Sophie Thatcher on ‘Companion’ and Horror’s Oscar Moment: “People Are Finally Taking It Seriously”
After recent roles in Yellowjackets, Heretic, MaXXXine and The Boogeyman, Sophie Thatcher is quickly solidifying herself as Hollywood’s newest scream queen, a label the actress admits she is “back and forth” on.
“I think it’s incredibly flattering because all of the best actresses could be described as that, but in any sense I hate being put in a box,” Thatcher told The Hollywood Reporter at the premiere of her latest movie, Companion. “The horror genre is in such a good space right now for any type of storytelling, and I think we’re in such a heightened place in the world right now that horror feels like a really cathartic release.”
Indeed, horror is in such a good space that it has landed at the Academy Awards, via a best picture nod for The Substance (as well as nominations for star Demi Moore and director Coralie Fargeat). “It’s a huge step; people are finally taking it seriously,” Thatcher added of those nominations and the recognition they bring to the genre.
Companion, written and directed by Drew Hancock, follows a weekend getaway with three couples at a remote cabin, which falls into chaos as it is revealed (slight spoiler alert) that Thatcher’s character Iris — in a relationship with Jack Quaid‘s Josh — is a companion robot.
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“I thought it was one of the best scripts I’ve ever read in my life,” Quaid said, adding that although the film’s trailer reveals Iris as a robot, “I love that people tend to be favoring going in blind to this movie, which I think is a really great way to see it. I wouldn’t describe it as a twist movie where like it depends on how hard that twist hits, whether it’s good or not, but I still think it’s a great movie that stands on its own regardless.”
In dealing with such hot topics as A.I. and using robots to replace people, Quaid noted, “I’d like to think one of the messages of this movie is technology is neither inherently good or inherently bad, it’s all about how we as humans choose to use it. And nine times out of 10 we mess it up and we make the wrong call.” Thatcher echoed that the film “approaches it in a very almost backwards way, because the robot happens to be the most human part of the movie, and they have the most empathy. So it is backwards but I think it shows the power it has with technology, it’s neither good nor bad; it’s just dependent on what we do with it.”
Quaid, whose father Dennis Quaid appears in The Substance, also weighed in on horror being elevated to an awards level, saying, “I love it, I think horror is such an incredibly important genre, especially right now. I think you can tell so many stories within the horror genre, there are so many different subgenres within it and I’m just glad that it continues to get more love. I think it’s slowly becoming one of the most important genres that we have because that’s where we can get out all of our fears about the world that we live in.”
Companion, which also stars Lukas Gage, Megan Suri and Harvey Guillén, hits theaters on Friday.
