Freaky Star Vince Vaughn Reacts to High Praise From Stephen King
When the first trailer for Freaky, Christopher Landon's new body-swap slasher from Blumhouse, was [...]
When the first trailer for Freaky, Christopher Landon's new body-swap slasher from Blumhouse, was released earlier this year, it drew some incredibly high praise from horror icon Stephen King. The author tweeted that Freaky looked "f*cking awesome" and that the film's star, Vince Vaughn, deserved to be nominated for an Academy Award. Those are some massive props from one of the biggest names in horror history, and Vaughn certainly appreciates the praise coming from someone he's always looked up to.
Ahead of Freaky's debut this weekend, ComicBook.com spoke with Vaughn and co-star Kathryn Newton, who play a serial killer and victim whose bodies are swapped by a cursed dagger. We asked Vaughn about the praise that came from King about his performance, and this is what he had to say:
"Yeah. I'm a big fan of Stephen King, his writing too. I remember I was saying earlier that his... He wrote a series of books called The Bachman Books under the name Richard Bachman, and he had a short story in there called 'The Rage,' which was one of my favorites as a kid. He's a tremendous writer, and obviously, the films of his books have been terrific. So that was very flattering for him to say that, definitely."
Based on the trailer of FREAKY, Vince Vaughn has GOT to get nominated for an Academy Award. This looks fucking AWESOME!
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) September 10, 2020
Vaughn plays a serial killer known as the Blissfield Butcher, who steals a dagger filled with magical powers and attempts to kill Newton's character, a high school girl named Millie. When he stabs her with the dagger, the wound isn't fatal, and it causes the characters to switch bodies. For most of the film, Vaughn is actually playing Millie, trapped in the killer's body, while Newton is playing the lethal Butcher, whose new look has given him easy access to just about anyone in the town.
"I had no idea where to start playing a serial killer, the teenage girl thing I got down," Newton told us. "But to have Vince there to collaborate with, was just like a dream. And Chris Landon, our director had such a deep backstory for the character. So, we both just got to be grounded in that. It was so cool."
Landon, who also directed both Happy Death Day films, co-wrote Freaky with Michael Kennedy. The movie also stars Misha Osherovich, Celeste O'Connor, Uriah Shelton, and Alan Ruck.
You can watch the full interview with Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton in the video at the top of the page.
Freaky arrives in theaters on Friday, November 13th.
