Dominic Keating – The Host

By starrymag | July 20, 2020

By: Sammi Turano

 

 

Q) What are the recent projects that you have been busy working on?

 

A) Nothing, I went up for something in London again, but have not heard of anything yet. I feel very fortunate that I have had a thirty-five-year run in this game. 

 

Q) Please tell us the premise for The Host.

 

A) It is a psychological horror movie that has Hitchcock overtones. Zach [Weckstein] is a big, big fan of Hitchcock’s movies and he definitely wanted to bring that out and I think he did quite masterfully with the money he had on hand to make this film. It is ultimately a psychological movie and it ends up pretty gory and visceral. I thought it was well handled. It is much more of a Psycho film, if you will, and I quite like that the genders are reversed – that it is a boy fighting for his life having stolen the money rather than a woman. Norma Bates is this attractive, well to do lady in Amsterdam…and she was fantastic.

 

I have to say, I was very pleased when I saw the film and Zach has a great future ahead of him. 

 

Q) How was your character Benjamin originally described to you?

 

A) It kind of wasn’t. Dare I say, it was just a straight offer. Zach knew my work from particularly from “Star Trek” and some other things I have done, but particularly “Star Trek” and I was offered the role. Frankly, if someone is going to pay me to fly over to London, I am going to say “Yeah, sure!” It has happened a few times in my life. Initially, I didn’t know what I was getting into, but my agent in London said that this guy is pretty hot now and going to do some stuff, so at the very best I was told I was playing a bank manager. I said sure and they said there would be a nice suit, which they very kindly gave me. So, it was a win-win and I even got to keep the suit. There wasn’t a lot of twisting to get me there. 

 

Q) You play the boss of the main character who gets mixed up with some dangerous things. What were some things you found interesting about the concept of the character/movie? 

 

A) We shot my scenes at a beautiful building called the Free Masons Lodge, which is just spectacular and it doubled as the bank. This bank I was managing was an upper crust bank, if you will, for special clients. This was wonderful to shoot in and we spent two to three days there, which is a real treat. 

 

Q) The movie has a thriller theme mixed with horror. How did you find it different than previous roles you have had?

 

A) After Malcolm Reed in “Enterprise,” who was not a hero, but a certainly a straight laced chap, I went on to play a plethora of pretty dastardly people in shows like “Heroes,” “Prison Break” and “CSI: NY” and a horror movie where I got to play the most disgusting human being. To play a nice chap in a suit is a welcome rest. I spent a lot of time in a space suit in “Enterprise,” which was the mother of all costumes. A day in that was like working in three weeks. I told Scott [Bakula] wanted to play a suit in a legal show and he told me I would be bored, but it is a welcome rest to play someone normal. 

 

Q) Were you familiar with any of your costars before working with them?

 

A) No, I didn’t. Small world connection though, Dougie [Poynter] and I went to the same school several years apart. Everyone was thoroughly charming, though. Zach got us together for a promotional event at a tulip fair in Amsterdam. They even made a tulip in honor of the movie. Because it is a horror movie it was white with red streaks. We spent time in the sunshine and it was quite fabulous, spending time drinking tulip vodka with benefactors of the film. Some jobs are a real treat and this was one of them. 

 

I am still friendly with Mike [Beckingham] and Margo [Stilley] and very friendly with Zach. We talk a few times a month.

 

Q) What are some things you learned from your costars while filming?

 

A) Doug was terrific. I did one scene with him at the end of the movie and to watch someone who was free…Sometimes when you’re in the business for a long time you can get a little tricky with your skill. It was interesting to watch someone be free and unabandoned being on set and in scenes. I made a mental note of how well he did and remembered what it was like when I first began at a prep school play at nine years old. I learned to find that childlike innocence again. 

 

Q) What was some advice director Andy Newbery offered while filming that you took to heart?

 

A) He was a lovely guy. My part wasn’t monster, but he whispered in my ear a few times where to tighten it up. He doesn’t have time to coach actors, particularly in minor parts and he knew to trust me to know what to do. There were no deep discussions on Benjamin’s backstory, let’s put it that way. 

 

Q) What were some of your favorite scenes to film?

 

A) All my scenes were filmed in the lodge. It was really nice to spend three days in that beautiful building in a wonderful suit and being fed really well.

 

Q) What did you personally take away from working on this movie?

 

A) That suit! That suit and a really, really lovely friendship with Zach. It is not always that you work on film sets, you often profess that you are going to stay in touch and just life. It is part of the nature of being a professional actor. 

 

Q) If “Star Trek: Enterprise” were to return, where do you see Malcolm today?

 

A) Captain of the ship. In the fourth season I had a lovely story arc where I had my allegiance torn between Section 31 and my allegiance to the captain. It was getting very interesting.

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of you and your work?

 

A) Thank you, thank you, thank you! Especially to the “Star Trek” fans, I am extraordinarily grateful and appreciative. It is twenty years. Next year that we first aired the conventions and Comic Cons have kept me in my house. And then some for all these years and it never ceases to amaze me when I do these Comic Cons and conventions. I was one of the first from the show to do it and I cannot believe twenty years on they still want my autographs.