Heather Graham Is Finding Her Space in Horror as a Badass

After our advanced screening for Place of Bones, Collider's Perri Nemiroff had the opportunity to sit down with Graham for an exclusive Q&A to discuss why the actress has found a special place in her heart for horror. In addition to digging into the making of this independent project and working with co-stars Brielle Robillard (The Silencing), Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy), and Corin Nemec (Stargate SG-1), Graham teases her next genre-bender, They Will Kill You, with Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2) and Patricia Arquette (Gonzo Girl).

You can watch the full conversation in the video above, or you can read the transcript below.

Heather Graham Is in Her Badass Era

And we're so here for it!

PERRI NEMIROFF: When this project first came your way, what was it about Place of Bones that made you say to yourself, “This is something I need right now as an actor evolving my craft?”

HEATHER GRAHAM: I really like the script. It always starts with the script. And it's funny because I have two of my girlfriends here tonight, and I was talking to them, and I said, “I wanna play more of a badass character, somebody who's tough.” I feel like in life, I know that I'm a strong person, but I don't often get to play those kinds of badass [characters.] It's not exactly action, but I love the idea of outsmarting these bad guys and being tough. So, it was exciting to play that kind of role.

From my perspective, you had a one-two punch of badass movies between this and Suitable Flesh !

So you sign up for Place of Bones and you're getting ready for production. What part of making this movie were you most looking forward to, but then can you also tell me a part of making it that wound up being more creatively fulfilling than you ever could have imagined?

GRAHAM: It's funny because I'm totally, you know, yoga, nonviolence, but it is fun to carry a gun and shoot at these bad guys, and, like, fall on the ground and shoot. It was fun!

How about something that surprised you while making the movie?

GRAHAM: It was freezing cold. We had a really good DP, [Andrzej Sekula]. He's done a lot of Quentin Tarantino movies, so that was awesome when you don't have a big budget, having somebody shooting it that makes it look really cool. But we were freezing our butts off, and we were in LA. You'd think, “Oh, it's not that cold,” but we were freezing.

Heather Graham's Next Horror Movie Is Action-Packed

And the cast is stacked with Zazie Beetz, Patricia Arquette, Myha'la, and Tom Felton!

I know your filmography is filled with variety, but because I have this and Suitable Flesh on my mind, I see you doing a lot of horror right now. Is that a particular genre you find yourself drawn to most, and if so, why that genre?

GRAHAM: There's a lot of great roles for women in horror. I think there are exciting parts. I'm actually just about to go do another horror film, which is called They Will Kill You. It's a really cool script. But yeah, as a woman in film, they tend to write great roles for women in horror.

Because you brought up that one, I'll ask briefly -- this movie challenges you in one way. What is something about that new movie you're about to do that's going to challenge you in a new way?

GRAHAM: Once again, with my girlfriend gang that’s here, I used to say, “I wanna do action and I wanna fight, and I wanna be badass!” In this new movie, there are a lot of action scenes, and it's cool because there's a lot of women fighting each other, women in these badass action fights together. So, I'm excited about that.

I'm into that. It’s Zazie Beetz and Patricia Arquette!

GRAHAM: Yes.

What an ensemble right there.

Getting into this character now, obviously, we're not gonna spoil what the mystery is, but there is one unfolding. When you play a character like this, do you have to come up with some sort of anchor for her so that all of her decisions are based in some sort of consistent truth and so that, in the end, that reveal makes sense?

GRAHAM: Yeah. I think it's survival. For my character, I've had a very bad past, especially with men, and so I feel that I'm protecting my daughter, and that's the most important thing. I work with this acting coach, called Warner Loughlin, and I just made up all the memories of my past and my husband. I think I'm keeping her safe. Obviously, when you watch it, you go, “Maybe there's a better option,” but I believe that it's safe, and we're out in nature. I want to keep her safe from all the bad things that I experienced.

I love talking about acting coaches because I feel like we don't talk about them enough. Can you tell me something specific about Warner that best aligns with how you like to receive notes and coaching?

GRAHAM: She has this really cool technique, and it's basically that we talk together about all the significant memories from your life. Because you think as a human, different things shaped you. Something happened to you when you were five, and something happened to you when you were nine, and something happened when you were 15, and coming up with those formative memories, and in your imagination just really picturing it, kind of forms who you are. Doing that for the different characters that you play is really creative and fun.

Can you give us a specific thing you came up with for this character that we might not see or hear about directly in the movie, but we can still feel informing your performance?

GRAHAM: I think that my father was horrible, basically, and then I chose this good man. But it's this idea that the world is cruel and that I wanna protect my daughter from ever experiencing what I experienced. So, I feel like even if she's lacking human interaction, at least she's not in an abusive situation.

I wanted to reference something I heard Audrey [Cummings] say in an interview. She mentioned that the entire cast came up with backstories and came to her with questions about their characters. What was the biggest burning question you had for Audrey at the beginning in terms of how to bring Pandora to life in the movie?

GRAHAM: Well, with the money, of course, I was asking Audrey, “Well, why don't I want the money? I could take this money, and we could do something with it.” But I think that my character just has this deep religious faith. For me, what I related to was this idea of being in nature, whether or not Corin [Nemec]’s character is saying, “You're in the middle of nowhere and it's horrible.” There is a part of me that could understand, like, an Into the Wild, you're in nature and just being in nature.

How would you fare off the grid? Could you do it?

GRAHAM: [Laughs] I have had off-the-grid fantasies. Obviously, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it, but there's this idea of, it's all about my daughter in the movie. I just want her to have a better life than I had.

I'm gonna stick with Audrey for a minute. What is something unique about her as a director, maybe something that speaks to how this movie is uniquely hers in a way that no other director could have made it quite like this?

GRAHAM: She loves genre movies. There are a lot of women and they wanna tell more female stories, but she loves an action, horror, thriller drama, like an exciting genre film. She's tough, she's beautiful, and she's so fun. I wish she was here. I wish you had a chance to talk to her because you guys would love her. She's really cool.

I'll happily sing her praises a little more because she's not here right now.

GRAHAM: I watched another film that she did that also had a female, kind of crazy character that was really real. She's good at suspense.

Knowing what she was capable of from that other film, is there anything you saw her do on this set that made you go, “My god, I knew you were gonna be good, but I never realized you were capable of that ?”

GRAHAM: It's cool seeing it on a big screen. I had watched it on my computer before, so it was fun watching it with you guys. The performances that she got, and Corin definitely ad-libbed a lot of funny things, and there were moments where I was like, “Corin, shut up.” [Laughs] He added so many lines, I’m like, “Stop trying to milk your performance.” But he's great. It's like you can really see that he has a great sense of humor that brings a lot to the movie.

Is there a scene that changed the most from script to screen because of what he brought to it in the moment?

GRAHAM: I was always, in the script, saying, “Stop talking.” In the scene, I'm like, “Stop talking,” and then he's making these noises, and I'm like, “No noises!” Because he just can't stop talking. He's really funny, so he would always make up all this funny stuff. But he loves talking.

Back to Audrey briefly. We talked about her as a director more broadly, but I wanted to focus on her work as an actors’ director. Is there anything she did for you that you think helped you exceed your own expectations for your work in the film?

GRAHAM: She helped me because sometimes, as an actor, you're not sure if something's coming across, so you might be too big. She helped me bring it down, more real, and just trust that it was there without trying to act too much.

'Place of Bones' Took "Period Piece" to the Next Level on Set

With that in mind, going into filming, which scene did you think was going to be the toughest for you to pull off, and ultimately, was it or did a different one catch you by surprise?

GRAHAM: The scene at the end is disturbing. Everything in that scene is just so disturbing. But in reality, the hardest thing was that, like, I hate being cold, and it was freezing. It was so cold on the set! And then, this is probably too much information, but the bathrooms were really far away and we were wearing these really uncomfortable clothes, and it was raining and muddy, so we’d be like, “Don’t drink tea.” People would be like, “Do you want tea?” And we’d be like, “No, tea means pee.” You gotta walk all the way over there to pee! It's too far.

It feels like that should be the tagline of the movie, but it would be too inside baseball.

GRAHAM: [Laughs] It’d be like, “Tea means pee. Don’t have that tea!”

How about when it comes to the physicality that the role calls for? Was there anything in particular that was toughest for you to get right in a believable, lived-in way?

GRAHAM: To be honest, I feel like I don't often get to do stuff like that, so I love it. I'm pretty athletic, so running and falling… I remember the day that I did that scene, actually, my boyfriend was there. I was running, and I fell over, and then all the stunt guys cheered for me and I was like, “Oh my god, all the stunt guys cheered for me! I fell over!” [Laughs] Because they had a stunt girl ready to do it, and I'm like, “This is easy.” I just fell over and so I felt like I had stunt cred.

What kind of standoff scene do you find most difficult, one where it's long-range and you can't see your scene partner or something really intimate and intense, like what happens with Tom [Hopper] at the end of the movie?

GRAHAM: It's very disturbing thinking of him abusing my daughter, but yeah, thinking about shooting guys was fun. [Laughs]

When you're filming something like that, what is the key to putting yourself in the zone when I imagine you can't see what you're calling out to in the distance?

GRAHAM: It is a terrifying idea. We are in a fort, but the idea that they're coming toward us, we don't really have a good amount of guns and support. Normally in Westerns, women don't fare so well. Either they're being killed, they're a prostitute, or they have basically nothing to do because they're the wife, and they're just like, “Honey, be safe.” So, I'm really grateful that they wrote a Western with some good female roles.

Two very good female roles! I'll go to Brielle [Robillard] next. Obviously you've had great success as a young actor coming up in this industry, but I love the idea that with each new generation, there's a different energy and a different set of techniques. Is there anything you saw her do on this set that made you go, “My god, I can't believe at that age you have the courage to do this?”

GRAHAM: It's cool because when we were acting, and I was in character, I saw it one way, but then watching it, I saw all the nuances of what she was doing. I like how she's real because I think a lot of young actresses try to be appealing or try to look good, and I feel like she was just really raw. Of course, she is really beautiful, but she's just really real and raw. She did an amazing job. I also appreciate the humor. Even though this is a dark movie and it's kind of scary and a thriller, I do appreciate the moments of humor, and I appreciate her humor.

Is that humor something that you're aware of on set? I loved standing in the corner just now and hearing everybody's reaction to the end.

GRAHAM: Yeah, I didn't think it would be such a big laugh, but I'm glad people got a laugh.

It’s a defense mechanism thing. It's a sign of an effective horror beat!

GRAHAM: Yeah, it's a freaky ending, but I'm glad that people seem to find it funny.

Did you have any conversations with Audrey on set in terms of tone -- getting that little touch of humor, but also the horror and the tension blended together?

GRAHAM: It was in the script. There was some sort of Stephen King story she told me about, which I shouldn't say because it'll give away the spoiler, but just how things are not what they seem. It was just how things are not what they seem. That's what I like about the ending.

I wanted to make sure to ask about the production design here because this location is essentially their entire world. Is there anything you saw in the production design that informed who Pandora became?

GRAHAM: They built that house on this ranch near Magic Mountain, and basically, there's no insulation and it was freezing in there; we could see our breath. Then in the middle of the day it would get warm and it was nice, but it's a rough life living with no central heating or plumbing… By the way, Audrey and the DP were living in that house until they realized that it was so uncomfortable that they couldn't live in the house. They tried to get into the world and live in the house.

I have so many questions about that now.

GRAHAM: It has no bathroom.

They started production while living there?

GRAHAM: Well, there was a real house that was like a five-minute drive away, but they tried to live in the house that we shot in until they realized that that was way too uncomfortable.

Did you ever have the itch to do it, even for a night, yourself?

GRAHAM: No. [Laughs]

Are there any particular details in the main house that you hope people catch on second viewing? Perhaps it's teeny-tiny, but it's something that speaks to who they are and their history?

GRAHAM: The stained-glass window, just wanting to have something of beauty in this place that's really harsh. For me and my character, it's all about my daughter. That's the most important thing.

I'll preface this question by saying every single person who works on a film is of the utmost importance. Movies don't get made unless it's a huge team effort and everyone's collaborating together. Can you name an unsung hero of Place of Bones , someone who helped you out on a tough day, someone whose name we don't often get to hear, but they deserve credit for their work?

GRAHAM: The people I always really appreciate on sets are the assistant directors and the PAs, the people that make everything run. I pretty much always just love the first AD, the second AD, the third AD. They’re just always so fun, and they make your day more fun. Also, hair and makeup! They're waiting, they're trying to make… well, not really look good, but they're trying to help you look in character. But that's the great thing about moviemaking is all the different creative people that help make it good.

If you could learn even more about one single role on a film set, what would you choose and why?

GRAHAM: I really want to understand editing more. I was just talking about this with my friend, who's actually really good at it. I would love to be able to edit things myself. I think that's just an important skill. It makes or breaks a movie. Also, my friend, who is a great DP, is here. I mean, how you shoot makes you feel things. Your acting matters, but if you don't have a great DP putting the audience in the right feeling, a great actor can't. The DP is as important as the actor, I think.

When you look back on the filming of this movie, is there any specific memory that you think will always be at the top of your mind?

GRAHAM: We were right by an airport, so airplanes kept going by our heads. Audrey would just be like, “Fuck!” We'd be doing a scene, and they'd be like, vroom. It's a period movie, you can't really have airplanes going by, but we were in the path of a lot of airplanes. That was one of our main problems.

Leaving this movie, did you gain a new acting tool for your tool kit, so to speak? Something that you would be eager to put to use on another film?

GRAHAM: I guess every time you work on a movie you learn something. I'm just grateful I get to do it. Sometimes it's weird to watch yourself, but I'm grateful to get to do what I love. It's awesome.

I think a lot of times women in movies have to be like, “Help me! Save me,” or they get killed or something terrible happens to them, and you're watching women be abused in movies. So, it's just fun to not have that happen.

The two of them are so fierce and so in control.

GRAHAM: It’s good to have fierce female characters that are as interesting as the male characters.

I always like finishing with my absolute favorite question. In Hollywood, people give each other awards and that's super cool. I think we should keep doing that. But I find that nobody tells themselves good job enough. Can you tell me something you accomplished making Place of Bones that you know you'll be able to look back on and say, “I am so proud of what I did there?”

GRAHAM: I had a Western accent. That was real fun. [Laughs] It was fun to learn how to do that, and by the end of the day you just start doing it all day and then you do it with your friends. You just can't stop doing it.

What was the most difficult part of nailing that accent? The most difficult sound or specific word?

GRAHAM: Luckily, Corin really has a cool accent. He's a real cowboy, so he brought the authenticity of that. But we worked with a dialect coach, and we had these things that I would listen to every day, and just the R’s and everything. It’s fun.

Place of Bones is in theaters on August 23. Find showtimes below:

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