Though not a household name yet – the future is looking exceedingly bright for young British actress Olivia Cooke, who stars as Hammer’s latest heroine, Jane Harper, in The Quiet Ones.
Turning in a wonderful performance, the young actress discusses the fun the actors – including Jared Harris and Sam Claflin – had off-set and how they’d put each other off mid-scene. She also tells us what scares her in real life, why she doesn’t want to move to Hollywood – and the reasons behind her mum wishing she’d just taken a role in Coronation Street instead.
Your portrayal is intense – did you ever feel like that depth of character might affect you in the long term?
No. We all had so much fun off camera. We were always laughing, which is really bad. Jared would make me crack up every time. We’d be shooting a séance and holding each other’s hands and I’d look over to Jared and he’s raise one eyebrow and my nostril would start flaring. When I came home I was battered and bruised everywhere, and I lay in bed and thought, I’ve done well today – look at all these bruises!
Was it easy to switch off in the evenings? When you film such intense scenes, is it easy to come home and say, right that’s work done for today, or does it stay with you?
I felt it was easy. It depends on different actors and what their methods are, but I’m happy to leave it, as soon as the make-up is off and I’ve washed the grease out of my hair, it was easy. I just felt fatigue and physical exhaustion because of the heavy stunt load.
The film is based on true events – did you do much research into the real events?
I steered away from that. I wanted it to be an original character. You get so many films like that, with a young girl in a smock like The Ring and I didn’t want anything to alter my perception of Jane Harper.
How did you prepare to get into this character?
I lost a bit of weight in order to feel more gaunt and more feral. It’s my first film so I didn’t have a method. I just read the character and thought, I can relate to this in some way, for some reason. I never went to drama school, so I didn’t think, I’m going to go through all these methods, I just kind of did it.
This is your first film, did you seek advice from the likes of Jared Harris and Sam Claflin?
There is one point where I have to do a bath scene, and I went to Jared and said, I’m going to do it now and he said, ‘just don’t let them take advantage of you’. That was all. But they were all really supportive and let me do my own thing.
Seeing as you didn’t go to drama school – how did you come to be involved in this industry?
I did a theatre workshop for 10 years, and then I got an agent in Manchester when I was 14 because I thought it would be a cool thing to do. Like Men in Black. But they put me up for really cringey commercials and modelling. Then a casting director really fought for me for a lot of things and got me the job playing Christopher Ecclestone’s daughter in Blackout and then I got a mini-series after that and got an agent in London, who put me forward for The Quiet Ones.
Is cinema where you see most of your career from now on?
If any form of acting comes about, if the role is good and I connect to it and feel passionate about it, then I don’t think it matters which form it comes in.
Do you easily spook?
I used to. But having done Bates Motel and now Ouija, which I filmed, when I’m watching a film now I’m like, I know how they do that. It’s ruined it for me now. Though I love watching my friends shit themselves watching it.
When you watch a film you’ve made, like The Quiet Ones, are you able to appreciate it as an audience member and get caught up in the moment and feel those emotions? Or do you just see it from the inside?
I see it from both. I definitely jump easily, when the music gets loud and intense and I know something is going to come, it gets me every time. But I’m more looking at the technical aspects of it now. I’m like, oh, I wonder what camera they used for that. It ruins it for me completely.
Is there anything in particular that scares you?
Going to the toilet at night and having to put all the lights on. Stray dogs scare me. It could be the nicest looking dog ever, but it’s not got a lead on so I’m convinced it’s going to be bite me. Death. Illness. That sort of stuff, but not paranormal stuff. Actual, tangible things that could physically harm you scare me a lot more than anything supernatural or abstract.
Hammer have got a really strong horror pedigree – were you aware of their past? Are there any you remember or that you’re in to?
I was aware of Hammer, but I never watched any of their films. The only time I watched scary movies was in the cinema. So I knew The Woman in Black and Let Me In, and I thought they were great movies, so I felt I was in safe hands when I joined this project.
You’re going to be one of Hammer’s ‘Scream Queens’- that’s pretty cool, right?
I know! I’m a Hammer heroine. When we finished the film they got me a leather-bound script and Simon Oakes wrote, ‘you’re our new Hammer heroine’ and that was amazing to be considered as that.
You do seem to have an inclination to take on darker projects, which is refreshing to see because you get a lot of young, pretty actresses who seem to be moulded, or pushed towards romantic flicks. Have you ever felt any pressure in that regard?
I hate those kind of roles, ‘oh she’s good looking, maybe she should be the cheerleader or the romantic interest’. I dunno. I just like to torture myself a bit too much. But I’m moving away from horror now as I’ve done so much, I think I’ve exhausted it now, no-one wants to see me do that role anymore!
Do you have a strategy for what sort of roles you do want to take on in the future?
Just not horror.
You’re doing a fair amount of work in the States at the moment, how often do you get back home?
I really want to do something over here, but it just so happens I’ve been riding this wave in the States and people have taken an interest in me. The projects I’m getting are so unlike anything I would have ever expected to do. But hopefully I can work here, because I never get to go home. I sometimes go back to my mum’s in Manchester for three weeks and she gets on my nerves and I feel like I’m 16 again. I should get somewhere in London. Manchester centre is really nice, but we live in Oldham, where people go to die. It’s not that exciting.
Have you got a place in America?
No I refuse to get a place there. I don’t wanna live there. It’s nice to work there but I don’t want the novelty to wear off. I don’t ever wanna get used to that and become affected by it all.
Has your mum seen The Quiet Ones yet?
Not yet.
Do you think she’ll be freaked out?
She said ‘Please, Livvy, I’d be happy if you were just in Coronation Street. I don’t wanna see my baby getting tortured!’ I only saw it myself last year in August, but there will be a few moments where she’s just going to cringe. Oh God.
The Quiet Ones is released on April 10th.
