THE POSSESSION Interview: Casting A Demonic Child
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Created: Thursday, 30 August 2012 22:19
- Published: Thursday, 30 August 2012 22:19
- Written by Lupe Haas
When Natasha Calis was just nine years old, she decided to turn on The Exorcist without her parent’s permission. She became so terrified by Linda Blair’s portrayal of Regan that she couldn’t finish the whole movie. Calis takes on a similar character and aims to send that same chill down your spine in the upcoming horror flick, THE POSSESSION.
After a rigorous audition process for the film, director Ole Bornedeal (Nightwatch) knew that he had found the right actress in Natasha Calis (Impact, Gone) to take on the role of “Em.” She had to immerse her innocent, 13-year-old psyche into a character that explored some dark and emotionally disturbing territory. It wasn’t an easy task for the tween who started her acting career at 7 years of age. She had to embody two separate personalities: a sweet little girl and that same sweet little girl possessed by a tormented demon.
At a recent press event for the film, the Danish director explained that many performances in the horror movie genre come off as superficial. He knew that in order for this film to work, he needed to see organic acting and heartfelt performances from his actors. Within ten minutes of watching Natasha’s audition, he knew that she was the one to drive his movie.
“I called the producer to say that we didn’t need to see any more girls. They actually didn’t believe me because that’s not how things work in Hollywood. So I just pretended that I auditioned some more girls, but I knew in my heart she was the right one.”
Bornedeal has the European filmmaker mindset of stressing the importance of psychological awareness and character intensity to his actors. For this casting process, he utilized a very unconventional method. He put Natasha into a sort of trance to locate the main pipeline to her emotions. He asked her to behave like a possessed Em and when she opened her eyes she had transformed into the character. Bornedeal proceeded to interview Em.
(She began crying her heart out)
Calis: I can’t help it, there’s this person sitting inside of me.
Bornedeal: Who is he?
Calis: It’s not a he. It’s a she. It’s an old woman. It’s an old Polish woman.
Bornedeal couldn't believe his eyes, "I was like, ‘holy sh**. That was the first time anyone had ever heard that including the writers.” He knew he had found the one.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen) was initially skeptical of taking on this film. Like Bornedeal, he knew that in order for this film to work, the actress who played Em needed to be genius. He wasn’t sure the right person was even out there until he saw Calis’s hair-raising audition.
“Ole sent me the DVD. I watched her and knew she was it. I told him, you hire her, I’m in the movie.”Calis had to endure some real-life terror during the shooting. One of the scenes features her sitting on a bed surrounded by thousands of clattering moths. Unfortunately for Calis, these moths weren’t CG. She sat in a dark room as buckets upon buckets of these flying critters were poured onto her. Here’s what she had to say about it:
“I’m not going to lie, it was very scary. I took a lot away from it because I learned to keep cool on the outside, but I was freaking out on the inside. I really did learn from that.”Her co-star Matisyahu added, “She had a bad LSD trip without every having to take LSD.”
Viewers get their chance to trip out when THE POSSESSION opens in theaters August 31, 2012