Caity Lotz
Caity Lotz may be well known in TV with projects such as Death Valley and Mad Men but she makes her big screen debut this week with horror movie The Pact.
I caught up with her to talk about the movie, tacking a big screen project for the first time and what lies ahead.
- The Pact is released here in the UK later this summer so can you tell me a little bit about the movie?
It's a scary movie (laughs). It's about this girl, my character Annie, and she has to go back home after her mother dies and she had been avoiding her childhood and her mother since she left home when she was young - her mother was crazy religious and abused her and her sister.
When she gets back her sister goes missing and then all this weird stuff starts to happen and there is a ghost in her house. So she has to find out what is going on and try to find her sister and figure out who is in her house.
- You take on the role of Annie in the film so what was it about the character and Nicholas McCarthy's script that really appealed to you?
I liked how tough Annie was as a lot of the stuff that I had played before was a smiley, happy girl and this was something a little bit different. Annie really does have a darkness to her as she has had a rough past and she has put up a lot of walls.
She is a tough chick but she is also really smart and it's not like you are going to look at her and go 'why are you doing that? Grab the knife' because Annie grabs the knife as she is a fighter.
So I really liked the character and I also enjoyed the script a lot. I am not normal fan of horror movies but this has a little bit of a throwback and is more like the classic horror movies that are a little bit more psychological than just your average slasher.
- The role of Annie is a pretty physically and emotionally draining for you to be involved with so where there any scenes that you found particularly challenging?
I think the hardest thing is it gets exhausting to do it over and over and get in that state of terror and it's not like you just have to do it once you have to do it over and over again.
So I think that was the most difficult thing just because it would drain me and my character is in almost every scene so I didn't ever have much of a break. But it was so fun (laughs) and I had a really good time doing it.
There is a closet scene at the end of the movie was probably the most tiring scene as well as the physical aspect, which I am a little more use to because I have a lot of experience doing dancing and stunts and being physical. But it was fun and I really enjoyed the challenge.
- What about the stunts did you just thrown yourself in there? And how much is stunt work something that you enjoy?
I think likes doing some stuff and other people hate it. In this movie we did some wire work and that was a lot of fun as they kept taking me up and throwing me against the refrigerator and dragging me across the floor. That to me is really fun and I guess that I have just always been use to it.
I really enjoy doing fighting and choreography stuff. I can't think if anything that I wouldn't like to do... if I had to sit in freezing cold water (laughs) or anything that doesn't really require as much skill are probably the things that I wouldn't enjoy so much.
- And this movie marks you big screen debut after working in TV so how did you find stepping onto a movie set?
It was the same for me and it's kind of like a set is a set and I am here to do what I am going to do.
Everybody on set was really nice and was super supportive and I surprisingly wasn't that nervous, I tend not to be that nervous because I know that I do my work and so I am prepared and when I am there I do what I do and hope it's good.
- I have mentioned Nicholas McCarthy already and he directed as well as penned the script so how did you find him as a filmmaker?
Nick was great. It was really interesting to work with a writer/director because there is just his unified vision and any questions that you have about the script he knows the answer because he wrote it.
Nick was very supportive and really nice and he encouraged me to really go there. He is just a nice guy and he really helped me get a lot of great performances out and when we were working together we got a good little thing going.
- You are best known for your roles in Mad Men & Death Valley so how has your time on these shows really prepared you to make the move into film?
Well working in general helps because the more that you work the better you get and you learn more. Death Valley was an interesting one because I was one of the lead characters and so you really get that feeling of being there all the time.
It's nice to be a lead on thing because you get allotted more creative freedom and it's the same when you are working on a film as you get more freedom and you get to try more things.
Mad Men was one of my first jobs and that was a huge learning experience to watch how the likes of Jon Hamm interacted with the director and how the set worked with all the props and lights and all that stuff. So I guess I learnt a lot from both.
- So now you have got a taste of movies how much is this the medium in which you want to stay?
Gosh, I love them both. I still like TV a lot, TV has had bad rap for not being as applauded as film but I think as time has gone on TV is getting better and better.
I really enjoy the quickness of TV and there is a fast pace to it that I really enjoy. But film is also amazing because you have more time to really dive into stuff, having said that on The Pact we were pretty quick.
But there is also a longevity to film as it feels like it lives forever (laughs). But I like them both.
- You have also completed work on Live at the Foxes Den so can you tell me a little bit about that?
I actually spoke to the director not so long ago and they have just locked the picture so I think they are finished with it, so we will see what happens with that one.
I play an attorney which was really fun, my dad is a lawyer, and I finally get to wear all these lady suits and I never wear any of that stuff (laughs).
- Finally what's next for you?
I have another movie coming out in January and that is going to be a big 3D break-dancing movie called Battle of the Year. It's got a great cast Chris Brown, Josh Holloway and Laz Alonso as well some of the best dancers in the world - it's pretty awesome to see the dancing in that film. It's going to be a good.
The next project that I am filming, which I have just found out about, is going to be a UK movie so that is going to be fun.
The Pact is released 8th June
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw