Robert De Niro & Adam Scott on How 'The Whisper Man' Tackles Generational Trauma

No, I like giving advice

I mean, if anybody asks to younger people, I like that if I think I really can give them good advice

It's okay. They need to hear this. The theme that I really kind of related to, I think, most is the idea of generational trauma

you know, being passed down from generation to generation, and especially, like, the father-son dynamic

What elements of that theme really resonated with you guys and how it was important to bring those out in this relationship

It was important when I read the script. That's one of the things that attracted me, that relationship, obviously, and then folded into the thriller part of it all

So, yeah, I thought it was a really interesting part of the of the script and and and of the book was this horrifying trauma that they're both going through while simultaneously trying to repair their relationship without

And at least for my characters from his point of view he doesn want his father to know that he interested at all in repairing the relationship But in fact it sort of the key to a huge part of his life

When it was optioned, I knew that they were going to change various things about the book. And there were a few things that were really, really important to me that stayed in

And that was clearly one of them. This is a book that I wanted to write because it was about fathers and sons and grandfathers and fathers and sons to some extent and different kind of iterations of the way that plays out in terms of generational trauma, how we respond to things that have happened in our childhood, how we protect our children from things that have happened in our childhood, how we pass things on or how we don't

So that was extremely important to me. And thankfully, you know, the screenwriters, Ben and Chase and James were all on board with that

You know, that was clearly what attracted them to. Very much concur with what Alex said

I mean, you know, being a father and a son myself, that resonated for me

But I thought it was a really sort of well-rounded exploration of that theme

And that's the characters and all this mirror, the two sides of what is both positive and negative in that theme

I thought I knew once I got a hold of that I knew we be able to get great actors for these great roles And I read this somewhere I don know if it true that the film was optioned before the novel even was published

Yeah, like a year before. How did that happen? I have a wonderful film agent

That's how it happened. Thank you, Leah, so much. Yeah, I mean, I delivered the book quite some time before it came out even

So there was quite a lead-in before it was published. The publisher did quite a lot of promotion for it

So it was shopped around. kind of long before it was published. And that thankfully happened

So that was lovely. Mr. De Niro, when people get the opportunity to work with you

there's a lot of weight to that. People sometimes will get imposter syndrome

Is there any advice that you either have given or would give to actors who are in that position

No, I like giving advice. I mean, if anybody asks to younger people

I like that if I think I really can give them good advice

That's nice. So, yeah. If there's someone who you've noticed that maybe people are a little nervous to work

with you on set, is there any advice that you've given them that you feel like would

be good for other people to hear as well? Well usually people don say anything so they just do it You know I understand that how I would be so you don But if it manifests itself in such a way where it getting in the way of working on a scene or something and you see it and you

i would say i i don't remember ever having to do that but i just say you know it's okay don't worry

in two days you will this is all going to go away it's just us so just imagine that and you will

save yourself some time. Thank you. And, you know, I mean, you've been doing this for a long

time as well and ups and downs. And I mean, this, the moment you're having right now is really

incredible to see what does being a film like this, one of the biggest movies on Netflix

working with Mr. De Niro and a thriller, you know, some people haven't really seen me do much of

Yeah. Yeah. It was great. I mean, I, you know, I immediately wanted to be a part of it and

you know, working with Bob was obviously a huge part of that, but also working with

James Ashcroft I was a huge admirer of his first film and

I love Michelle Monaghan as well getting to work with her so and and the

story the book the script was terrific so I'm really lucky that you got to you know

come in and be be a part of a cog in the machine of

something that's really cool and you know getting to work with these people huge part of it