Interviews
‘The Boogeyman’ Star Sophie Thatcher Bonded with Director Rob Savage Over Shared Love of Horror [Interview]
The Boogeyman, directed by Rob Savage (Host), is out in theaters this Friday, June 2, 2023. The adaptation of Stephen King’s short story stars Sophie Thatcher (“Yellowjackets”) as Sadie Harper, a grieving teen at the center of the supernatural horror.
Sadie begins the story still reeling from her mother’s unexpected passing, compounded by her father’s emotional detachment and her younger sister’s extreme phobia of the dark. All provide fertile ground for terror when the Boogeyman permeates their home.
Ahead of The Boogeyman’s release, Bloody Disgusting spoke with Sophie Thatcher about her first trip into the Stephen King Universe. Above all, it was the character that drew Thatcher to the role. She explains of Sadie, “For me, as an actor at this point in my career, I’m just trying to find roles that I think will be challenging and that are layered and have something to overcome. They always have to have an objective, and that’s what keeps them going.”
Thatcher adds, “[Sadie] had a very clear objective, and it actually changes throughout the movie. In the beginning, you see her just wanting to feel that closeness with her mom, and I think there’s something so devastating about that, and immediately I just felt so much empathy for the character. To have that immediate reaction when you’re reading a script is strong, and it stuck with me, so I was like, this script is really well written.”
Sophie Thatcher as Sadie Harper in 20th Century Studios’ THE BOOGEYMAN. Photo by Patti Perret. © 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Sadie gets introduced as a character deep in mourning over her mothe*r, and that grief shapes much of her arc. Thatcher explains, “It was very important to build Sadie, who she was before, because there’s such a drastic shift. I think there’s a shift in the way she dresses, the way she presents herself, the way she talks to her friends because she’s kind of just shut off. I think she’s very, at her core, she’s just a very kind person. The fact that she just naturally takes care of her sister, I think she probably was that for her friends.”
Thatcher continues, “I think music was an outlet. I think she wasn’t outwardly as confident as some of the characters that I’ve played. But I think creating that, maybe a little bit of that lived-in insecurity, but just that kindness, and there’s something pure about her. I mean, it changes because she has to go through so much, but she’s always had a really good heart.”
Thatcher came to the project already a fan of horror, something that only deepened while working with director Rob Savage. The actor tells us, “We immediately bonded over our love for horror movies. Ordinary People is the biggest reference that he brought up. He brought up this movie, Lake Mungo, which is a mockumentary. Because I was just like, ‘What do you think is the scariest movie? You’ve seen everything.’ And he said that. Then I watched it, and it was terrifying. It was like a slow burn but so terrifying. I thought I’d seen everything and thought, ‘I’m not going to feel anything.’ But that movie stuck with me.
“I mean, I feel like for prep for horror movies, you can’t watch a movie and do prep. I feel like we also bonded over Don’t Look Now, which is a movie that I re-watched. I was obsessed with it when I was younger, but then I re-watched it because it also covers motifs of grief and such.”
The Boogeyman will be unleashed in theaters this Friday.
Only one episode remains in Season 3 of “Chucky,” and what a bloody road it’s been so far, especially for actor Devon Sawa. The actor has now officially died twice on screen this season, pulling double duty as President James Collins and body double Randall Jenkins.
If you thought Chucky’s ruthless eye-gouging of the President was bloody, this week’s Episode 7 traps Randall Jenkins in an elevator that feels straight out of an iconic horror classic.
Bloody Disgusting spoke with series creator Don Mancini and actor Devon Sawa about that ultra-bloody death sequence and how the actor inspires Mancini’s writing on the series.
Mancini explains, “Devon’s a bit of a muse. Idle Hands and Final Destination is where my Devon Sawa fandom started, like a lot of people; although yours may have started with Casper. I was a bit too old for that. But it’s really just about how I love writing for actors that I respect and then know. So, it’s like having worked with Devon for three years now, I’m just always thinking, ‘Oh, what would be a fun thing to throw his way that would be unexpected and different that he hasn’t done?’ That’s really what motivates me.”
For Sawa, “Chucky“ is an actor’s dream in that the series gives him not one but multiple roles to sink his teeth into, often within the same season. But the actor is also a huge horror fan, and Season 3: Part 2 gives him the opportunity to pay homage to a classic: Kubrick’s The Shining.
CHUCKY — “There Will Be Blood” Episode 307 — Pictured in this screengrab: (l-r) Devon Sawa as President James Collins, K.C. Collins as Coop — (Photo by: SYFY)
“Collectively, it’s just amazing to put on the different outfits, to do the hair differently, to get different types of dialogue,“ Sawa says of working on the series. “The elevator scene, it’s like being a kid again. I was up to my eyeballs in blood, and it felt very Kubrick. Everybody there was having such a good time, and we were all doing this cool horror stuff, and it felt amazing. It really was a good day.”
Sawa elaborates on being submerged in so much blood, “It was uncomfortable, cold, and sticky, and it got in my ears and my nose. But it was well worth it. I didn’t complain once. I was like, ‘This is why I do what I do, to do scenes like this,‘ the scenes that I grew up watching on VHS cassette, and now we’re doing it in HD, and it’s all so cool.“
It’s always the characters and the actors behind them that matter most to Mancini, even when he delights in coming up with inventive kills and incorporating horror references. And he’s killed Devon Sawa’s characters often. Could future seasons top the record of on-screen Sawa deaths?
“Well, I guess we did it twice in season one and once in season two,“ Mancini counts. “So yeah, I guess I would have to up the ante next season. I’ll really be juggling a lot of falls. But I think it’s hopefully as much about quality as quantity. I want to give him a good role that he’s going to enjoy sinking his teeth into as an actor. It’s not just about the deaths.”
Sawa adds, “Don’s never really talked about how many times could we kill you. He’s always talking about, ‘How can I make this death better,’ and that’s what I think excites him is how he can top each death. The electricity, to me blowing up to, obviously in this season, the eyes and with the elevator, which was my favorite one to shoot. So if it goes on, we’ll see if he could top the deaths.”
CHUCKY — “Death Becomes Her” Episode 305 — Pictured in this screengrab: Devon Sawa as James Collins — (Photo by: SYFY)
The actor has played a handful of distinctly different characters since the series launch, each one meeting a grisly end thanks to Chucky. And Season 3 gave Sawa his favorite characters yet.
“I would say the second one was a lot of fun to shoot,“ the actor says of Randall Jenkins. “The President was great. I liked playing the President. He was the most grounded, I hope, of all the characters. I did like playing him a lot.” Mancini adds, “He’s grounded, but he’s also really traumatized, and I thought you did that really well, too.”
The series creator also reveals a surprise correlation between President James Collins’ character arc and a ’90s horror favorite.
“I saw Devon’s role as the president in Season 3; he’s very Kennedy-esque,“ Mancini explains. “But then given the supernatural plot turns that happen, to me, the analogy is Michelle Pfeiffer in What Lies Beneath, the character that is seeing these weird little things happening around the house that is starting to screw with his sanity and he starts to insist, ‘I’m seeing a ghost,‘ and his spouse thinks he’s nuts. So I always like that. That’s Michelle Pfeiffer in What Lies Beneath, which is a movie I love.”
The finale of “Chucky” Season 3: Part 2 airs Wednesday, May 1 on USA & SYFY.
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