The Instigators is an upcoming action heist comedy movie, which is set to premiere on Apple TV+ on 9 August 2024. Head on over here for our full review of the movie.

The synopsis reads:

Rory (Matt Damon) and Cobby (Casey Affleck) are reluctant partners: a desperate father and an ex-con thrown together to rob a corrupt politician’s ill-gained earnings. But when the heist goes wrong, the two find themselves engulfed in a whirlwind of chaos, pursued not only by police but also by backward bureaucrats and vengeful crime bosses. Completely out of their depth, they convince Rory’s therapist (Hong Chau) to join their riotous getaway through the city, where they must put aside their differences and work together to evade capture — or worse.

Directed by Doug Liman and written by Chuck MacLean and Affleck, “The Instigators” also stars Michael Stuhlbarg, Paul Walter Hauser, Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina and Toby Jones, with Jack Harlow and Ron Perlman.

We interviewed actress Hong Chau, who plays the role of Dr. Donna Rivera in The Instigators. This interview has been edited for clarity.

Your character had a lot of back-and-forth banter with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck’s characters. What was that like?

Hong Chau: Yeah, the banter between the characters was really important, I think. It really makes the audience understand their dynamic. Obviously, there’s a different relationship between Rory and Cobby’s character, and between Rivera and Rory, and Rivera and Cobby. We worked on that a lot, there was a lot of improvisation that went on onset. Even though Casey Affleck is a co-writer of the script, he was very happy to throw the script out the window and encourage us to improvise. He was actually the one that was doing something different withe each take, and so I just followed his lead.
In terms of my character’s relationship with Cobby, I looked to his girl, Friday, as sort of my north star for that even though that relationship isn’t the entirety of the movie, i wanted to bring some of that fun element in there, the back and forth, the jabbing, the love-hate relationship that they have going on.
Of course, Rivera and Rory have a very different relationship, it’s very sensitive and she’s trying to get him to be more open and be more honest with himself and to actually vocalize what he’s feeling. It was a very delicate balance to have two very disparate and very different intentions be married into one movie and all of that going on. So, it’s really fun as an actor to try to figure that out.

What was it like working with Doug Liman?

Hong Chau: I was a huge fan of Doug Liman. Before meeting with him, I loved all of his films. He’s obviously a master of action. The Bourne movie created a seismic shift in terms of how action is shot and so many movies after Bourne has tried to copy and emulate that style. So, getting to work with him was such a dream come true.
I’m so grateful to Matt, whom I worked with on Downsizing. Matt was actually the one who brought my name up for the role with Doug.
When I spoke with Doug, what surprised me was he said that he wanted the movie to be driven by the characters and not the action. That was sort of a relief to me as an actor because I guess in my mind, I had a misconception that action was boring to shoot as an actor because you’re just there in service of the action, as opposed to doing the great interesting character work that I’m interested in.
So, to hear that from Doug was a relief and we got to just have fun and really dig deep into our characters and the backstory and everything like that.

What is it like working with Matt Damon again?

Hong Chau: I love Matt. I love him so much. Obviously, before working with him in Downsizing, I was such a huge fan and admirer. And then to get to know him as a person has been one of the great gifts in life. He’s everything you think he is and more. He is so incredibly open and inviting of people. I think by now he knows he’s a huge star and that can be sort of alienating to people so he goes out of his way to make everyone feel comfortable. So, I just look to him as a great inspiration as an actor and as a person.
Getting to work with him on this one, The Instigators is so, so different from Downsizing. The characters are completely different but still so much fun, you know.
I remember on our first day of shooting for The Instigators, we were running down the fire escape behind Rivera’s apartment, and I had this flashback to a day when we were shooting on Downsizing where Matt’s character is carrying my character on his back and you know, I’m holding crutches and he’s carrying me up five flights of stairs. It was actually, the stage was so big that they actually had built three flights of stairs so he was like, carrying me up and down that, I just had a flashback to that scene. It was really wild to think back to that time and that we’re getting to work together again because it had been 20 years since the Bourne movie and The Instigators so only 7 years is a pretty good deal.

What is your favourite scene or moment in The Instigators?

Hong Chau: I guess it’s the big car chase. When I was reading it in the script, I was a little afraid to ask how they were going to shoot it. I thought we were going to be on the actual roads and being whisked around and knocking into things. Actually, we shot it all in a fake car in a gimble on a soundstage and they were able to marry what the stunt drivers did with what we did on the stage in VFX and somehow they made it look so real and it’s incredible.
But what was so fun about that is that we were three adults sitting inside this fake car being jiggled around and we had to pretend that our lives were in danger and that we were actually running into things and were being chased by cops. There was definitely a lot of giggling going on on those days we were shooting that scene.

During filming, did you try to avoid heist movie tropes?

Hong Chau: I don’t know if we thought so much about tropes, or at least, I don’t. I’m very happy to do something or do a story that people feel like is familiar to them. I think it’s always going to be different because of the combination of people who are involved, it’s going to be different because we’re different, you know. You can say that it’s an action movie. Well, a Doug Liman action movie is very different from, I don’t want to name names, but it’s very different from other action movies.
In terms of tropes, I think you say tropes in a negative way and it’s only when something is uninteresting that you call it trope. You can have a family drama or a kitchen sink drama or whatever. But one, if it just sinks, nobody ever says that it feels tropey or overly familiar. It’s just a matter of how you engage the audience and so with this one, I think the heist genre, people are very familiar with it, but this one felt fresh and different to me because of the people that were involved and our personalities and our tastes and the way that Casey delivers a line, you can make it that bigger or smaller. I think Casey, as an performer, tends to really want things to feel authentic and real and so, he’s not being a comedian about it in a obvious way. So, I think that’s how you avoid the tropes.

How does your role and character on The Instigators compare to your previous roles?

Hong Chau: Well, I have never played a therapist before. I have never been in an action heist comedy before. In that way, it’s completely different but I love that it asks something differently of me. I guess I’ve been lucky in that way where all of the roles that I’ve taken have been different and if I’m thinking of Downsizing, that was my first big role that helped me break through in Hollywood. That one asked everything of me, it was exciting and challenging to do.
This one, in The Instigators, I think for me, I always want to try to add another layer into what’s very obviously there on the script. So even though she’s a therapist, a psychiatrist, somebody who seems very buttoned up because of her profession, and has to present herself in a certain way outwardly. I spoke a lot with Doug about wanting to layer in there and give little hints that she’s a person who grew up in Lind. Lind is a working-class tough neighbourhood in Boston so I wanted a little bit of a hint that hey, Rivera outside of work is probably a lot different to Rivera at work.
So, I think that also plays a part in why she feels she can hop into that car with these guys because she can handle herself in very tough situations like that. You know, little hints like that where we don’t necessarily need to get into the entire backstory and life story of a character. But you want to give the audience little hints of that just to keep things interesting and you see little hints of that in how she is able to snap back at Cobby who thinks he’s such a smart-aleck. You know, in the backseat with all of his quips. So, she’s there and she’s not just along for the ride. She can hold her own and give it right back to Cobby. So, that’s what I was wanting to fight for in terms of my character.

Would you ever want to do more action-heavy movies and do more action scenes?

Hong Chau: Yes and no. It would really have to depend on the director and the script. For me, it doesn’t really matter what genre or subject matter a story or a movie is about. There are romantic comedies, some are better than others. I’ve never done a romantic comedy but it would have to be with a director who’s really interesting with an interesting script. I can’t just make a blanket statement, I really want to do a action movie, it would really have to depend on who was doing it. In a heartbeat, I would sign up for another Doug Liman action movie but maybe not as interested in some other ones.
But in terms of the action, I had a little bit of it in The Menu. I had never done a fight scene before so the kitchen fight was totally new to me and I was really proud of myself because I had just had a baby right before that. That was challenging and new and interesting so yeah, I’m very open to new experiences and learning different skills but at the end of the day, it really boils down to the director and script.