Richard Jenkins describes making ‘The Humans,’ finding the cockroach in his apartment

Thanksgiving, that joyous occasion when familial tensions bubble to the surface.

Stephen Karam’s “The Humans,” adapted from his acclaimed play and featuring an eclectic cast, brings those simmering emotions and crises to a boil and then depicts what happens as things bubble over the edge even as everyone tries to keep the lid on. (The film opens in theaters and on Showtime on November 24th.)

The story is set entirely in the new, still unfurnished Chinatown apartment in Manhattan of Brigid Blake (Beanie Feldstein) and her boyfriend Richard (Steven Yeun); Brigid’s older sister, Aimee (Amy Schumer), her parents Erik (Richard Jenkins) and Deirdre (Jane Houdyshell), and Erik’s mother Momo (June Squibb), who is deep in the throes of Alzheimer’s disease.

In the play, the apartment felt claustrophobic and was filled with ominous noises, but it becomes a full-fledged character in the movie as Karam uses the camera to zoom in on its own flaws – like leaking water pushing through the paint – and to trap viewers in its dark nooks and crannies, underscoring our fear of the unfamiliar and of losing our sense of home and family.

In exploring the foibles and vulnerabilities that seem so central to our humanity, Karam spares no one, yet he writes with a deep empathy for and understanding of all his characters. But it is Erik, the father, who seems the catalyst for most of the bickering and who also seems to be hiding the most behind his increasingly tense façade. It’s a role that seems custom-fit for Jenkins, who played the (dead) father on “Six Feet Under,” won an Emmy for “Olive Kitteridge,” and was nominated for Oscars in “The Visitor” and “The Shape of Water.”

Jenkins, who says the cast has all kept in touch via group text since filming ended before the pandemic, recently chatted via video about why “The Humans” worked so well as an adaptation from the stage and about the worst apartment he ever lived in.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q. So, are you looking forward to Thanksgiving? 

Yes. I kind of like my family. I’m a lucky man. My kids and their families are all great. And this year we’ll all get to be together. 

Q. What drew you to “The Humans”?

There isn’t anything in this movie that people won’t go through – it’s money, health, relationships, betrayal – we just go through all of it on one day. It’s scary.

Everyone I play I see as a complete human being, but I gravitate toward complex characters in scripts. I always like these people I play. I look at Erik and think, “Don’t do that,” but I understand what he’s doing and the guilt he has. He doesn’t mean to be as harsh as he is. That’s family, they know where that weak spot is and when you say it to someone you love it hurts more. 

But he truly loves them all and it terrifies him to think he might lose them. A lot of the issues arising on this day are his fault. And I like the way he deals with his family on the day he knows he is going to tell them this terrible thing he had done. 

As an actor, if you feel alive when you’re doing it, that’s what makes you feel good even if you’re doing horrible things

Q. This role seems to fit you perfectly. Do you also like to play against type?

I like a lot of characters I play, but some I play better than others. This was one of my favorite roles but I’m also in “Nightmare Alley” [Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming film] and I loved playing someone who is not a nice person. It still has to come through you – it’s your take on somebody, from your history and how your brain works. This still was me, if I was deranged; no, let’s say obsessed and erratic. 

Q. With “The Humans,” were you wary of how a one-set play would translate to the screen?

Actually, I read the script and asked Stephen, “How was this ever a play?”

I think Stephen saw this as a movie somewhere during the run of the play and thought, “What can’t I do onstage that I can do in a film and what should I not do that you can do better on stage.” 

When Amy is in the bathroom and Stephen has this tight closeup on her scrolling through her Instagram, you see the reflection in her eyes. That’s movie language. He would often say, “Can we get closer?” And he really made the apartment a character in the movie in a way that you could not see in the play. It is like a member of the family. 

Q. Did the apartment itself help create the necessary atmosphere?

It was filmed in Brooklyn on two soundstages: one for the downstairs and another a block away for the upstairs. When we started rehearsing before we were on the set it was confusing – I thought I knew the text because I worked on it for two months at home, but I got with other people and felt, “I’m supposed to speak now?” The dialogue is very specific with people talking over each other, but everyone has to come in at just the right moment. It was once I got on my feet on the set in the apartment that it all came together and I think that was true for a lot of us. 

Q. What’s the worst apartment you ever lived in?

It was in Bloomington, Indiana in graduate school. My wife and I were just married and we only had a hide-a-bed. One night I was reading and I felt something, and a mouse was chewing on my sock. When I moved my foot, the mouse came with it. 

Another night my wife was sleeping, and I saw a big cockroach on her shoulder. I flicked it away but I didn’t tell her about it for months. I had picked that apartment. And that was the last time I was ever allowed to do that.