The Boogeyman follows Sadie Harper and her younger sister Sawyer, who are still grieving the loss of their mother. Struggling with his own grief, their father, Will, is unable to give them the comfort they so desperately need. When a new patient of Will's unexpectedly shows up at their home begging for help, he brings a terrifying entity that latches onto the Harper family. It feeds on their suffering as it becomes more dangerous and infects their home and lives with turmoil.
Rob Savage directs The Boogeyman from a script written by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, and Mark Heyman based on a story by Beck and Woods. The Boogeyman is an adaptation of Stephen King's acclaimed short story of the same name. The Boogeyman stars Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair, Marin Ireland, LisaGay Hamilton, and David Dastmalchian.
Related: Stephen King's The Boogeyman: Where You've Seen The Cast
Screen Rant spoke with Sophie Thatcher about her starring role in The Boogeyman. She discussed what drew her to the script, working with Rob Savage, and how she got into Sadie's headspace. Thatcher also shared what draws her to horror and how her character in The Boogeyman differs from her Yellowjackets character in how they handle trauma.
Sophie Thatcher on The Boogeyman
Screen Rant: Sophie, this movie's terrifying. I would walk by dark rooms and just have this movie in my head because it's that fear of the unknown and the darkness that scares me.
Sophie Thatcher: Yes! It's the fear of the unknown.
This movie is more of a haunted house movie than it is a creature feature, and I love that. It's terrifying, but what was it about the script and the character of Sadie that really drew you into this project?
Sophie Thatcher: Sadie is really complex and has such an interesting story arc and a very satisfying hero's journey. And that's just fun to play out because you get to play through so many different heightened emotions. It's challenging as an actor, but there's so much at stake. She has so many interesting dynamics with her family. There was just so much there. It's Stephen King so of course the characters are well written.
You carry this movie. You're such a phenomenal performer in this. How did your understanding of Sophie evolve over the course of the project?
Sophie Thatcher: Interesting question. I love that. I feel like I taught myself that I can release myself and I don't always have to be in control, and aware, because to get to these points of such crazy circ*mstances and so much anxiety, you just have to release yourself. You have to rid yourself of ego. You have to be like, "Okay, I'm just gonna commit and go for this." I think having that realization that I can do that because I feel like everybody just wants to be in control, but kind of lacking that for a second. It's scary, but it can help your work because it makes you completely vulnerable and open.
I know that Rob developed a pretty in-depth lore Bible for The Boogeyman, but did you develop aspects of Sadie's backstory when crafting the character that impacted your performance?
Sophie Thatcher: Yeah, it was very important to build Sadie before her grieving process, because I think she was a very different person. To figure out those differences I made a playlist for her so I can kind of live in her headspace. I don't think it was necessarily what she would listen to, but it was songs that would get me to what she was feeling. So that was important for me, but also just building what she was like with her friends before. It wasn't that she was a total loner, but this has forced her more into isolation because she feels disconnected from everybody.
It's what you don't see that scares you the most, and I think Rob does a fantastic job of doing that in the film. Can you talk about what Rob Savage's directing style added to this film?
Sophie Thatcher: He's incredible. He's so passionate, and he brings this fresh outlook because he's young, so passionate about horror, and knows everything. So you just give him complete trust. He knows how to make everything work. He knows how to make the jump scares justified and not just jump scares. You feel it, you really feel it. He, to some extent, also felt like a scene partner because there's the Boogeyman and there's stuff that I'm reacting to, but he would go to the extra extent of making a sound for me to react to. [He] just was very adamant on making sure I was present and there and could get there. So it's very helpful.
Can you talk about balancing humanity and deep emotions with the jump scares and the monster tension that's found in the film?
Sophie Thatcher: I think that is just the core. The core of any movie, but for horror to work, you have to build empathy within the character. Immediately when I read the script, Sadie is going through so much. I think to make her feel real, like she's actually grieving. That they're actually a family. I think we had a couple of weeks before shooting, and we all tried to get close, did some outings, and just made sure there was a closeness within us naturally because you read that on screen. You want to feel that there's a lived in family dynamic. I think that the core of their emotions informs everything for the viewer because if you don't feel for them, then you're not going to want to follow them on their journey.
Can you talk to me about what draws you into the horror genre and sub-genre with The Boogeyman and Yellowjackets?
Sophie Thatcher: I just think there's so much fun to play within your imagination. You get to do things that hopefully you'll never get to experience. You get to be creative. You get to use your imagination. You get to really test your limits as an actor and release yourself. I've been drawn to telling darker stories because they can be the most therapeutic and they can evoke the most feelings out of you. So that's probably why.
Speaking about that, I think that horror does a great thing where it makes you think after you get done watching the film. Can you talk about what this film says about grief?
Sophie Thatcher: Absolutely. Yeah, that's the goal. There's so many different ways of grieving and everyone experiences it in their own way. It doesn't always have to be like the loss of somebody. I think we all experienced it with COVID, the loss of time. I think within the end of this movie it teaches us hopefully acceptance and hopefully that life can move on. That you can still hold a part of somebody or an opportunity or something with you, but you can move forward within and it doesn't have to hold you back.
I completely agree. Both Sadie and your character from Yellowjackets Natalie have lost a piece of their innocence. But where Natalie becomes more fractured Sadie becomes stronger. Can you talk about the different approaches and arcs with these characters?
Sophie Thatcher: I love that question. I feel like they just deal with their turmoil in different ways. Very different ways. I think Natalie's very outwards with it and very confrontational, but they both kind of internalize their turmoil and they internalize their sadness. But Natalie is just more aggressive. And I think Sadie just takes it much more inwards. And that's what's so satisfying about her hero's journey. She's forced out of it. And I think because [Yellowjackets is] in TV show format, we have more time to show [Natalie's] arc and we're still going through it.
About The Boogeyman
Sadie Harper and younger sister Sawyer are still struggling with the death of their mother with very littler support from their therapist father Will. When a desperate patient of Will's comes to their home begging for help bringing a terrifying entity with him. This malevolent entity feeds on the pain of the Harper family while spreading turmoil and fear into their home.
Check out our other interview with The Boogeyman director Rob Savage.
Key Release Date
- The BoogeymanRelease Date:2023-06-02
