Things get more complicated when Will and his eccentric partner, Terry Brogan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), find stacks of cash in the woman’s home and decide to make her death look like foul play so they can keep the money. Along for the ride is Will’s pregnant wife Paige (Lily James), who’s trying to keep everyone from fucking things up.
During a recent interview with the Current, Patel, 33, who’s best known for the films Yesterday and Tenet and the miniseries Station Eleven, talked about the dark comedy genre and how Greedy People reminded him of the cinematic work of the Coen Brothers (Fargo, The Ladykillers).
Greedy People is currently streaming on digital platforms and playing at limited theaters.
Is a dark comedy like Greedy People your type of humor?
It is, yeah. I like dark comedies. I like stuff that finds the absurd humor in dark moments. [Greedy People] was just a great script. I was drawn to the character [and] to the story.
So, when you laugh at something in a dark comedy that no one else laughs at, how does that make you feel?
(Laughs.) Like maybe I’m a bit messed up or something. I haven’t watched [Greedy People] with an audience, sadly. Maybe at some point I will get a chance. It'll be interesting to see what people laugh at. I think what's fun about this genre is the sort of nervous laughter of people. Everyone is like, “That is tickling me, but I don't know if it should.”
Some people are comparing it to a Coen Brothers movie. Is that a fair comparison, or would you rather the film stand on its own?
You always want a film to stand on its own two feet, but I think it's a pretty apt comparison. We've got Tim Blake Nelson in the movie, who's always worked with the Coens. I can see the elements of it. There are bits of Fargo [and] No Country [for Old Men]. The thing about filmmakers like the Coens is that they're era-defining filmmakers. Their influence is so steeped into generations of filmmakers now. Their fingerprints are on a lot of things.
How did you and Joseph work out the chemistry between your characters?
We really hit the ground running. I got to know him really well as a person. It was exciting to be around him playing that character. [His character] Terry is a bit of a wrecking ball. And Joe was, I think, really enjoying playing [him] and doing something that I hadn't seen him do before.
Speaking of chemistry, you reunite in this film with Lily James, whom you starred with in Yesterday. Did it feel natural to get back together?
Yeah, it did. It's always lovely seeing Lily and working with her again, especially because it was something completely different to Yesterday. It helped us get going with it, because we knew each other. We were comfortable with each other. The day-to-day on set was just easy. We're not trying to figure each other out this time.
When are you most greedy in real life? Do you take two slices of birthday cake before everyone gets a piece?
(Laughs.) I'm actually trying to be less greedy. When I go to get a coffee or something, I'm usually like, “I'll have a pastry.” But I’m into my 30s now, so I can't get away with it as much.
Yeah, those cheese danishes can add up.
It’s the raisin danishes for me.
Now that we’re a couple of years removed from the height of the pandemic, have you been able to explore your role in Station Eleven a bit more and think about how the series spoke to audiences during that time?
The response to that show really swept me off my feet. I thought people were going to be reticent because of the coincidence. We never could have imagined that it would come out at the same time as an actual pandemic. So, the way that it spoke to people, and the way that people took it into their hearts, it always meant so much to me. It's one of my favorite things I've ever done.
How many times did you have to watch Tenet before you fully understood it?
(Laughs.) I've only seen it twice! I had the advantage of having read [the script] and then had the advantage of asking [writer-director] Chris [Nolan] to unpack it a bit for me. So, by the time I watched it, I knew what I was following. So, yeah, I got a pretty good grasp of it. But it's not an easy [film] to explain.
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