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On a break shooting scenes for the upcoming prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic The Thing, Winstead spoke with Under the Radar about screaming and scary movies, evil exes, and what it’s like to work with two geeks like Michael Cera and Edgar Wright.
Mike Hilleary: Looking at your filmography one would think you have a serious affinity for scary movies.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead: I know. I don’t know if I have an affinity for it or if it has an affinity for me or both. I’m not sure.
What is it about them that you enjoy so much as an actress?
I guess I like wondering if they’re going to scare me, trying to figure out if the film is going work on that level. I’m a pretty tough scare, so I enjoy that sort of test of it.
What have you been working on today?
Today we were shooting a scene that kind of goes back a little bit more towards the beginning of the film where things first start going wrong. Someone gets attacked, and it’s kind of a difficult scene because it involves about 15 people. Everyone at the base comes out and finds this bloody massacre out in the snow. Trying to deal with everyone and all of our reactions is pretty intense. But it’s fun. In between stuff it feels like we’re all in school or something just hanging out.
How would you describe Wright as a director?
He’s just one of those guys who knows what he wants. He had more faith in me than I had in myself, I think, because at that point I had to fight for everything. Nobody was offering me anything. To think that somebody would be offering me this part that so many other actresses would have wanted, it’s still a crazy thought. I honestly don’t know what goes on in his head or how he goes from one point to the other, because it really is just all in his head. He knows exactly what he wants, and whatever he says you do it and you know it’s going to be great. He has such a specific vision, a specific style. He’s extremely funny and charming and smart and he brings all of that to everything that he does. All of that together I think is what makes his films so great.
To check out the full interview, just click here.