Interview With Barbara Kingsley, Star Of ‘Honeydew’

Devereux Milburn’s feature directorial debut, the new horror film Honeydew (read our review – here), is not as sweet as its title. In fact, it’s pretty twisted and fucked up. But I like twisted and fucked up so I found this movie quite enjoyable. I went into it completely blind and I think that’s the best way to experience it. I chatted with star Barbara Kingsley, and we talked about auditioning for the part of Karen, what’s up next, and of course, horror movies.

PopHorror: Hi Barbara! How are you?

Barbara Kingsley: Hey Tiffany! I’m good, how are you?

PopHorror: I’m good, thank you. So I watched Honeydew last night, and it was freaking insane. I am so excited for it to come out because I have nobody to talk to about it so I’m really excited to speak with you today.

Barbara Kingsley: You know what’s funny, is my mother, my 88-year-old mother… My brother took her to one of the few actual theaters that were playing the movie, in Peoria. We played Peoria. And I said, “Well, Mom? What did you and Jeff think?” And she said, “Well, we’re both a little concerned about you.” I didn’t even know what to say. I mean, that’s the best endorsement.

PopHorror: I think that means you did it right, right? 

Barbara Kingsley: I guess so, I guess so. Pretty funny.

PopHorror: So what intrigued you about the part, and made you want to be a part of the movie?

Barbara Kingsley: Several things. First of all, at this stage in my career, I’ve been an actor for 46 years. So at this particular stage, a lot of it’s about where can we go that we haven’t gone before? I mean, there are things that you do and you take them for money, exposure, whatever. But man, occasionally fate hands you something and you go, “Okay! Never been here.” The part of it never been here was the full dimensionality of this really off-centered woman and the fact that this antagonist as the farmer. How many times have we seen strong matriarchal farmers? Whether they’re the good guy or the bad guy. And then thirdly was getting a chance to meet Devereux (Milburn), get to know his work. What an extremely talented human he is. And what a good and great human he is. He wrote a jazz riff. People have talked about the score of music, the soundscape of it. But also, if you’re a wordsmith and you go back and you listen to the melodies of those people… And Karen in particular had an incredible sort of textual orchestration. I worked for six weeks to word perfect memorize his script. I’m not somebody who takes the author’s work lightly, at all. Because I’ve written a play myself. You really owe it to them to try and figure out what the music of their words are. And I was so taken. And it gave me lots of latitude to work in. So, yeah. 

PopHorror: I’m glad that you brought up the matriarch being the farmer. When I first read the synopsis and it said a farmer, honestly I didn’t expect it to be a woman. I really appreciate that it was a woman. 

Barbara Kingsley: The irony is, my husband Stephen D’Ambrose actually played my husband, Eulis in the film. 

PopHorror: That’s awesome!

Barbara Kingsley Yeah. You only saw us together really in that one scene. When you first meet Eulis, kind of in the dark there telling them to get off his property, you assume it’s going to be him, his journey and his story. And it’s not. She’s the person. She’s the fierce matriarchal protector. I happen to come from a long line of farmers, and my great grandmother came from Kentucky to Iowa and she had an enormous what we called a truck garden. As a kid, I used to watch her walking back across the field to the house where she would sell produce out of the back of their home, with her apron just loaded down with warm tomatoes and watching her kind of limp and her rolling gait, with this produce. And I went, “Karen’s come home.”

PopHorror: I didn’t see a lot of horror on your resume. Were you a fan of the genre before this part?

Barbara Kingsley: Nope! No, no, no. In fact, when I auditioned for Devereux, I was recommended to him by a friend in Minnesota where my husband and I forged our career. We didn’t move here to New York until almost retirement age because there’s not a lot of film and stuff in Minnesota. Anyway, I was recommended by a friend. When I auditioned for him, I hadn’t seen the whole script. I only had a few audition sides. And I said, “I have a feeling things aren’t going to go well.” I said, “Now Devereux, I have to tell you something. I don’t watch horror movies. They creep me out. I can’t stand it. They make me a wreck.” But this one, in a way, is almost worse because it’s actually more like a psychological thriller. So I could do that. I can draw you in, and I really love that aspect. I didn’t have to deal with axes in people’s foreheads and stuff like that. 

PopHorror: What I loved about it is for the longest time, you’re sitting there watching it, and you know something is going to happen but you don’t know what. You don’t know the story with Karen and Gunni. 

Barbara Kingsley: One of the things I loved about it, you just keep going down the dark hallway, you know? It reminds me of those parties, especially like in the world of theater and stuff, I haven’t been to as many of the high powered film or TV gatherings of course, but if you’ve been to any kind of party, and you go, “What the heck was going on there? Something. Something was going on.” And you ask the person you’re with, “Did you feel that? What’s the deal?” Occasionally there are those Virginia Woolf kind of things, where you know it’s just not normal. But you don’t know what it is, and it’s like a scab to just keep picking at, in a way.

PopHorror: I like that. An interesting way to look at it. So what’s up next for you, Barbara?

Barbara Kingsley: Well, who knows? One of the funny and ironic things is, people who say to me, “My gosh, when this film gets out, you’ve got a whole new career in the genre of horror.” And I go, “Well, if they really look back at my resume, there’s really not a lot in there for that.”

PopHorror: You never know!

Barbara Kingsley: You never know. But we’ve had a year of a pandemic. Looking back, one of the things that was so exciting was the film was going to go to Tribeca. I was going to do my first Tribeca with my first lead, my starring role in a film. I’ve starred in plays all over the place. And I thought this would be an interesting fullness to my New York career. But Tribeca didn’t happen, and so far… I don’t know when things go to streaming? I don’t know what that means as an actor. I don’t know if more people will see it, and if more people will reach out to me for projects. I’ve certainly had lots of self-tapings. But I’m a work-a-day actor. Just recently my agent called and said, “They asked to see you again on this particular day. They specifically asked for you.” And I thought, “Wow, well that was nice.”I didn’t know anyone was out there like, “Hey, Barbara Kinglsey might be right for this.” So I don’t know what I’m doing.

PopHorror: I’ve heard such great buzz about the film. While it didn’t play Tribeca, it has played some really great fests so far. With streaming, more people are streaming than ever before so that opens up the audience.

Barbara Kingsley: I’ll be curious to see if there are casting directors who are fond of the horror/psychological thriller genre that would actually see my work. It’s slightly different for us, I think, as actors. And like I said, I have no idea how that works. Am I available for all kinds of things? Absolutely! As long as I can memorize lines, I’m available. And the good news is, I don’t have to worry about makeup anymore. But you know, if there’s a glamour thing that comes along, I can clean up still. I’m thrilled for Devereux. I’m thrilled for the team, and I did hear that Tribeca is opening their outdoor festival to it at a midnight showing.

PopHorror: That’s great!

Barbara Kingsley: That’s what I’ve heard. I don’t know. I sit here. But as I said, for these guys, they’re kids, you know? As far as I’m concerned, they could all be my kids. But I’m really thrilled for them, and I’m grateful. And if Devereux, or any of that team, said would you be interested? Yeah, totally on board.

PopHorror: Barbara, I know you said you’re not a horror fan, but what is your favorite scary movie?

Barbara Kingsley: Well, off the top, just boom top of my head, The Shining.

Thank you so much to Barbara for talking with us. Be sure to check out Honeydew, on VOD, Digital HD, and DVD now!