Young actresses Sophie Thatcher and Vivien Lyra Blair have both been having big moments recently, especially in the worlds of Disney and Star Wars. Thatcher played the cyborg member of the “Mods” street gang in Lucasfilm’s live-action Disney+ series Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, while Blair caught plenty of attention in her role as a ten-year-old Princess Leia Organa in Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Now Thatcher (who also stars in the hit Showtime drama series Yellowjackets) and Blair (who played Guppy in the 2020 Robert Rodriguez Netflix film We Can Be Heroes) have been cast as sisters in 20 Century Studios’ new horror movie The Boogeyman. They recently sat down for a press conference to discuss their roles in the film, working with its director and other cast members, and what they like most about their characters Sadie and Sawyer.
Sophie Thatcher started things off by talking about how important characters are to horror movies. “I feel like for horror, it's just really important to build empathy for the character, or else you're not going to want to follow them on their journey. Nothing's gonna feel earned. But I think for Sadie, just starting off with her, she's in such a distinct stage of grieving and just dealing with that and [my task was] making it feel real and her relationship with her father feel tense and really complicated. And how hard it is that she's been having to take care of her younger sister? So I think you build empathy for her early on– I definitely did, reading [the script] for the first time. But just to make her grieving feel lived in and real [was a challenge], because everybody grieves in different ways. There's no specific way to grieve.” Thatcher went on to list the attributes of her characters she admires the most. “I think Sadie is incredibly resilient and I think she's smart. She's resourceful. She's young, but she's also been, like I said, fending for herself her entire life. She's emotionally very mature. She's present. Sadie's a badass.”
Vivien Lyra Blair continued the conversation by talking about her character. “I think Sawyer is this really complex character because you start the movie seeing her as this little girl who's terrified of the dark, and is just a little bit of a scaredy cat, to be honest. And then, as you really get to see how her character grows, she's going through so much, and no one believes her about [the creature living in her closet]. She has every right to be scared, and you realize that once you actually start to see the Boogeyman. I'm trying to put this as best I can without spoilers, [laughs] but in the final, [as] I like to call it, the ‘boss fight’ in the basement, I think Sawyer really gets to come through as this courageous, heroic little girl who goes through so much in this period of [about] a week. And she comes out stronger for it. Sawyer is just this amazing, heroic character, and I am just really excited that I got to portray her on screen. I really feel like, and I hope, that I did her justice in all of her greatness. It's just such an incredible character arc, and she's just one of my favorite characters I've ever played. ” Blair also addressed whether she was scared to be on set of this horror film. “Not really. I think everybody really made the environment so comfortable. I like to joke that when the movie is scarier, the people are nice to you on set because they know they're being scary in the movie. Especially actors who play scarier characters– they want to be as nice to you as possible in real life, to even that out. Michael, who did the mo-cap stuff [for the Boogeyman], he was just super nice. He would show me how to do backbends and stuff. We would talk and he would show me cool things. And [my] mom would be like, ‘No, I don't like that,’ when he would walk down the stairs in a backbend and stuff.”
“But yeah, I think it felt like a safe environment to be around, and especially with [director Rob Savage] and Sophie and [costar Chris Messina] and everybody. They made it just so amazing to be on set. I remember there was this scene in the movie– it's during the sleepover scene, and we're in the kitchen and [the father character is] making pizza and I'm just downing mozzarella cheese while playing with LEGOs. And he does this little silly song, which I could totally see my own dad doing. So I did what I would've done to my own dad and I threw mozzarella cheese at him. And it was just such a perfect shot. [laughs] And then it's a closeup of him just being hit with cheese and then going, ‘Thanks.’” Blair further discussed the bonding she shared with her castmates. “Well, we did have [a] point where we [all] went to the aquarium together. We had a lot of family bonding moments. But I remember there is this thing specifically where in the therapist office, there was this little toy kitchen that a lot of kids would have and we were playing with it. And for some reason, I kept making it about avocado toast. We created a whole restaurant just around avocado toast. So it's [become] kind of our thing. We keep giving each other gifts that are [related to] avocado toast. Like, [Sophie and I] both gave each other [avocado toast] socks. I gave her a bracelet and a stuffed animal today. It's been our little bond that keeps us close together, which is randomly avocado toast. And I don't even really like avocado toast– it just randomly became a thing. It's just a really sweet thing that we have together and it's something that sisters would have, as well.”
“I'm just happy that we were able to create such well-lived-in and real characters,” concluded Thatcher. “I'm proud of all of us for that and that's very much because [Savage was] there for us and we had rehearsals. But yeah, it was terrifying going into it, not knowing what to expect. And also, just working with younger actors. But I'm so proud of [Vivien], just watching it for the first time.” Then Blair gave her final thoughts as well, commenting on the themes of the film and how they resonated with her. “It has this realistic, terrifying theme of grief. Of how if you don't let go of your grief, it comes back to haunt you. And I think movies like that are definitely always more terrifying– ones that you can really relate to. Even if it's not a terrifying physical entity, it's still something that is going to hurt you later on if you don't let go of it. It's just so real, and it makes it all the more terrifying.”
The Boogeyman is now playing in theaters nationwide.