Imagine having to choose one person out of three who deserves a life-saving heart transplant. That’s the decision Kelsey Grammer and Julia Stiles’ characters have to make in their latest film, The God Committee.
Based on the play of the same name by Mark St. Germain and also starring Janeane Garofalo, Colman Domingo and Dan Hedaya, The God Committee follows Dr Andre Boxer, an experienced but cynical heart surgeon (played by Kelsey) and the more wholistic, Dr Jordan Taylor (played by Julia) who also happen to be at the tail-end of their relationship.
After a patient suddenly dies, the two doctors and their fellow colleagues on an organ transplant committee have one hour to decide which of their three patients deserves a heart.
“The fact that we’re exploring this area, I think people will learn things they didn’t know,” Kelsey tells WHO.
“It’s a very challenging world in which it is life and death and they have to come to terms with it in some weird way and try to maintain their humanity. It asks a lot of questions and great art should ask questions.”
Julia adds that the thing that struck her even from the beginning of the script was how the film’s perspective is one to remind people of empathy.
“There’s a scene in the film when the doctors are going through the list of patients and candidates for this heart and running through statistics of what defines this person. Then you see the actual patients themselves and they’re describing their own height and weight, their life, their family and it kind of universalises everyone. We’re all vulnerable, we’re all mortal and I just hope that audiences think about that and are touched by it.”
Whilst Dr Boxer isn’t exactly your typical hero and proclaims “the heart is just a muscle”, Kelsey is against the idea that actors have to like the person they’re portraying, even if that’s on a the smallest level.
“I think inexperienced actors need that,” he laughs.
“When somebody is having trouble doing something that makes them look like for want of a better word an a**hole, if you’re playing that character and you resist doing that I always say ‘Well that’s just a young actor. They just want you to like them at the same time they want you to like the character.’ We don’t get that luxury and nor should we.
The award-winning actor adds that it’s all about filling in the blanks left by the writer.
“Your job as an actor is not to be liked. You do learn in time as you get a little older in this business if you play a part well, whether you’re a jerk or a hero, they’ll like you anyway.”
Whether he’s the enigmatic Dr Frasier Crane on sitcom Frasier or cartoonish villain Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons, Kelsey is known for his laugh-out-loud roles but says he doesn’t have a preference when it comes to comedy or a gritty drama like The God Committee.
“There are different aspects of performing in terms of timing, but that’s the comedy thing,” he says.
“For instance I’ll watch dailies or a playback if I’m doing a comedy to make sure a certain word’s been punched or a certain thing’s been seen or heard because that’s how you land a laugh. When I do a drama I don’t watch it, I just don’t bother because I know I just have to feel it and I’m fine!”
Meanwhile Julia, whose resumé spans from teen comedies to action thrillers, says there’s something “cathartic” about a drama.
“I feel like part of the reason I enjoy acting is that you get to play out all the things in a drama that you normally wouldn’t have the courage to in real life so you’re staring down the skyscraper or whatever,” she admits.
“But lately I mostly watch comedies, I’m working on a comedy right now and I have to say it’s so nice to energetically go to work every day and try to keep things light, trying to laugh, trying to make people laugh. It’s such a relief instead of trying to make yourself cry or trying to make yourself stir up all those negative emotions!”
Not only do Drs Boxer and Taylor tackle the transplant issue differently, but their personal relationship comes into play as well.
“We played two characters that both know they could love each other but there’s some sort of strange deal written that it’s not going to happen and they both know that as well,” Kelsey says.
“My guy is so distant from the beautiful things that you can have in a lifetime in order to try to do something that serves man. As tempting as it might be to go down that road, he feels there’s a ticking time bomb inside him and he’s got this one thing to accomplish. The life of a man in a rich relationship with a beautiful woman with a child – those things are not for him in this lifetime.”
Julia adds that she found it interesting to play a couple that the audience only sees at the end of their relationship.
“It’s already fizzling by the time the movie starts and then it develops into something else. My character is still holding out hope that she can crack the surface and this veneer with him. She obviously still really cares about him but we’re not seeing them in the honeymoon phase,” she explains.
Their characters may have a complicated relationship, but both Kelsey and Julia have only praise for one another.
“It was very easy, so easy,” Julia said of working with the Emmy award winner.
“Kelsey is wonderful and so generous and so open as an actor. From the get go, I felt like in many ways Kelsey wears his heart on his sleeve and that’s so refreshing to work opposite. Also the boardroom scenes I liked watching Kelsey work because he’s such a pro. It was a pleasure and I hope to do it again.”
Kelsey laughs: “We’ll do it again, and Julia the feeling was exactly the same!”
WATCH BELOW: Patrick (Heath Ledger) serenades Kat (Julia Stiles) in 10 Things I Hate About You. Post continues after video…
Between them, Kelsey and Julia have worked with some of Australia’s biggest acting exports from Hugh Jackman to Anthony LaPaglia.
Kelsey, who has fond memories from working on 2018 sci-fi horror thriller Guardians of the Tomb says he’d love to come back Down Under but perhaps not whilst the COVID pandemic is still raging.
“I’ve never had a better time,” he says before laughing, “I don’t want to get shot for not wearing a mask.”
Meanwhile, Julia, who starred with national treasure Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You says: “I’ve never been, certainly once it’s possible I’d love to come to Australia.”
THE GOD COMMITTEE is available for digital download on all major platforms September 27
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