Interview with Actress Elizabeth Reaser (The Uninvited)

From a young age we have a naivety to life that adolescence will be all sunshine and rainbows. It’s only as we get older that we discover that life is really one big roundabout, pulling us in all different directions in an attempt to find ourselves. Nadia Conners’ The Uninvited highlights that even when you live a life of luxury, happiness isn’t all it appears.

The film centres around Rose (Elizabeth Reaser) and her talent agent husband Sammy (Walton Goggins), as they throw an exclusive party for their friends in celebration of a new movie launch. However, when Helen (Lois Smith) unexpectedly arrives at the home things take a turn when she claims to know things about the house – which she proclaims is hers – and its party guests. The Uninvited takes us on an exploration of how everyone is confronting their own personal hardships while reflecting on past what-ifs.

Movie Marker’s Tasha Jagger caught up with the film’s lead Elizabeth Reaser:

Tash: Congratulations on the film. I love how the theme of aging is introduced within the first few minutes of the film. Rose is a former actress, she stands in the mirror and says: ‘I’m starting to realise the value of plastic surgery, I didn’t think I was going to age.’. It’s such a big topic in this era of social media – women are expected to not age etc. I wondered if this theme was something that became an interest when you first read the script?

Elizabeth Reaser: Yes, that was the thing that really got me, was that Nadia was able to write this character that is experiencing an almost identical version of what I am experiencing as an actress. Growing older and confronting that in my face, in my career and in the way the world around me behaves. I just thought it was so accurate.

Tash: Rose is a former actress, and you’re an actress – what was it like to be playing someone in the industry? Was it daunting (at all)?

ER: Actually, I loved it, because it felt true. I think if it hadn’t been so honest, it would have been depressing. But for me, it felt very cathartic because it was true. That scene where Pedro (Pascal) says to me, ‘why don’t you want to act anymore’. [It’s like] what are you talking about? It wasn’t my choice. They stopped calling her [Rose]. I don’t remember what I said, but it was just like the audacity of the question, and he would in all earnestness be asking me that [question]. How oblivious he is. I just felt like it was so spot on, and I really loved it.

Tash: What was It like working with the cast? You’re working with the likes of Walton Goggins, Pedro Pascal and Lois Smith…

ER: I was so excited to work with Lois because she’s a legend and we were in the same film years ago. She and I played the same role at different phases in [the characters] life in Sweet Land, so I’ve always admired her – obviously, way before that [too]. Just watching her on set was incredibly humbling to see her and experience her talent, so moving. And, just the same with Ava [De Dominici]. I thought she was incredible, that performance was so good and so moving. She’s one of those people that’s so stunningly beautiful that they shouldn’t be allowed to be that talented. You know, it’s not fair [laughs]. She has both. And it’s like ‘why are you so talented? But also drop dead gorgeous, get out of here’. So, it’s just fun to work with her. And then, of course, these men, Rufus Sewell, all of them are just absolutely so talented and funny.

Tash: The film’s director, Nadia Conners, previously hinted that the film, even though it isn’t biographical, it is quite personal. What was it like to embark on this journey with her as part of her feature debut?

ER: I was very proud to be a part of something that was important [to her]. It felt very right. It feels insane that she hadn’t gotten to make this movie earlier and, or anything else she’s written. So, I think that was important. I’m so happy to support her and see her get to do it and get to do it more, hopefully.

Tash:  I think that is also what the film industry needs at the minute in terms of originality. I go to the cinema regularly, about 2-3 times a week and to have a film like this that is very different to the blockbusters we have during the summer is refreshing. It’s nice to see a film that is more theatrical and feel like it could be at the theatre. What was it like filming this than something you have done previously like Twilight, which was massive? Was it a nice change?

ER: Yes, it is. As you said, you don’t get to see movies like this really, very often. The other day I was at the Laemmle in Santa Monica, we had a screening and while I was waiting to do the Q&A  I started peeking in all the other theatres. I was so moved. I don’t even know what these movies were because I just snuck in and they were these tiny little movies playing and the theatres were full. I don’t see as many films in the theatre as you, but I had almost, kind of forgotten that experience. I don’t go like I should. So, to me, I was like ‘oh yes, this is an experience’.

Tash: I go to the cinema for therapy kind of purposes. Like cinema as a form of therapy once I’ve finished work or feel a bit more anxious [than usual]. So, I feel like this is the perfect film to go and see. You see Rose is struggling within her relationship with Sammy, and she’s also opening up about the struggle of motherhood – which these things are hard to open up about. Then she’s confronted with her past when seeing her ex-lover, Lucian. If you were to sit down with Rose over a cocktail or a coffee, what advice you give her?

ER: I’m that friend, like I would want her to leave Sammy and start a life of her own. Maybe that’s not the right advice, but I just feel that she’s living in relation to him, his career and her child. Obviously, her child should be centred, but I think that she needs to commit to her own life. I know that’s what’s impossible about being a mother, and in her situation, and financially. I mean, it’s an incredibly privileged place to be able to say, ‘yeah I’m going to leave my husband and go do whatever the fuck I want’. It’s a very entitled position. But I do think that she has so much more inside of her that she should focus on and her own inner life, her work and what she wants. I would love to see where she lands.

Tash: Very quickly going back to Twilight because there is a Twilight animated show in the works at Netflix. Three weeks ago I co-hosted a 12.5-day Twilight marathon, over 65 people came. The Twilight renaissance never went away, people just reconnected with it in different ways. I wondered, do you ever reflect on that period of your life and if Netflix came to you with an offer, would you want to be a part of it?

ER: I would absolutely jump for it. In fact, a dear friend of mine was like ‘I just auditioned for your part, what’s going on’. [laughs]. I was like, ‘I don’t know, I have no idea what you’re talking about’. I sort of knew what they were doing but also didn’t. But yes, I would absolutely jump at it. I became that character. You can’t help it, I wasn’t trying to but it just happens when you make five movies over the course of how many years, you just become a version of that person. She feels very close to me.

Tash: I love that! I used to go to school wearing Esme’s Cullen crest bangle and I had Alice’s choker. People love the franchise, and I do think it has a lot to do with nostalgia, it brings us back to a happier time in our lives.

ER: I totally agree! I read the book after I was cast, and it just makes you feel good. It made me happy to go into that world and not be in this world for a minute. So yeah, I love that. I want to do movies, be in movies and see movies like that. I love this movie we’re talking about, but yes, to be part of something like that actually makes people happy. That’s so special and rare.

THE UNINVITED is in cinemas 9^th May – https://theuninvited.movie