Brandy Norwood and Kathryn Hunter star inThe Front Room, a genre-defying psychological horror film about Belinda (Norwood), a pregnant woman who comes into conflict with her dementia-stricken, elderly, deeply religious, and somewhat racist mother-in-law, Solange (Hunter). Both women are losing their grip on reality, Solange thanks to her diminished mental state, and Belinda due to the stresses of pregnancy and a setback in her professional career, to say nothing of being saddled with a game-changing new housemate. Eventually, their conflict boils over into the realm of brain-twisting horror, where the audience can never be fully sure of the difference between reality and a stress-induced fever dream.
Directed by The Eggers Brothers, younger siblings ofThe WitchandThe NorthmanhelmerRobert Eggers,The Front Roommarks another creative victory for studioA24, which is already having a fantastic 2024 thanks to critical and commercial hits likeCivil War, MaXXXine, andSing Sing, among others.
Screen Rantgot the chance to interview Brandy Norwood and Kathryn Hunter for thetheatrical release ofThe Front Room. While their characters spend the film hurling righteous spitfire at each other, the mutual love and respect the two performers have for each other is plain to see. Brandy talks about how lucky she was to have such a tremendous scene partner, while Hunter explains how her theater background prepared her to take on any role, no matter how wild or transformative.
Brandy Norwood & Kathryn Hunter on The Wicked Chemistry Of The Front Room
“She really did bring out the best in me as a performer.”
Screen Rant: I saw the most delightfully uncomfortable movie the other day. There’s so many angles from which to watch it. There’s the generational thing, there’s the racial element, there’s the familial element, and I feel like everyone watching this movie is going to come at it from a different angle.
Brandy Norwood: It’s something for everybody, huh?
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Exactly. So when you were reading the script, did you know exactly what you were getting into, or was it later maybe when you were shooting one of those dream sequences?
Brandy Norwood: I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into when I first read the script. I knew it was a lot, and there was so much to it. It was all over the place emotionally. But I didn’t know until I met Kathryn, and met Sam and Max, and Andrew Burnham, and what it was going to really be about, and being in the scenes and reacting, and really being on your toes as an actress. I didn’t really know until I got there, but I’m so glad I did it!
Kathryn, you are that incredible performer who has no vanity about these physical transformations that you go through, either in this or Macbeth or Poor Things. Are you drawn to those characters, or has it just happened to work out that way for you?
Kathryn Hunter: It’s kind of worked out that way. I trained at a very conventional drama school, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but then joined a physical theatre company where we were allowed to play everything, old people, young people, and there was no, “Oh, you look like this, therefore…” I’ve played a chimpanzee, I’ve played a Japanese businessman, I’ve played King Lear. But I think it was that initial training where it was, we go back to the word “freedom,” where, you know, freedom means if I can imagine it, then an audience can imagine it maybe. So, yeah, it’s a delight to venture there.
Brandy Norwood: How lucky am I to work with someone like Kathryn Hunter? She really did bring out the best in me as a performer, and I’m just so thankful. Just to hear your resume is just amazing.
How Brandy & Kathryn Norwood Made The Front Room Dynamic Work
You areincredible together inThe Front Room, and if you two didn’t work, the movie wouldn’t work. Was there any kind of acting exercise or bonding that you did, or is it just pretending to want to kill each other as soon as the other’s not looking?
Brandy Norwood: We did have rehearsal, but there was a bond that we had outside of filming that we just finished talking about just about fifteen minutes ago, about how close we were and about how we were so connected outside of the film. And then, when the cameras started to roll, we had to be enemies. And it was kind of weird to go from bonding and asking her a bunch of questions about her life, and then getting on screen and pouring water on her, you know, or something crazy like that.
Kathryn Hunter: It was a wonderful journey.
Brandy Ponders Carla’s Current Status For I Know What You Did Last Summer Sequel
Brandy, as a big slasher film enthusiast, I’m not going to ask you if you’re going to be coming back for the revival ofI Know What You Did Last Summer…
Brandy Norwood: (Crosses fingers) Let’s hope!
But I will ask you, as one of very few Black women to survive a slasher movie…
Brandy Norwood: That was in the contract. (Laughs)
Do you think Carla thinks that she’s invincible now, or is she in a fortified bunker filled with guns?
Brandy Norwood: Oh, that’s a good question. I have no idea what Carla thinks. I would have to think about that one, because it’s been so long. But I would probably think she thinks she’s invincible, because she survived something like that. She survived a big thing, so let’s go with that.
More About The Front Room (2024)
Everything goes to hell for newly-pregnant Belinda (Brandy) after her mother-in-law (Kathryn Hunter) moves in. As the diabolical guest tries to get her claws on the child, Belinda must draw the line somewhere…
The Front Room
Cast
The Front Room is a psychological horror film directed by the Eggers Brothers. Set in a single location, it revolves around a young, pregnant woman caring for her ailing grandmother, whose secrets and dementia create a tense and eerie atmosphere. The film stars Brandy Norwood and Kathryn Hunter, and explores themes of family, memory, and the supernatural.
