While audiences everywhere are terrified of Longlegs, Maika Monroe is immune to its horrors by now. The actress, who stars in the film as FBI agent Lee Harker, doesn’t find the film scary at all. “I’ll ask friends, ‘Is this so scary for you guys?’ When I watch, I remember that day on set when that happened. The magic is taken away, for sure.”
Longlegs, directed by Osgood Perkins and co-starring Nicolas Cage as the titular character, focuses on Harker, who is tasked with connecting a series of familicides in a small town in Oregon. After each family is slain, the killer only leaves behind a note that resembles the real-life Zodiac Killer’s cryptic messages, signing each one with the name Longlegs. The film keeps its audience on edge, slowly building to the climax where Harker and Cage’s Joker-fied Longlegs finally meet face to face. The film has gone viral on TikTok and Instagram, with some calling it the “scariest movie of the year.” And it’s currently the number one movie in the country (after Despicable Me 4).
While Monroe’s Harker is reserved and deadpan, her real-life personality is bubbly and fun. The star grew up in Santa Barbara, California before moving to the Dominican Republic to train in kiteboarding. Upon returning to the United States, she pursued acting, and became known for her roles in The Guest and Watcher. While her biggest hits have been based in hair-raising flicks, she has dipped her toe into other genres too. She starred with Timothée Chalamet in Hot Summer Nights and made an appearance in the action film Independence Day: Resurgence. She has two films, In Cold Light and They Follow, the sequel to the cult classic It Follows, on the horizon.
Monroe spoke with ELLE.com about the breakout horror film Longlegs, what to expect from They Follow, and her film icons.
The first time you met Nicolas Cage was while filming the only scene you share together. He was in full prosthetics, and your reaction was caught on camera and used in the final cut. Your heartbeat rose to 170 beats per minute. What was that moment like?
It was just such a wild experience. I think the reasoning behind my heart rate being so high is, on a surface level, it’s all obviously just very shocking. The makeup, everything. The director, [Osgood Perkins, or Oz], didn’t let me see anything prior. It was the first time I ever saw the look of Longlegs, so just that in itself was very shocking and jarring. But then, underneath that, it’s like I’m working opposite one of the most iconic actors. I grew up watching him. I have so much respect for him.
This scene is also the climax of the movie. It’s several pages long. On set that day, there was just a different energy, because everyone knew. Today is the day. It was actually cool when the Oz played me the heartbeat clip for the first time, because you can hear him talking. It just immediately brought me back to that moment, because it’s so ingrained in my head.
Did you finally get to sit down and talk with him afterwards? Was that your one interaction with Nicolas Cage prior to the press tour?
Pretty much. The big scene was his last day of filming. Throughout that day filming, we sort of stayed separate. It wasn’t until the end when we were doing some photos that I heard his actual voice for the first time. He was still in full makeup, but he was very, very sweet. I had to keep filming that day, and he was whisked off to the airport. It wasn’t until the press tour that I’ve actually been able to meet him, talk to him, see him not in Longlegs garb.
Even talking to you for just a minute here, your personality feels so different from Agent Lee Harker. How did you develop her and that character, then?
It is. It was very interesting working on her, because I think with a lot of other roles that I’ve done, there’s still pieces of me in the role, and it’s easier to pull from or create. This was a brand new experience for me. What I could hold onto and my guiding star was just really focusing on her childhood. Childhood is very informative of who you become. If you have severe trauma from your childhood, as much as you suppress it and block it out of your mind, it still lives with you every day. I think that was just important for me, to make sure that that was there always.
It’s not a secret to the audience who the killer is in the movie, though at some points, viewers are tricked into thinking it’s just a serial killer story, but it’s so much more. What did you think of that buildup and that twist, and is that what attracted you to this project at the beginning?
It felt nostalgic and yet brand new at the same time. I grew up loving crime thrillers. I was obsessed. The Silence of the Lambs changed my life. I’ll never forget seeing that for the first time. I thought it was really brilliant how Oz used that to bring in this audience and have a lot of things that felt very familiar taking place in the ’90s. Even reading it, I was like, “Oh, I know where this is going.” Then, all of a sudden, you take a complete left turn, which I think is so fun, and just kind of a new, innovative way in with this sort of classic crime thriller.
I saw in an interview recently that you weren’t really scared on set. What’s it like filming a horror film?
I love my job, I love it so much. I take it seriously, and I’m always super prepared and all of those things, but I also think you’ve got to have fun with it. I’ve figured out ways that I can really sort of tap into darkness very easily. I know the things that can trigger me to get to that place, and I have those, but I can’t live there. I don’t want to live there for mental health reasons. It just doesn’t work for me. On this particular set, Oz was hysterical. So, we had so much fun.
How do you get in and out of that headspace?
Getting into it is putting headphones in. Certain songs can trigger emotions. I listened to a lot of Nina Simone. I don’t know if Lee would listen to that, but I think that there’s a sadness in a lot of Nina’s songs. That feeling sort of worked for me at that time. I also use my own past experiences that can pull me in very fast. Then, in terms of getting out of it, for the past couple years, I’ve been bringing a friend with me to set. I get her hired on the movie as assistant or something, but it’s really just to have a person there. I don’t think people realize how lonely a set is. You’re brought to this random city. You’re taken away from all your friends and family, anything that you know. It’s super lonely. I had a really tough time in the beginning. I kind of figured out that having a buddy there just changed everything for me, so it’s been really nice.
The marketing for Longlegs has been incredible. It’s really drawing people in. What does that success mean to you, with the movie going pretty mainstream?
It feels like the marketing is almost an extension of the film. NEON, for a while now, has been one of my favorite companies. I just think the films that they make, the films that they’re behind, are literally my favorite movies. I think that they understood the movie, and I think that this will change the game of future marketing campaigns. It’s really at the forefront, and it’s just been so cool to be a part of it, witnessing this sort of phenomenon.
It’s scary in a different way. It’s not really “jump scare” horror, it’s smart horror.
I totally agree. Friends will be like, “No, I don’t like scary movies.” And I’m like, “It’s not scary like that. It’s not gory, bloody, in your face. It’s a very slow burn.” I don’t know where people started coming out with it being like the scariest movie ever. I don’t want people who don’t like super scary movies not to go and see it, because I think that they will be fine. It’s unnerving.
A lot of people know you from It Follows. There has been a sequel announced called They Follow, and you’re set to return. What can you tell us about it?
I’m so excited. I have full faith in NEON and David [Robert Mitchell]. David is still one of my favorite directors I’ve ever worked with. He’s an absolute genius, and this will be the first time for me to step back into a role. I’ve never done that before. It’ll be challenging, and there’s a lot of pressure behind this, because there’s a huge fandom of this film. Where you find Jay [Monroe’s character], it’s not what I expected. It’s really great. It’s pretty cool how much It Follows means to people. All you can hope for when making movies is to impact others, and that movie seems to have really done that.
Have you filmed yet?
We’re filming end of this year, beginning of next, depending on scheduling.
What other projects are interesting to you right now?
I’ve gone through different phases of my career, obviously, as anyone does, and I feel like, at this point, it’s working with filmmakers that really interest me, whether it’s a new director on the scene that’s done a really cool short, to a massive person, like Yorgos Lanthimos.
Who else do you want to work with?
Julia Ducournau. She did Titane and Raw. Raw was insane. Titane was one of my favorite films of the past couple years. She’s pushing the needle forward, so that would be my dream. I’m obsessed with her.
How much of a horror fan are you?
I feel like a lot of actors who are in [the genre] are like, “I hate horror,” but I actually really love horror. I grew up watching it and loved it. Around the time It Follows came out, the genre was flourishing. I think in the past 10 years, so many cool filmmakers are stepping into this space. There’s such a freedom in this genre that you don’t really get anywhere else, and I love it. I really do love it.
The genre’s really elevated right now. I read a lot of scripts. Some of the most interesting roles with the most depth, the most versatility, are in this genre. Directors and actors are really able to shine through this space. I think, just with everything going on in the world that there’s something nice, therapeutic maybe, about this genre.
There’s nothing like a group scream. It’s really cathartic. You’re also about to star in the film In Cold Light. What can you tell us about that project?
It was incredible to work on that, something completely different than anything that I’ve done. It’s with Troy Kotsur, who just won the Academy Award for Supporting Actor [for Coda]. Troy is just a fucking force. My mom’s a sign language interpreter, so I grew up spending a lot of time in the deaf community. It was a really special experience to act and sign. It was challenging, but so fulfilling. American Sign Language is such an emotional language. It’s very physical, as so much is expressed through the face. It was very interesting to be acting through that form.
What do you hope audiences take away from Longlegs?
I hope that people out there connect to Lee. At the end of the day, this is a story about a mom and daughter, and the challenges and complications of that. I hope, within this sort of crazy story, people are able to relate, and of course be terrified, but I think we put a lot of love into making this film.
The only two times you see Lee smile is when she’s talking to her mom, and I think relationships with your parents change as you get older. There’s such a shift, and there is a lot of tension with their relationship, a lot of things that they don’t see eye to eye on. But, at the end of the day, it is her mother. It’s relatable. It just felt very real.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
