So was that how you formed the character to make it more sympathetic to yourself?
To be honest, I felt a draw to her immediately. I always felt like I was on Merricat’s side from the time I read the script, especially (while) reading the book. I read the book so many times before we filmed and you get a little bit more insight into Merricat’s mind, thought processes, and feelings when you’re reading the book. Because obviously, the inner monologues are so much easier to portray that in the book.
So I understood that everything she did, she did for a reason and she believes she was doing the right thing. At the end of the day, the only person that she truly cares about and loves is Constance because she shows her warmth and kindness and doesn’t judge her for her more…odd outlook on life. She believes in what she believes. She has these feelings, her spells and incantations. That’s the way her anger and fear manifests. And Constance just accepts her. She’s the only person that accepts her.
Yeah. I, I loved that because you know, especially with cousin Charles (Sebastian Stan), he was very much of the opinion of “This girl is crazy.”
Yeah, and by the way, that’s everybody. That’s everybody in the town. You know, the Blackwoods are not liked by the townspeople. They’re shunned and judged by everybody else in their lives. Even their family members, even their parents, even cousin Charles, you know, nobody really appreciates these two women for who they are except for each other.
“…every so often after I had this huge emotional scene on the set and I cry it all out, I feel so much better in general.”
What was it like working with everybody? Because I love all of your work individually but the work you guys did together was just great.
It’s incredible. It’s so funny when this question comes up cause I feel like it sounds so fake all the time. I’m like, “Yeah, everybody was great!” Sincerely though, everybody was so passionate about this story and the book and everybody had such a clear, distinct take on their character. And it’s four very different personalities, four very distinct different people and the chemistry of that. Plus you put in the chemistry that we all loved each other and the chemistry of the characters, where some of it’s antagonistic and there’s no comfort there, but there’s the comfort between the actors.
It just works when everybody cares. Everybody wants to do their best. Everybody wants to stay as true as possible to the original story, to the book. We’re all on the same page, we’re all playing the same game. We’re all trying to help each other. So it was just fun to create–to try and bring the essence and create that in a movie.
