Caught Stealing is a slick crime thriller from beloved director Darren Aronofosky. After his last feature film, The Whale, adapted a play and won Brendan Fraser his first Academy Award, Aronofsky has brought the pages of Charlie Huston’s novel of the same name to life. The story follows Hank Thompson, a former baseball player yanked into the criminal underworld.

ScreenRant’s Caught Stealing review lauded Austin Butler’s leading performance as Thompson, but also highly praised the movie’s “incredibly strong” supporting cast. The latter features Matt Smith (House of the Dragon) and Regina King (Watchmen) as Thompson’s punk neighbor Russ and Detective Roman, respectively.

ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley interviewed Matt Smith and Regina King about their work in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing, which debuted to a favorable Rotten Tomatoes rating. The pair discussed their collaboration with Aronofsky, inhabiting the minds of New Yorkers for the film, and how their characters fit into the story. Caught Stealing is in theaters now.

Even Caught Stealing’s Stars Fanned Out Over Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky is a director that actors want to work with. Brendan Fraser, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Lawrence, and many more reputable stars have taken the opportunity to appear in the filmmaker’s work. Regina King spoke for herself and Matt Smith when she said “we are such big fans of his work.”

“He’s on the hand of people you want to work with,” Smith added, with King agreeing. “Definitely on the top five hand of directors you want to work with,” she said.

And Aronofsky lived up to the hype. “Once you do have the job,” King said, “you’re just hoping that he’s going to be as great as his talent and as a person. And he’s a great person, but he is very clear about the vision [and] very clear in articulating the vision to you.”

King also shared something unique about the process of working with Aronofsky: “I’ve had directors that want to be really close to the actors, but Darren, literally… if you’re shooting a scene in the car, he’s in the car with you while you’re shooting.”

“[He’s] like your first audience, in a way,” Smith added. “He’s operating on quite a clever level, really. Also, I’ve never worked with a director who is literally so involved in every department. He’s got a real sort of ownership over every element of the process.”

How King & Smith Became New Yorkers For Caught Stealing

In preparing for her role as a detective, Regina King spent time with former NYPD detective Jackie Brown. It was a valuable experience, she revealed: “If anyone gets the opportunity to meet Jackie Brown and let her tell you a story, just listening to her talk is so engaging.”

“The energy in the way New Yorkers Speak and the dialect, the way they hit words…” King mused, “Those of us from LA get teased for the way we say some things because we are considered to be speaking properly … my guy always pokes fun at me: ‘You say “water” so properly.’”

While King was practicing her Big Apple atтιтude, Smith was getting ready to kick off the whole story. Discussing his character Russ, the actor said “he’s the catalyst for events in story terms. It all starts with him just asking his mate to look after his cat. It’s quite an inane thing, really.”

And even though Russ is “not in the film hugely,” Smith said, “when I read it, I thought, ‘Oh, it’s cool. This is going to be great, because actually, he’s integral to the telling of the story.’”

And Russ was far from a boring character for Smith to take on. “He just seems like a bit of a f***ing mad lunatic in the first scene. I think he’s cross at his neighbor. I love that neighbor, by the way.”