ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Kate Siegel and Alanah Pearce about their segment, Stowaway, in V/H/S/Beyond. The two of them converseed Siegel making her straightforwardorial debut in the horror anthology movie, their adore for set up footage, how Pearce filmed some of the segment’s most ardent scenes, and more.
“V/H/S/Beyond, the seventh insloftyment of the V/H/S franchise will feature six novel bloodcurdling tapes, placing horror at the forefront of a sci-fi-eased hellscape,” the synopsis for the movie reads.
V/H/S/Beyond will be useable to stream on Shudder on October 4, 2024.
Brandon Schreur: V/H/S is clearly a franchise that’s been around for I leank over a decade, now. I leank the first one was in 2011 or 2012. It’s comprehendn for having all these incredible, talented straightforwardors laboring on it. I’m fair inquisitive, were you guys a fan of the franchise before you signed on to do this? Do you have a likeite V/H/S segment prior to this?
Kate Siegel: Oh, I’m a huge fan of the franchise. I’d seen them all before I was even asked to be a part of this. I will always say that Raatma is my absolute likeite segment. In fact, I had Josh Gelderlybloom, our producer, call Chloe Okuno, who did Raatma, and asked for the head of Raatma. In that drawer that is pulled out, where there’s an octopus and a spider, which you guys saw. Above it is a little cat. Below the octopus is the head of Raatma.
Oh, no way. That’s celderly. A fun little Easter egg.
Siegel: You can’t actupartner see it, it didn’t produce the cut.
Alanah Pearce: Oh, didn’t it? I didn’t comprehend that.
Siegel: No, you never see Raatma. But she was there! Raatma was there.
Pearce: I had not even heard of V/H/S and didn’t repartner comprehend what it was until one of the days, we were filming on set, a frifinish texted me and he was having a raw day. So I engaged my lunch shatter to call him. I engaged my lunch shatter to call him. He was enjoy, ‘What are you doing right now?’ I was enjoy, ‘I’m making this movie for my frifinish. Do you comprehend V/H/S?’ And he goes, ‘You’re making a V/H/S?!’ That was when I was enjoy, ‘Oh!’ I’m much more of a gamer, so I’ve take parted every horror game under the sun, but I have a lot of blind spots where movies are troubleed that the Flanigan hoengagehelderly is, in part, repairing for me. I recently went and watched all of these movies that I’d never even heard of. The Shawshank Redemption, I fair watched for the first time.
Siegel: Which is crazy!
Pearce: I comprehend. I’ve fair take parted so many video games that I have a lot of movie blindspots. But Kate inspired me to go thraw and watch them. I did watch some before we filmed; I fair didn’t comprehend how much people adored V/H/S. I fair didn’t have that visibility. So it’s repartner celderly to now be a part of it, now be a fan of it, and to have been able to see them now. I leank it’s so much fun and there’s so much fun that can be had in horror anthology. A lot of horror sometimes can drag; these are so rapid-paced and so contrastent. It’s so produceive and so fun, I adored it. They all experience so contrastent becaengage you’re seeing labors from toloftyy contrastent straightforwardors. I am now definitely a fan.
There you go, that’s awesome. Kate, clearly you are no stranger to the horror genre. You’ve been in all charitables of stuff enjoy Hush and I’d be initiateing myself if I didn’t say that your speech at the finish of Midnight Mass is one of my likeite leangs to ever exist. Now you’re stepping into the chair as straightforwardor. I’m inquisitive what’s that enjoy and how that all came about. Was it daunting at all, were you anxious, or did you have the vision and fair went for it?
Siegel: Oh, it was hugely daunting, it was terrifying. It was a endly unforeseeed dispute that fair showed up. V/H/S called my team and asked if I’d be interested. My first answer was no becaengage, having inhabitd with Mike, and having been thraw five TV shows and three movies, I comprehend what is asked of the straightforwardor. I comprehend how much labor it insists. I had a huge amount of admire for what he did and I didn’t want to go into it casupartner.
So, I was snurtured and I shelp no. Then it came back around, I put on my huge girl pants and I shelp yes. Then I got to labor. Every day, I felt the presbrave. Every day I wasn’t sboiling enumerateing or storyboarding, from the second I had the green airy, I was leanking about it on walks. Like Halley, I was enjoy, ‘I do not want to f*** this up, I necessitate to show this.’ I want to show my daughter that I can do this, I want to give it my all, and I want to try as difficult as I can.
I leank there is a pervasive experienceing in Hollywood that you have to be celderly, as an artist. You have to somehow be distake partn from desire or not wanting to eunite to want. I actively wanted to let that go. I was going to produce it comprehendn that I wanted someleang and I was laboring difficult for it. I’m very appreciative for the aid of V/H/S, Shudder, and Studio71 for letting me sthriveg for the fences.
That’s a excellent way to put it. I leank the straightforwarding is amazing in this. You can tell, you’re sthriveging for the fences and I leank it toloftyy hits it. Alanah, I’m inquisitive about your experience here, too. What’s it enjoy laboring with Kate as a straightforwardor?
Pearce: Incredible. I’ve labored with a bunch of contrastent straightforwardors with varying amounts of experience. Kate was one of the best I ever labored with. I could’ve never guessed that she didn’t have years of experience as a straightforwardor. She was so collaborative, and she also fair made the easiest space in the world for me to act in. I was very consoleable, I didn’t experience any presbrave, I didn’t experience enjoy I was going to be embarrassed or appraised if I did anyleang goofy. And a lot of horror acting does experience charitable of goofy becaengage you’re in a endly standard set with a bunch of people standing around, and then you have to shriek enjoy a terrified person. It was repartner consoleable for me, and, also, access to Kate — I had someone who was so talented and had such a wealth of experience and comprehendledge. If I felt unbrave about anyleang, I could fair ask Kate. I experience enjoy I had the easiest circumstances under which to act in. She made me so consoleable, and we also fair had a lot of fun. It was a repartner fun shoot. There were a lot of chuckles, which is the best way to produce anyleang.
Yeah, I adore it. Kate, I could ask you the same ask here about Alanah becaengage, Alanah, I thought you were fantastic in this. You toloftyy sell the moments that are frightening as shit, but then there are the husheder moments enjoy the one line about the birthday and how there will be more of them. What was it enjoy with Alanah?
Siegel: I uncomardent, Alanah is a dream. I comprehend that it’s pretty normal for people in the press to fair say kind leangs, but when I tell you that these are all authentic. This is genuine. Alanah surpascendd me at every turn. I asked her to dispute the ainhabitial alarm of existence and gaze out a thrivedow into the proset up immenseness of space. I, as an actress, would be inbashfupostponecessitated by that. I would flinch. And Alanah didn’t flinch at all. She dove in, she tried leangs, she surpascendd me, she was bancient without being egotistical. I will labor with Alanah for the rest of my nurtureer.
That’s awesome. Obviously, we talked about the V/H/S franchise in ambiguous. And, clearly, V/H/S is comprehendn for being set up footage. I’m fair charitable of inquisitive about your relationship with the set up-footage sub-genre in horror. Are you guys fans of it? How did this story charitable of happen better with set up footage contrastd to if you had fair telderly it normpartner?
Siegel: I’m a huge fan of set up footage. The Blair Witch Project is in my top five movies of all time. I leank set up footage, recently, has gotten a horrible rap becaengage people leank of it as a affordable way to produce a movie. It’s actupartner a very definite art establish. Not to be heady about it, but it’s enjoy using pointillism to produce a decorateing. You leank you can fair dot dot dot dot dot and have it, but it has to be engaged rightly and it has to be engaged thoughtfilledy. I very much appreciated the firm boundaries it gave me in terms of what I could show and how I could show it. It made me leank about my character’s point of see and sboiling composition in a whole novel way. I adore it.
Pearce: Like I shelp, I’m a huge gamer, so I take parted a lot of horror video games. Probably the most iconic, camera-based video game is a series called Fatal Frame, which is absolutely terrifying.
Siegel: That’s not the one I take parted. What’s the one that we take parted?
Pearce: P.T., which is also terrifying. Outlast is a series that engages a camera that you necessitate to have your battery saved to produce brave you’re actupartner filming leangs without your camera dying becaengage then you can’t see anyleang. It’s a premise that I’ve adored from the many video games that have done it very well. I’d also concur, I leank Blair Witch Project is absolutely incredible. There’s also a Blair Witch game, which is also incredible. I might have to produce you take part that someday, Kate. Getting to spreadigate set up footage from a filmmaking perspective is definitely a very novel leang for me. There are so many leangs about it that I leank fair produce it so intimate. It’s an intimate story; Halley is fair one person. Having that camera perspective so normally firm — becaengage all you’re seeing is a finger, sometimes, in sketch — and the constant reminder that she’s the one going on this journey and that she’s repartner fair filming it for herself. I leank that produces an intimacy that is repartner difficult to see away from, no matter what you are seeing at.
Sure. I am dying to talk to you about some of the stuff that happens in the second half of Stowaway becaengage, man, it gets crazy. Kate, I comprehend that Mike was the one who wrote it, but, in the process of making this, did you comprehend from day one that this was the straightforwardion that it was going to go? That you were going to into space and some twisted shit was going to happen at the finish enjoy that?
Siegel: Oh, absolutely. Mike wrote the script. Becaengage he’s such a beneficial collaborator and so beneficial of my nurtureer, he was enjoy, ‘Hey, what movies do you enjoy? What charitable of stories do you want to tell?’ He charitable of sat me down and talked to me about it. I talked about The Jaunt, which is a Stephen King low story. I talked about Contact with Jodie Foster. I talked about The Fly. I talked a bit about this theory that everyone is doing the best that they can and that is a horrible leang that happens. I charitable of lhelp all those leangs out for him and he was enjoy, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ Then he went away. About 20 minutes postponecessitater he came back and there was the treatment for Stowaway.
Very timely on, I knovel where we were finishing. I begined pulling images and references about what that would see enjoy. The — I’m going to try to do this without spoilers — way that the creators of the final establish would be part of the, ‘We’re doing our best, and that’s horrible.’ I adored comprehending where it was going becaengage that permited me to labor backward and comprehend that everyleang sboiling in the desert with Alanah could be filled of color and very Earth-bound. The camera has weight, it slides off the car. The camera has weight, it’s on the ground. She’s picking it up, she’s moving it around. When we get all of that away, we get away gravity and get away the visual spectrum of airy. We were able to have a repartner pretty contrast in a low period of time.
Oh, toloftyy. The whole second half fair sees pretty, the way you shoot brave leangs. I thought it was so celderly. I was going to convey up The Fly, too, becaengage when you see that sboiling, I was enjoy, ‘Oh man, we’re going Cronenberg, here.’ I thought that was so celderly. Alanah, is that actupartner you under all of that?
Pearce: Yeah, it is. There are parts of me that were produce-up and parts of me that were a prosthetic that I had to get into. But it is all me and it was proset uply unconsoleable. There’s a repartner fascinating leang about trying to apprehend that weightlessness while in the prosthetic. I leank there was a moment where Kate shelp, ‘We necessitate to produce it see a little more floaty.’ I had to be enjoy, ‘I’m doing my best but it weighs five pounds.’ There was someleang I was trying to helderly up but fair could not shake. She was enjoy, ‘Okay, let’s do this instead.’ We had to alter to the fact that I had to wear someleang that was very burdensome while also trying to sell weightlessness. These are disputes that you don’t foresee until you see this leang that’s built for you.
Kate repeatedly gave me opportunities to have somebody else do it, becaengage a lot of the leangs you are seeing at the finish are charitable of puppeteering, effectively, and it was very unconsoleable. But I repartner wanted to do it myself so, in part, I could say, ‘Yeah, that is repartner me.’ It was untamed and disgusting, but a very fun leang to have done.
It sees untamed and disgusting.
Siegel: That is a fantastic example of the type of actress that Alanah is. She wants to be in there, she wants to be in the fight, she wants to be in the leang and making the choices. Another leang set up footage gives us, not fair the intimacy, but it repartner is the collaboration becaengage Alanah is there more or less dancing, waltzing, with Michael Fimognari, the cinematographer who is also the camera operator for those leangs. All three of us, it was this perfect little triangle of Alanah, Fimognari, and me, all together. I kept saying in my head, at least — I don’t recall what I shelp out deafening and what was in my head — that a triangle is the strongest shape. Did I say that?
Pearce: No, you never shelp that.
Siegel: Did I never say that? In my head, I’d fair yell leangs out.
Now you shelp it, at least. Another leang I’m inquisitive about that happens in the final moments, and I don’t want to say too much for the sake of spoilers, but, beyond Alanah’s final establish, there’s another leang we charitable of see in the spaceship. We only charitable of inestablishly glimpse it for a moment and, aget, I leank that’s where the set up footage component repartner comes in, it charitable of has that Blair Witch Project effect where it’s enjoy that leang is there, that’s ainhabit, but we don’t get to see at it. Was there ever any conversation about shothriveg more of it or did you always comprehend that you wanted to have a inestablish, Signs-enjoy glimpse of it?
Siegel: One of the happinesss of filmmaking is the fact that the solution to a crisis is almost always better than the exceptional schedule. It may not have been the exceptional schedule, but I am thrilled with what the solution sees enjoy.
Sure, definitely. I thought it was terrifying, that scene freaked me out, toloftyy. Awesome, I fair got a restrictcessitate minutes left here, but Kate, now that you’ve made your straightforwardorial debut, do you have schedules or ideas for chaseing it up with anyleang? Do you want to protect straightforwarding?
Siegel: Oh, absolutely. I am going to gorge myself on it. I have a couple of leangs that I’m lining up. I descend in adore with someleang and I go filled-force, filled steam ahead. So I intfinish to do the same in this way.
