Battling an illness and dumped by the love of her life, struggling actress Laura Franco returns to her childhood home to recover. To her horror, she discovers a monster living in her bedroom closet. Turns out he’s quite the charmer. Over time, they forge an unlikely connection as Monster helps Laura stand up to her narcissistic ex and fight for the lead role in his show that was promised to her. Laura and Monster’s relationship slowly grows into something more as she rediscovers her power and learns to unleash her long-suppressed rage.
A “deliciously deranged” genre mash-up (you can read our full review here), Your Monster has now unleashed itself across Australian locations following an acclaimed international festival run, and to celebrate its local release, Peter Gray spoke with lead actress (and burgeoning modern day scream queen) Melissa Barrera about the perfect timing in receiving the script, the bold production under the talented eye of first-time director Caroline Lindy, and how the generosity of her leading man helped elevate her performance.
Your Monster is a horror rom-com musical mash up. It encapsulates all the best things. Was it that blend of genres and its introspective tone that drew you to this film?
There were a lot of things that drew me to it. I think, number one, Laura (my character) being a musical theater actor. Like, that’s who I am. That’s what I went to school for. One of my biggest dreams and bucket list things is to be on Broadway, so I could immediately connect with that dream of hers. I was like, “Okay, this is cool.” I can already see myself in her, so I kept reading, and I love rom coms, I love romance, I love horror, I love musicals. How did they put everything that I like into one movie? And how did it end up in my inbox? I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t commissioned the script because it just felt like I had. It was like, “What do you want to do, Melissa?” And I had ordered someone to write the script for me (laughs).
It was just one of those things that felt like it was meant to be for me. And I also love working with first-time directors that are super talented, because I think it’s just very smart to get in with very talented directors from the jump, because you know that they’re going to be huge, and you can always say, “Oh, I was in their first movie.” Or you can work with them again. I know Caroline (Lindy) is such a star. She has such a unique storytelling voice. And she takes big swings, you know. She’s unafraid to do crazy things. I knew it was going to be a fun ride.
Oh, the biggest swing! I went into this film knowing nothing. I think I watched the trailer once, but I read zero reviews. I like going in blind.
That’s the best way to go in. Especially for something like this that is so hard to define anyway. Like, whatever they tell you it is, it’s not going to be.
When you’re reading this script and you then realise the fate of Laura and the Monster, and the character of Jacob, for that matter, does that affect how you’re playing Laura throughout? Even if it’s subtle, on rewatches would we see anything that gives anything away as to what will happen?
I don’t think so. I mean, obviously, there are lots of clues. There’s lighting cues that really set the stage for the end. There’s also things that I think if you rewatch and see the interactions with the characters of Maisie and Jacob, I feel like there’s clues that you might have missed the first time around. And then knowing how the movie ends, going back you’re like, “Oh, I didn’t see that.” As a viewer, I like that feeling of when the rug is taken out from under me. I like being completely surprised, so I didn’t want to give anything away. Personally, I wanted the twist to be a true twist. For no one to see it coming. I haven’t heard from anyone yet that knew how the movie was going to end.
I can attest to that. I had no idea where it was going, but then when it all happens it’s like there’s no other way this movie could have ended. It just builds so perfectly. Endings can be so hard to land with film, and this does it! Even though it feels far removed from everything, it’s incredibly cohesive. And that’s absolutely a testament to everybody that worked on this film. With the character of Laura, we see that emotional layering and vulnerability to her. Was there any personal preparation in terms of attacking the metaphorical and literal confrontation of her fear?
I didn’t think of preparing for that specific thing. I think I just kind of wanted Laura to feel very, very sad and weak at the beginning, so that I could really build her up and you could see the physical change in her. Like, you could actually feel it and see it from beginning to end. I’m also just that person. Emotional continuity for me in a film is the biggest thing, and it’s also my biggest pet peeve when it’s not there in a movie. When you’re like, “Huh, wait. That came out of nowhere!” So I write everything down, and when we’re shooting the scene I know what just happened and how I left the last scene. How did I feel? How am I coming into this scene? It’s all a thread, and it builds honestly.
I think the scene that had me the most nervous out of all of them, out of the entire movie, was probably the park scene. The “It’s not okay” scene. I always get nervous when there’s emotional scenes like that, where you know you have to get to a certain emotional place to break. I feel like the most interesting thing is to watch someone really trying hard to to (break). That day it was freezing, it was also raining, and it was 2am and we had no time to do it, which is why (the scene) ended up being mostly a oner, because we just didn’t have the time. Thank God we got that take and it just worked all the way through. That was a very good day once we finished.
The scene in the closet (too) when (The Monster and I) are fighting, and I say how he stole all my socks, that was a really hard scene to do, and the song at the end (“My Stranger”), that was a marathon! I felt like I had run a marathon after we finished that, because that was, I think, the second-to-last day of shooting when we shot all the musical numbers. And, of course, Caroline left that number to the end of the day (laughs). I was so made because I was like, “Oh, great, now we don’t have time to do this.” I always find a way of brainwashing myself into being in the emotional state of the character, and I think I do that because it helps me just access the emotion that I need to be in. If I, Melissa, am feeling that way, it’s much easier for me to feel what my character is supposed to be feeling in that moment.
I was working myself up. I was so mad. The theatre was freezing. I was losing my voice. We had, I don’t know, an hour left before the end of the day. We had to finish and you’re leaving the finale of the movie for the end of the day? (Laughs). We were all tired. Everybody just wants to go home. And now we have to do this? At that point we had been shooting for about 20 days, and Caroline was like, “Alright, Melissa is in it! Let’s go.” She knows me by this point, so we managed to do it. But it was like that the whole film. If you think about all the things we have in this movie, with Tommy (Dewey) being in full prosthetics, which takes him, like three-and-a-half hours, I think, (to apply), and it’s a musical, and we have the house, the theatre, the streets, the hospital…all these things that we did in 20 days? It was a very ambitious thing that Caroline set out to do, so, to me, I felt like we shot for six months.
It really isn’t an exaggeration saying “It takes a village” when it comes to getting a film made. Any film getting completed is incredible on its own, regardless of how it performs, but you see this and the fact that it was only 20 days is incredible. A first time female director too? That makes me so incredibly happy. But as you mentioned Tommy Dewey earlier, through collaborating with him as Monster, does that bring any new perspective to Laura for yourself?
Working with Tommy was one of the greatest joys of my life. He is one of the most talented people I’ve ever had the honour of working opposite. He’s so funny. So quick. And I think the movie is as funny as it is because of him. There’s so much improv that he did, and he and I just kind of clicked. It was easy. With a new perspective? I didn’t see it that way, because, for me, Laura is falling in love with a monster, and he’s a real being living in her house. That’s how I played it the entire time, because I think that’s what the movie needed. Tommy knew that (Monster) was in service of Laura. Every single scene is him trying to lift her up in a way, whether it’s tough love, whether it’s cutesy love, whether it’s being a therapist, or whether it’s being her friend or an annoying brother. It was all about how does he love Laura in the way she needs to be loved and to lift her up. That was Tommy’s approach. He made my job so much easier as Laura, because it’s really nice when you’re working with an actor that is generous. And Tommy is very generous.
And just quickly before we wrap up, obviously we have you singing here. And then there’s In The Heights, and your collaborations with artists like Diego Amoz and Jaime Lozano. Is a full-blown Melissa Barrera record something that we could ever be blessed with?
I’ve learned to never say never. I do love singing, and that’s how I started. I started off wanting to be a singer, and then I kind of fell in love with acting and musical theatre. So it became an easy thing to do it all, in this way, but I used to sing a lot and I used to write a long of songs. I still have songs that I’ve written that I’ve never recorded, so I feel like that could potentially happen at some point. But I also know that I love singing as not myself. You know what I mean? I love singing as a character. I love disappearing into someone else and telling a story in that way. There was a brief moment of my life, when I was 22-23 years old, where I was in a duet and I was doing radio concerts and festivals touring Mexico. I had an album out. It’s such a crazy life. I realised at that young age, when I had all the energy, that it wasn’t for me. So that’s why I’m just doing movies and hopefully finding musical elements in the projects that I’m in.
Well, looking at the full-bodied performances that you give, there’s plenty of energy going. I’m so, so thankful that I got to speak to you. I’ve loved all of your work and everything that you stand for, and everything you choose to do is incredible. I love seeing you on screen, so thank you so much for taking the time out for me.
Thank you so much. It’s been so nice chatting with you, Peter. I really appreciate it. Thank you for your time.
Your Monster is now screening in select Australian theatres.
