By DEIRDRE CRIMMINS
Comedy and horror have been cozy bedfellows since nearly the beginning of cinema itself. Nervous laughter and genuine laughs can blend, ebb and flow, as the film develops which pulleys from either genre are getting tugged in any given scene. And one prominent face of the comedy-horror genre hybrid is Nick Frost. In the 20 years since Shaun of the Dead, he has established himself not only as an actor who can balance both sides of the spectrum gracefully, but also as a damn fine writer within the blended genres as well. (Note: See Paul if you have not yet and are a sci-fi nerd, and then buy me a beer in thanks next time you see me in the wild.) GET AWAY was written by Frost, and the film shows his genuine affection for folk horror and willingness to poke fun at his fellow countrymen. Perhaps the best person to stand across from his performance is Irish actress/writer Aisling Bea. Without any seeming hesitation, Bea rises to the material and delivers a performance worthy of all the cringe and intentional discomfort coming toward the audience. Both Frost and Bea sat down with RUE MORGUE to discuss the film, horror films in general and be their charming, hilarious selves.
How did you prepare for GET AWAY to translate that relationship from the script to the screen?
Aisling Bea: We got married in real life and spent seven months living as a married couple.
Nick Frost: Murdering lots of people.
AB: Murdering lots.
NF: We went and had dinner, didn’t we?
AB: Yeah, we went to a lovely dinner. I’d actually met Nick years before at a friend’s wedding. And obviously I was a massive fan of his work. I remember when he started following me on Instagram and I was like, “Oh, Nick Frost follows me.” Then it would be years later when he sent me a DM saying something like, “Do you like herring? Would you like to come to Finland?” And I’m like, tell me more. So “yes” to both. We went for a lovely dinner and got to know each other a bit.
NF: I think within ten minutes, I felt like we were sharing things that you don’t share with people who you don’t, don’t…
AB: Pay 150 quid an hour for?
NF: But spiritually you have that thing where I feel comfortable now sharing this with you even though I’ve only known you a very little amount of time. I want to protect Ash a little bit. I want to give her a cuddle and tell everyone else to fuck off and look after her. So that’s Richard’s vibe to Mummy as well.
AB: I just had a baby four months ago, so anyone saying something like that to me makes me feel like there’s some kind of Stone Age woman in me. That really means a lot to me, daddy, and protect me baby. Protect me. No, I think it is also quite exciting to tell anyone that you’re in a Nick Frost project. They are already signing up to go and see it. As in, you don’t have to do too much work to sell it with just someone’s name. And I think in a career, especially in comedy, it takes a lot of a large body of work to get to that point, which is what Nick has. And I think Maisie (Ayres) and myself and Sebastian (Croft) felt like that as well. Then when we turned up, Nick just made us laugh 100% of the time all the time. I don’t think we ever made you laugh much, Nick. We were always bringing prizes, like when cats bring dead mice to their owners’ doors. We would do that, with which I drop a dead mouse of a joke in front of Nick and he’d go, “Oh yeah, it’d be nice.”
NF: I’m an inside laugher.
AB: Yes, you are a massive inside laugher. I’m not sure I know what your laugh is, actually. Oh no, I have heard you laugh. I thought you had indigestion. I’d done a few jobs before this where there was a lot of crying, like comedy drama, which is something I write. But sometimes you just want to be a bit silly, and this job was so gorgeously silly and a real ensemble. Even though Nick is the lead, he allowed us to have our moments. We did really feel like a little, silly family by the end, and that’s very hard to get. And everyone had their own type of humor. I think even Sebastian and Maisie, who are the kids, are so funny as well.
NF: That’s one of the joys for me; trying to be as collaborative as you can. That goes with the actors and Steffan (Haars, director) and the DOP and the designers. These people are fantastic at their jobs, so it would be silly not to get ’em in. You have to be brave enough to hand it over and say, “Okay, well this is where we are now.” I think also the fact that the actors gave a shit enough to not only learn the lines on their time, but to think, “Maybe I can try this,” or “I’ve got this joke.” Yeah, let’s do it because it’s better than what’s written. And even if it isn’t, we might find something.
AB: Not even that it’s better than what’s written, because the script was so good already. I sort of made a pact with myself that I wasn’t going to do anything I didn’t like the writing on. Only because I think when you’re a writer yourself, you can’t turn that part of your brain off when you’re on a project. I’m sure you feel the same, Nick, it’s like you know how to fix something. I already loved the script and it was just funny. It was a genre I hadn’t done before, and Nick was so great. And then you bring in a family or a relationship, and you have to find stuff on the day to make the people believe that we are, especially in this, we really need to root for this family. And you have to feel like you’re allowed to do that. And we did feel like we were allowed. I learned a lot from Nick from a writing perspective, and that he really did let everyone do their job. Especially since I think Nick was working on this for eight years or something until we finally got to film it. Projects become your babies. I learned a lot from Nick of letting go a bit, not double checking everything. I know this is a metaphor for my own immediate life but leaving your baby with a babysitter for the first time. When her hands go like this, she really needs to hold onto both of your hands. Just going to have to admit that you might drop her and kill her. You just have to hope that you’re not going to drop your baby and leave the house, or else you’re never going to have a life.
I’m so glad you brought up the horror of possibly dropping and killing a baby. We all laughed because you have to, but I wanted to talk to you both about why comedy and horror are such good bedfellows.
NF: I think it works once we see the twist come in, then it works because it shouldn’t work. But I think seeing four characters who are a family; you write them kind of true to life and they’re sympathetic of one another and supportive, and the kids kind of fucking hate them, but then they love ’em and then we love the kids. I think people know what that is. It is a horror because people get killed at the end. But it is, in fact, a film about families and I think it’s something we can all relate to. And then the horror on top is just another little flavor.
AB: I don’t watch horrors. I find them very difficult to watch because you’re left with a feeling that there’s no hope in the world that people will do this. And there’s something about comedy and especially Nick’s body of work with something like Shaun of the Dead or GET AWAY, where it’s almost like it makes fun of your biggest nightmare and that life might actually be a bit more hopeful. When you put comedy with all the gore and blood that is out there in the world and you put jokes in there, it’s such a nice release in that you see the worst thing happen and yet there’s laughter underneath it. I think that’s maybe why comedy feels like a series of reliefs. Like laughter is always of relief. And I suppose stabbing someone to death is a great relief as well. The two things together make for a nice little … it’s a new meditation, really.
Some of the humor in the beginning is at the expense of the islanders, who take themselves so seriously. Folk horror, in that regard, can play into it if you’re taking the outsider approach from it.
AB: There’s an element of beautiful, respectful parody in that there are so many scaredy hearts that don’t have any crack in them. No one makes any jokes the whole time. Whereas this time I think Steffan has shot it so beautifully. I remember when we were doing the landing into the island and all the islanders were there; the costumes and makeup were done so well. I was really sunburnt at the time. It was surprisingly sunny. We were looking at this gorgeous vignette with the church in the background, and it was stunning. But we were about to do absolutely silly Billy business, and there was something nice about it. I always get tempted to make jokes where it feels like no one’s supposed to have any humor. And I think that’s what the film does as well. It sets up the spookiness and then undermines it with a moment as well.
Aisling, you just said that you don’t really like to watch horror films. Did you watch any in preparation?
AB: Oh no. I had to sleep with my mother when I was fifteen because I watched the X-Files on my own. There was a thing in there where something was in the sewers and the rats all went up the toilet as a man sat down to go to the loo. For years I would–if I heard anything–assume that a rat was going to come up the toilet. When I sat at it, I’d get completely scared.
I often end interviews by asking people what scares them, but is it everything for you?
AB: That’s an interesting question. I’m surprisingly good in a drama if something bad happens; I can step in quite quickly. I think I’m mostly scared of my sexy self, though.
I asked Nick recently, but if you want to change your answer from the last time we spoke, you certainly can.
NF: I think it was about dying and leaving my children fatherless at a young age.
AB: I can’t believe I give a stupid answer about my own sexiness, and you did that one.
NF: Yeah. Just sit in somewhere psychologically, which is so dark that you then take your own life and as a result, just fuck your kids up forever.
AB: And it’s obvious by me making a joke in mind, that’s also my answer. You know what I mean? The person who goes by my own sexiness, that’s clearly what’s going on inside their clan brain.
You were just subverting and interrupting the actual fear.
AB: Mine was a text and Nick’s was a subtext.
It sounds like Aisling didn’t watch The Wicker Man but there is a love of folk horror films in GET AWAY.
NF: Yeah. I also have a poke at the English and our lack of wanting to make any kind of effort at all culturally. I think this film also came from a point where spending a lot of time on a Swedish island, I was always impressed by how much frigging culture they had. It made me doubt what it was to be English. I came back and I was like, “Well, what is it? What do we have culturally?” And I didn’t know whether or not roast dinners and pantomime was enough. It is something, but there’s not much of it there. And I kind of love the fact that I can paint us as badly, because we kind of are. A lot of people have said, “The Swedes are going to be mad.” It’s like, well, they shouldn’t be because the other English antagonists are here.
You guys are the ones posing on graves for holiday photos.
NF: We loved it. We didn’t care.
