‘Marie Antionette’s’ Clementine Poidatz Discloses A First With PopHorror

It was a pleasure to get the opportunity to speak with Clémentine Poidatz about her career. It was interesting to hear all about a new avenue for her, which is acting in the horror genre. She gives all the details of this horrifically magnificent experience.

A little about the lady herself: Clémentine Poidatz is a trained French actress who graduated from the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art of Paris. She has been in numerous French projects, but also has recently made her way into American films. She made an appearance in Marie Antoinette (2006) as Comtesse de Provence alongside Kirsten Dunst. Most recently, she played Geraldine in the Netflix original movie, To Each, Her Own (2018) and as Amelie Durand in the television series, Mars. Read on to find out more about her upcoming film, Housewife (2017), which is a must see horror movie from the creators of Baskin (2015), Can Evrenol and Cem Özüduru.

Housewife’s Official Synopsis:

On a snowy eve, Little Holly’s sister and father are killed by her frantic mother. Years later, Holly is married, lonely, and her life is soon about take a turn for the ultra weird, when she visits “Umbrella of Love and Mind”.

PopHorror: What has been your proudest moment as an actress?

Clémentine Poidatz: It is definitely Housewife because it let me go outside my comfort zone, finding freedom, and not questioning anything that the director asked me to do.

PopHorror: Housewife required a lot of nudity on your part. How did you feel about doing this?

Clémentine Poidatz: When I first read the script, I was reading for Valerie, the best friend. Then, after several months, I was asked if I would be interested in playing Holly. It took me a while to say yes because of the nudity. In the first script, it was very erotic and it was very detailed. There was some stuff that I was not completely willing to do, but not that much. Sometimes, you do nude scenes in movies and don’t know why you are shooting that. There is no point. I think with this movie, women’s sexuality and desire are addressed because it is important to the character of Holly. I didn’t want to shy away from that and question what they wanted to do.

[My character, Holly] is lost in the trauma of her past and reality of her present.

PopHorror: There are violent and gruesome scenes near the end of Housewife. How was it witnessing the practical effects in person?

There was lots and lots of makeup artists around. It was great. It looked real, very real. It was a bit terrifying and disgusting, and I am not really used to it. I remember the first day, I nearly wanted to vomit. I was not doing very good with all the blood and the baby coming out. There was a lot of blood. It was kind of insane. Everything was a bit insane. We shot that scene for like four or five days. It was very intense, tiring, and demanding, but it was great. I really loved it. When you are shooting such scenes, you have to step outside the reality. I lost myself. It was the first time for me to shoot a horror movie. I think it is a great start. It was a crazy experience.

PopHorror: There definitely was some Lovecraftian influence with Housewife. Are you familiar with HP Lovecraft? Did you read any of his works to prepare for this role?

Clémentine Poidatz: I knew nothing about Lovecraft. I discovered who Lovecraft was on set. I think they didn’t want me to know too much. I think what interested them in me was that I was not familiar with the horror genre. They knew I was going to give something unexpected because I didn’t know how to act in this type of movie.

Prior to doing Housewife, I hadn’t seen a single good horror movie in my life, but now I am a huge fan. I am discovering all that now. In France, we don’t have a lot of horror movies. The ones that we have are really bad. Sometimes, you have ideas of what you think you like and don’t like and I thought it was not for me, but that was stupid. I am eating these movies up now. Horror movies, to me, now are so great because they are so free. I think a good horror movie is so powerful.

PopHorror: Housewife involves a cult.  Did you do any research on cults?

Clémentine Poidatz: Yes, I had done some research.  For myself, I had this thing happen when I was 18 and in college. I kind of had an experience with a cult. It wasn’t about dream surfing. I knew what it was to discover something about yourself that isn’t very pleasant, and what it is to be in a group of people. I knew what it was. I knew a cult leader was either going to help or destroy you.

I watched documentaries about some of the main cults in America. It was very interesting. I didn’t want to do too much research, though, because Holly, my character, doesn’t know a lot about it. Holly is lost and doesn’t know what to expect. I tried to stick to this with my character to find her. She is a character who is lost in the trauma of her past and reality of her present.

We want to thank Clémentine Poidatz for taking the time to speak with us and give us some insight into her Housewife character, Holly. Keep your eyes peeled for PopHorror’s upcoming review of Housewife, as well as all of your horror news, reviews and interviews!

Housewife is available on VOD, Digital and DVD on October  2, 2018