At first glance, “Heel” (released internationally as “The Good Boy”) looks like it might be a grim captivity thriller. A troubled young man is abducted and chained in a basement by a grieving couple. But filmmaker Jan Komasa has something stranger and more psychologically rich in mind. Instead of a story about imprisonment and escape, “Heel” becomes a meditation on grief, redemption, and the uncomfortable idea that compassion can sometimes arrive in deeply unsettling forms. The film stars Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, and Anson Boon, and opens in theaters and on-demand March 6.
On this episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo spoke with Graham and Riseborough together, followed by Boon in a separate conversation, about the film’s unusual premise, the emotional core behind its darkness, and the different ways each actor interpreted the story.
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For Graham, the script’s twisted premise wasn’t the point. What grabbed him was the emotional logic behind it.
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