Anya Talor-Joy

Getting spooky with the breakout star of The Witch.

“If you pitch ‘puritanical horror film’, you don’t get that many people going, ‘Fuck yeah, everyone will love it!’” laughs Anya Taylor-Joy – yet her movie debut The Witch was acclaimed at Sundance in 2015, and she’s filmed roles in M. Night Shyamalan’s Split and Kate Mara sci-fi Morgan. “I haven’t been home in a year,” she says. “It’s been epic...” What’s the story of The Witch? It’s about a family of Puritans. The father has a disagreement with the plantation they’re living on and decides to move his family out into the middle of the woods, which sounds like a great idea! The youngest child gets stolen, which creates a lot of tension and the family begins to disintegrate.

Was shooting as uncomfortable as it looks? We really did shoot in the the middle of nowhere, but the most beautiful, heart-warming middle of nowhere. It was six hours away from Toronto; we shot in an abandoned lumber yard. It was tough: we were battling the weather; working with animals and children. It was intense, but we had so much fun.

How was it working with M. Night Shyamalan on Split? He is a genius and I absolutely adore him. He made me, hopefully, an infinitely better actor. Split is very much his style. He’s said this is the most challenging film he’s made because it’s really off the wall. It’s damn smart and it’s got a lot of emotional depth to it. The film’s a bit like an onion, to quote from Shrek. It’s incredibly charged and unrelenting.

You’ve also got Morgan coming up, directed by Ridley Scott’s son Luke... That’s about a woman who comes to check out a scientific lab where they’ve grown a human being to determine whether to put her down or not. Kate Mara is incredible; I’ve been so lucky that my teachers have been these really stunning actors. JW

ETA | 11 Mar ch The Witch opens this month. Split and Morgan will open in 2017.