Q&A: Mackenzie Davis on her ‘Black Mirror’ tech fears and ‘Blade Runner’ reboot

TORONTO – It’s hard not to notice a bit of a nerd-girl streak in Mackenzie Davis’s technology-heavy resume.

The Vancouver actress currently stars in AMC’s computer saga “Halt and Catch Fire” as a programming genius, appeared as a NASA technician in “The Martian” last year, and has a yet-to-be disclosed role in the upcoming “Blade Runner” reboot.

Davis is also featured in one of the best-reviewed new episodes of “Black Mirror,” the British anthology series that skewers our smartphone era with its sometimes-alarmist look at modern-day tech anxieties.

Her episode stands out for being unusually romantic for the cynical Netflix drama, which premiered its third season at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Davis was among the stars in town for the annual movie fest, where she nimbly dodged questions about the hotly anticipated “Blade Runner” sequel starring fellow Canadian Ryan Gosling and directed by Quebec’s Denis Villeneuve.

“It’s like a Trojan horse for Canadians!” was all she’d allow of the sci-fi followup, noting Canucks also featured prominently in the wardrobe and hair-and-makeup crew.

Her next project is the mom comedy “Tully” with Charlize Theron and director Jason Reitman. She gushed over getting to shoot in her hometown for a change, where she expects to spend Christmas with family.

The busy actress spoke with The Canadian Press about finding strong female roles and meeting great expectations.

CP: You’ve got an impressive resume but I feel like for years people have been saying you are on the verge of something big.

MD: It’s so funny when people tell you about yourself and you’re like, “That’s not really my experience.” My experience is just that I get to work on better and better things and that’s the mark of progress for me. It’s not this sense that, “Ooh, something’s about to happen.” It’s like, “Oh my God, I got to do this movie with this person and now I get to do this and I get to be in ‘Black Mirror’ and ‘Black Mirror”s my favourite show.” It feels really lucky to be part of things that you really like.

CP: What draws you to “Black Mirror”?

MD: I just think it’s so many things. I think it’s so clever and it’s so dark and it’s really optimistic and it’s not just cynical but it’s cynical enough. And it causes you to look at yourself and your behaviour and things that you’re tacitly agreeing to all the time, and question what that agreement means and what signing away your life and what signing away your responsibilities for yourself over and over again (means) until you have something else taking care of everything for you…. It really affects me and … if I watch an episode I need to take time to think about it because it’s just a lot of introspection that goes on.

CP: Why is this the right time for a fresh take on “Blade Runner”?

MD: There’s a reason why “Blade Runner” has captured our fascination for so long. And not felt dated to return to it all. There’s something really enduring about both the aesthetics in the movie, which is such an accomplishment for that not to feel dated at all, and the story of the movie. It really continues to resonate with people 30 years later.

As a fan, it scared me that they were making a sequel and as soon as I read the script I felt like completely 100 per cent on board and so excited about it and excited to be a part of this world that Denis was envisioning that’s both very faithful to the original and completely his own. He’s such an incredible director and what he’s made is really, really special. I’ve gone from being fearful of the idea of ruining the product to so grateful to be involved in this companion piece to one of my favourite movies.

CP: It’s great to see you play strong women comfortable with technology.

MD: “Halt”‘s amazing for that. I feel like they did it so seamlessly where it was never addressed to (co-star) Kerry (Biche) or I in any progressive way of: “Oh, you guys are going to be running a business — as women. Imagine that.” They just wrote a really great story and we played the characters…. It also was so normalized because nobody made a meal out of it on set as though we were doing something really revolutionary.

We just treated women as interesting as men and wrote their characters as characters first and foremost. And when it mattered that they were women we addressed that but most of the time it doesn’t matter at all. It’s just about the relationship between these two entrepreneurs. Which feels really revolutionary, more than a bad-ass female character or a strong woman this and that.

CP: What kind of scripts do you get?

MD: I got a bit lucky with “Halt” in that that’s what I’ve been seen in more than anything else. And so I often get scripts with really strong female characters. I don’t get a lot of scripts for sidekick girlfriend role…. I just don’t interact with them as much.

— This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.