Connie Britton (Nashville, The White Lotus) stars in Here After, a gripping new supernatural thriller. In the movie, Claire Hiller is overjoyed when her daughter Robin is miraculously revived after a fatal accident. However, her relief turns to dread as Claire notices changes in her daughter, suspecting something dark has followed her back from the brink of death.
The movie is an edge-of-your-seat thriller which keeps you guessing and avoids heading down the all-too-familiar trappings of typical "demonic possession" horror stories; it's all the better for it and, unsurprisingly, Britton is superb in the role.
Last week, we sat down with Connie to learn more about how she approached this project and the challenges this part presented. Here After features the Italian language and a mother/daughter dynamic that's far from the norm, not to mention some very intense scenes involving water so she really had to bring her A-Game to this one.
We also hear from the actor about working with filmmaker Robert Salerno (Smile) and what it was about this story that made her want to be part of telling it.
Finally, Connie dishes on whether she'd be open to returning to the horror genre after previously starring in A Nightmare on Elm Street. You can check out the full interview below.
It's a real pleasure to speak to you in what must be an exciting couple of weeks. I know you've got this and Winner on the way as well.
Yes, exactly, so crazy. Two in one day!
So, what were the main challenges of working on a movie like Here After with both the Italian language and Sign Language?
Oh yeah, thank you for asking. It was very interesting and challenging. I find the older I get, the harder it is to learn new things [Laughs]. Freya, who amazingly plays my daughter, of course, she really, really had to learn Sign Language and did an incredible job with that. I got to learn a little bit of it and I'm so excited that I got to do that and really want to learn more. With the Italian too, I had to spend a lot of time just drilling it into my brain. It makes it a lot easier when you're in beautiful Rome because everybody around us...we had an incredible Italian crew so they were all speaking Italian. It actually made it a lot easier. In those scenes, I would actually look to the first AD or whatever and say, 'Is this right?' They could always so, 'No, that's not right, you've got to say it this way.' It was really wonderful and helpful to have my lovely Italian crew around us.
You mentioned Freya Hannan-Mills and that mother/daughter dynamic is so interesting. As the film progresses, there's a real combative element to it, so what was it like working with her and form that connection while turning it on its head?
Well, Freya is a really incredible and unique actress. It's like she's a vessel and she was so kind and available so it was really wonderful to be able to just work things through with her and she made me want to be her mother. Be maternal towards her. She was just a wonderful partner so through it all and all of the machinations of what she had to endure and what I had to endure, she was a great partner.
This isn't a typical horror or possession movie; was that part of what made this thriller so exciting to you?
Yeah! Thank you for saying that because the horror genre is not necessarily my go-to but I like movies about human beings going through extraordinary experiences and when I read this, I was like, 'Oh, that's what this is.' I thought it was so interesting to explore feelings that I recognised that are such human, grounded feelings about being a mother and guilt and loss and pain and all of those things we can all relate to. To see it told in this way that felt very grounded but then at the same time went into these other worlds and the supernatural and the afterlife, I just think the film does it in a really interesting and unique way that I don't know that I've seen before.
Talking of the afterlife, I think the way Here After explores that is very unique and not something people will expect. What about that, and shining a new light on it, was most interesting to you?
For me, I was really interested in the way the afterlife was used as a way toward redemption. In a way, she has to make that journey in order to overcome her own guilt and what that says about...I think guilt is one of the things that can really paralyse us as human beings in very profound ways, so I think to explore how detrimental guilt can be and then sometimes the ways in which we have to be able to transcend that and get past it, to me, the representation of the afterlife and that kind of redemption was really interesting and fun to explore.
Robert Salerno has a great track record as a producer working on the Smile franchise, but with him directing here, what was that collaboration like for you given the filmmakers you've worked with previously in your career?
It's always the most exciting for me as an actress to work with a filmmaker who also has been involved and had a hand in the writing of the material. Because it was so very clear that this was Bob's vision and it's always exciting to know that I'm just a cog in the wheel of helping to carry out this vision that you know is so well thought out and well executed. It was really, really exciting to be able to be a part of that and to watch him have the experience of that as a first-time director too was really fun.
I won't get into spoilers, but you get involved with some very intense water scenes in the movie. Can you talk a little about what it was like to work on those?
Yeah, that was my biggest fear, the water stuff. I love the water and I love swimming but that was scary to even shoot and that stuff in the movie is very intense. It's one of those things now that I look back on and say, 'I'm so glad I got the experience of doing that.' At the time, I'm like, [Laughs]. At the same time, even though I always believe in...I want to do the thing that scares me so I was happy to be able to those scenes and was excited to have the opportunity but also, I felt like those scenes really, really manifested Bob's vision. I read through that script so many times and whenever I'd get to those sections, I'd be like, 'I can't quite envision how this is going to look and how we're going to shoot it.' He really brought that vision to life to, again, it was exciting to be part of that.
Having worked on this movie, even though you haven't typically gravitated to horror after A Nightmare on Elm Street, would you like to do a full-blown horror movie now, whether it's a slasher or a full-on demonic possession film?
You know, this is the kind of horror film I want to be doing because I really like the psychological aspects of it. I think if you can tell a horror story but have it all be from this psychological vantage point, that's what's interesting to me. I'll do that all day long. Straight-up slasher stuff, again, it would have to have some kind of...I don't know, I don't like blood [Laughs]. I'm just a baby that way! Sorry, guys.
Here After arrives in select theaters and on Digital starting September 13.