The Craft: Legacy debuted last week on Video On Demand and while the film in many ways felt a bit like a reboot of the 1996 cult-classic The Craft, the film was actually a sequel with its story offering a twist connection between the two films — Fairuza Balk‘s iconic character Nancy Downs. The connection itself isn’t may not have been a huge surprise for viewers, but Balk’s appearance in the final moments of the film was. Now, Balk is opening up about how that stunning and thrilling moment came to be.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Balk explained that she wasn’t initially interested in the project, at least not until writer-director Zoe Lister-Jones met with her and explained her concept for the film.
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“I was approached at a show by [producer] Jason Blum. He came up to me and introduced himself, and said, ‘We’d really like to do something with The Craft. Are you interested in being involved?’ I was like, ‘Eh, I don’t know.’ I didn’t know what to say because I didn’t know him, and I’ve had so many people say, ‘I wish I wish I wish.’ Then I got a call from my manager that Zoe [Lister-Jones] wanted to meet me,” Balk said. “So, we met at a restaurant, and we got along really well, and her idea was that she wanted to do a take on the same kind of idea but for a modern generation and one that reinforces women supporting women as opposed to women fighting women. And that I was the mother of the central character. She was still working out where it was all going to go.”
Balk continued, “It went through a lot of different incarnations. But the reason that I got involved was because her motivation was a really positive one. There are so many movies that are reinforcing women fighting women and the bitchiness. We’ve had so much of that; we know that already. The whole movement that’s happening nowadays in regards to women and taking back their power and setting definite lines as to what’s acceptable and what’s not and insisting on those changes being implemented in the world is really long overdue, and it’s happening finally! More and more women are stepping up and owning their power, and that is a positive thing, and that was why I wanted to work with her.”
For Lister, Balk’s Nancy is “everything” when it comes to The Craft, hence why it was so important to include her in Legacy.
“Nancy is everything. She is The Craft to me,” Lister-Jones said. “[Fairuza] created the most complex, incredible character in Nancy Downs so I definitely wanted to revive her and see where she was at now and maybe tee up the sequel.”
And as for any potential sequel to Legacy, Balk wasn’t entirely against returning again as Nancy.
“It would depend on the story, if it would be a challenge and something fun. My whole reason for being involved was Zoe’s pitch,” Balk said. “She’s very, very smart. She was coming from a very positive space in what she was trying to achieve, and that’s why I was involved in this one. But it would depend on what they write and what they come up with, I suppose. It’s not like, ‘Oh, yes, give me the chance to be this angry again!’ [Laughs] It takes a lot of energy, being psychotic.”
The Craft: Legacy is available on Video On Demand now.
