It Follows | FILM
STEPPING UP
It Follows gives the slasher fi lm a whole new spin. Katherine McLaughlin talks to its young star Maika Monroe about the demands of working with some of the most infl uential fi gures in modern cinema
M aika Monroe’s i rst experience of the i lm industry came when she was plucked from her dance class at the age of 13 to appear in a horror i lm as an extra. The now 21-year-old actress managed to persuade Bad Blood’s director to give her one line after ‘falling in love with the sets and actors’ including the legendary Piper Laurie. Despite claiming she’d never had previous aspirations to be an actress, Monroe is now an undisputed rising star. ‘My dad showed me loads of i lms when I was young,’ she says, ‘but I never thought I would be in movies. That didn’t seem like a real job to me’.
Having worked with directors Soi a Coppola and Jason Reitman on supporting roles in The Bling Ring and Labor Day respectively, Monroe proves to be something of a revelation in her recent return to horror. She has been lauded for her performance in It Follows (pictured), David Robert Mitchell’s visually arresting exploration of teen life and a dread-i lled spin on the slasher i lm.
As a fan of horror movies when she was younger (‘I remember when me and my friends had sleepovers we would watch all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies’), the role of
Jay in It Follows certainly appealed. But it was also a challenging role: ‘I felt that my character was in a very dark place for most of the movie, so on set I would keep headphones in my ears and stay distant,’ says Monroe. ‘I think she goes through a pretty interesting arc. In the beginning of the movie I don’t think she thought of herself as a hero or someone who could survive such a horrii c event.’ The anxiety and excitement of being a teenager are handled extremely well in It Follows and Mitchell does an excellent job of playing with the fear of growing up. Monroe has only recently entered her twenties and explains her maturation: ‘You’re more aware of what’s going on in the world. I guess becoming an adult and learning how to survive on your own is exciting.’ Growing up in Santa Barbara, California, Monroe made the most of her beach setting. ‘Before acting took off, I was a professional kiteboarder training for the world circuit; with a sporting activity you have to be determined and it taught me to have a thick skin, which came in useful after going to so many auditions and being told “no”.’
On speaking about the people who have been an inspiration to her, Monroe mentions
two British stars. ‘I have to say working with Dan Stevens in The Guest and seeing his transformation was incredible. Also Kate Winslet. Off set she’s loud and sweary but when she walks on set she has this calmness and is so centred.’ Three years ago Monroe appeared in Ramin Bahrani’s At Any Price, alongside Zac Efron. Monroe cites that i lm as providing a real highlight in her career so far. ‘I was 18 and at the Venice Film Festival; it’s so glamorous and the most beautiful place. It was such a magical moment to realise all the work was paying off.’ Since then the offers have been l ooding in. She’s set to appear in an adaptation of YA dystopian sci-i novel The Fifth Wave alongside Chloë Grace Moretz and a drama directed by DJ Caruso starring Jennifer Garner and Tye Sheridan. But Monroe is still waiting for a call from the director she would most like to work with: ‘Wes Anderson,’ she reveals. ‘I think that would be really interesting.’
It Follows screens on Fri 20 Feb & Sat 21 Feb, as part of Glasgow Film Festival. General release from Fri 27 Feb. See review, page 61.
5 Feb–2 Apr 2015 THE LIST 59