Jessica Rothe’s New Horror Movie Required A Seance After Filming In A House That’s “150% Haunted”

Jessica Rothe has made her horror genre return with Imposters, which gave her an all-too genuinely terrifying experience while filming.

After getting her start with supporting roles in everything from Gossip Girl to La La Land and High Maintenance, Rothe became a household name with her leading turn in Blumhouse’s Happy Death Day as the time loop-trapped protagonist Tree. Though returning for its 2019 sequel, Rothe has largely focused on other genres in the nine years since, including the remake of musical rom-com Valley Girl, the action comedy Boy Kills World and the fast-paced medical drama Pulse.

Hailing from Caleb Phillips in his first feature writer/director outing, Imposters stars Rothe as Marie, a woman who, along with her husband, Paul, are mortified when their baby is taken from their remote home in the woods. Upon learning of a way to bring him back, Marie ventures into the woods and returns with their son, only for both of their behaviors to lead to Paul questioning whether those that returned are the ones he loves, or something far more sinister.

Alongside Rothe, Phillips has assembled a small-yet-acclaimed roster of talent for Imposters, including Russian Doll alum Charlie Bennett as Paul and Severance vet Yul Vazquez in a mysterious role in the film. Having made its world premiere at SXSW on March 15, the film has thus far garnered largely favorable reviews from critics, with particular praise directed toward the horror-thriller’s central mystery, as well as Rothe’s leading performance.

Jessica Rothe: I think some of our crew actually had a seance on our second-to-last night and some spooky things happened, paintings were moving, like weird s–t was going on. But I think it was a friendly ghost that was happy with the work we were doing. No one is too cursed – yet.

Vazquez, who described its design as being “bananas,” went on to recall that “nothing in that house was level,” from the doors to the floors. Phillips concurred with his star, sharing that the production team “didn’t use a dolly for the whole film” given the non-level floors made things a touch more challenging for them all.

Rothe & Vazquez Were Not Ready For The “Wild Directions” That Imposters Goes Down

ScreenRant: You were talking about the reactions that people were having in the theater last night [for Drag]. What reactions are you hoping to happen with an audience in Imposters?

Caleb Phillips: I think there are two moments in particular that I’m hoping for an audible sound from the audience, because I think it’s going to be really hard to not make a sound during those two moments.

Jessica Rothe: Also, Caleb did such an incredible job of creating such a compelling, thrilling, twisty narrative. I think internal and external audible gasps would be great, but it’s also one of those movies that, I think, part of the joy is once you’ve seen it once, you want to go back and watch it again. Because there are so many incredible Easter eggs, because the film goes in so many wild directions that, at least when I was reading the script for the first time, I didn’t expect at all. I think that Caleb and our incredible, incredible crew, and everyone involved did such a good job layering all of that in throughout.

Caleb Phillips: I think it’s going to be a very different movie the second time around.

ScreenRant: Yeah. I had that reaction afterwards. I’m trying to talk about this movie without giving anything away, which I imagine has been very tough for y’all. So Caleb, I’ll start with you. I just want you to describe the film so that I can then know what I can ask you.

Caleb Phillips: I’ve done a decent amount of practice in it. It’s about a baby that gets taken from his parents and comes back under mysterious circumstances. His mom goes into what she believes is some sort of supernatural, magical cave, brings back her son with blood on her face, and she tells her husband she doesn’t remember what happened. But then over the course of the movie, he starts catching her in lies and realizing, or at least believing, that this isn’t really his baby, and she might not really be his wife.

ScreenRant: Yul, for you, what attracted you to the story and the script that made you want to be a part of it?

Yul Vazquez: I had a previous working relationship with one of the producers, Sarah Seligman, and I knew the producer, Tom Bond. And the story that reached me was that Caleb wanted the guy from Severance or something.

Caleb Phillips: Yeah, I was like, “Get me the guy from Severance.”

Yul Vazquez: And Sarah goes, “Well, I know the guy from Severance.” So Sarah called me and I saw his short, they sent me his short, and I read the script and I went, “This dude’s cool.” I liked his insights, I liked his head, I like what he was saying in this short. We had a Zoom, I thought he was great, and I was like, “Let’s go do this.” I do stuff like that. I love young filmmakers and love new voices. So for me, that’s all super attractive. And he’s really good, and the script is really cool. You don’t know what’s coming at you. When I was reading the script, I was never ahead of it, and I was like, “Well, this is good news.” It’s probably a basic answer, but that’s really the whole answer. I just liked the whole vibe, the whole thing.

ScreenRant: You have popped into so many shows and movies where I’m like, “Oh my God, I want to ask him about his experience working on the set.” So, [to Caleb] you saw him in Severance. Is Severance where you were like, “That’s the guy I want.” What was it about that performance?

Caleb Phillips: Without talking a ton about the movie, the character he plays kind of has this complicated mentor role, and I found his presence really safe to be around. But I don’t think his character’s necessarily a good person. I really liked the dichotomy between how safe I felt with him and how problematic of a character he is.

ScreenRant: Now Caleb, is this your feature directorial debut?

Caleb Phillips: Yes. There was, I think, a low-budget feature in the past that I got bumped up to, because I used to be a DP, but this is very much the first film I’ve written-directed — in the horror space, too — on a feature level.

ScreenRant: What did your experience on this film teach you about what you want to accomplish as a filmmaker going forward?

Caleb Phillips: I think it really solidified the kind of thing I wanted to make. Because I’ve attempted to make movies that I think I should make numerous times, and I’d always be unsatisfied. I just completely leaned in to my favorite things in movies, my favorite tropes, and my favorite pace, because there are times that this movie’s slow, there are times it’s fast. I got to know the kind of movie I want to make going forward by the end of this.

ScreenRant: Jess, I mean, I’ve been a fan of you since I saw you in Happy Death Day. I would follow you to the depths of Hell, which we might be doing in this movie, but as someone who’s done horror before, this is different. There are smiles you give in the trailer that are so creepy. Just tell me about the experience, and how it was different from anything you’d done before.

Jessica Rothe: Oh man. Every time I’m sent a project, I’m always looking not only to, “Are these creative, kind, interesting people that I can get excited about working with and collaborate with,” — which definitely was here in spades — “but also what about this project scares me and what about it is going to be a challenge?” And again, without giving too much away about this, my character, Marie, has many different sides. Also, the belief of a woman, and the fervor that she goes after what she wants, and that she’ll do anything to keep her family intact, I think, is an incredibly juicy and exciting place to approach anything from. It was really fun because also, Charlie Barnett, my amazing co-star, who’s not here today, is so incredibly talented. We just hit it off right away. He’s so incredibly kind, so talented, and we really spoke a similar actor language.

So, not only did we have Caleb on set, and Yul, and Bates [Wilder], our other amazing co-star, and all of the brilliant things that our crew brought to work with, but Charlie and I would go home and run lines and practice and really try to get those scenes in our bodies, so that once we were there on the day, we could just play and experiment. And again, Caleb and our amazing DP, Allie [Schultz], really gave us the freedom to work within limits. Caleb always knew what he wanted or, at least, a semblance of it, but then, because of that, we could just explore and throw things out there. Caleb was incredibly generous in the fact that we could come to him and be like, “Hey, we were thinking about the scene and this feels weird, or this might be really cool. Do you mind if we try that?” So even though it was an incredibly truncated shoot, and very microbudget, we were able to kind of squeeze all the juice from the orange.

ScreenRant: Obviously, when you do horror, there are some heavy elements. What do you do to keep it light?

Jessica Rothe: I’m a masochist, so I really like screaming and crying a lot. It’s quite cathartic for me. But I can’t take in new content when I’m on jobs, unless it’s something that’s to do with the film. So I go home, I take a really hot shower, bath, I watch me some Parks & Rec. I watch me some Friends. I just do that palate cleanser. Charlie and I went to Benihana a couple times and got stir-fried rice, and watched them light things on fire. I think you just have to find the joy in the outside moments.

Caleb Phillips: My DP, Allie, and I would binge Emily in Paris. It was such a heavy shoot at times, and my Props Master, Jen Driscoll, recommended Emily in Paris. She was like, “If you just want something to eat junk food, turn your brain off.” We watched two seasons of that show over the course of the movie.

Yul Vazquez: Well, the downtime, I just kind of hung out. But, when you’re shooting something heavy or dark, I think that the lighter you can keep it on set – because to me, it’s two sides of the same coin. I think you can go further with something really dark, the lighter you keep it right when the cameras aren’t rolling. I know it sounds weird. But I really believe that we don’t have to kill ourselves here. We can be okay. We can laugh, and then when that thing turns on, then you just got to go full tilt the other way. So that’s my approach to it. But what did I do? I think I went to like a Chuck E. Cheese or something. No, not Chuck E. Cheese. It was Cane’s! Next to the hotel was a Cane’s.

Imposters made its world premiere at SXSW on March 15 and is awaiting a global release date!

Be sure to dive into some of ScreenRant‘s other SXSW coverage with: