Irish rising star spills on playing bloodthirsty vampire in new horror "Abigail"

Alisha Weir, the 14-year-old rising star from Dublin, chatted about the strange duality of playing an innocent young girl who also happens to be a bloodthirsty vampire in the new horror flflick "Abigail." “Abigail has two sides, and you see those two sides in the film," Weir recently told the PA.

“I really focused on those two sides be‐ cause at the start of the film, you want people to believe that she’s this sweet, innocent girl.

“If you go into the cinema knowing nothing and haven’t seen who Abigail really is, I wanted to focus on tricking people, because that is what Abigail try‐ ing to do, she’s trying to trick the people who have kidnapped her.

“I was trying to really focus in on that other side of her to make people believe that this was a sweet, innocent girl, but also to remember who she really was.” "Abigail" also stars Kathryn Newton ("Big Little Lies"), and Dan Stevens ("Downton Abbey"). It also features the final perfor‐ mance of Angus Cloud, the Irish Ameri‐ can star of "Euphoria" who passed away last year.

The movie was filmed in Glenmaroon

House in Dublin, a former residence of the famous brewer Arthur Guinness. Weir told Irish publication JOE: “It was amazing to get to film it in Ireland. "I filmed 'Matilda' in England but getting to film it like down the road from where I live, it was amazing because my family got to come on set.

“My dad got to come on set, my mom and my sisters got to see what it’s like behind the scenes because it’s very new to me, it’s very new to my whole family all this and they are just so excited, as I am.

“So for them to get to come on set with me was really special.”

"Abigail" is certainly a di erent direction for Weir, who previously starred in the Netflix hit "Matilda: The Musical" as well as "Wicked Little Letters," which also starred fellow Irish actress Jessie Buck‐ ley.

Her talents aren't going unnoticed. Last week, Weir was included in the Enter‐ tainment portion of the annual Forbes 30 Under 30 - Europe list. The publica‐ tion noted: "The young star was just 13 when she scooped the Dublin Film Crit‐ ics' Circle award for ' Breakthrough Artist (Irish); for her performance, and 14 as of this list's publication -- making her the second-youngest lister in Forbes Under 30 Europe Entertainment history (after Millie Bobby Brown in 2018)." "Abigail" will be released in cinemas on April 19.