Orphan: First Kill Star Isabelle Fuhrman Talks Embracing Esther for Unexpected Prequel

Back in 2009, the unsettling horror film Orphan not only served as a compelling and twisted narrative that had real-life inspirations, but the project also served as the breakout role for child actor Isabelle Fuhrman. Not only was Fuhrman tasked with channeling a chilling demeanor alongside a childlike innocence, but the material also required her to convey more mature storytelling elements, as she was a child playing an adult playing a child. In one of the more ambitious filmmaking moves in the horror community in recent years, the now-adult Fuhrman is returning to reprise her role in the prequel Orphan: First Kill, which hits theaters, Digital HD, and Paramount+ on August 19th.

The new film is described, “Esther’s terrifying saga continues in this thrilling prequel to the original and shocking horror hit, Orphan. After orchestrating a brilliant escape from an Estonian psychiatric facility, Esther travels to America by impersonating the missing daughter of a wealthy family. Yet, an unexpected twist arises that pits her against a mother who will protect her family from the murderous ‘child’ at any cost.”  

ComicBook.com caught up with Fuhrman to talk reprising the role, practical challenges, and future opportunities.

ComicBook.com: As soon as horror fans heard that this movie was happening, there was lots of, “What the hell are you talking about? How is this going to happen?” Just brains trying to wrap around it. What was your first reaction? Was it the same, “How are we going to pull this off?” or was it, “Sign me up, I don’t care how it’s done, I need to do this,”?

Isabelle Fuhrman: Well, I actually was part of the reason that we even did a prequel, which a lot of people don’t really know. That whole story that was out in the U.S. about that family that adopted a child that might have been an adult and then left was all over everywhere. I got so many messages and emails from people about Orphan and how it was reminding them of the movie that I just sent a message to David Leslie Johnson, who wrote the first movie and produced this movie. I said, “How about we have a coffee? And would you ever maybe think of doing a sequel?” And he said, “Actually, we have a script for a prequel.” And so they went out to pitch the movie and Entertainment One came on and then [director William] Brent [Bell] signed on and the ball really started rolling from there.

But I wasn’t involved as an actress up to that point when it was first announced, because, like you said, how are we going to make this happen? It was the big, million-dollar question, but it was really Brent who believed that I could play Esther as a 10-year-old, that, I think, was the reason that we made it work. He decided to do a screen test and we did special effects makeup and different lighting tricks and forced perspective with Karim [Hussein], our DP. And that was, really, I think, when everybody started to see for themselves that we could actually make this work. I was just so excited to sign back on. I mean, it was touch or go whether or not it was going to happen for a bit, so I’m just really happy that we were able to make it work 

I think an “ambitious endeavor” is a good way of describing the whole experience. When you actually got the green light, you’re going ahead with this, heading into the project, were you most concerned with the emotional task of reprising Esther or was it the physical aspect of actually practically shooting it? And then once you actually shot it, what ended up being the bigger challenge, the emotional element, or just the physical, practical elements?

I think, first, for me, it was definitely emotionally challenging, and also my voice. There are things that naturally happen as you get older. I believed and trusted that Brent and Karim and our wonderful costume designer, Kim [H. Ngo], and everybody, all of our producers were going to figure out how to physically make me look like Esther. That was not necessarily something that I thought about very much, but it was difficult to step back into those shoes of being a 10-year-old. And for me, I took out my old script that I had when I did the first movie. I was poring over the notes that I had taken when I was a kid and I really ended up finding this wonderful marriage between who I was when I was 10 years old and played Esther for the first time, and who I was when I filmed this two years ago at 23.

I found a way to ask myself, what is the decision as an actress that I would make now given all the experience and age and wisdom that I’ve had since the first movie, and then what would 10-year-old me have done, as well? Because those are two very different decisions, but I feel like I had to find a way to marry both of them in order for this to feel like a cohesive story.

I really was proud of the fact that not only was I able to learn how to do the accent again and pitch my voice up and be able to step into that place emotionally, but also physically. We had all these incredible people standing behind it and helping us make this practical, then I had two wonderful young actresses, Kennedy [Irwin] and Sadie Lee, who were my body doubles for the whole movie. With them, we really added such a cool layer to Esther, I felt, because I was able to use their youth and talents and what they wanted to bring to Esther because they were fans of the movie as well, which was really funny. We were able to develop something different, I think, with Esther in this movie. 

Speaking to Esther’s backstory and her history, when you were such a young kid playing this role, or you might not necessarily be thinking of this complex ornate backstory to play Esther, but in the years since, I’m sure you’ve developed some history for her. Did this script somewhat honor what your own personal backstory for Esther was? Was it a collaborative process to develop this?

No. The script was something that Dave Coggeshall, our writer, wrote and there were parts of it that I felt made sense to Esther and things that Brent was super excited about, like the blacklight painting. There were things that we decided to bring from the first movie, like wardrobe pieces and things like that, to add in the music, “The Glory of Love,” some things like that, to give the audience these little nuggets of, “Oh, this is where these things came from.” But for me and my performance, especially, there was so much actually in the original script that didn’t make it into the first movie. Things about Esther’s childhood, things about Esther’s family life, and these were from the original script for Orphan, not for Orphan: First Kill.

For me, I got to go back and look at those scenes and really dive into finding a way to humanize Esther as a person in this movie and have a little bit more fun with her since we were in on the secret. That was a really fun part of this movie that I didn’t expect, was getting to play with her and play with her secret, and find ways to let the audience in, rather than keeping them out. That was really the backstory, for me, was just a part of it, but this story takes place where it does and it was written, so I got to play within this box that Dave Coggeshall created for us. 

It might be the same answer for both parts of this question, but did you have a particular favorite scene to shoot or a particularly challenging scene to shoot, either because of the practical elements or just the emotional elements of it?

I think my favorite scene to shoot, and I don’t want to give away anything of the story, was a scene that I have with Julia [Stiles]. And I remember sitting across from her and just being absolutely floored. She is one of my favorite actresses. I wanted to work with her for so long. I’ve been such a fan of hers, and to have Esther and Tricia, these two evenly matched women, sitting across from each other, and instead of it being … In the first movie, Kate discovers who Esther is a little bit too late. There’s something fun about the fact that Tricia discovers who Esther is, and still decides to play this game with her, and I’m excited for people to see the twist.

You’ve had such a diverse career since this breakout role in Orphan and you did a big franchise thing with The Hunger Games, are there other franchises out there that you’re a big fan of that you would love to have even a small part in, whether it be a Marvel, a Star Wars, anything like that you’d like to keep a lookout for on the horizon?

I’m open-minded about all of those things. I would love to play a superhero. I think I’d be really great at it. I love exercise and I love kicking butt and being a badass, so I would love to do something like that. I don’t know if there’s a particular franchise, per se, that I’m eyeing or looking at, but I think that’s just because I love reading scripts with an open mind and seeing things, and sometimes you see stuff that you never know what’s going to be great and what isn’t, and that’s always the truth. Sometimes you make a movie and you think it’s going to be amazing from day one, and then you watch it and you’re, “Oh, no.” So for me, it is just picking things that I want to work on and that excite me at the time, and so I’m ready for anything to come my way, really.

I do love the idea of, “Why did you join this multi-billion dollar franchise?” And you’re, “I wanted an excuse for exercise. That’s it.”

Honestly, there’s something really cool about learning. That’s part of what I love about being an actress is you get to morph into all these different people and step inside their skin. But when you learn a skill at the same time, I think it really helps you grab into what makes that person tick and who they are, and not to quote what people say in an exercise class, but basically how you do anything is how you do everything. And I do think that’s true. If Esther were to take an exercise class, I feel like she would attack it with as much vigor as she possibly could, but secretly, she would practice at home. She would then come and surprise and shock everyone with how good she is. So that’s just my random analogy that makes absolutely no sense for this interview, but there you go.

Well now you’ve just confirmed the exercise spin-off movie with Esther. 

Orphan 3: Flat Stands.

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Orphan: First Kill hits theaters, Digital HD, and Paramount+ on August 19th.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You can contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter.