Luke Owen got on the phone with Lights Out star Maria Bello to talk about the film…
After a few issues between myself and Warner Bros about getting on the phone, I was finally connected to Maria Bello who was at her home in Malibu. Not only is Bello the star of the horror movie Lights Out [read our reviews here and here], she also reminded me that the weather was much nicer her end than it was in London. Which was nice of her.
This isn’t the first time that Bello has talked about the movie, and I can only imagine the amount of times she’d been asked about the short this feature was based upon. Trying to save face and look like a good interviewer, I instead questioned her if the short scared her. “Yes, the short scared me,” she replied laughing. “After I was offered the movie I watched [the short], and that’s why I wanted to do it. If he could scare me in under three minutes, if he did a feature film he could really scare me.”
In all honesty, the short is scary and incredibly well put together – but what scared Bello? “The funny thing is, I’m not afraid of the dark, I actually like the dark.” she admits. “But it was just the light going on and off, and not knowing what’s behind you. That’s what the thing was – not knowing what’s behind you.”
This isn’t Bello’s first journey into the world of horror. Last year she featured in the utterly terrific Demonic [read my review here], but the actor admits that its not the lure of the genre that makes her pick the movies. “It depends on what the character is,” she said. “It’s not that I enjoy horror more than thriller or a comedy, it all depends on the comedy. That’s why I chose to do this movie. It was because of the character. It was a family drama as well. My character is mentally ‘off’, let’s say. Schizophrenic, bi-polar. That was a really fun thing to play, it was something I could relate to.” She added: “With every character I play, I take hundreds of little bits and pieces of myself and take 30% of that and put it on the forefront. I’m very lucky to be on the right medication to deal with my own bi-polar. But when I wasn’t in the past, I was very clearly – it’s in my bones – what it’s like to be depressed and in that state. I was very fortunate to draw upon my own experiences for this character.”
Lights Out is directed by the man behind the original short, who was then given a chance by Blumhouse Films to do a big screen-length version as his feature debut. Bello has worked with some very talented and experienced directors in the past, so was it difficult being led by someone so inexperienced? “I think David did great,” she proudly admits. “He was such an easy person on the set. He really trusted the actors, and he was very aware that he hadn’t directed a big film before and yet he knew exactly what he wanted. He was a very good leader. You could tell he was someone who loved film. He and his wife would sit there at their apartment and make hundreds of these little films apparently. And he was able to do things, pacifically lighting, that were very unique and cost effective. He was thinking outside the box, because previously he’d only shot things on his iPhone.”
With a budget of just $4 million, Lights Out was an instant success when it opened to $21 million and it sits currently at just under $100 million worldwide. Not bad at all. With The Conjuring 2 and The Purge: Election Year doing amazing at the box office, it’s been a really solid year for low budget horror. “From everything I’ve read, from the reviews and from people who are in the movie, I can only imagine [Lights Out] will be a huge hit,” Bello told me prior to the film coming out. “Fingers crossed, people seem to really like the movie. There isn’t a dull moment in it. You’re honestly on the edge of your seat the entire time, and its scary without being bloody gory – which I like.”
Speaking of The Conjuring 2, on a trip to see the movie with my girlfriend she found herself buried into my arm during the trailer for Lights Out. While my girlfriend felt silly, she wasn’t alone. “That’s so funny,” she said laughing after I told her about my girlfriend being scared. “The actors and I weren’t in that first scene with the mannequins – and I watched the whole thing through my fingers I was so scared. Especially with the mannequins and everything, it was so freaky.”
But is it scary on set? “No, not really,” she jokes. “You don’t have to remind yourself [that it’s just a movie]. You have 50 people around you and you’re in a closet talking to someone who clearly isn’t there – so I’m very aware I’m acting (laughs).”
Bello also featured in the rather tormented Grown Ups 2 starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James, a film that I have professed an obsession for on our own Flickering Myth Podcast even though people hate it. “Do people hate it?,” Bello questioned when I asked about the online hate for the movie. “I don’t listen to that stuff.” Before Bello opened up about the possible third movie, I first asked about the differences working on low-budget Lights Out to the big budget nature of Grown Ups. “Definitely on Grown Ups 2, we had really good catering,” she said laughing. “[Lights Out] was also shot very quickly. I think this movie was shot in four or five weeks, it was like shooting a television show where there aren’t as many set ups or takes. Some of those turn out really well.”
So, what’s the deal with Grown Ups 3? “People have talked about it and we’ve heard it might happen,” she said honestly. “But I don’t know if there is a script, I don’t know what there is. But I hope so because, boy, it’s fun to work with those guys.”
