PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The Other, written and directed by Paul Etheredge (Hellbent – read out interview with him HERE), produced by Jeffrey Reddick (Final Destination creator) and Lisa Normand (Satanic Panic – read our interview with them HERE), and starring Avangeline Friedlander (Harold and the Purple Crayon), Olivia Macklin (A Family Affair), Dylan McTee (Wrong Turn 2021), Lily D. Moore (Never Have I Ever series), and Shawnee Smith (Saw 1, 2, 3, 6, X; The Blob 1988) is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. What started out as a movie about a nonverbal foster kid who can’t explain the strange things that happen around her when she enters a new foster home morphs into a batshit crazy wtf did I did just watch movie. It’s best to go into this supernatural horror film completely blind.
Unable to conceive, a couple seeks to build a family with a young orphan, survivor of tragic childhood. But their act of love turns to horror when they realize the violence in their foster’s past has returned to destroy the new family.
To celebrate the release of the film, I chatted with Shawnee and Lily about their favorite scene to shoot, crafting the mother/daughter relationship, horror movies, and more!
PopHorror: I really liked The Other and that ending? Wow! My jaw was on the floor. My first question is for both of you. What intrigued you about the script and made you want to be a part of the project?
Lily D. Moore: For me, when I first got the script… I’ve never done horror before. It was my very first time doing it and it was really fun! Obviously, I got the script and I read over it and I was like, this is a really cool role. It was definitely something out of my comfort zone, but it was, for me, just like the whole process and being able to get the job and doing it was really fun to do.
PopHorror: I hope that you’re going to do more horror!
Lily D. Moore: Yes, I hope so too!
Shawnee Smith: I obviously am a big fan of the horror genre for so many reasons. For so many reasons. I think it’s always a really interesting reflection on humanity and the human condition. It’s a great avenue for new filmmakers. I’m a very dear fan of the genre and I loved the script, and I loved the female presence in it. I loved the friendship between the girls, and just the practical effects and it’s kind of old school. I loved Lizzie, my part, and her relationship with her daughter. Nothing more enduring than humans struggling along and then turning to each other. That’s what I liked about it. And Paul. Paul Etheredge, the director, is such a sweetheart and just a beautiful human being, as well as Lily. It was a fun movie to make.
Lily D. Moore: Yeah, it was for sure.
PopHorror: I like that you mentioned the mother/daughter relationship because that’s something that really stuck out to me, was how supportive Lizzie was of Fiona, and her overall demeanor towards her and how much she loved her. That stood out to me because it was such a contrast to what Kathelia was going through. This question is also for both of you. Was there anything that you were adamant about bringing to your character?
Shawnee Smith: Fake tattoos!
PopHorror: I like that!
Shawnee Smith: I’m kidding. I wasn’t adamant about it. It worked. Welding skills.
Lily D. Moore: For me, I think it was really cool how my character, Fiona, had psychic abilities. I thought that was really cool. That stuck out to me, which was really, and just being able to work with the whole cast and crew. I thought it was really fun how we all got to bring this movie to life and working with everyone was really fun as well.
Shawnee Smith: You mentioned the relationship, Tiffany, and you find out in the movie that they kind of had a rough start, at the very, very beginning, and a start like that really solidifies that shit is meant to be, clearly, so you might as well enter into it. She’s not an easy daughter to have her back a hundred percent. When you say adamant, I don’t know if that word is ever in a character for me. Actually, I was adamant about the cutting scene in Saw III. Isn’t that funny? Maybe that’s the only adamant thing I’ve had about a character in a really long career. That’s just what pops to mind. That was way before people even talked about that kind of stuff and so many human beings have related to it. Maybe there’s just something bigger and that circles back to the psychic abilities of my daughter in script.
PopHorror: Lily, you said that this is your first horror film and that you were outside of your comfort zone making it. What was your favorite scene to shoot?
Lily D. Moore: There were definitely multiple scenes that were really fun to film. I think one of my favorite ones was our biggest attic scene that we filmed.
Shawnee Smith: You were so good in that, Lily! Oh my gosh. You practiced so hard, and you pulled it off. It was amazing.
Lily D. Moore: Yeah, that one for me was really fun just because I got to change my voice and really do different things with my voice and my body. Doing that was really fun. And also, that whole scene with Dylan and Ava. Doing that one with them was really cool. I would say that one was definitely one of my favorites because it was out of my comfort zone but at the same time, it was really eye-opening for so many people.
PopHorror: You also got to play with bugs and knock her in the head with a hammer, so there’s that too. Shawnee, you brought up your career in horror, which you’re no stranger to the genre. Why do you feel that some people embrace the genre more than others?
Shawnee Smith: Well, I don’t know. I think different people embrace it for different reasons. Personally, I don’t like to be scared. I get mad when I get scared so I’m not the person to watch just intense action films or horror films. Zombie films are… It’s funny because my daughter is all about the zombie films. She’s a writer/director. In fact, we’re going to this film festival up in New York for this short that we did, Cured, that’s premiering. That tension, some people really love it like it’s a real relaxing thing for them. It’s a psychological thing. Some people, it’s a delight. I appreciate the genre probably more from a filmmaking standpoint but I love the psychological stuff. The spiritual stuff freaks me out but sometimes I can take it, sometimes I can’t. When I did The Grudge 3, I really tried to watch the first two like three times, but I couldn’t get past the first five minutes because it freaks me out! Which is maybe why I’m a decent actor because I’m really living that out. I think different people like it for different reasons and then some people just want to live in a bubble and pretend that the horror doesn’t exist, but it certainly does. This is life.
PopHorror: I have to say that I’m one of those that watch it for the comfort level. It is calming to me.
Shawnee Smith: I remember when I first got to set on Saw III and I walked through the lair, I was disturbed. The set design, pretty much every department on those films was exemplary, but the set design was like… And then Tobin and I started rehearsing and then I clicked into Amanda and then the next time I came back to that set, I was comforted by the same things that disturbed me. So maybe you’re more like Amanda than Shawnee.
PopHorror: Quite possibly. I have one last question for both of you. What is your favorite scary movie?
Lily D. Moore: I’ve seen The Black Phone, so I’ll say The Black Phone is one.
PopHorror: That’s a good one.
Shawnee Smith: The movie that scared me the most was the first scary movie I saw as a kid, and I had recurring dreams for like six years is about chopped off heads flying around.
Author’s note: I couldn’t find the title of this movie, but Shawnee said it was black and white. If you know it, let me know!
Thank you so much to Shawnee and Lily for taking the time to chat with us. The Other is on Digital and On Demand now!
