Zazie Beetz mentioned entering into the Warner Bros. horror action-comedy movie They Will Kill You got here with a novel sort of stress as a result of director Kirill Sokolov wrote the position of Asia along with her particularly in thoughts.
“I do think it puts more pressure in a way to… Somebody’s envisioning you as this, and so you, for me at least, I wonder, I’m like, ‘What did you envision? Did you envision the version that I would do, or did you write it in the way that I would eventually interpret it?’ And so of course I go into it not wanting to disappoint,” Beetz mentioned whereas chatting with Blavity’s Shadow and Act after the movie’s presentation at BlerDCon. “And he has this idea of, ‘She’s going to bridge it this way, or going to do this with a character.’ And then on day one, I maybe come in totally left field with something else. Yeah, I feel that pressure. You feel that pressure any project you do, of course.
She continued, “But I think if someone has a strong vision and has been living with that in their head, it does take some time, I think, to maybe undo exactly what they had laid out and then replace it with whatever you do. But I know Kirill, he told me, he was like, ‘On the second day of shooting, I knew.’ He was like, ‘Wow, the version I just had in my head had died and you were just fully Asia.’ And that was nice to hear at the time. And he was so encouraging and just so loving toward me with everything that I did. Yeah, but of course there is pressure for sure with that.”
Zazie Beetz says They Will Kill You performs with tone throughout genres
Beetz mentioned the movie’s shifting tone was a part of what drew her to the challenge.
“The tone of this movie is definitely action, comedy, thriller, horror, so totally a blend of all different kinds of things. I think you can expect all of that, truly,” she mentioned. “I love playing with tone. I also don’t necessarily like pigeonholing myself into one thing. I want to have fun with my work, and I want to just see what I’m drawn to, see what I connect with creatively.
“And I like being in a tension of two different things. I like if something is tragic and funny, or scary but grounded. I think that that’s where art feels creative and interesting. And I’m mostly drawn to, is the role interesting to me, is the story interesting to me? And then whatever it ends up being tonally is what it ends up being.”
She added that heightened worlds may give actors room to discover characters in attention-grabbing methods.
“Personally, I think I am drawn to a little bit heightened things. I think that’s how you can really explore the human psyche in an interesting way, within extremes and things that are a little bit left of center,” Beetz mentioned.
“I think Yorgos Lanthimos does a great job of that. His films are a little bit in the absurd, and so then as an actor, you can really express that and play with that,” she added. “And I think They Will Kill You does that too. It’s an absurd world. Asia is grounded, having a grounded experience, but of course, with the extremes all around her, she’s also going to have some extreme reactions. And as a performer, that’s fun to do.”
She additionally mentioned grounding the character was essential when navigating the movie’s campier parts.
“Yeah. I think that’s always the balance with camp. I think if you go into a ‘campy film’ with the intention of making it clownish, I think that takes away from it,” Beetz mentioned.
“I think for her, it’s dead serious, literally. This is her life. They’re trying to kill her,” she continued. “So I think of Asia as the audience of discovering alongside her everything that’s happening. And so for her, she’s reacting, I think, the way any audience member would.”
Zazie Beetz on fan pleasure and horror’s rising recognition
Beetz mentioned seeing audiences already theorize concerning the movie has been thrilling.
“Oh my goodness. It’s so special. I mean, you work so hard on these things, and you really hope it resonates with people,” she mentioned.
“This is why I’m here, because I know that this community here at BlerDCon, they’re the people who, A, I feel like have supported me so much throughout my career, like the Black community, the Black nerd community, and I want to connect with my fans,” she added.
“And so I feel like I hope with this film that they feel me reaching out too, of, ‘I want to make things that you like.’ And to see people already having ideas and thoughts about who this character is, or where she’s coming from, or what’s going on is incredible,” she continued. “Yeah, it makes me feel, I don’t know, blessed. I love feeling that energy, that excitement, and hopefully people enjoy the movie.”
Beetz additionally mirrored on how horror has advanced as a style and the way it can discover deeper themes.
“Yeah. I mean, I think horror, again, like I was saying earlier, it’s just another reflection of the human experience, and perhaps a more heightened one,” she mentioned.
“Horror also exists in our day-to-day lives. I think horror can also, it’s gone through its phases. If you think of something like The Shining, I would consider that also a horror to a degree,” she continued.
“And I think you can really play with the psychological elements, what are the characters going through psychologically. And I think as an actor, it’s an incredible sandbox to play in,” she added. “I personally think, having done a couple of scary-feeling movies, as a performer, it takes a lot of energy to play fearful and to be grounded in that and to have this heightened experience, especially if there are other relational things going on.”
She additionally pointed to latest movies which have pushed horror additional into the awards dialog.
“Yeah, I mean, I definitely think, especially for something like Sinners, I feel like there could be space in the academy space,” Beetz mentioned. “If we’re exploring things within the horror genre, you can explore real political ideas, real identity ideas, as we’ve seen different films do. And why not? I mean, if it’s good, it’s good.”
Beetz added that style shouldn’t restrict recognition for sturdy filmmaking.
“Your body gets stressed out. I mean, not even just being… It’s like any performing, really. If you’re trying to do your best job, it’s a lot of energy,” she mentioned. “And I think an academy film should just be a good film that can be any genre. So if it’s resonating with people, if people are feeling seen, heard, sure, why not? I think horror should be in the Oscars.”
They Will Kill You shall be in theaters on March 27.
The submit Zazie Beetz Tees Up ‘They Will Kill You’ And Says Horror Should Be in The Academy’s Space appeared first on Blavity.
