We Summon the Darkness Star Alexandra Daddario Details Exploring New Corners of Her Career

Dating back to some of her earliest feature-film roles, Alexandra Daddario is no stranger to genre films, having starred in movies like Bereavement, Texas Chainsaw 3D, and Burying the Ex, all of which opened up the doors for opportunities in a number of high-profile projects. The actress went on to star in major tentpoles like Baywatch and San Andreas, with some of her more recent projects like We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Night Hunter seeing her return to her more thrilling roots. Her latest film, We Summon the Darkness, sees her blending humor with horror in the Satanic Panic-era throwback.

On the way to a heavy metal concert, Alexis (Daddario) and two girlfriends hear a news report of a local murder believed to be tied to a series of satanic killings. After the show, the girls invite three guys to join them at the estate owned by Alexis’s father, a fire-and-brimstone preacher (Johnny Knoxville). What starts as a party suddenly turns dark and deadly in this devilishly entertaining thriller.

ComicBook.com recently caught up with Daddario to talk about her interest in the genre, finding the balance of comedy and fear, and taking on a producer role for the project.

ComicBook.com: Viewers spend a good amount of time in the film’s first acting becoming invested in your characters as we see them hanging out in the parking lot of a heavy metal concert. If the 2020 version of yourself was to hang out in a concert parking lot in 1988, what concert would that be?

Alexandra Daddario: No one has asked me that question.

I guess it’s a pretty specific question.

If it was defined by my age, who I am now, I would not be in a concert parking lot because I like to go to bed by nine or 10.

In the film, it’s a metal concert, so I wasn’t sure if you would be the Slayer or Metallica type, or if you’d more likely be at a New Kids on the Block or Tiffany concert in 1988.

It would be more like Talking Heads, probably.

A horror movie might not ensue if you met strangers in a Talking Heads concert parking lot.

No, it would not. I mean if it’s my character from the movie, definitely it would have to be heavy metal, which, again, I would not like. I don’t listen to a ton of heavy metal and I was four during the ’90s. I was introduced to a lot of new stuff throughout the process of this film.

You’ve been in a number of genre films before but this is your first time producing one. How did you get involved with the project and what inspired you to both star in and produce it?

I was approached to star and produce. I’d worked with the writer before, Alan Trezza, on Burying the Ex and with one of the producers before, and I was a big fan of the director [Marc Meyers]. I wanted to help get the project off the ground and I believe that I helped get some of the financing, which was the initial producer credit. And what’s interesting about being in that position and I found on films I’ve had a producer credit on since then, is it does allow you more freedom. There is some knowledge that I can bring just from having been in this business for as long as I have.

There’s stuff I can help the film with, I found, whether it’s people I know who can help with certain things budgetary-wise or certain knowledge I have, and then I know when to step back when I really don’t know what it is that I’m doing. I find that’s what I bring to the table. It helps me learn. I feel like it’s good, as a young woman, to empower myself to produce and understand my business better.

The film has certain scenes that are more comedic and others that are more horrifying, so, being involved on camera and behind the scenes, how did you find that balance of which scene would call for what kind of energy?

There is some of that from the director, of “do it this way, do it that way.” I think that I’m really grateful to my cast because I think everyone really understood the movie that we were in. I think that there’s this sense, and this is how I approach life, I find life to be incredibly serious and also very absurd. I think that that’s where some of the comedy comes from, is being in this really absurd, elevated world and treating it like it’s very serious. I think everyone really understood that and it allowed us to play and go over the top, but also being naturalistic and real and grounded. Everyone was really talented and really understood how to reach that. That’s also the director’s role to come in and say, “This needs to be pulled back,” or, “This needs to be more.” I’m always grateful for feedback like that because a director can lead you to a better performance.

You’ve had a number of memorable roles both in and out of the genre, so has being a producer on this film at all altered your perception of them? Obviously you appreciate them, but do you think, having been a producer, it might impact the way you approach future genre roles?

I would never miss a project. I think that making a film is incredibly difficult, and I produced a couple of projects. I’ve been on enough that I have an understanding of how complicated this is, what works, some of what doesn’t, and I’m still learning, but I have a deep appreciation for how difficult this is.

It’s allowed me a deeper understanding of the complexities of financing, the complexities of casting and you always know that stuff’s important, but really being privy to understanding the different types of things that go on, even liability issues, whatever the case may be. I think that it’s been really positive in a lot of ways because I was having instincts to want to be more involved before I was a producer and being a producer allows me the freedom to help if I can help. It’s the last thing that you ever want to do, is to be a hindrance to anything. I think that it’s allowed more collaboration and more, I don’t want to say control, but I think that being able to help is what I really wanted to be able to do. So it’s a very positive thing.

You’ve shared your love of films like The Shining and Silence of the Lambs before, and you obviously put a lot of thought into what roles you take, but are there any properties that you’re passionate enough about that, if an opportunity to join a reboot or sequel appeared, you’d take it without question?

Definitely The Shining would be one, for sure. That’s something I’m really excited for. I don’t even know how… I’d be really curious to see that. I wish I had a better answer off the top of my head. But films like that, it’s about the people that you’re working with. The director is, to me now, of utmost importance. And the producers and the people who are involved, how do you feel that you can trust them? Do you feel that you’re going to be in an environment where you’re nurtured and where you are safe and where people are going to take care of each other and really know exactly what they want to put on the screen, what is their vision? The Shining is a great example of where they assembled a great team, but I wouldn’t want to do something just because it’s a remake, if it wasn’t the right team of people, if that makes sense.

So we get your San Andreas co-star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for a Shining reboot where you each play one of the Grady twins.

I’d love that. Or we can star in Silence of the Lambs together, that would be wonderful.

Except you play Hannibal Lecter and he plays Clarice.

That’s right. I can’t imagine anyone not seeing that.

*****

We Summon the Darkness lands on VOD and Digital HD on April 10th.