Any indie horror devotee is aware of good and effectively who Maika Monroe is. She burst onto the scene with David Robert Mitchell’s 2014 sleeper hit It Follows and has since garnered a cult fanbase by starring in equally offbeat however high-quality scary films, like 2019’s madcap Villains, the sci-fi thriller Important Different (reverse The White Lotus’s Jake Lacy), and Chloe Okuno’s suspenseful 2022 stalker flick The Watcher. Monroe has carved out her area of interest by selecting initiatives that commerce within the shock worth of gratuitous gore and leap scares for extra sluggish burn, thought-about storytelling—and together with her Hitchcockian appears and effortlessly California cool vibe (she grew up in Santa Barbara), it is sensible that just about each little bit of protection on the 31-year-old will guarantee you she’s been flirting with superstardom for a few decade (she appeared on this journal’s cowl in 2015, in actual fact).
However 2024 is Monroe’s greatest yr but, because of Longlegs, the serial killer chiller from author and director Osgood “Oz” Perkins—himself of horror royal lineage, along with his father portraying Norman Bates in Psycho. In Longlegs, Monroe performs Lee Harker, an FBI agent assigned to trace down the titular Satanic serial killer, performed by a very off-leash, unrecognizable Nicolas Cage. Buzz for the movie has reached a frenzy amongst horror followers, thanks partially to sensible advertising and marketing by distributor Neon, together with cryptic billboards promoting a telephone quantity that results in bloodcurdling audio of Cage crooning and a teaser taking part in Monroe’s precise coronary heart price spike upon assembly him in character for the primary time.
However the hype truly holds up. With clear parallels to 1991’s Silence of the Lambs (which makes Monroe’s Harker Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling), the actually terrifying movie doesn’t a lot go from 0 to 100 because it begins at 100 and stays there. Cage’s Longlegs provides a brand new that means to the phrase villain; donning freaky prosthetics and eerily pitching up his voice, the character is so scary that audiences should wait to satisfy him, as he’s not even in the trailer. As Harker, Monroe anchors the thriller’s grisly twists with terse, calculated restraint, making her the beating coronary heart, actually, of the story.
And whereas Monroe isn’t significantly angling for the form of fame that makes going to the grocery retailer unattainable, she’s grow to be probably the most suave scream queens in a era with some formidable contenders. After lately going public together with her new boyfriend, Dalton Gomez (Ariana Grande’s ex-husband), and a highly-anticipated It Follows sequel on the docket, she would possibly have to get used to being acknowledged. One of the best time to get her in your radar would possibly’ve been ten years in the past, however the second finest time is now.
What was it that referred to as you to Longlegs?
I had seen Oz [Perkins]’s Hansel and Gretel, nevertheless it was actually the script on this one. I used to be obsessive about it. I grew up loving crime thrillers and I used to be like, I want to do that.
What was it like working with Nicolas Cage?
It was insane. I did not meet him prior; the director did not need us to. I did not see any pictures of what he’d seem like. They referred to as “motion” and I walked in and noticed every part for the primary time whereas the cameras have been rolling. I used to be blown away. There aren’t any remnants of Nic Cage, that is only a monster. Clearly I grew up obsessive about him, he is an absolute icon. To be sitting throughout from him and in all his prosthetics, I imply, he remodeled, and it was a dream to work with him.
Does engaged on such disturbing movies ever put you in a bizarre place mentally?
Sure! I’ve discovered methods to guard my psychological state. It is a very weird business and a really weird job. Particularly in a film like Longlegs, 12 hours a day, you are on this very darkish psychological state. I at all times convey a good friend with me to set now as an “assistant,” so that they receives a commission to return and hang around. It is one of the best. I wrap the day after which we go house and drink wine and watch Survivor.
What do you concentrate on the state of horror today, going from the teenager slashers of the early aughts to extra elevated fare?
A few of my favourite films previously ten years have been within the style. It Follows, The Witch, and Babadook all got here out across the identical time—we would overlap at movie festivals. That was the start of this shift, and it was very cool to look at. Unimaginable filmmakers are moving into this area, and it is an unimaginable time for [horror].
Inside horror, you are within the indie world numerous the time. What retains you coming again?
There’s a vital intimacy on these units. There’s much more collaboration. There are fewer cooks within the kitchen, which makes it simpler to be on the identical web page and have a linear imaginative and prescient. I find it irresistible. It is my house.
How would you characterize your relationship to fame?
There are occasions when folks will come up and be like, ‘Ah, fuck, I really like that film!’ That is what you hope for, that your initiatives join with and transfer folks. I really feel like I’m in a really fortunate area. I’m simply fairly content material proper right here.
You have been as soon as an expert kiteboarder. Are there any transferable abilities going from athletics to performing?
Drive and dedication are key. The coaching ingredient and the dedication that I gave to which might be completely essential to go skilled. It’s related with performing. You are instructed “no” so many instances, you are put down so many instances. It’s important to preserve getting again up and pushing via. It is fucking exhausting. But when it is what you like to do and you’ve got the drive, it’s all value it.
What would you love to do subsequent?
A rom-com could be nice. I really feel like there is a lack. The ’90s and early 2000s have been crushing it with the rom-coms. If anybody’s bought a type of, I’d love to try this. Is likely to be simpler on my psychological state.
