‘Spider Web’ Star Lizzy Caplan Somehow Just Made Her First Horror Movie After 24 Years of Acting

It’s hard to believe but Spiderweb star Lizzy Caplan hasn’t done a full horror movie until now. The genre is often a rite of passage for younger actors, especially today’s entertainers, but amazingly, the opportunities never came to Caplan even though she launched her career 24 years ago. She got her start with a handful of appearances on Paul Feig and Judd Apatow’s weirdos and nerdsas well as the latter Undeclared, and she first met Seth Rogen through the two aforementioned comedy projects. Interestingly, Rogen’s production company, Point Grey, would bring him the Chris Thomas Devlin film. Spiderweb script two decades later.

In 2004, Caplan’s life was changed forever thanks to her breakout performance as the witty and brash Janis Ian in Tina Fey and Mark Waters’ now-classic comedy, Bad Girls. So in addition to having a dislike for horror movies, Caplan tends to believe that his early reputation for comedy may have prevented horror movies from reaching his desk.

“It’s a solid theory. I guess it was probably a combination of not actively looking for anything, because I just wasn’t a horror fan, combined with opportunities not coming my way, possibly due to the [comedic reputation] theory,” Caplan says. the hollywood reporter before the SAG-AFTRA strike.

In the directed by Samuel Bodin Spiderweb, Caplan plays a controlling mother named Carol, who, along with her husband Mark (Antony Starr), goes to great lengths to protect their eight-year-old son, Peter (Woody Norman), from a secret they’ve been keeping. The film shows a side of Caplan that viewers have rarely if ever seen, as her character exhibits some rather disturbing tendencies.

Sam [Bodin]our director, he made the show Marianne, and that was the real reason I wanted to make this movie,” shares Caplan. “He wanted to put some things in [Cobweb] that he had something Marianne echoes, specifically the creepy rictus smile that an older woman [Mireille Herbstmeyer] in Marianne always had on his face. And then I got these really disgusting long nails, and my little Easter egg was that I wanted my hands to look like Babadook.”

Caplan also just received her second Emmy nomination for the lead role of Libby Epstein in the FX limited series, Fleishman is in troubleand this particular honor feels quite different from its masters of sex candidature in 2014.

“The difference between now and nine years ago is that it’s very nice that it’s a pleasant surprise and something lovely, as opposed to something that I felt was more important to me than anything else in the world at the time,” Caplan admits. “But I don’t think it’s necessarily going to change my life in any way, and I find great comfort and joy in that fact.”

He also has mixed feelings about celebrating too much at a time when his peers are struggling to survive amid the WGA strike and the then-impending SAG-AFTRA strike.

“It’s a really weird time to celebrate anything with the [SAG-AFTRA] strike right on the horizon and the existing [WGA] strike going into whatever week we are in right now. So it’s a mix of emotions, but personally, I take it as a great honor,” says Caplan.

Later, during a conversation with THRCaplan also remembers her worst fears as a child, including the movie that probably scared her of horror movies until recently.

Well, whenever I start researching, I always look for connections first, and so Spiderweb producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg immediately caught my eye. Was this script brought to you given your shared history?

Yes, specifically James Weaver, who runs Point Gray with them. He extended his hand. But yeah, I’ve worked with those guys a couple of times, and I’m sure that’s why.

You’ve been in movies that have horror elements like clover fieldbut i’m pretty sure Spiderweb It’s your first proper horror movie. How is that possible?

(laughs.) Yes, I suppose it is. I’m trying to think, but I think you’re probably right. His research is fresher in your brain than mine. I forget everything immediately. I made a program called Castle Rock that was in the vein of horror, but as for the movies, I guess you’re right that clover field it’s the closest thing to that. He wasn’t even really a horror fan until probably the last decade or so. My husband is really into horror movies and he has drawn me into the fandom in a very real way.

So you didn’t grow up in the genre at all?

I didn’t. I was never a horror movie kid. He was too scared.

The only theory I can think of why you haven’t made a bona fide horror movie until now is that you started your career in comedy, so maybe you just got lumped into that category, not that horror movies can’t have comedy.

(laughsninai) It is a sound theory. I guess it was probably a combination of not actively looking for anything, because, again, I wasn’t really a horror fan, combined with opportunities not coming my way, possibly due to his [comedy] theory.

Woody Norman’s character, Peter, is eight years old and, to put it mildly, he goes through a few things in this movie. What were your worst fears at that age?

Oh man, this is pretty basic, but I was really scared of spiders. I vividly remember watching the movie. arachnophobia, one of the few horror movies I got to watch, and it really screwed me over, really bad. Like, I remember going to my room afterwards and seeing a lump under my sheets, and I was sure it was a huge tarantula. And then I remember my dad coming into the room to check it out and completely pretending it was a spider, throwing whatever sock it was at me. He had a debilitating fear of spiders.

And when I was a kid, I was most scared of movies like He strangers against a monster type fear. He was more afraid of those movies that say: “We randomly target your house to torture and mutilate you.” (laughs.) So those were mainly my fears.

His Spiderweb The character has a very upright posture, speaks in a low voice, and I have never seen you like this before. Were these attributes on the page to some extent, or did you find your own way of doing it?

It really wasn’t on the page. I have to admit, I was planning to watch the movie yesterday with the screener link sent to me, but yesterday got a bit hectic. [due to Emmy nominations]. So I haven’t seen the movie, but I’m really curious to see how it turned out, because Antony Starr and I try to make it as weird and disturbing as possible at all times. And the more takes they gave us, the more bizarre and weird it got on set. So I have no idea what actually made it into the final cut, but my fingers are very crossed that they kept any of that weirdness.

There’s a spider scare in the final cut, so watch out.

(laughs.) I’m over it. My fear of spiders has been replaced by my fear of ticks, so we all evolved.

This doesn’t reveal the movie, but there is a trailer image of your character looking rather unsettling in pajamas.

Yeah, that was really fun. Our hair and makeup team was great. We shot the movie in Bulgaria during the pandemic, which had its own weird environment. It was especially strange because Bulgaria, at the time, was not being hit as hard with Covid as apparently the rest of the world. So we were able to go out in Bulgaria without a mask and go to a restaurant and do all these normal things, which was a really nice break from what was going on everywhere else. But Covid eventually caught up with it, and I remember running out of the country with Covid hot on my heels. So it all feels a bit surreal. It’s been a few years since we filmed it too, but I remember wanting to make that particular scene as creepy as possible.

Sam [Bodin]our director, he made the show Marianne, and that was the real reason I wanted to make this movie. She was looking forward to working with him. I really loved it Marianneand wanted to put some things in there that had something Marianne echoes, specifically the creepy rictus smile that an older woman in Marianne always had on his face. I don’t know her name, but gosh, she’s amazing. She has the most amazing face ever and I was pretty obsessed with her. [Writer’s Note: From what I can glean, the actor is Mireille Herbstmeyer.] So we wanted to make shadows out of that. And then I got these really disgusting long nails, and my little Easter egg was that I wanted my hands to look like Babadook.

Oh, now I see what you mean.

Well ok!

Has this movie ruined your enjoyment of pumpkins and soup?

(laughs.) God, that soup. I forgot about that soup. We ate a lot of soup.

you especially…

Oh God. Yeah, I’ve never been a big fan of soups, I’ll admit. So this planted me firmly in the non-soup fan camp, maybe for life, but I’m still okay with pumpkins.

Lastly, she just received her second Emmy nomination for Fleishman is in trouble. His last nomination was nine years ago for masters of sex. God, where does the time go?

I know!

So what does this particular recognition mean to you right now?

It’s a lot of things, but it’s very exciting. I really didn’t think I was going to be nominated. I was sure that Claire [Danes] would be nominated [for supporting actress in a limited series], deservedly so, and I had high hopes that the show itself would be nominated, but the limited lead actress category is so crowded that I resigned myself to the fact that it probably wouldn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. In part it’s because to see Libby’s character as a leading role, you have to watch all eight episodes and take in the whole story. So I wasn’t sure how many people had done that. It’s just not one of those obvious performances for a nomination. So I was totally fine and at peace with the idea that she wasn’t going to turn out the way she wanted, and it really was a very pleasant surprise.

The difference between now and nine years ago is that it’s very nice that it’s a pleasant surprise and something lovely, as opposed to something that I felt was more important to me than anything else in the world at the time. Now, my reaction is just the right size, which is, “Oh, that’s really wonderful and lovely.” But I don’t think it’s necessarily going to change my life in any way, and I find great comfort and joy in that fact. (laughs.) And then, of course, it’s a really weird time to celebrate anything with the [SAG-AFTRA] strike right on the horizon and the existing [WGA] strike going into whatever week we are in right now. So it’s mixed emotions, but personally, I take it as a really delicious honor.

***
Spiderweb It is now available in movie theaters. This interview, conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike, has been edited for length and clarity..