Finally making its way to general release after wowing Fantastic Fest audiences back in 2011, US horror You’re Next is a tense, funny and frequently gruesome home invasion tale from director Adam Wingard (Pop Skull, The ABCs of Death, V/H/S). Aussie Sharni Vinson (TV’s Home and Away, Step Up 3D, Bait 3D) stars, and as you’ll be able to tell from the pic above, knows her way around an axe. We talked to her about how much fun it was to make You’re Next, the film’s ultimate pick-up line, finding out about her co-star’s propensity for nudity and a bunch more…
FLIKS: Hey Sharni!
SHARNI: Hi, how are you doing?
Yeah, good thanks, how’s your day going?
It’s going great!
You have a super-physical role in ‘You’re Next’, what did you do to prepare for your role in this film?
I think, more so than anything, believe it or not, the preparation in this movie kind of came in a weird way, from 29 years of life experience. They were searching for an action girl that is naturally tough and didn’t try to pose tough and just embodied the physicality – it was very natural. I feel like that has kind of been my upbringing. I grew up doing so many sports and was very competitive as a kid coming through teen sports and also solo sports. I definitely feel like an physical, athletic person and that’s what they were after. I was so lucky to have been able to come in and show that I have other talents than stand and deliver a line.
For sure. Did you feel that you had more challenges securing the role as an Aussie, or was that something that was kind of an advantage for you?
I didn’t think about it. I prepared an audition as an American and just went in like everybody else. It was at the end of the day when I was in the room that they sort of said “Can we hear it in your Australian accent because we think that for some reason the Australian accent sounds tough, it just sounds tougher.” And so I said “sure” and then after doing it in the Australian accent, they just loved it. I feel like it was definitely an advantage.
That rules! That’s really cool.
Yeah it was really cool. I think we’ve got Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee, you know, some people like that to thank that for giving us a kick-ass name as Aussie (laughs).
An athletic butt-kicking Aussie does add up to quite an atypical horror heroine doesn’t it?
I think it will be interesting to see how people perceive the fact the character is not American. I don’t know, I’m enthralled myself. I didn’t see them picking an Australian to be the lead of this film; hopefully everyone understands what I’m saying. I feel a lot of the time, our dialect gets lost. Hopefully everybody understands what I’m saying, it would be good. But it’s cool because we makes jokes in the movie even about the accent. One of the characters goes “I just can’t stand her, her accent, her voice is so jarring to me,” kind of making light through it and that I’m clearly not from there. I think that they love the fact that at the end of the day being from another country adds to the character’s mystery or her background and that then leads into why she has come from where she comes from and why nobody knew about that because she is actually pretty foreign.
It must have been quite nice for you to be a bit more like yourself on the set. Because it seems like Adam Wingard surrounded himself with quite a few mates while making this film.
Yeah definitely, all friends and family, and friends that have become family. The great thing about a lot of his friends are that they not only actors but they are directors as well. They are able to step into the role and have a ten point vision of exactly what it is that is trying to be achieved here and they know exactly how to get it. Because everybody is such close friends and it’s such a family environment, that’s how everyone is treated. Everyone is equal and everybody is given a say and an opinion and a chance to develop their characters to the freedom of their choice. It’s a really beautiful moment and I think that what the movie really shines on, is that freedom.
Did you know much about Adam’s films or Ti West’s films or any of those other guys before you got too involved in ‘You’re Next’?
No, I didn’t. This is my first experience in the independent world of film-making. So I haven’t delved into any festivals or had any knowledge of who any of these people were which was amazing. Once I read the script for You’re Next then I went and got out A Horrible Way to Die which was their last collaborative movie where Simon and Adam together both directed.
Three of the people who starred in A Horrible Way to Die, they put in You’re Next as well. So I was able to get a taste of the way that they would work and what they wanted to change and achieve in this new movie. It was good to have seen that, to see Adam’s style and to know that he’s a director that thinks outside of the box and isn’t afraid to push boundaries or break limits and that’s what intrigued me about him.
Arguably it was quite good not to know too much about all the films those guys have made before getting involved in this one.
Exactly, exactly. I’m glad I didn’t do my research too thoroughly. (laughs)
Otherwise it’s a prolonged shoot with a whole bunch of weird dudes, great…
Yeah I’m glad I didn’t see one of Joe Swanberg’s naked films before because that would’ve put me straight off. (laughs)
When I’m getting off the phone I’m looking that up straight away.
Haha, of course you are (laughs). He finds it’s necessary to be full frontal nude in every film he’s ever done, so I’m glad I didn’t find that out until You’re Next. (laughs)
Thinking about what actually happens in the film, or how it was to make, what was the grossest single thing you saw during the shoot? [SPOILERS FOLLOW]
The grossest…..? The grossest thing for me, I think, was having to stab AJ Bowen through the eye with a knife. Because there was a prosthetic that was put over his real actual eye and you know, it was a certain amount of thickness but it was still obviously something that was over an actual eye underneath it at the end of the day. He would just walk around set with his knife stuck to the prosthetic. So he was just walking around with a knife hanging out of his eye the whole time. It was just gross! You’re eating dinner at midnight with a knife hanging out of your face. Mate, just look at you, you need a photo right now, this is just disgusting!
The same with Joe Swanberg walking around with an arrow sticking out of his back 24/7. It was gross! But it became humorous. Because he would walk around the set and he would forget he had another half a metre sticking out of his back and turn around and whip people out. There was a lot of gross moments that turned on their head and ended up pretty funny.
[SERIOUS MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW. NO KIDDING.]
The stand out killing scene is the blender to the top of the head. That’s an iconic horror moment you’re in right there. What was it like shooting that scene?
It was good, it was so, so, so good! We had the best stunt co-ordinator and we were really excited to work with him in this three-way fight and we knew that it was going to be serious and intense. I think that the cool thing about that fight scene is that you’ve got three people in a very very small, small kitchen space. You were just grabbing at objects, anything you could possibly use to defend yourself in this situation. It’s just a very intricate scene, and I think that after the blender gets smashed across his head, when the audience sees the girl pick up the cord and goes to plug it into the power point, you just all of a sudden hear the audience – they know it’s coming, and they’re like; “ohhhh no no no no!” Also the way Adam utilises the effect of slow motion thorough the whole entire blend-age is just brilliant. I think you could be right, there is a couple iconic horror movie-making moments in this film. One of the others being “I want to f*** you on the bed next to your dead mum” line.
Oh that’s a goody. A whole bunch of couples are going to go home after this film and that’s the pick-up line – that’s going to seal the deal, right?
That’s basically the pickup line of 2013 (Laughs)
A couple of T-shirts maybe?
Just a couple of t-shirts and on the back; ‘You’re Next’. Perfect!
That’s fantastic!
I’ll tell Lionsgate; it can be a Marketing strategy for Halloween this year.
Excellent, (laughs) I love it! So your American films have been marked by quite physical performances. Next it looks like you go psychic…
It’s a remake of a 1978 Australian cult horror classic, called Patrick. It’s about a guy who is in a coma, and he is a psychotic killer and he has the ability of telekinesis to get in the minds of the people around him and make them do crazy things. He’s obsessed with his nurse, and that’s played by myself. So it’s an interesting and dramatic role to go into and to portray a subject that’s come a long way since 1978, it was a very new topic, telekinesis back then and with the progression of technology, we have the opportunity to advance this film into a film than is so much more than what the original was. So it’s going to be a great remake to work with Charles Dance and Rachael Griffiths, it’s like “Are you kidding?” It’s acting royalty, it’s watching and learning really.
That’s a great cast… It’s an interesting line of films you’ve got on at the moment. Are you having a good time?
Yes the best time ever! This is the year, it’s time.
Fantastic. Thanks for talking to us today. I’m really looking forward to seeing ‘You’re Next’ again and watching it with an audience that hasn’t seen it before.
It’s definitely a movie that thrives on seeing it with a huge crowd and it’s also a movie you can see more than once – it just sort of gets better and better. It doesn’t really matter if you know the plot or what’s coming; it’s good. Definitely seeing it with people who have not seen it before and listening to their reactions is an experience in itself.
And go out and buy some ‘You’re Next’ t-shirts. Those are the two things that I’m taking away from this conversation.
And also go Google Joe Swanberg’s naked movie
(laughs) Ha ha maybe later. Thanks Sharni!
Thanks. Bye!
You’re Next is in cinemas now – click here for movie times
