“There are scenes you definitely have to go home and have a gin and tonic at the end of the night to just shake it off,” the actress reveals about her freaky new flick.
Natasha Henstridge goes to some dark places in her new film, a thriller titled House of Abraham.
The actress stars as a woman named Dee in the film, who goes to a weekend retreat with others hoping to end their lives. Her character, however, has a secret motivation, as sinister secrets about the man running the retreat begin to emerge.
While we won’t reveal the movie’s big twist here, it does allow Henstridge to almost play two different characters, one with a secret and someone else when it’s revealed. It’s that duality that drew her to the project.
“First of all I love the script, I love the subject matter. I thought it was dark and twisted and nobody does it, it’s not common,” she said of the plot, before honing in more on playing Dee.
Henstridge said she loved tackling a role where “you have to be so careful about every scene that you do,” because while she may know the big twist, her character should be acting as if she doesn’t. “You have to play it also so that it’s believable in the moment … that’s the interesting thing about playing something like that,” she added, “playing the two sides.”
She said that while reading the script for the first time, she had “no clue” where the story was going — even when first reading about the retreat in the opening 20-30 pages, before it’s revealed the characters all plan to commit suicide.
“It was all a mystery, so there was so much build up. There’s a lot of build up in this film and I love a psychological thriller. I like horror too, sometimes, but I’m much more of a psychological thriller and this one has both so, it’s kind of perfect,” she added of the movie.
As for why she prefers a movie like this to something like a slasher film, she said she really wants to “care about the characters, somewhat” — adding, “if it’s just a bloodbath, I don’t care. I really don’t care about any of that, it doesn’t have the same impact.”
Abramorama
Considering the subject matter, there are some particularly disturbing scenes throughout the movie, requiring Henstridge to go to some dark places mentally while filming. Telling TooFab she’s “not a trained actor,” getting those more emotional moments down can sometimes be tricky — saying she’s “always floored by the people that can just turn it on.”
“I’m not that kind of actor. I wish I was,” she added.
On those days she does need to tap into a darker headspace, Henstridge says she’s often “really honest with the crew” who she’s been “buddy buddy” with beforehand, telling them, “Today, I’m really going to need some space, so let’s not talk about Saturday night.”
“Not every actor is built the same way and it’s so different, and so I just get really open, really upfront, like, ‘Probably not going to talk to you today, hair and makeup if you need to come in and do something to me, go to town but, I’m not going to talk. I’m going to be in my own space.'”
And when it comes to winding down after one of those more serious days on set, she added, “there are scenes you definitely have to go home and have a gin and tonic at the end of the night to just shake it off.”
House of Abraham is in select theaters Friday, June 13.
