‘Heretical’ costars talk about portrayal of Mormonism after growing up in the church

Both leading actresses in Heretic grew up practicing Mormonism, but the role of the missionaries in the film was more of a coincidence.

As co-director Scott Beck said Weekly entertainment In an interview published on Friday, November 8, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East – who play Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, respectively, opposite Hugh Grant’s villainous Mr. Reed in the A24 thriller – both had a religious upbringing that “didn’t was definitely on our side.” Bingo card when we were casting.

“We didn’t think, ‘We need to find two actresses who were raised Mormon,'” said Beck, 40. “But the reason they won the role is because they were so honest when they played it. We kept coming back.” Our casting director asked, “Are there more people like these two? Because there is a truth there.” ”

East, 23, told the outlet she “feels like I know this character in my bones” given her personal connection to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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“I wish I didn’t know so well and have to research, but I thought, ‘I get it,'” she explained. “Unfortunately, I was that person or have that person inside of me that I can use in this film. But it’s very nice to have a role that’s somewhat natural.”

Thatcher remembered this EW that she felt an “immediate connection” to the East because they both grew up in Mormon families.

“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,” he added Yellowjackets Actress, 24.

Speaking to Utah’s ABC4, Thatcher said she was “just thinking about my cousins” and also “asked my mom a lot of questions” while preparing.

“Chloe is much more outgoing, so I got a lot of feedback from her and sought out her friends. She showed me her friends’ Instagram,” she added. “So I thought, ‘This is what a modern Mormon is.’ It looks like that, and it’s so normal that there are so many different degrees of it.

Like East said EWHeretic gives a different take on the portrayal of Mormonism.

“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,” East said. “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.”

In HereticMr. Reed (Grant, 64) initially seems harmless as he welcomes two LDS Church missionaries into his home. But when sisters Barnes and Paxton try to convert him to their religion, they find themselves in a psychologically twisted test of faith.

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In conversation with GQ Released earlier this month, Beck’s co-star and co-director Bryan Woods said Thatcher and East wanted to “keep everything grounded” in their performances and “find the authenticity they know.”

“To this day, Chloe has friends who are missionaries at the moment“So she texted them while we were filming,” Woods, 40, added.

As for Thatcher, he said she “left the church earlier in her life” and “has family members who go back and forth,” which “definitely helped enhance her performance as Sister Barnes.”

“[The character is] Someone who grew up in the church but still has the question, ‘Is it real?’ or ‘Do I fit in here?’ and ‘What do I believe?'” Woods added.

Heretic is now in the cinema.