Maika Monroe, a solid member within the movie “Longlegs,” poses for a portrait on the London Lodge, Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in West Hollywood, Calif. | AP
LOS ANGELES — One of many few moments of levity in “Longlegs” — the Neon horror movie in theaters now a few Satanist serial killer — occurs when Maika Monroe’s character, Lee Harker, meets her co-worker’s younger daughter.
It’s apparent the analytical FBI agent doesn’t spend quite a lot of time round children. Her stoic, awkward character is comically heightened by this interplay with the kid, who asks Harker to do issues she clearly has little interest in, like seeing the woman’s bed room or coming to her birthday celebration.
Efficiency of ‘Longlegs’ star Maika Monroe
Critics have praised the 31-year-old’s “Longlegs” efficiency — which says one thing whenever you share the display screen with Nicolas Cage. However her calculated, offbeat character is much more spectacular given Monroe’s affable, nearly whimsical character.
“There’s a type of childlike high quality to her that’s extraordinarily compelling and swish and charming,” stated Cage of his co-star.
Her endearing approachability is probably a minimum of considerably attributable to the truth that she has all the time saved Hollywood at arm’s size. “I don’t essentially like being totally consumed on this world,” Monroe stated in a current interview.
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Neither of her dad and mom work within the leisure trade and solely reluctantly agreed to start out driving her to Los Angeles from Santa Barbara for auditions as a child whereas she balanced college and her kiteboarding pastime. And as an alternative of obsessing about getting her large break after years of making an attempt, Monroe took a while away to be an expert kiteboarder within the Dominican Republic when she was 17.
“I used to be just about like, ‘Appearing simply isn’t for me.’ I’m going to courses, I work on my traces, I work so onerous for these auditions, and I really feel like I’m doing all of the issues and it simply isn’t clicking,” Monroe recalled. “It was so irritating. And it was attending to a spot the place it simply wasn’t feeling good anymore.”
However she wasn’t prepared to surrender totally. Though she removed her agent, Monroe saved her supervisor, who would often encourage her to ship in audition tapes.
In nearly a yr, she solely despatched in 4 or 5. She didn’t hear something again — till she did.
Skilled athlete, large break
Monroe loved being an expert athlete and stated it gave her a wholesome perspective on her profession, however as quickly as she was solid in “At Any Value” alongside Zac Efron and Dennis Quaid, she rushed residence. Quickly after, her large break did include David Robert Mitchell’s 2014 cult indie horror movie, “It Follows.”
“There’s been so many ups and downs and so many occasions the place I query, like, ‘What the hell am I doing right here?’ And it’s such a troublesome trade, simply mentally,” she admitted. “There’s been most likely two different occasions all through my profession the place I’m like, ‘I can’t do that anymore.’ And but I simply preserve getting pulled again. And on the finish of the day, I really feel like that is what I’m meant to be doing and that is what I’m good at.”
Fairly than look again on her time as a kiteboarder as a detour, Monroe stated it was formative, particularly since she competed at a time within the sport when girls had been significantly outnumbered. “I’m so grateful for the power that I felt. I felt highly effective and powerful. And it was similar to an important expertise for me,” she stated.
Scream queen
Superstition makes her reluctant to confess it, however she stated this appears like a turning level in her profession. She is ready to reprise her position as Jay Top for Mitchell’s “They Observe,” which is scheduled to start manufacturing early subsequent yr.
However Monroe stated she initially nervous a sequel 10 years later may simply be a money seize or damage the unique.
“I used to be like, ‘Oh no’ … as a result of it was simply so iconic at the moment when it got here out and the way in which that it ended,” she stated. “However I all the time had religion in David. He’s so specific about what he does. Clearly, he does barely something as a result of he’s so choosy. It needs to be on his phrases, his scripts. And yeah, I learn it, and I used to be like, ‘Oh, okay. That is the way you do it.’ So, I’ve excessive hopes.”
Though “It Follows” and “Longlegs” have been Monroe’s most high-profile horror movies up to now, her listing of appearing credit inside the style is an in depth one.
“I need a goddamn rom-com. Come on. Good God. What am I doing?” she joked about her status as a scream queen, however stated that she’s completely happy to remain on the planet of scary films if it means continued artistic success.
“Probably the most fascinating roles, essentially the most fascinating tales and scripts that I’ve been despatched normally fall beneath this style and normally find yourself being the movies that I’m most happy with, not solely as a complete, however my efficiency. And I really feel like essentially the most progress as an actor occurs by these.”
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