Interview: Laura Allen Talks Taking on a Terrifying Transformation in CLOWN

A monstrous transformation threatens to literally tear a family apart in Clown. With Dimension Films and Anchor Bay Entertainment releasing the movie on Blu-ray and DVD on August 23rd, Daily Dead spoke with Clown co-star Laura Allen about what attracted her to the role of Meg, working with Peter Stormare, one of her favorite scenes that was cut from the movie, and more.

What made you say “yes” to taking on this movie with this crazy concept? 

Laura Allen: I was in New York City in the fall of 2012, I had a brand new baby in my hotel in SoHo, and I was given the script. I started reading Meg's story in Clown, and was getting the fact that everything's so primal. She's pregnant and she's terrified and she's just interested in the survival of her family. There were steps that she made and struggles that she had all along the way that I thought were so spot-on. It made a lot of sense to me. I got really excited about her and the relationships and what she has to do, and her own conscience, his [her husband, Kent’s] conscience, and humanity is going on underneath it.

Throughout her husband’s transformation, Meg really holds it all together. I thought Meg was very similar to Geena Davis' role in The Fly, but you get even more of a physical role, especially towards the end when you really take charge of everything.

Laura Allen: You start out just seeing this family drama. He's [Kent] sort of a schleppy husband who has these foreclosed homes. He saves the day [at their child’s birthday party] with the clown suit. By the end, Meg—who we see initially as a dental hygienist—she goes “Linda Hamilton” in the garage with the guy. It's suddenly her action movie by the end.

Along the way, I really enjoyed the struggle that she has to face herself. Is she going to give up hope on her husband and carry this baby and protect her son, Jack, and then feed children to her husband to eliminate the demon? I don't know that I'm above not doing something like that. I think I'd make choices in favor of my family if it meant that we'd be okay in the end.

How was it working with Andy Powers, especially during the finale, when there's a lot of fighting back and forth? Was it relaxed on set? How was it when you were working together? 

Laura Allen: He is actually a very funny guy. It's ironic, because he plays the clown. As he transformed, you started to see these other features. You started to see his voice change a bit. The eyes, the teeth, the fingernails—all of it.

Andy got more and more uncomfortable, and the days were getting longer for him because the makeup job had gotten that much more intense. We were all under-slept, and it was freezing cold in Ottawa. It all worked in our favor. By the end, it was just thrashing. We were running out of time and daylight, but it just felt extremely organic. We had a great team around us. I really believe in Jon Watts. He's pretty fierce, and so is Chris Ford, our writer.

Peter Stormare, one of my favorite character actors, played a great role in this as well. How was your time working with him?

Laura Allen: He's terrific. He had us all laughing. He's such a veteran and he's really lovely. Yet, you can be terribly frightened by him, too, because he's unpredictable.

You mentioned a couple minutes ago that there were some scenes that were cut from the movie. I'm always interested in what's on the cutting room floor, what was improvised and changed to make the movie better. How close was the final movie to what was in the script? Was there anything that you improved or that drastically changed while you were filming?

Laura Allen: I don't think that much was altered. I'm really glad the ending wasn't a neat little tie-up. They didn't really put a bow on it. In fact, it lends itself to a sequel, really.

One thing that I really did love about the original script was when the character of Kent was sitting in his car outside these foreclosed homes, listening to these Wayne Dyer self-help tapes, just trying to boost up his self-esteem to go home to his wife. There was something just pathetic, sad, and clownish about that. He's kind of a schleppy guy. Obviously his father-in-law has an issue with him. It just seemed like a very relatable, American salesman thing. Anyways, that didn't make the movie, but we saw glimpses of Kent in his element earlier on.

Something I love about the movie is how it dives into this mythology of the clown as a demon and something that should be feared. Some people are inherently afraid at a young age of clowns. Growing up, were you scared of clowns at all? Are you scared of them now after going through this?

Laura Allen: I wasn't scared of clowns as much as I was afraid of this Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist doll that I kept under my bed because it was so scary. Then, when you leaned over and you looked down under your bed, you saw this perma-smile on its face? That's horrifying to me. It's that same clownish perma-smile that's scary. You don't know what he's really feeling, or if he's demonic.