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The new romantic thriller Strange Darling is filled with A-list names like Kyle Gallner (Scream), Ed Begley Jr., and Barbara Hershey — not to mention Giovanni Ribisi behind the camera as a producer and the director of photography. However, the true highlight of the film is Willa Fitzgerald (The Fall of the House of Usher), whose breakout performance in the lead role is utterly captivating.
We at FandomWire got the opportunity to speak with Willa Fitzgerald about her role inStrange Darlingand why she thinks it’s such a unique specimen in the horror genre. Check out the full interview below!
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Strange DarlingInterview
FandomWire: I think one thing that’s incredible aboutStrange Darlingis that there’s not much dialogue in the first act. Did you find it challenging to establish your character with minimal dialogue?
Willa Fitzgerald:Well, it should be noted that we did not shoot this in the order that you’re seeing it on screen. But I think, as an actor, I feel like I’m usually the one advocating for cutting lines. I feel like there is so much that can be said without language, and I feel like it’s usually the more interesting choice to say things without saying them. So I think that I was really excited by this huge stretch of time in the movie where there is very minimal dialogue because there’s so much going on, and you are just expressing it in different ways.
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FW: One of my favorite parts ofStrange Darlingis how nuanced The Lady is, and there aren’t many nuanced female characters in the horror genre. What did you find interesting about this character?
Fitzgerald:Well, I think you just said it. The first time I read the script, I was shocked and amazed by the script as a script — it’s an amazing piece of writing — and also by how it did defy all of my expectations. It surprised me. It made me scared. It made me want to play this character and know more about her and understand her from the inside.
And I think that the script asks not only a lot of the people who play these characters — of me and Kyle and Barbara and Ed and everyone else — but also a lot of the audience because it’s not necessarily going to give you an answer. The script and the movie are asking a lot of questions of the viewer, which I think is always such a interesting and exciting way for a movie to trust its audience.
FW: Another impressive thing about your performance is how you capture such a wide range of emotions: intimacy, fear, anger. How did you blend these emotions throughout the narrative?
Fitzgerald:I did a lot of work on the script — because, obviously, the script is written non-chronologically — reordering the script, working on the script and the character in chronological order, which I found really helpful for creating the arc of her emotional experience and her physical experience. A lot of things happened to her physically, so I could come to all of those different points in the script with a real distinct understanding of where she was on this journey. And I think that was probably the most helpful thing I did to prepare for that.
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FW: Your performance is also incredibly physical. How taxing did you find the role to be on you physically?
Fitzgerald:It was definitely a big one. I will say I’m not a napper, and I napped every single day at lunch. Like I have never taken a nap in my life, and every day at lunch, I went promptly to my trailer and laid down like a little corpse and took a 20-minute power nap. We left work every day pretty shattered.
But I think we also left work every day very excited because I think every day, we shot things that we were like, ‘That was really exciting and felt really interesting!” And the thing that we had all read, that we had all fallen in love with because the script is so specific — we all knew exactly what we were shooting, and that’s also a rare experience.
Strange Darlinghits theaters on August 23.
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Sean Boelman
Managing Editor for Film and TV
Articles Published :441
Sean is the Managing Editor for Film and Television, working to determine editorial strategy for the critics team. He has been on the FandomWire team since 2022.In addition to writing reviews himself, Sean helps match writers on the FandomWire team with assignments that best fit their interests and expertise.
