This ‘Longlegs’ Scene with Maika Monroe & Nicolas Cage Is VERY Real

The Big Picture

• Welcome to a new episode of Collider Ladies Night with
  Longlegs
  star Maika Monroe.
• During her Ladies Night chat with Perri Nemiroff, Monroe revisits her horror filmmaking journey from breaking out via
  It Follows
  to starring opposite Nicolas Cage in
  Longlegs
  .
• Monroe also teases the upcoming
  It Follows
  sequel,
  They Follow
  .

I hope you’re ready for a one-two punch of horror icons on Collider Ladies Night. Last week we put the spotlight on Mia Goth for the release of MaXXXine, and now we’ve got Longlegs headliner Maika Monroe who is, hands down, one of the most exciting voices in the horror space right now — and has been for a decade.

It Follows completely changed the game for Monroe in 2014. The David Robert Mitchell-written and directed film featured a brilliant concept that was expertly executed, putting the project on the path to becoming a modern horror classic. That wasn’t the only 2014 release Monroe had that earned such high honors. She also starred in Simon Barrett and Adam Wingard’s The Guest, yet another beloved film festival gem that went on to be hailed as top-tier horror by the masses. And Monroe has not stopped excelling in the genre since. She consistently works with directing visionaries with bold and ambitious ideas, ideas that give Monroe opportunities to push boundaries in horror storytelling and challenge herself as an actor in that space. Not only is her latest in that department a big winner in every respect on screen, but the quality of the work seems to be paying off significantly. Longlegs is already setting records for its distributor, Neon, and is poised to take in $14 – $17 million for its debut weekend.

Monroe leads Longlegs as Lee Harker, a new FBI agent who finds herself working on an especially gruesome case. Given her unusually adept perception, FBI veteran Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) recruits Lee to help him track down a serial killer with ties to the occult.

In celebration of Longlegs’ nationwide release, Monroe swung by for a Collider Ladies Night interview to dig into how she carved out the perfect place for herself in Hollywood.

Disney & Nickelodeon Weren’t for Maika Monroe

Given Monroe started auditioning as a teenager, it likely won’t come as a surprise that she was asked to audition for a number of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon productions. If you’re familiar with even a fraction of the body of work she’s amassed since, you know that’s not quite her thing.

“I started auditioning around 13, 14, so a lot of the auditions were for Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, and probably what you’ve seen through my career is
that’s not really my vibe. I’m not very good at that.
It just wasn’t my thing, but I kept being sent on these auditions and there was one, it had to be for some Nickelodeon TV show where I had to have a Swedish accident and dance at the same time, and I just remember going in and being like, ‘Oh my god, oh my god, this is so bad,’ and then doing it and seeing all their faces like, ‘What is happening?’”

You know what was actually happening? Monroe was inching closer toward a space she’d excel in while weeding out the type of material that didn’t quite work for her. Sure enough, the perfect creative partner was right around the corner, Ramin Bahrani, the director behind Monroe’s very first feature film, At Any Price, in which she starred alongside Zac Efron.

“I was living in the Dominican Republic at the time doing kiteboarding and I had sent in my tape. I loved the script, I sent in an audition tape, and then he was like, ‘Yes.’ I was one of the six girls. Flew back to LA and I was so nervous. I got into this room with him, and it was just like magic, like the way that he works with actors. I was terrified. This was a big deal for me. I think because it was his first big movie and there was this, I don’t know, connection and I just walked out of that being like, even if nothing happens, I felt like I met such a special person.”

Wondering about the kiteboarding reference? Kiteboarding wasn’t just a hobby for Monroe. She was a professional athlete in the sport. But ultimately, the time came when she had to choose between forging forward with that or committing to acting full force.

“It was probably when I had a really terrible accident kiteboarding. I cracked my head open. I’m fine. All is well.
When you do any sport, and at that time I was doing it professionally, you need to give it your all.
You need to give it 100%, and at that time, I couldn’t. It was just this sort of wake-up call where it’s like, ‘Okay, you’ve got to make a decision. You can’t be getting pulled in both these different directions.’ Acting was like this visceral feeling. There wasn’t really, at that moment, a debate, ‘Oh, which should I choose?’ It was just like, ‘This is what I need to follow,’ and here I am.”

Monroe’s instincts were spot on. At Any Price was only the beginning. Soon after that movie’s release, Monroe would celebrate the big debut of the film that would become her “Hollywood breakout,” It Follows.

“That was a real big turning point in my career and in my life. That experience on that set,
it’s like I saw this magic being made in this way that I can’t really explain
, but I think it has a lot to do with David [Robert Mitchell], the director, and his vision. But just being a part of that and feeling that and being in it, it was magic for sure.”

While Monroe insists that breaking out in Hollywood doesn’t mean everything changes, she did note the significant uptick in new opportunities coming her way. “It was night and day for me.”

Why Maika Monroe Prefers Indie Movies

Oftentimes in this industry, an actor pops via a smaller independent production and then the big studios swoop in and snatch them up for massive blockbusters. Sure enough, that happened to Monroe — twice. Once with Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence, and then again with the young adult book adaptation, The 5th Wave.

“You’re on these small movies, tiny budgets, and then all of a sudden, they’re like, ‘We’re gonna offer you this amount of money to be on this,’ and you’re like, ‘Oh, okay! That sounds fun and exciting.’
It was just a
completely
different experience.
I felt like I was so green to that world, too, because it was just like a whole different speed and the way that things were made. I was just like, ‘Oh my god, what’s happening?’ But still, in the end, there’s so much of that world that’s so fun being on these huge sets. It was wild. It was this huge change for me.”

A good time and a valuable learning curve, but one that further highlighted the types of on-set environments Monroe thrives in most.

“
What I love about indie movies is that everyone is on that set because they believe in the script, they believe in the director.
They are there not because they’re making money, but they’re there because they want to be a part of this thing. That isn’t the same feeling you have on a big movie. It’s just a different feeling. And there’s nothing better. There’s an intimacy on the smaller films that just brings life to me and makes me continue to love this job that I do.”

The Unforgettable Experience of Seeing Nicolas Cage on the ‘Longlegs’ Set for the First Time

There was lots for Monroe to love on the set of Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, beginning with an aspect of the film that was a dream opportunity.

“I am obsessed with crime thriller movies. I love them. When I read the script, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna be in an FBI outfit on a crime scene.’ For the first time in a long time, I was so excited for the sets and the wardrobe. I was so excited. It was like a dream role.
I grew up with
The Silence of the Lambs
, Jodie Foster, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, my dream is coming true.’
”

While there was a good deal Monroe was looking forward to jumping into the production, some of her most memorable experiences on set came from the unexpected, particularly when working with Nicolas Cage who plays the film’s wildly unsettling title character.

“
Nic and I, the director didn’t want us to meet prior.
I didn’t see any photos. They’d done make-up tests, this and that, and I didn’t see anything. I saw nothing. They brought me to the door to the set for the scene — I don’t want to give too much away — and I was breathing really heavy, my heart was pounding, the director called action, I opened the door, and that was the first time. So that was the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like that, and they had the cameras rolling, they were all on me, and
my reaction in that scene, that is real
.”

You’re Not Ready for ‘Longlegs’ Scene-Stealer Alicia Witt

While many might seek out Longlegs because they see Monroe and Cage’s names on the posters, and rightfully so, the film features another powerhouse who’s bound to be one of the most talked about aspects of the film, Alicia Witt who plays Monroe’s character’s mother. “It is such a unique and uniquely challenging role.” Monroe continued, “I was absolutely blown away working with her, but then seeing the movie, I was like, ‘Oh my god!’”

It was of the utmost importance that Witt had that kind of impact on Monroe on set, because the mother-daughter connection is absolutely vital to the progression of the narrative.

“I think the most important [thing] is her relationship with her mother. I feel like that’s really, with anyone, it’s very informative, your childhood. So I think that that was a really important thing to understand and what things to bring in or wait until the end for her to discover things because, I mean, with trauma, you suppress a lot. And so I think it was important to know when to bring certain things forward and when to suppress.”

Part of the reason Monroe was able to calibrate that so well is because of what Witt brought to the table. “We didn’t really know what she was gonna bring, and she immediately brought this sort of quirkiness.” Monroe added, “I could definitely see why Lee is the way that she is being raised by a mother like that.”

‘Longlegs’ Is “Interesting and Beautiful and Fucked Up,” And That’s Why Monroe Did It

Given the fact that Monroe has so much experience working in the horror genre, it’s no wonder she keeps churning out phenomenally unique films. With each and every movie she takes, she seeks a story that will help her push boundaries in new ways. Longlegs does that in spades.

“Especially now having seen
Longlegs
, I think back on
It Follows
and seeing, in the horror genre, having a movie that sort of pushes the needle forward and is doing something different, something classic, but doing something different and unique and telling a story a different way. I think that
Longlegs
is doing that, sort of
pushing the needle in a way that’s so interesting and beautiful and fucked up
, all these things that are why I was like, ‘Oh, I need to do this.’”

Eager to hear even more about Monroe’s journey from pro kiteboarder to horror icon? You can catch our full 45-minute conversation in the video interview at the top of this article, or you can listen to the chat in podcast form below:

Longlegs is now playing in theaters nationwide. Click below for showtimes.

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