David Strathairn on the magic of movies and theater at ‘A Little Prayer’ screening in Soho

“A Little Prayer,” a movie written and directed by Angus MacLachlan, took nine years to write and debuted at Sundance Film Festival two years ago. In the film, playing at two Manhattan cinemas, we watch parents become aware that their son is cheating on his wife.

What follows is the tension between recognition and revelation and the hope that reality will somehow resolve itself, even as we watch characters and cast wrestle with an emotional situation – that impacts them all.

David Strathairn, who plays the father burdened with the revelation, spoke recently at Angelika Film Center at 18 W. Houston St. It’s also playing at the AMC Empire 25 at 234 West 42nd Street and North Shore Towers Cinema, 27240 Grand Central Parkway, Floral Park, Queens.

The movie has an Edward Hopper-esque feel of silence speaking volumes and actors revealed in the lens and language of the camera, very much like a family where a young man’s desires destabilizes all their lives.

David Strathairn and Jane Levy in “A Little Prayer.”Photo courtesy of “A Little Prayer”

We watch Strathairn and his on-screen spouse Venida (Celia Weston) find out their castle has been built on clouds. He learns that his son David (Will Pullen) is cheating on Tammy (Jane Levy) in an affair with a co-worker (Dascha Polanco).

“We actually had one day of rehearsal. I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have that much time in the house at all,” Strathairn said. “Sometimes it comes together in a magical way.”

The setting and set dressing, cluttered rooms filled with the chaos of domestic objects, a daughter packing her life into the back of a car, a peaceful yard with a swing, create a perfect setting for strong performances and a pastoral, but troubled family.

When Strathairn gives his daughter Patti (Anna Camp) a check as she gets in the car, it is at once a triumph and a surrender, recognizing that she needs help and that he is able and willing to provide it.

“Sometimes the environment can be overbearing and kind of take the focus. And other times, it can be too sparse and doesn’t support,” Strathairn said of the house where much of the action takes place. “I thought the choice of the house was remarkable. Having a little place out back was a wonderful little gift.”

A character actor, Strathairn has appeared in movies such as A League of Their Own, Sneakers, The Firm, L.A. Confidential, Return of the Secaucus 7, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, The Bourne Ultimatum, Good Night, and Good Luck and many more.

Often playing larger-than-life characters such as Edward R. Murrow and Robert Oppehheimer, Strathairn here plays a father who seems true to life. A father who doesn’t want to meddle or ignore, he walks a tightrope like a Willy Loman who knows his son’s weaknesses can destroy their world.

David Strathairn and Jane Levy in “A Little Prayer.”Photo courtesy of “A Little Prayer”

“Everybody is behaving in the moment,” Strathairn said. “They don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Anna Camp, who plays Strathairn’s daughter Patti, said her character may not win over audiences. “I don’t want to worry about whether people like me or not,” she said. “I don’t care.”

They shot the movie, which MacLachlan wrote rife with complex relationships, in North Carolina. “I felt he really understood the process with actors, what they need and respond to,” Strathairn said. “He was amazingly generous.”

Strathairn said MacLachlan left room to innovate and experiment, while “at the same time, he was very specific.

“As humans, we’re not often ahead of the game, mostly behind the eightball when things shock us or big things drop in our lives. We don’t necessarily have the wherewithal to address them right away,” he said. “Throughout the story you witness these humans . There are a lot of issues going on in this family.”

They not only faced the problems of making a movie, but from a pandemic that hadn’t yet subsided.

“We were shooting during Covid,” Strathairn added, praising cinematographer Scott Miller. “He took the film on his shoulders literally and discovered it.”

A sense of isolation pervades the world on screen, peaceful and painful, where we are our own worst enemies.

Strathairn gives a tricycle to a little girl who stands on the seat, as we see, we all create danger out of the most domestic objects.

Anna Camp in “A Little Prayer.”Photo courtesy of “A Little Prayer”

Movies are magic, and this one is an example, but Strathairn, who said he started in theater, added that theater itself means making a different magic daily.

“It’s not permanent like film is. It started around the campfire telling stories in person. It’s really great to sit in a place. Everybody is alive in the space. Acors and audience,” he said. “Magic can happen. It happens every night, then dissolves and it happens again.”

This movie’s magic has caught on and it’s getting national distribution, beyond New York City.

“The dream was his from the get-go. Whatever we can do to help that dream come true is a kind of a privilege of ours. But you never know,” Strathairn said of MacLachlan. “You give your best in the moment. You cross your fingers and hope that it catches a wave.”

Camp said her character is “in a terrible relationship, a repetitive cycle,” and wonders where she will end up, while Strathairn prefers not to conjecture a future.

“I don’t think about what happens to them next. It might run the risk of telling the audience what’s going to happen,” Strathairn said. “Especially in a film like this where you don’t know what’s going to happen.

Then he paused and, with a sweet, sad smile, spoke about the characters, his children, in the movie, once the camera is gone.

“I just hope for the best for my children,” he said. “But I have no idea what is going to happen.”