Recently we had the chance to talk with Alys Crocker and Winny Clarke about the world of acting and their interest in the horror genre.
So how did you both get into acting?
Winny: Well I have been acting in school plays since I was six, I wanted to be a pop start and then realized I couldn’t sing very well. Honestly, I been acting as long as I can remember and it’s the only thing I’ve ever really wanted to do, the only thing I’ve pursed and here we are.
Alys: My dad was actually a drama teacher, he really loved the classic films, the horror films so I really got intofilm that way. I wanted to go to school for acting by my mom wanted me to get a real career so I did the whole traditional route, got my degree, never used it and went and got an agent, that was seven or eight years ago and I’ve been acting ever since.
Now how did the two of you get involved with the movie The Door?
Winny: Regular audition process, so first set of auditions and then callbacks, I don’t know if we chemistry reads, I think we did.
Alys: Well on the callback it started with about thirty people for all the different roles and as the day went on it dwindled down and I looked over and there was Winny on one side and our friend Matt on the other side and I counted the number of roles left and I said I think we’re it guys. They brought us all in for a chemistry read and it was amazing, we’d been chatting with each other during the day, getting friendly with one another and now we’re real-life friends.
Do you both have an interest in horror or was it the roles themselves that attracted you to the film?
Winny: I’m very scared of horror films. I have an interest in it but I’m very, very scared of it so it takes a lot of preparation for me before going into a horror film. I liked the story, I like to act, it was an easy decision.
Alys: As I said before, growingup my dad was a huge horror buff so I watched tons of horror movies. I was really into Dario Argento, I was watching that when I was ten years old, so I started early, so that drew me towards that. It was sort of a natural fit for me, girls ofour age, ones we were interested in, we’re really good scream queens so we wanted to fit the rolls really well. Then I realized how much I loved it, after doing my first horror movie and I’ve been into it ever since.
What is it about the people behind Black Fawn Films and Distribution that make them fun to work with?
Winny: Black Fawn is the distributor of The Door, I didn’t get to work too closely with them but I know them outside of The Door. They are just a really relaxed bunch of awesome people, the kind of people that as an actor you really want to work with.
Alys: They are best friends so when you work with them, like I did with The Door, it almost feels like you’re just hanging out with a bunch of people you really like, I think that’s probably my favorite thing about it.
Do you feel that women, not just in independent horror but mainstream films as well, are finally getting the recognition they deserve with bigger and better roles?
Winny: Absolutely. It’s a very exciting time, Alys and I talk about this all the time because it’s the first time ever that women are getting lead roles in positions that they have never had before. Positions of power as well, not just the girl screaming and needs help but kicking ass. I think we both consider ourselves feminists and we love what’s happening, how the landscape is changing, the ideas of what women can do and what they can be is changing and yeah, it’s about damn time!
So what do the two of you have coming up next?
Winny: I’m shooting the third season of a web series called Swerve and then early next year we’re actually turning it into a stand-alone feature film, so those are the two things I’m working on right now.
Alys: I just had a movie come out called Grey Matter, it’s sort of like a thriller/sci-fi/horror mix, I have another movie called Humans which should be out in the next couple of months and I have a movie called BFF Bride which should be out sometime next year.
I want to thank Alys and Winny for taking the time to speak with us