Zoey Deutch and Dylan O’Brien are no strangers to working together, and now, the two are gearing up for the release of The Outfit from director Graham Moore. When an English tailor (played by Mark Rylance) lets criminals use the back of his shop as a means of communication, it results in a night of conflict and suspense that no one is prepared for.
The film is very much centralized in this one shop, so what we see of other characters us just in their passing through, until Mabel (Zoey Deutch) and Leonard (Rylance) are burdened with twists and turns by Richie (Dylan O’Brien) and Francos (Johnny Flynn). I spoke with both O’Brien and Deutch about the movie leading up to its release, and both of them were clear on one thing: This script is what brought them onto the project.
“I read the script many years ago actually,” Deutch said. “And had a meeting with Graham trying to convince him that I should be in this movie. And the reason was that the script is so phenomenal. It felt like I was reading like a classic play. Like I felt like this, there’s no way that this hasn’t been made yet. Because it felt so well thought out, so beautiful. His attention to detail is unmatched. His brain is miraculous. I just love the script. And of course the cast that, you know, it turned out to have is unbelievable. So I’m really glad that I bullied him into hiring me.”
For Dylan O’Brien, it was very much the same feeling—that the script pulled him into the movie and he was hooked from the start. “The script was totally the draw. It was like an amazing read,” he said. “It was like you’re not used to this. I feel like the script for whatever reason nowadays is sort of the last step for so many, especially on like bigger productions. Like we get to set now before the script’s even written it’s for whatever reason, it’s just completely backwards. So to get something to read, something that is just like, already polished and ready to go and just structurally sound and so colorful and so fun and with all the attention to details and the twists and the turns, it’s a blast.”
He went on to talk about the time period in which the film takes place. “The homage and just using the period is like device, you know, the suits, the guns? It’s just awesome. So yeah, a similar thing. I like wrote Graham an email. I mean, I would’ve never thought that I’d actually be in it, but I thought I could at least meet this person who wrote it because I was just so blown away. So I wrote him an email and sent like an audition tape and yeah. And that was like three years ago, which is insane to think about.”
You can see the rest of our interview here:
The Outfit hits theaters everywhere on March 18, 2022.
(image: Focus Features)
