In Neil LaBute’s independent film “In the Company of Men,” two 30ish business colleagues who have been friends since their college days discover that they have both recently been rejected by their girlfriends.
Chad (played by Aaron Eckhart) proposes a game of revenge: Over the next six weeks the two will find a vulnerable woman, make her believe they both are in love with her and then dump her — for the sheer pleasure of it. Howard (Matt Malloy) agrees to the plan, and the two soon are vying for the affections of Christine (Stacy Edwards), a beautiful deaf woman who works in their office.
Director and writer LaBute was recently in Chicago and spoke about his characters, his film (which opened Friday in Chicago) and the dangerous games men and women play.
Q — Who are these guys? How would you describe them?
A — Chad is a viper, but there are also virtues there. He’s intelligent. He’s charming. He could be an incredibly vital member of that company, but he’s caught up in petty power struggles, little victories.
Q — Is he a jerk?
A — Yes, but if he wasn’t more than that, I don’t think he’d be very interesting. I think he’s well beyond that. I mean, he’s almost sociopathic in his own way. He’s a misogynist. He’s homophobic.
Q — Is he an exaggeration? Or do you really know people like that?
A — I think all these characters are types. Do they represent actual people? No. Are there people that bad? Sure. There are many people I consider worse than Chad.
Q — He’s a big liar.
A — Chad lies to virtually everyone in the movie. He’s a schemer, which for him is necessary for doing battle in the business arena.
Q — His job has something to do with marketing, in some computer-related field. Does his work make him a liar?
A — Well, ultimately it’s chicken-or-egg.
Q — He has developed a way that works for him in business.
A — Yes, he’s sort of Darwinian. He has adapted to his surroundings, and in some ways I have an awe for Chad, a healthy awe, which keeps me at a distance from him because I don’t want to be that, but you almost have to marvel at the design, at how amazing his actions are. It’s a bit of a horror film, in its own way.
Q — Howard at least every now and then remembers that the truth exists. He doesn’t know what that means for him, but at least he remembers it. I don’t think Chad even remembers.
A — If Chad had a coffee cup, it would say “The truth is subjective” or “The truth is for idiots” on it. For him, it’s not about right or wrong; it’s about winning. I don’t know if that’s a particularly male attribute. I tend to think it is — that gamesmanship, and applying those tactics to personal relationships.
Q — Why does Howard hang out with him?
A — I just think there are things that unfortunately we are drawn to, in society. I think we give a certain amount of latitude to people who are the beautiful set, that we don’t always give to everyone else.
Q — Does Howard want to be Chad?
A — Oh, sure. It’s interesting. Howard is the senior member of the team, and yet he constantly defers to Chad.
Q — He doesn’t seem as far gone, but he’s dense about women in his own way.
A — Howard and Chad are diametrically opposed in some ways. One is so sure and good-looking, the other more apparently harmless. But where Chad might be just pulling wings off flies for his own amusement, which is frightening enough, Howard is more troubling because he really is the misogynist. He’s the one who’s filled with rage, and plays the game, and is spineless.
Q — But they’re both blind about women. They seem so far apart from Christine, who’s honest and decent.
A — She’s lovely.
Q — What aren’t they seeing?
A — They aren’t seeing her.
Q — What’s their blind spot?
A — Love is a commodity to them. Even for Howard, she’s a trophy. “If I can win this good-looking woman . . .”
Q — Howard wouldn’t play if she were unattractive?
A — I have my doubts, yeah.
Q — Because he’s sort of on the fence — in the beginning, anyway . . .
A — I don’t think he has the same streak as Chad does. It’s relatively easy for him to go from “This is kind of fun” to “Hey, I actually like this person.” It would have been a whole other kind of movie if he didn’t fall for her. It would have been a horrible dissecting, like an operating theater, where they just tore her apart.
Q — They want her for different reasons.
A — It’s interesting to me to have a woman who, the first time she encounters Chad, he sees her as an interesting prospect, just in terms of a woman, and yet he’s confronted by the fact that she doesn’t give him the time of day. But for Howard, it’s a victory to take anything from Chad. “Can I be the one to actually win her over? Can I possess her?” It’s not about an equitable relationship. It’s about: There’s the goal line. There’s the trophy. There’s that thing that we both want.
Q — Howard thinks he should win because, as he says, “I’m the good guy,” right? That’s his true belief.
A — “I’m the good person here! What did I ever do to YOU?” Which is so hilarious to me, because he’s all kindness and flowers and in the meantime he’s been horrifically bad to her. Only by comparison does he look at all good, because Chad is so awful.
Q — The fact that this is a deliberate plot to hurt her threw me. Even in my lowest moments, I’ve never suspected men of deliberately plotting to injure me. It seems to me there’s a lot more bungling in the world than out-and-out malice. More thoughtlessness.
A — No question. But I think we’ve seen that story before. When we go to a movie or the theater, we’re really going to see something other than real life. I think what happens in the movie is at least within the realm of possibility.
Q — Is lying a given in the dating zone? From the smallest “I’ll call you” lie or the “I’m busy” lie to the more serious?
A — Well, there are degrees of deception. Christine is not as malicious as Chad, but she does lie to them. She doesn’t tell both of them that she’s going out with the other. When Howard asks her out she says she can’t, she has to stay in, when she’s actually going out with Chad. Also, she knows how she feels inside and doesn’t tell Howard. I don’t think she holds out to spare him.
Q — Then you’ve got Chad’s lies . . .
A — Chad’s whole thing is deception. The game continues to operate by the fact that nobody knows it’s a game. That’s what a lie is all about — the illusion of truth.
Q — Howard thinks he’ll get Christine by finally telling the truth.
A — You keep thinking he’s going to set her straight but ultimately it’s a very selfish motive. He wants to win her over, and if he can’t win her with flowers or whatever, he’s just going to tell her that Chad’s a bad guy. It’s very selfish, and he’s awful. He thinks she would be lucky to have him.
Q — You’re married, right? For how long?
A — Twelve years.
Q — What do you remember about dating? Did it seem like a minefield to you?
A — In its own way, yes. There were dark days. I did have a pervasive sense of dread.
Q — Well, for one thing, a lot of dating takes place in this weird world of restaurants. How well do you get to know somebody in a restaurant?
A — It’s a sort of parlor game.
Q — It’s a strange showcase for people revealing themselves.
A — You’re constantly hedging your bets. You’ve probably been with people who are looking over your shoulder as they’re talking to you, looking for the next one. “Is there a better proposition than what I’ve got so far?”
Q — Is what you show in your movie a big part of the world or a small one? Is it a jungle out there?
A — I don’t personally feel that hopeless, myself, but I think it’s a question the movie raises. And to me it’s very viable to leave many of the questions unanswered in the film, so the audience engages at that level and then asks themselves some of those questions. That’s the way it should be.
