Interview: Lucy Fry Discusses Working with Greg McLean and More for THE DARKNESS

On Friday, May 13th, BH Tilt will unleash Greg McLean’s The Darkness in theaters everywhere and to mark the occasion, Daily Dead recently attended the press day for the supernatural horror project and chatted with one of the film’s co-stars, Lucy Fry. In The Darkness, she portrays Stephanie Taylor, a teenager dealing with a lot more than just the evil forces her younger brother unwittingly brought home from an Anasazi ritual cavern they visited on their vacation.

Taylor stars in The Darkness alongside Kevin Bacon, Radha Mitchell, and David Mazouz, and during our interview, the up-and-coming actress talked about what attracted her to the project, her thoughts on collaborating with her onscreen family as well as director McLean (who she will be reteaming with for the Wolf Creek TV series), and the challenges of preparing for her role.

Look for The Darkness in theaters on Friday, May 13th.

Great to speak with you today, Lucy. What was it that you initially saw in the script for The Darkness when you were considering coming onboard the film?

Lucy Fry: When I first read it, I was really terrified by it and that kind of excited me because I'm so scared of horror films. I thought it would be good for me to do one and go through those fears. But what was particularly interesting was the family and how the relationships felt so naturalistic. It seems like this perfect family from the outside, but like all families, they're really flawed and going through all this inner turmoil, angst, and aggression towards each other. That human aspect of it was really interesting, and seeing how my character is going through something that could be real, but is heightened by the supernatural. Sometimes, the most terrifying thing is the darkness inside ourselves, and that's something quite real and the way that's brought out is really intense and scary.

I really appreciated that Stephanie wasn’t the typical angsty teenager, which is something we see a lot in horror. The things she was dealing with felt very real. Was that something you recognized going into this, that there was a little more to Stephanie?

Lucy Fry: Definitely, because at first glance you could think, "Oh, this is just a cliché girl going through an eating disorder as most teenage girls do," and that is tragic and awful, but it really rips it open and exposes Stephanie’s mental state and you see in that moment through her, like peering into her gaping chest in a way. When I watched it last night, I felt this really visceral reaction to it, because the way that the supernatural element heightens it allowed me to really go there and expose what she's going through and her desperation for connection. That was what really allowed me to feel all of it and feel her pain. She's just so hungry to be connected to her mom and dad, and yet feels like she has to destroy herself in order to get their attention in the end.

I recognized that, too, because I have two cousins. My younger cousin is autistic and his older brother isn't. My older cousin had the normal upbringing, but once his brother’s problems came to light, looking back I can see how he ended up on the wayside a bit. So this really made me realize that when you have a child who needs that kind of attention, their siblings can get lost in the mix.

Lucy Fry: Yeah, it's so good to hear that you could relate to it, that it felt real, because even while acting it felt real to all of us. David was such a good actor and he played it so well, and the family with Radha and Kevin, we all connected really organically, so that jealousy and that resentment felt like something that kept coming up and you'd want to stop it. But then at the same time, just fighting for a right to have space in the family was something that really was quite painful, and at the same time fun to explore.

How was it working with Greg? He's so well-versed in edgy, boundary-pushing storytelling, so it was really cool to see him step back and do something totally different and unexpected with The Darkness. I'm guessing he's a big reason you're involved with the new Wolf Creek series, too.

Lucy Fry: Yeah, I love working with Greg. He's an amazing director, and one thing that I particularly loved was that he had such clear vision. He had each scene very specifically mapped out in terms of movement, character arc, and emotion for the whole story.

For each scene, he would show us where we would begin and where we would end and what needed to happen in-between, which made me feel really safe to go right into the extremity that this character needed. Because at the end, he would bring me right out of it, so I could go to a really dark place, but he never let me get stuck in those emotions and that's something really incredible for a director to be able to do for their actors, to make it safe for an actor to really go there. I felt like I had a lot of permission to let go and fully experience each moment that he had mapped out for Stephanie. And I am very excited about the series, too.

Going into The Darkness, what would you say were your biggest challenges? Were they the physical aspects or more the mental aspects? Or were there certain parts that you had to push yourself a little harder on while filming?

Lucy Fry: The physical aspect was kind of frustrating, honestly, just because I wanted to make sure I knew what Stephanie was going through, so I did a bunch of juice cleanses before the film. It’s nothing compared to what real teenagers deal with when it comes to eating disorders, of course, but I wanted to make sure I knew those hunger pains and how that can affect your mood and how you interact with others.

What’s funny is that the mental part of it wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be. I thought I would be really scared, but because Greg is such a good director and made it feel really playful, it became so much easier for me. He could have you laughing right before the take and then would say, "Action," and you'd know exactly what you had to do. I could just drop into the action and then at "cut" be laughing again. So that actually wasn't as draining as I imagined it would be, but again, that’s mostly because of Greg and the environment he built on the set.