Speaking to Anthony about her experience filming the movie, Jodie Foster had this to say: “And as you launched into Hannibal Lecter, I really—I felt like, a chill come over the room, you know? And I felt gripped and I was just too scared. In a way, it was like we were almost too scared to talk to each other after that.” One poor theatre-goer had an even more terrifying experience at a screening of the film that Anthony had paid to attend (unbeknownst to fellow viewers). Anthony recalled what happened when there was a blackout in the theatre: “The lights went out. There was a big storm and someone in front of me said, ‘It’s a blackout. I think Hannibal Lecter must be in the theatre’” said Hopkins, laughing. “She turned around and said, ‘oh my God, he is.’” Interestingly, in his audition for the role, he wasn’t really sure what he was going to do, as Brooke Smith, who played Bill’s victim Catherine Martin explained: “I asked him, ‘What the hell did you do in that audition? You were so amazing.’ He was like, ‘Well, you know, I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do, so I just drank a lot of coffee.’ He was amazing.” Jack’s clearly got a flair for the scary, as, for his role as the Joker in Batman, he thought children watching would want a more creepy Joker. He said: “My early experience in working for an audience full of children: the more you scare them, the more they like it.” There was a famous moment off-set where apparently Bill Hader didn’t realise Bill Skarsgård’s eyes-in-two-directions trick wasn’t CGI, and when Skarsgård showed him that he could actually do it, it created an iconic meme. Dick Van Dyke, who played Caractacus Potts, told a worrying story about the iconic abduction scene. Apparently, Robert almost had a fatal accident while onset, when the stagecoach he used to capture Jeremy and Jemima flipped over during filming! Ralph told the story of the script supervisor’s child, who was about four or five, being on set, and when Ralph walked past and looked at him, with all his Voldemort getup on, he just immediately burst into tears. Imelda, herself has talked about hating the character, which is probably why she performed it so well! On Umbridge, she said: “I think she’s a bloody monster and to be played as such.” Fans have latched on to this, and have created various memes about Antony being Homelander IRL, including the excellent video (below) of him being interviewed which he himself shared on Twitter. Despite her intentions, when she was sent the script it became very simple to her, as she said: “After making a declaration of pushing heavy films away and wanting to focus on lighter things…it was sent to me. I reluctantly read it, and then it was inevitable. I had to do it.” Well, I’m glad she decided to take it on, even if the film did terrify me. Jack believed that people thought he was getting publically attacked, and in response were super nice to him. This is what he had to say: “I feel like people are extra nice to me because they think people attack me.” Thankfully he wasn’t being hounded in public because, despite making for some uncomfortable scenes, he was an integral part of Game of Thrones’ heyday. While Iwan’s acting was rightly praised, he sadly didn’t leave the show with the public’s attitude to him untarnished. Some, clearly over-immersed fans would call him out in public, as he alluded to, saying: “I get called a bastard a lot.” It takes a great acting performance to illicit fear and hatred in a fanbase, so thanks Iwan, even if you did create some of the most uncomfortable scenes in the show! When discussing the character Tim thinks that in the end, his truly villainous nature is shown towards the end of the movie when he wants to kill Annie. He was then asked if that bothered him, to which he (kind of creepily) replied: “No, not a bit – I find that quite easy” Paris Themmen, who played Mike Teevee, talked about the infamous boat scene, where Willy Wonka is saying those lyrics that end: “Yes! The danger must be growing, for the rowers keep on rowing, and they’re certainly not showing, any signs that they are slowing.” Here’s how he described working on the movie, and the boat scene in particular: “The director did not warn us what was coming in this scene. Mike Teevee enjoys pretty much the entire factory tour. The boat is the one place where he exhibits fear and discomfort. Gene is so great in this scene, and it didn’t take much acting on our part to play “What the fuck is wrong with this guy?” Frank developed that iconic terrifying Bob stare, that he showed again in an interview below. She took inspiration from a real condition, which can be caused by physical or emotional trauma, where muscle spasms affect one’s speech patterns. On the voice, she said: “I was fascinated, and I started doing research. I met with people who have the condition and built it from there.” Lupita developed the voice and coupled it with an intense, emotive, and frankly petrifying acting performance that really stole the show. Director Jodan Peele talked about her embodiment of the character, and how eery it was on set: “When she is the Red character, she’s fully in character, even when she’s alone, and she was terrifying.” In fact, the scene where he was just eating ice cream in the back of the diner became Neil’s favourite. On the scene, Neil said: “Watching David Thewlis as John Dee wanders into the kitchen at the back of the diner, get himself some ice cream, come around and eat it on the counter, while all this stuff is happening around him, is one of my favourite sequences.” To make her so terrifying though, she had to endure a LONG process of prosthetics that sounded uncomfortable AF. Here’s what she had to say about it: “It was about six to seven hours of makeup and it took about five to take it off. It was a hard, hard make up, but mercifully I wasn’t in it for the whole movie, only for about two or three weeks. But they were arduous weeks and I had fake hands. The tips of my fingers acted as the knuckles and they took at least an hour to take off, so it was a bit problematic going to the bathroom.” It may have taken her six hours in the makeup room, but that scene genuinely scarred me for a lifetime. Zendaya, talking about what it was like filming with him, said this: “[He] scared the hell out of everyone, to be honest… The coolest thing is that everyone’s so lovely, and then they just play these very evil characters. He’s so good at just like, just being lovely— you know, ‘Hey how are you?’ And then, [mimics Green Goblin voice,] like whoa.” On a visit to refugees in Venezuela as a UN Ambassador, Angelina recalled what happened: “So this family walked in and I was talking to the mother and this little boy came in but kind of started to back up as he saw me. His mum was trying to say ‘Be nice to her’ and then I realised that he had seen Maleficent. He was like 7 and thought ‘She’s not here to help us – I know who that is!’”
