\n
![](\"https:\/\/tco-london.transforms.svdcdn.com\/production\/tco\/images\/Little-White-Lies\/Sophie-Thatcher.jpg?w=2000&h=1500&auto=compress%2Cformat%2Cavif&fit=min&dm=1790159190&s=b4143490c84f49c72e797854bc288432\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Sophie Thatcher hasn\u2019t slept properly in weeks. Between wrapping the final season of cult horror series Yellowjackets <\/i>and being a\u00a0part of Nicolas Winding Refn\u2019s first feature in a\u00a0decade, she\u2019s barely had a\u00a0chance to come up for air. Her Private Hell <\/i>is the latest in a\u00a0run that\u2019s established Thatcher as one of horror\u2019s most compelling new faces \u2013 from squaring off against Hugh Grant in Heretic <\/i>to playing a\u00a0vengeful robot girlfriend in Companion<\/i>. And yet her performance as Elle \u2013 a\u00a0tortured movie star chasing her missing father through a\u00a0misty metropolis \u2013 is unlike anything she\u2019s done before.<\/p>\n
LWLies: How are things with\u00a0you?<\/strong><\/p>\n Thatcher: I\u00a0bought a\u00a0house in upstate New York, so I\u2019ve been trying to finalise furnishing it. Honestly, I\u2019ve just been sleeping for three days straight. That final stretch of Yellowjackets <\/i>was so exhausting. But the movie, yeah\u2026 super strange.<\/p>\n In the best\u00a0way.<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, I\u00a0feel like I\u2019ve done movies that have been pretty well received. So to have something so polarising, I\u2019m like, \u200b\u2018<\/span>Whoa! I\u00a0should just not look at my\u00a0phone.\u2019<\/p>\n What was your first encounter with Nicolas Winding Refn \u2013 did the reality match your expectation?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think all of us agree he was really intimidating at first. I\u00a0went to his place in Silver Lake. We\u2019re just sitting at the kitchen counter in this beautifully modern house, and he\u2019s asking me the most personal questions. I\u00a0learnt that his process was just getting to know me. It felt vulnerable. It felt like we had to be completely open.<\/p>\n What kinds of questions?<\/strong><\/p>\n I remember him asking a\u00a0lot about my relationship with the internet. It wasn\u2019t like any other meeting I\u2019ve ever had. We started talking about this German film called Der Todesking<\/i>. We bonded over that and other films by the director [J\u00f6rg Buttgereit]. So after that first meeting, I\u00a0was like, \u200b\u2018<\/span>Nailed it!\u2019, because our taste was so aligned. As soon as we started talking music, I\u00a0knew we were on the same page, and it\u2019s rare to find that. He\u2019s a\u00a0music-head. He\u2019s a\u00a0huge cinephile. Then in the second meeting, I\u00a0tried to win him over. I\u00a0spent a\u00a0lot of money on a\u00a0Cannibal Holocaust <\/i>vinyl.<\/p>\n Oh wow!<\/strong><\/p>\n The movie is problematic, but the soundtrack\u2026 Our first bonding was over Italian composers and Pino Donaggio, who ended up doing the score. We were just talking about our love for these luscious scores set against a\u00a0sometimes abrasive, harsh\u00a0movie.<\/p>\n What went through your head the moment you finished reading the script for the first\u00a0time?<\/strong><\/p>\n Confusion, but excitement. In that second meeting, [Refn] was like, \u200b\u2018<\/span>These are the bare bones. Anything can happen.\u2019 So there was a\u00a0sense of freedom. When you read a\u00a0script, a\u00a0lot of the time you think that\u2019s it. But to read this script knowing that things would change felt much more abstract. We had so many calls trying to piece things together, because a\u00a0lot of the movie is [Elle\u2019s] interpretation. But after getting the insight into [Refn] dying for, like, 20<\/span>\u00a0minutes \u2013 which is an insane story \u2013 and then hearing about his relationship with his daughter, it all clicked. It felt like I\u00a0had a\u00a0heavy task, but I\u00a0was ready for\u00a0it.<\/p>\n Can you tell me more about Refn dying for 20<\/span>\u00a0minutes?<\/strong><\/p>\n [Laughs.] He said it was like 20<\/span> or 25<\/span>\u00a0minutes. He had a\u00a0bleeding heart. It sounds like something out of a\u00a0book. When he was telling me about it, I\u00a0thought he was messing with me. He told me that Tom Cruise brought him back to life. I\u00a0was like, \u200b\u2018<\/span>No way, really?\u2019 But no \u2013 he does that a\u00a0lot.<\/p>\n It\u2019s such an important insight into the movie because that\u2019s the heart of it. It\u2019s about his relationship with his daughter, and that\u2019s so complicated. While we were shooting, I\u00a0was brought into the family. [Refn] felt like my dad. I\u00a0was alone in Copenhagen. I\u00a0became best friends with his daughter. They\u2019re one of the most beautiful families, and surprisingly very normal, considering how weird Nic\u00a0is.<\/p>\n Have you ever experienced anything like that on a\u00a0film before?<\/strong><\/p>\n Not at all. He made a\u00a0point of having dinner with us at least three times a\u00a0week. We would always go to the same restaurant in Copenhagen, this Italian spot, and most of the time he would just ask us about what we think of celebrity rumours. It was really light, and we needed that when we were working on\u00a0this.<\/p>\n What did that teach you about Refn as a\u00a0director?<\/strong><\/p>\n There was always sensitivity \u2013 he\u2019s very in tune with how people are feeling. You could see that with his daughters, with me on set. He could see if I\u00a0was off in a\u00a0second. That felt scary because usually I\u2019m like, \u200b\u2018<\/span>Oh, I\u00a0can just get over it in a\u00a0second.\u2019 But no, he would sit with me. It felt like a\u00a0very personal, sensitive and vulnerable relationship that I\u00a0hadn\u2019t had before. Just the effort of him bringing me into his family was really beautiful. It gave me the trust to do this very strange project.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve said there came a\u00a0point where you stopped trying to understand the film and just surrendered to it. When did that shift happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n I think midway \u2013 around us going to the party, because that\u2019s when the film starts to turn into something else. I\u00a0think that\u2019s the switch within [Elle\u2019s] character, and I\u00a0think that was already naturally happening within me too. I\u00a0was gaining more confidence as shooting went on. I\u00a0was always thinking about the Elle and Dominique fight scene at the end. I\u00a0had no idea if it was going to change. The ending was always changing \u2013 it went through like three different versions, and it was around the party scene when [Refn] changed it, to where I\u00a0get the gloves and turn into\u2026 but I\u00a0don\u2019t even want to say that because that\u2019s so up for interpretation, and even my views of the ending change.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve mentioned Kenneth Anger as an influence on the film. What other films or artworks were you drawing on while shooting?<\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s a\u00a0lot of older Japanese films \u2013 I\u00a0might actually have to get back to you on the one film I\u2019m thinking about. A\u00a0lot of it was music. I\u00a0keep talking about the band with Martin Rev and Alan Vega, Suicide, as a\u00a0connecting force for the last part of the movie. I\u00a0was listening to Suicide all the time. It\u2019s this schizophrenic synth music. I\u00a0love listening to that chaos because it\u2019s a\u00a0fun world to live in. That really inspired Elle\u2019s arc towards the end. From those first meetings it was clear, music is number one. [Refn] saw that in me and I\u00a0saw that in him. Pretty much every day after set, we would send each other songs to be like, \u200b\u2018<\/span>This is where I\u2019m at. This is where you\u2019re at.\u2019 It could be totally unrelated, he would send me Abba and I\u2019d be like, \u200b\u2018<\/span>Hell, yeah!\u2019<\/p>\n Music is a\u00a0huge part of your life as well \u2013 do you have aspirations to write and direct in the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n Absolutely. I\u00a0live with my twin, and we\u2019ve been making short films basically every night \u2013 they\u2019re so silly. We made a\u00a0goofy re-enactment of Her Private Hell <\/i>and it\u2019s just me with glasses, and then me against the wall screaming.<\/p>\n I would love to see\u00a0that.<\/strong><\/p>\n My twin and I\u00a0do a\u00a0lot of work together. It\u2019s been really inspiring, being in a\u00a0weird cabin house with artists working every day. I\u2019m very excited for this new chapter.<\/p>\n There are some amazing looks in this film \u2013 how much input did you have in the creative process behind costume and make-up?<\/strong><\/p>\n I had a\u00a0lot. No matter what, I\u00a0always want a\u00a0say, especially with costume, because if the costume is off then it\u2019s a\u00a0very vulnerable thing. I\u2019m just so drawn to certain decades of styling. Nic\u2019s very much a\u00a0rock\u2019n\u2019roll guy, and Elle felt like a\u00a0blank slate as a\u00a0character. I\u00a0was trying to make her less modern so she\u2019d blend into this unreality of worlds \u2013 Charles is in a\u00a0kind of Sixtes timeline. It was mostly based on the music we were sending each other. So it was a\u00a0lot of seventies glam rock \u2013 even the Candyfloss make-up felt almost like David Bowie. It all just felt larger than\u00a0life.<\/p>\n I think that element of camp, mixed with glamour, was perfectly found within that genre. I\u00a0was very drawn to that red leather jacket. It was really fun. Our costume designer, Jane, was amazing. She\u2019d lay out all these beautiful options. It was kind of a\u00a0dream. Her whole approach was, \u200b\u2018<\/span>What would make you feel the best?\u2019 And for me, it was that leather. Throughout this press cycle, I\u2019ve been wearing leather. I\u00a0wore the leather Louis Vuitton corset look to Cannes. And I\u00a0wore leather to the LA<\/span> screening premi\u00e8re. It\u2019s fun to do that for press. Why not be camp and lean into Kenneth Anger?<\/p>\n So much of the film hinges on a\u00a0single expression or pose \u2013 what was it like projecting emotion that\u00a0way?<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s my favourite kind of acting, honestly. I\u2019ve never had a\u00a0director where I\u00a0wouldn\u2019t know when he\u2019d call cut. He would just keep going, especially for the establishment of my character in the bedroom. I\u00a0unleashed whatever mask I\u00a0had on, and it was just me. Because of the style of filmmaking, it felt like the most I\u2019d ever been seen. I\u00a0wanted to be seen by him, and I\u00a0wanted to be seen by the camera, and that\u2019s exactly how Elle feels. The dialogue is there, but it\u2019s all within expression.<\/p>\n Filming largely in order, day to day, did you find that you and Elle started blurring together, the same way the film blurs reality into this dreamy state?<\/strong><\/p>\n Absolutely. Towards the end, I\u00a0was building myself into a\u00a0manic state by listening to that chaotic music. My sleep was really off. It felt so amazing to unleash because so much of the movie was so incredibly still and stylised. At that point, it wasn\u2019t about the dialogue or anything, just that feeling of wanting\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026 catharsis?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yeah, that. There was a\u00a0lot of repression. I\u00a0feel like I\u2019m always playing characters that are playing against something. That\u2019s what\u2019s most interesting to me. It\u2019s those character arcs. In the beginning, I\u00a0felt that sense of loneliness. I\u00a0was in Copenhagen, it took me about a\u00a0month or so to feel like family and to get to the truth of everything. Every job is like that, especially when you\u2019re going to a\u00a0different country, and it was a\u00a0really long shoot. It was three and a\u00a0half months, so there was a\u00a0daunting feeling and I\u00a0think Elle was naturally feeling it.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\nGet more Little White\u00a0Lies<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n