Interview: Talking ‘The Life of Chuck’ with Matthew Lillard

Around these parts, Matthew Lillard has a very strong reputation. After all, only at Awards Radar can you find a retrospective of his entire career (found here), called The Lillardthon? Of course, Lillard has had several roles over his career that fans can point to. Next month, he’s going to add The Life of Chuck, in which he has a small part. The role isn’t big, but he’s a part of arguably the best film of his career. As my coverage of the movie ramps up, I recently hopped on Zoom to chat with him about being a part of something so special. Today, our conversation about the flick comes your way.

When I set the stage for my praise of The Life of Chuck here, I raved about the film like so, in part:

For those unaware, The Life of Chuck is an adaptation of the Stephen King novella of the same name, from frequent King adapter Mike Flanagan. It concerns three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz, or Chuck as we’ll come to know him. Starting with the final chapter and going backwards, we grow to understand why this seemingly unremarkable person is anything but. Played at different points by Tom Hiddleston, Benjamin Pajak, and Jacob Tremblay, we find his world filled by folks like his grandparents (Mark Hamill and Mia Sara), as well as others, including Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Felicia Gordon (Karen Gillan). The film takes its time explaining everyone’s relationships to each other, so I won’t get into that here, except to say that the longer the movie goes on, the more you’re consistently having your breath taken away by the simple and human beauty on display.

I absolutely loved this flick from start to finish, as it bounces around genres, occasionally scares you, makes you laugh, and brings you to tears. In less than two hours, I watched scenes that struck a timely chord about the state of the world, had a moment involving All That Jazz elicit my biggest laugh in a theater all year, and had multiple sequences that had me openly sobbing. It’s all done with such care and heart from Flanagan, who previously has shown he can do aces work with King’s horror outings. Here, he takes the mantle from Frank Darabont, as this is very much of the ilk of The Shawshank Redemption (my all-time favorite film), along with The Green Mile and Stand By Me (which Rob Reiner helmed). It’s unlike anything you’ve seen from Flanagan to date, easily stepping up as career best work.

Below, you can see my chat with Lillard. We kick off the discussion by referencing the Lillardthon, which he has fond memories of. I also bring up a few of his older roles, including Summer Catch. However, this is largely about The Life of Chuck. Lillard brings up how filmmaker Mike Flanagan offered him the role. It’s a really nice little story. The film is an easy one to discuss, though we do avoid spoilers. Regardless of how wonderful the movie is, and it’s truly special, Lillard is just a lovely guy to talk to, so we had a good time. Give this a watch and you’ll not just have fond feelings for the man, you’ll be even more excited to see the flick next month…

Here now is my interview with The Life of Chuck cast member Matthew Lillard. Enjoy:

The Life of Chuck begins its theatrical run on June 6th!