane Greer, Barbra Stanwyck, and Faye Dunaway have done their best work as femme fatales. That’s why Clare Grant was excited to play Michelle, the female lead in the new neo-noir film, The Private Eye.
Any good femme fatale has secrets, but Michelle’s duality goes deeper than most — and, as we eventually learn, isn’t entirely her fault. “I love film noir. It’s a huge reason why I was drawn to this role,” says Grant. “I love mysteries, and I really loved the dual reality that this character gets to live in this movie. It was a fun challenge for me as an actor to figure out which scene is which reality and how I would interact with my co-stars depending on which reality I’m in.”
Grant is a native Memphian who was an early protege of director Craig Brewer, who cast her as the lead of his pioneering 2009 web series set in the Memphis music scene, $5 Cover. Since then, Grant moved to Los Angeles and married Seth Green, the Buffy The Vampire Slayer actor who went on the create the Adult Swim stop-motion series Robot Chicken. She created her own Team Unicorn troupe which created a series of pop culture spoofing videos, and she has appeared in numerous films, including the Memphis-made vampire epic Daylight Fades, Iron Man 2, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and what she calls a “blink and you’ll miss it” bit part in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. She also voiced bounty hunter Latt Razzi in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which fulfilled a lifelong goal for this self-professed geek girl. “I love those movies, and it’s so fun to be on sets of that size and just be able to be a part of that world. But my Star Wars credit is one of my favorite jobs I’ve ever had. I can’t believe I got to do that!”
The Private Eye is an indie project directed by Jack Cook and starring comedian Matt Rife. “I’ve been friends with Matt Rife for about 10 years,” Grant says, “and once he got on board with the project, he basically just went out of his way to cast people that he was friends with, and knew would be right for the part.
“He pitched the movie to me, and at first I laughed at him because I was like, ‘Man, I can’t be your love interest in the movie! I’m too old for you. And then he pointed out that that’s kind of the point is that my character is … well, without giving too much away, it’s supposed to be a part for someone who can play both young and old.”
Rife, whose standup comedy tour will be coming to the Orpheum on February 16th, plays a down-on-his-luck private eye living a marginal existence in contemporary Los Angeles. He affects a fedora-wearing tough guy persona, complete with grizzled, cynical internal monologue, courtesy of veteran character actor Eric Roberts. Michelle comes into his life as a mysterious client who clearly knows more than she’s letting on, just as in any good film noir.
Grant says Cook was the driving force behind the film. “This was his baby. This is his official directorial debut, and he was a lovely human. He had a really enthusiastic and passionate persona throughout the entire thing, and he was so open to collaboration — which I absolutely appreciate — while maintaining his point of view. I love it when directors have strong points of view, because I feel like directors with strong point of views make good movies. But he wasn’t so strong in his parameters that he alienated other opinions, and he was looking for collaboration. And as an artist, that’s such a wonderful thing to experience … I just focused on the material and tried not to let anything influence me as far as the performance went, but I definitely voiced my opinion on how I thought my character should be dressing and how her hair and makeup should be. I was very particular about wanting that to remain very noir, even in the moments in the film where it felt a little more current.”
As you might expect from a film with Rife in the lead, The Private Eye does have some self-aware comedy elements. At the Los Angeles premiere, Grant says, “The crowd was rowdy and excited and laughed in all the right places — and laughed in places I didn’t expect anyone to laugh in! … It’s nice to have movies that don’t rely too much on CG and big set pieces and big explosions to get people to just sit in a seat and watch a good story. And this is just a good story with a lot of twists and some fun mystery. It’s an homage to classic movies, and it’s an opportunity to get back to the theater in a time where we’ve all spent so much time away.”