‘My life’s like a dream. I STILL PINCH MYSELF
The Hollywood actress talks séances, souvenirs and faking appendicitis
Hereditary is undoubtedly the scariest movie of the year. And a lot of the credit must go its star, Toni Collette, whose character of Annie, grieving for her recently deceased mother at the start of the story, is then put through a relentlessly gruelling series of traumatic experiences. The actress spends a vast amount of the film’s running time in a state of high distress, her face frequently contorted with terror or grief, or both, but if that sounds unbearable to watch, her superb performance makes it all seem so real, you just can’t take your eyes off her. If she doesn’t get an Oscar nomination for the role, we’ll be picketing the Academy.
Of course, Hereditary is just the latest in a long line of acting triumphs for Toni, 45, whose big break was in the classic Australian romcom Muriel’s Wedding in 1994. She immediately established herself as one of the most naturalistic and effortlessly likeable young actresses out there. By the late ’90s she was getting Oscar nods and box office hits, combining the two in the iconic The Sixth Sense, opposite Bruce Willis.
Twenty years on and Toni is still one of the most sought-after and versatile actresses in the world, gliding seamlessly from comedies like Little Miss Sunshine, to the intensity of the instant classic horror movie that is Hereditary. In real life, Toni is modest, open, funny and positive. The total opposite of Annie in the film, which looks like being her greatest career triumph yet. So, before we get to what makes Toni tick, her family, and the time she faked appendicitis, let’s find out what makes Hereditary so special…
For anyone that hasn’t seen it, how would you describe Hereditary? I’d say it’s a very frank look at a family in pain. It’s about confronting great loss, and how people try to deal with that successfully and very unsuccessfully. It’s also about what we inherit from our family. It’s very extreme in this case, but… I found it really fascinating that there could be a film that both existed as a horror film and also as something so honest. Everyone’s saying this is the horror movie of the year. Has that surprised you? There’s been a smattering of films where there is some kind of knowledge that there’s a special quality about them, but I’ve been making movies for almost 30 years, and this is the first time that this kind of palpable energy has surrounded a project. It’s really interesting and exciting. Obviously with every job you go into, you care about it, you hope someone will connect with it, but for it to happen on this level is quite amazing. What was it like playing Annie? She’s a complex character… I agree, and that’s really why I wanted to do it. I just thought, “Oh, my God. How often do you get a chance to really go for it?” This woman is just so complicated. She’s not your typical mother, she’s not your typical artist [her character makes miniatures based on her life], she’s not a great wife. I think she’s really repressed and I don’t blame her. There’s so much toxic and unthinkable behaviour within her family. There’s that sequence that’s kind of a dream within a dream sequence where she says terrible things to her son, but it’s a really great opportunity to have some insight into her awareness – because that moment is her subconscious. How did you and Ann Dowd [who plays the mysterious Joan in the film and is most recognisable as Aunt Lydia from The Handmaid’s Tale] get along? I am in love with Ann. We got along like a house on fire. We can’t wait to find something else to work together on. She is one of the most brilliant actors I’ve ever worked with and she’s one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met. Her energy is infectious. So warm and such a generous actor – I’m just happy to know her. In the film, they have séances, where they’re contacting another world. Would you ever try to do that in real life? If you watch this movie and then go and have a séance, you’re a f**king idiot! [Laughs.] I believe that the physical world is very temporary, very beautiful and very limited. There is so much that we don’t understand. We are so small and so insignificant, and I would never partake in anything like that because you have no idea what
you’re inviting in. What was it like working on such dark material with 16-year-old actress Milly Shapiro? Milly is the consummate professional. This is her first film, but she’s a Broadway veteran. She’s incredibly astute and made very clear decisions about what she wanted to portray. She’s a total sweetheart, as well, so it’s very, very, easy. We had a couple of conversations like, “Oh, this is pretty heavy. How much can she handle?” But she loves horror films and she’s very mature, so it didn’t seem to be an issue. Are your kids aware of what you do? Are you strict about what they can and cannot see? Oh, absolutely. There’s very little that they can watch at this stage. They’re only ten and seven, so it’s going to be a long time before they see this one. You once said you faked appendicitis when you were 11 and had your appendix removed. Did you tell your parents after the operation when you were in hospital or years later? No, no. I told them like 15 years later!
‘If you watch Hereditary and have a séance, you’re a f**king idiot’
How did you eventually break the news to them? I think I talked about it in an interview, and then I warned them that I had talked about it and kind of came clean and then, I can’t… I’ll tell you what. Having kids, my memory is gone. [Laughs.] I can’t remember the details of exactly what happened. As a teenager, did you ever imagine the career you’d have now? I had hopes, I had dreams, but I had no expectations, and I think it’s the expectations that can really f**k you up. So, I’ve been so appreciative of every experience that I’ve had because I know where I came from and it just seems like a dream. To be honest, I still pinch myself. I just did this film with [American screenwriter and director] Dan Gilroy and we were shooting at the Hollywood Forever cemetery, and I remember driving out of the cemetery on my last day and looking up at the Hollywood sign and I mean, honestly, it’s so far away from the world I grew up in that… I’m 45 now and I still pinch myself. Really? I think that’s a healthy attitude to have in general. W hen you’re young, you’re just putting one foot in front of the other, and still think life is like that for me. I don’t have a grand plan. I have a few personal ones, but as far as my career goes, I like to be open to the experience. I’m very open to things and I can very much feel when it’s right, and I can feel when it’s wrong. If I get too kind of cerebral or intellectual about it, I know that I’m thinking about it too much and I probably shouldn’t do it. Dan Gilroy’s married to Rene Russo, is she in this new film, too? Yes, Rene’s in it, so’s Jake Gyllenhaal, Zawe Ashton and John Malkovich. It’s called Velvet Buzzsaw. Who do you play? It’s set in the art world and I play a curator whose ambition leads her to become an independent art advisor. It’s just about lots of different things – it’s about monetising art, it’s about how slippery that world is, it’s about how art has its own energy that can live on beyond the immediate production of a piece and its initial expression. Do you keep souvenirs when you make movies? Did you keep anything, other than the script, when you made Hereditary? I think I threw the script out, actually. [Laughs.] I did keep a couple of the miniatures and, oddly, my jeans. I spent so much time in those jeans. The film is somewhat about those jeans in a different sense, and they were very much a part of my character. They’re covered in paint. Have you worn them since? I have, actually, and I do think about the movie. Maybe I shouldn’t wear them.
Hereditary is in cinemas nationwide now