Evil Dead Rise actress Alyssa Sutherland thrilled to play ‘f****d up’ woman on-screen after being ‘treated like meat’ in fashion-Rebecca Sayce-Entertainment – Metro

Alyssa Sutherland has terrified audiences in her role of Ellie in Evil Dead Rise (Pictures: Warner Bros/Kane Skennar)

Creating a new film in a beloved franchise is never easy – especially in horror, where reboots and requels are often met with vitriol.

But Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise, the fifth installment in the popular possession franchise, has defied all expectations following its release last month.

After being made with just a $20million (£15.8million) production budget and originally slated to go straight to streaming, the runaway success has raked in $100m (£79m) so far at the worldwide box office.

This is a whopping $2.5m (£1.9m) more than its 2013 predecessor from Fede Álvarez, with former series star Bruce Campbell teasing there’s more to come from the world of Evil Dead.

The latest film swaps a cabin in the woods for a condemned high rise in Los Angeles, with Beth (Lily Sullivan) visiting the decrepit building to reconnect with her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and her children.

Their world is thrown into chaos when an earthquake breaks open a way into the hidden vaults beneath the vault, where a mysterious book is uncovered that unleashes a malevolent entity.

The standout aspect of the film – aside from the lashings of violence and gore – has been Alyssa, affectionally called ‘maggot mommy’ by fans of the franchise dazzled by her unhinged performance.

Here, the Vikings and The Mist actress talks to Metro.co.uk about her experience filming the latest Evil Dead film, and what we could expect from the future of the franchise.

Since its release, Evil Dead Rise has been wildly successful with many people praising your performance as Ellie – what has the reaction been like for you?

It’s been pretty surreal, actually, it’s really wild. This career is not an easy one, and I’m aware of how lucky I am.

I’ve had struggles in the past, so to have this moment is literally a dream come true. I’m just trying to absorb it all and soak it up because it feels incredible.

I was saying to a friend, this is what you wish for when you become an actor. It kind of renders me a little bit speechless.

Alyssa’s Ellie is the first Deadite we see in Evil Dead Rise (Picture: Warner Bros)

Were there any moments that you and the rest of the cast and crew suspected that the film would be a success, or was it a total surprise?

It’s kind of a mix of both. I’m a bit of an over-thinker and an anxious type, so I can play out every scenario in my head – and I do, all of the time.

So I had moments of thinking it’ll just go to streaming, some people will see it, and it’s a good credit to have.

But then there were other moments while we were on set when there was a general sense in the air that we were creating something really fun. I think that we all kind of knew that we were on to something special.

The script was so wild. We shot the film chronologically, and some days I would go to set after filming something crazy and think ‘Today it’ll be a little calmer’.

Of course, then you get to set and quickly say ‘What was I thinking?’ because it’s Evil Dead, it just keeps ramping up and getting more and more heightened.

Just watching the shocked reaction of the crew around us was great. I hadn’t really experienced that before, everyone reacting so openly and having such a blast watching us do ridiculous things.

Alyssa described the success of Evil Dead Rise as ‘surreal’ (Picture: Joanna Degeneres)

Original Evil Dead director Sam Raimi and Ash Williams star Bruce Campbell acted as executive producers on the flick (Picture: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for SXSW)

What attracted you to your role in the film and how did you prepare for it?

I was attracted to it because, firstly, I get to establish a loving but stressed-out mother going through a major life transition. And then I get to flip and be a sadistic, unhinged Deadite.

Then also I saw her as being really psychotic and unhinged, and I really wanted to play that because I don’t think we get to see as many women do that on screen as we do men.

I knew it was a rare thing to get as an actress. I wanted to put a really f****d-up woman onscreen and further the idea that we can be disturbed and awful.

I wanted to make it okay to put that on screen and have people watch it and enjoy it while knowing that it’s not real.

What was it like filming an Evil Dead film, was it particularly brutal?

I don’t think I’m a good judge of it, because I love acting so much. I’m so happy to be on set and I like working hard as well. I like that feeling of reaching the end of the day and having a little bit of exhaustion. Maybe it’s a little bit masochistic.

But I also come from the world of fashion where I never really felt properly taken care of as a human – I was more like a piece of meat.

I’ve been in European fashion show seasons as a model when I was really young and didn’t have a voice. Being a little older and wiser I can advocate for myself.

As an actress on set, I always feel really pretty taken care of by the people around me.

My prosthetics guys were amazing. They weren’t slapdash with anything, they were very careful with the removal of stuff.

Having said that, I think I had an easier go of it than Lily (Sullivan) did. She had to get dunked in a blood-filled elevator. I just had to lie down in a pool of blood in a hallway.

I think in terms of who got a thrashing, it’s not fair for me to complain. I’m also aware that I have a lot of actor friends that have a hard time working, and it’s not a good look to be complaining.

Alyssa compared her experience in gore to that of Lily’s, who is caked in blood and guts for most of the film (Picture: Warner Bros)

The actor praised the special effects team for their care during her time on set (Picture: Instagram/@therealalyssas)

Were there any scenes you filmed that were particularly daunting and you wondered how they would be pulled off?

Yeah, there were. You’re going at it at such a breakneck pace and we did all the stunts in two weeks.

The thing that I had any doubt over was the scissor rig. I remember being dragged off to the special effects department and then putting this rig together on the spot.

I had my prosthetics fitted and it was digging into my face, so they had to change it and then it was really crunch time. They really pulled it off.

I don’t think I felt as apprehensive about any of the stuns as much as I did about bringing The Marauder to life. That was a real challenge.

We filmed it in so many different ways. We covered it with me in a 70-pound backpack and the kids (Gabrielle Echols and Morgan Davies) squished beside me. Then we covered it with two stunt performers to contortionists with a prosthetic head of mine on it.

Then we had a Covid lockdown in the midst of it all, and when we went back we had to be socially distanced. So then Gabby, Morgan, and I had to film our portion of that separately.

The film was shot chronologically utilising mostly practical effects (Picture: Warner Bros)

On the other hand, were there any scenes that you read the script and thought, ‘I can’t wait to film that’?

I was pretty jazzed about the hallway sequence. I know well enough that when reading the script, what’s on the page can be interpreted in a lot of different ways.

Lee (Cronin) is directing, and he wrote it as well, so he had a certain vision in his head of how he wanted it to go, and so did all of the other departments.

What I loved about filming was the collaboration of all of those departments. Our stunt coordinator Stuart (Thorp) choreographed the entire hallway scene with his team of stunt performers and filmed it, so we could see a mock-up of how it was going to be.

There is a musicality to the scene that helps with the scares and the humour. I got a real kick out of that one.

The hallway scene was one of Alyssa’s favourites to film (Picture: Warner Bros)

Stunt co-ordinator Stuart Thorp provided the stars with a mock-up of the scene (Picture: Warner Bros)

This film takes us from a cabin in the woods to a high rise and targets a family – what was it like navigating a horror film with young actors, particularly Nell Fisher?

Morgan and Gabby were way beyond the years, and they’d acted before. They knew coming into the project what it was as they’d read the script.

But with Nell, we prepped her really well ahead of time because she hadn’t read the script.

We would show her exactly what was going to happen. There were a couple of times that I decided to change something in a new take, so I would go over and tell her.

I’d always let her know ‘Hey, now a bad word is going to come out of my mouth. I’m sorry. I apologise in advance. It’s pretend.’

We also showed her the makeup process of me turning into a Deadite, and she would also never see me on the dark set, it was always under bright lights.

She was so wonderful and such a trooper. I credit her professionalism because she was so well prepared and there were no surprises, but she still managed to act scared on screen.

Your onscreen chemistry with Lily Sullivan was fantastic – how did you achieve such a believably strained, and yet loving sisterly relationship?

I think we just really liked each other, it was as simple as that. Lily is incredibly charming and so sweet. Everyone just falls in love with her immediately.

We’re both from the same hometown in Australia and we have similar sensibilities when it comes to working and our approach to acting. We were both looking to make our scenes the best possible and there was no undermining.

She’s just awesome. I can’t say enough how more I adore her.

Alyssa puts her and Lily’s onscreen chemistry down to their natural friendship (Picture: Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Warner Bros)

She praised Lily’s worth ethic and acting talents (Picture: Instagram/@therealalyssas)

And what was it like working with icons that had originally worked on The Evil Dead, such as Sam Raimi and Bruce?

It’s a daunting thing. You have in your head these legends of men that have come before and have had such huge success.

They couldn’t get into New Zealand when we were filming because of the pandemic – it was strictly necessary crew allowed into the country – so we only saw them online.

They really let Lee do his thing – they weren’t overbearing at all. They trusted him to do what he wanted to do, and he is such a huge fan of The Evil Dead, so he just knew how to make the film naturally and focused on our performances.

I finally got to meet Sam and Bruce at SXSW Festival and they were so lovely and sweet. It was so comfortable to be around them, and they were awesome. It’s a pretty cool thing to be a part of.

The full cast and crew finally met at this year’s SXSW festival (Picture: Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Warner Bros)

Lots of people have speculated that the success of this film will lead to more Evil Dead films – do you think that would be the case, and would you like to return to the franchise?

I think they’ll make more Evil Dead films for sure. How could you not?

I think Bruce has even come out and said they have a plan to be making more, which would be incredible as there’s a huge universe to explore.

As far as would I want to be in it? I don’t know if it would be possible for my character. I’d have to do some mental gymnastics to figure out how to come back!

More: Trending

I had a blast playing Ellie. She’s a character I will never forget. It was such a rush and it would be so much fun to do it all over again.

Evil Dead Rise was released in cinemas on April 21.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE : Kim Kardashian ‘taking acting lessons’ to prepare for ‘challenging’ American Horror Story debut

MORE : Scream 6 star Josh Segarra genuinely wants to form WWE tag team with Bad Bunny: ‘I’m ready’

Entertainment – MetroRead More