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From writer\/director Neil LaBute, the thriller Fear the Night sees Tess (Maggie Q), a prickly Iraqi war veteran uninterested in winning over anyone, join a bachelorette party for her sister that\u2019s being held at a remote farmhouse without much around except for some questionable characters whose looks linger a bit too long. When a group of home invaders attack and it quickly becomes clear that they\u2019re not interested in leaving any witnesses behind, Tess leans on her training and a methodical approach in an effort to fight back and make it through the night.<\/p>\n
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Maggie Q talked about playing a character who doesn\u2019t put up with anyone\u2019s shit, how the physical moments changed and developed, shooting the different kills, the challenge of using a pitchfork, how a memorable moment at the end of the film came about, and leaving on a little bit of a happy ending.<\/p>\n
This interview was conducted prior to the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike.<\/p>\n
Collider: It feels like the moral of this story is, \u201cUnderestimate a badass woman at your own peril.\u201d Do you feel like that\u2019s an accurate description? Did you feel that way when you read this?<\/p>\n
MAGGIE Q: I did. When (writer\/director) Neil [LaBute] sent the script over and we discussed it, the reason he loved it was that he loved the women fighting back. Really, what these guys think is happening is that they\u2019re gonna attack a home with some scared women in it, and the women are gonna cower and they\u2019re gonna shrink and they\u2019re gonna disappear, and they\u2019re gonna get what they think is in the house, and then it\u2019s gonna be gone and it\u2019s gonna be wrapped up pretty quickly and pretty easily. They just don\u2019t understand, not only that the person they\u2019re gonna be facing is a veteran, she\u2019s skilled, she\u2019s obviously got issues, and she\u2019s got a lot of fire, but she\u2019s also not putting up with anyone\u2019s shit. And what I love about her too is that she was able to galvanize these women who are not her and who are not military trained. She says, \u201cHey, listen, it\u2019s not about what you know, it\u2019s about what you can accomplish with your sheer will.\u201d That\u2019s what she inspired in them, to fight back. That\u2019s why we liked the movie and wanted to make it.<\/p>\n
With the physical scenes, was the physicality always the way it is now? Was it like that, from the first script that you read, or did that change and adapt at all, according to what you could actually do yourself?<\/p>\n
MAGGIE Q: It really changed. In the beginning, when I got the script, these guys showed up, attacked the house in a certain way, and she went and found her father\u2019s guns and was able to fight back, and there was this back and forth. What I told Neil, that I thought would be way more interesting, was to get rid of all the guns. I said, \u201cNo guns in this movie. We\u2019re done with that. Let\u2019s be creative in the way that these women have to get out of what it is that they\u2019re doing.\u201d Yes, in the movie, she\u2019s looking for guns. She\u2019s hoping she\u2019ll find her father\u2019s stash. She doesn\u2019t. So, So when she doesn\u2019t, she has to find different ways to empower these women and to empower herself, to figure out how to get out of this situation and, ultimately, how to win because it literally is a life or death situation.<\/p>\n
What was it like to shoot the first scene where you have to kill the guy out by the cars? What\u2019s it like to shoot something like that, where there isn\u2019t really any fighting from his side? Because she has the element of surprise in that moment, was it very different to shoot a scene like that, when you don\u2019t really have the other person fighting back with you?<\/p>\n
MAGGIE Q: Yeah. That\u2019s a smart question. In the military movies, you always have that duality that goes on. The element of surprise, like you said, and then full combat. The only way that she was ever gonna get out of this and keep these women safe was to invent things that were gonna work for them. One of those things is the element of surprise, which you\u2019re only getting once. She knew, once that guy went down, that they were screwed and that they\u2019d have to come up with a plan. She was just trying to save one car from its tires being slashed and keeping it workable, so that they could have an escape plan. Other than that, that was the moment where everything turned because she knew, \u201cI\u2019m gonna go out and get this one guy, and hell fury is gonna rain down on this house, so we\u2019ve gotta be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
Was it weird to shoot that with the actor? When your natural instinct would be to fight back, at any point, was it hard for him to resist fighting back?<\/p>\n
MAGGIE Q: You\u2019re so right. Poor guy. He didn\u2019t really get to do anything. What was funny about the guy that I did that to was that he weirdly looked a lot like Jack Nicholson. He looked like a young Jack Nicholson. I was like, \u201cWhy does this guy look so much like Jack Nicholson?\u201d I turn him around and I take the thing off his face, and my take five, I said to Neil, \u201cHe really looks like Jack Nicholson, don\u2019t you think?\u201d And he goes, \u201cYeah, that\u2019s his son.\u201d I was like, \u201cWell, that explains it.\u201d It was just hilarious. He was so sweet and he was so game. He was all excited. We had to do special effects. He had to have a huge tank of blood attached to him, and it was very involved. That little sneak attack took us hours to film for one second on screen.<\/p>\n
In comparison, what was it like to shoot the scene with the pitchfork to the chest? She really has to work to kill that guy, and a pitchfork is not something you generally use as a weapon. How was that to do?<\/p>\n
MAGGIE Q: That\u2019s why Neil had to keep cutting back to her being like, \u201cReally?!\u201d That\u2019s not easy. None of that was easy, although the breast plate of a person can actually be really soft in areas. Every time somebody pitches me something, I go, \u201cOkay, how realistic is this?,\u201d and I give them the third degree. We have to go through how realistic it is, and we\u2019ve gotta make calls and do all this stuff to make sure. So, he was like, \u201cYou can either get him up here, where it\u2019s a little softer, or you can get him in the abdomen.\u201d I was like, \u201cAll right, I\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d It\u2019s gotta be believable.<\/p>\n
Maggie Q as Iraq war veteran Tess in Fear the NightImage via Quiver Distribution<\/p>\n
I love how each kill is very different. In the final kill that you have in the attic, you end up with blood spatter all over you from that stabbing. What was that like to shoot? How hard is it to have to shoot that, and then get cleaned up to do another take?<\/p>\n
MAGGIE Q: It was really hard. By the time we got to that, we had to shoot the fight first, and then I got on top of him and we really only had one shot at it. Unfortunately, we did the first take and the blood didn\u2019t work. It worked, but it was really wimpy and not representative of what I was actually doing. So, we had to do a quick clean up on aisle six, and then we had to go for it again. We finally got it in the second take. You only have so many takes. That kill is the last one, so after losing her sister, and after so many people\u2019s lives lost, and after realizing and finding out that this was for nothing, that fire and that anger is so real. There\u2019s no other way she could have killed that guy because she had to get that all out. She\u2019s got one sister that she\u2019s always at odds with, and then she\u2019s got another one who she loved more than anything and who was probably the only person she did love. That\u2019s what that kill was about.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a moment at the end of the film when you walk by the cop car and key it, as you go? Was that scripted? Did that come up on the day?<\/p>\n
MAGGIE Q: Yeah. Neil and I were talking about, how do we create these little moments where you really get to see that she\u2019s an asshole? She\u2019s angry. She has a problem with authority. She has all these problems. We were always trying to find those little moments. Even those moments when she\u2019s talking to her sister and she just can\u2019t let her sister win, or she has to resign to let her win, you had to understand, when you looked at her, that it was totally counter and that she was letting her sister get away with it. The annoying way her sister acts, that\u2019s really hard for her. There\u2019s no way that the normal her would let that go. We wanted you to see in the movie that she was trying to be a better person, but at the same time, like in that car keying moment, she gets the last word. She hated those guys. There was no way she was just gonna walk out and let them get away with it. I laughed so hard when I saw it. It\u2019s just who she is. She just can\u2019t not do it. It was hilarious.<\/p>\n
Maggie Q as Iraq war veteran Tess in Fear the NightImage via Quiver Distribution
\nAfter everything that your character, specifically, goes through in the name of survival in this, do you feel like she deserved to at least have a little bit of a happy ending, riding off with the other woman, at the end?<\/p>\n
MAGGIE Q: Yeah, I do. A big thing for me, that I insisted on and that was not in the script originally, was that her sister that she doesn\u2019t get along with, originally did not make it \u2013 she died in the beginning, as well \u2013 and I said to Neil, \u201cI really can\u2019t play a character, if there\u2019s no transformation. I really need to see that this relationship, on some level, was repaired. She lost the one she really loved, and now she\u2019s gotta make it work and she\u2019s gotta get past who she is, and really care enough that she can create a relationship where there was none before. That, to me, will bring her full circle, with everything that\u2019s happened, even with the loss.\u201d So, Neil gave me that. And then, the thing that he really wanted was the relationship with that woman, where they leave together and you feel like, \u201cOh, my God, she might be happy. There\u2019s a chance that she could find happiness after all of this.\u201d We wanted there to be a little hope, for sure.<\/p>\n
And that character also had growth, by the end of the movie.<\/p>\n
MAGGIE Q: Totally. She wasn\u2019t deep or cool, or anything. She was just a party girl. The loss and the trauma and everything they went through changed everyone, and we wanted to show that, in the end.<\/p>\n
Fear the Night is in theaters and available On-Demand and on Digital.<\/p>\n
View this article at Collider<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maggie Q on Playing a Badass in ‘Fear the Night’ and Shooting the Bloody Kills: From writer\/director Neil LaBute, the thriller Fear the Night sees Tess (Maggie Q), a prickly Iraqi war veteran uninterested in winning over anyone, join a bachelorette party for her sister that\u2019s being held at a remote farmhouse without much around
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