‘Heretic’ stars Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher talk about their Mormon upbringing

Hugh Grant receives the highest honor as HereticThe biggest star of the film, but Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher are the heart and soul of the film.

In Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ new religious horror film, East (The Fabelmans) and Thatcher (Yellowjackets) play Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes, a pair of Mormon missionaries stationed at Mr. Reed’s (Grant) mysterious compound in Colorado. As they begin to discuss their faith with the disarmingly charming homeowner, Grant’s character gradually becomes more hostile to the concept of organized religion, causing Barnes to consider questioning her beliefs and making Paxton more resolute in her convictions.

The two actresses were both raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (colloquially known as LDS or Mormonism) – although the directors did not know the actresses’ backgrounds when they auditioned.

“They were raised Mormon, and that wasn’t necessarily on our bingo card when we cast them,” Beck says Weekly entertainment. “We didn’t think, ‘We need to find two actresses who were raised Mormon.’ But the reason they won the role is because they were so honest when they played it. We kept turning to our casting director and asking, “Are there any more people like these two?”

He continues: “We didn’t know they were raised Mormons. We could just feel it; We have the utmost respect because they have Mormon families and so share the empathy and love that we have for these characters.”

Thatcher and East both tell EW that they immediately felt an innate sympathy for Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton — and both chose outfits that they knew young Mormon missionaries would choose in their self-tape auditions. “We did chemistry readings with different girls, but I had heard from our casting director that Chloe was raised Mormon and has a Mormon family, so there was an instant connection,” says Thatcher. “We found a lot of parallels in our lives and connected, and I think they saw that and saw the truth behind our connection to religion.”

East says her religious upbringing has shaped every second of her work Heretic. “It was all for my performance,” she says. “A lot of the decisions I made and little quirks were all things I picked up from going to church.” The actress makes it clear that she wasn’t as persistent an evangelist as her character: “Growing up, I was never that one , who told my classmates about the church and why they should join it. I never went on a mission or anything.”

But Paxton’s character still seemed almost disturbingly familiar to the actress. “I just felt like I knew this character in my bones,” she says. “I wish I didn’t know so well and have to research, but I thought, ‘I get it.’ Unfortunately, I was that person or have that person in me that I can use in this film. But it’s very nice to have a role that’s somewhat natural.

Thatcher had a similar experience. “It felt much more personal than other projects,” she explains. “It felt like I was drawing on something I knew a while ago, but it was easier to access because I only thought about myself when I was younger: how I behaved, how I carried myself presented and just thought about my family and… The specific way they talk, how they present themselves, just had my mom’s side in mind. It felt very innate.

East believes Heretic offers a more nuanced portrayal of her family’s faith. “You always see very extreme attitudes – The Book of Mormon musically and even Under the banner of heaven “This is a very particular kind of extreme and extreme Mormon mentality,” she says. “I know a lot of Mormon friends who watch this show and they say, ‘That’s not who we are.’ That’s strange. That’s not us.’ And then you have a truer, more current, more modern version of Mormonism that many of my friends identify with. And you just don’t see that often. They don’t see this version of Mormonism being implemented.”

Beck and Woods, childhood friends, come from different religious backgrounds. “I was raised Presbyterian, went to church every Sunday and took a Bible course during the holidays. “Church and religion were basically my formative years,” explains Beck. “And when I was in high school, I met my girlfriend, who is now my wife. She is Jewish and came from a Jewish family. And when we got married, it was like this combination of religious backgrounds.”

Woods, on the other hand, married into a Mormon family. “I wasn’t raised Mormon,” he clarifies. “The Mormon idea was, ‘Who are these people? What is that?’ I didn’t really know much about it until I met my wife. And we’ve had a billion Mormon friends since then. But all of our friends and family belong to different faiths, if you can believe it. There are many atheist friends.

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These connections with friends and family from a variety of faiths mean that the filmmakers have a strong empathy for their main characters – they see themselves and their loved ones as the film’s core trio. “We feel so much love and compassion for these two women,” Woods said. “The film is very personal, all the characters feel like they’re all a little bit like each other. Mr. Reed and the sisters – they all feel like people we know and love.”

The filmmakers made it a point to take the characters’ beliefs seriously. “In the media, especially among Mormons, it’s so easy to paint a comedic image because there’s a certain naivety and there are just elements that are inherent to Mormon culture that might seem funny to outsiders,” Woods says. “We don’t necessarily shy away from that because, again, I came into a Mormon family and there were things that amused me as an outsider, and so we pushed those buttons. But the deeper we got into the Mormon culture, the more obvious it became that there was intelligence, warmth, sincerity, and all these beautiful things that we really respected.

Heretic is playing in the cinema now.

These interviews have been edited for clarity and length.