‘I’m dressed shoulder to heel …. I have my Dodgers sweater. I’m all in’
After more than 40 years working as an actor, Michael Keaton has had his fair share of ups and downs.
He breaks into a grin as he points to the highs, like last month’s return as the titular ghoulish trickster in a long-awaited sequel to 1988’s Beetlejuice, his recent sophomore directorial effort Knox Goes Away, in which he plays an assassin with a fast-moving form of dementia, and his leading role in Goodrich, opposite Mila Kunis, now playing in theatres.
The new film casts Keaton, 73, as Andy Goodrich, a workaholic art gallery owner who has to lean on his 30-something daughter (Kunis) from his first marriage to help him raise his 9-year-old twins after his new wife (Laura Benanti) checks herself into rehab.
Along with his newfound parental duties, Andy has to struggle to save his collapsing business and confront his shortcomings as a partner and a father.
It lands in the sweet spot of some of the vulnerable, well-intentioned egomaniacs that Keaton has mined in past roles, including his Oscar-nominated part as a washed-up actor in Alejandro Inarritu’s dark comedy Birdman a decade ago.
“I hadn’t done anything like this for a while and the writing was good,” Keaton says in a Zoom call referencing the script by writer-director Hallie Meyers-Shyer (the daughter of filmmakers Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer). “You know. I hope I’m not like that guy,” Keaton says of playing the disengaged career-driven dad. “But I don’t hate him. I kind of like him. He’s not a terrible person.”
Kunis, 41, leapt at the chance to work with Keaton, who she calls a “legend,” and said yes to playing Andy’s daughter Grace before she finished the script.
“I saw Michael Keaton was in it, and I had seen Hallie’s other movie, so I knew it was going to be great and the writing was going to be great,” Kunis says, beaming alongside her movie dad. “Then I read the script and I loved it. Everything felt real to me. Nothing felt heightened or made up. The characters felt like people you could relate to or somebody you knew … you don’t really see those types of movies as much anymore.”
Keaton played a struggling dad once before in 1983’s Mr. Mom, but he says in his real life he’s a much different father than Andy.
“Mila and I like being parents,” he says. “Imagine people who don’t have the luxuries we have, or time that we get. Almost every household, both people have to work now. So, it’s hard out there. Hopefully, someone can go to this and have a nice couple of hours. Relate to it, but have some laughs.”
Kunis, who shares two children with husband Ashton Kutcher, says the movie was a reminder that as a parent “you do the best you can and then you hope for the best.”
“We’ve all failed in some way or another,” she says matter-of-factly. “No matter how great you think you are, your kid is going to come to you and say, ‘Remember that time you did that?’ And you’ll be like, ‘What? No!’ … Get over it.”
As he makes the press rounds to talk up Goodrich, Keaton, who returns for his fourth time as host of Saturday Night Live this weekend, has had some time to reflect on the success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which reunited him with director Tim Burton for a fifth time alongside the original movie’s stars, including Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.
“I couldn’t believe it wasn’t made years ago because I thought, ‘Opening weekend, you’re going to get your money back and you’re going to put a few bucks in the bank.’ You’ll be out. You’ll be good,” Keaton says. But after a box office gross of $423 million worldwide, the Hollywood veteran is happy to see so many people embracing the sequel.
“That’s what it is right there. So many generations. People are getting such a kick out of it and just enjoying it so much,” he smiles, as his eyes brighten.
Like the father-daughter duo they play in Goodrich, Keaton and Kunis have a jovial back and forth with one another as they discuss another one of their shared passions: Baseball.
“This is interesting. I don’t know,” Keaton says as he contemplates which of the four teams still playing in the postseason — the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians — will win the World Series. “You know who looks really interesting? The Guardians. I don’t think they’re going to win it, but man, I didn’t see them coming. It might be the Dodgers.” Keaton namechecks the now-eliminated Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals as having great runs. Turning to Kunis, he asks, “How much do you love (Shohei) Ohtani?”
“Ohtani’s great,” Kunis replies. “I’m dressed shoulder to heel …. I have my Dodgers sweater. I’m all in.” Looking at Keaton, she continues, “The problem with them is they get really far sometimes and at the very last moment … But I do believe in them. I’m in. I’m in. I’m going to say the Dodgers.”
The interview is over, but Kunis is on a roll. “Who’s winning the Super Bowl?” she whispers to him. Keaton ponders the question and turns to the camera to wave goodbye as the two continue their conversation. Just like any father and daughter might.
Goodrich is now playing in theatres.