The Performance: Dermot Mulroney

In “Inhale,” Dermot Mulroney plays a New Mexico prosecutor who decides to go outside the law — far outside — to try to save his daughter’s life. The film ultimately brings the protagonist face to face with a dire moral dilemma.

“The big turn in my character is when you see him going from law-abiding citizen to lawbreaker,” says the actor, who turns 47 later this month, acknowledging that being a dad made it “not that big a leap” to understand his character’s actions. “The debate over what I would have done in that circumstance is still being played out. I won’t say there’s not a right or wrong answer, but there’s no easy way to answer it.”

In the movie, upstanding citizen Paul Stanton (Mulroney) and his wife Diane, ( Diane Kruger), must take drastic measures to find a lung donor for their gravely ill daughter (Mia Stallard). Through a series of twists involving the state’s attorney general ( Sam Shepard) and a mysterious doctor in Mexico ( Vincent Perez), Stanton finds himself navigating the criminal underworld of Juarez in search of a black-market organ.

“It doesn’t have high action, but a lot of motion, a lot of momentum. And good acting scenes. If you can imagine shooting it, one day it would be an intense scene with another actor and the next day you’d be chased down the street. So basically, for me, it’s nice not having to learn your lines every night,” he says, laughing, “because some days, all you’re doing is running or driving.”

The film was directed by Baltasar Kormákur and shot by Óttar Guðnason, both of Iceland. Mulroney was sufficiently impressed that he hired Guðnason to serve as cinematographer on the actor’s directorial debut, “Love, Wedding, Marriage,” which is now in post-production. One thing that sold him was how the Icelandic filmmakers convincingly transformed a key location for “Inhale.”

Scenes set in Juarez, for example, were shot in Las Vegas, N.M., “an old railroad town probably 80 miles from Santa Fe. Excellent direction, it looked pretty Juarez-y,” Mulroney says. “I don’t know anybody who’s been to Juarez and, these days, I don’t think you go.

“So, it just goes to show you, a guy from Iceland can make a movie about an American in Mexico — with a German leading lady (Kruger) and some French and Spanish in there (Perez and Jordi Mollà). It was a pretty polyglot situation, which is cool.”

Mulroney points out that everyone in the story is under extreme stress — not just the ordinary family in the extraordinary situation, but the guys in black and gray hats too. He says Shepard joined the cast after production had already started, relieving some of the stress over who would play a key role.

“I’ve worked with Sam a number of times, so I was thrilled when he came on board,” Mulroney says of the actor and playwright who directed him in 1994’s “Silent Tongue.” “I loved him in [this movie] because he brings that rugged, Western sensibility. He’s not some fat cat, kicking back; he’s really tense.

“Everybody loves him and is intimidated by him. It’s really fun to work with him because you should see the crew — you can print this, he’ll probably be happy: He can be extremely unpleasant,” Mulroney says with raised eyebrows and laughter. “But he’s never been that way to me. So I’d have a laugh when he was yelling at the boom operator. It’s pretty funny.”

It’s also nice for the actor that “Inhale” is finally being released, thanks to IFC.

“We made it two years ago, right when everything slowed down and tightened up in this industry — and every other, obviously,” he says. “Tough time to put out a movie that doesn’t have a wedding or a superhero. But things are looking up. I was happy to see ‘Wall Street’ and ‘The Town.’ Bring it, let’s grow up again — back to where there are movies you can think about.”

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