Wolf Man star Julia Garner urges actors to do horror films

Julia Garner thinks every actor should do a horror film at least once.

The 30-year-old actress stars in director Leigh Whannell’s spooky flick ‘Wolf Man’, and although she found making the film "intense", Garner insists the experience of working on the movie allowed her to "feel like emotionally [she] can handle a lot" - something she thinks every actor should go through.

Speaking to Collider, Garner said: "I think as hard as it was, how intense it was, the intense work made it cool in a weird way. The intense emotion constantly, as hard and at times awful as that was, it made me feel like emotionally I can handle a lot.

"I think every actor should do horror at least once."

‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ star added she "disassociates" when making a horror flick like ‘Wolf Man’, and reflected on the contrast between how she can feel during a scary scene and the quality of the finished sequence.

She explained: "When I'm filming, I kind of disassociate in a way. It’s weird.

"I also notice the worse you feel, the more likely that the take is probably the better take. There's something very bizarre about knowing that you feel really horrible inside, and then everyone's like, ‘That's great!’"

In order to reach those darker headspaces required for horror films such as ‘Wolf Man’, Garner needs to be left alone so she can "regroup" with her character.

The ‘Inventing Anna’ actress said: "It's funny because when people are making this whole big discussion about method acting, whatever that means, it's one of those things where it's very easy to get distracted on set. Everybody needs to do their job.

"There’s always distractions every five minutes. So, just to kind of regroup and just be by yourself with that character that you're playing and then go into the scene without a distraction because that is your reality."

‘Wolf Man’ - which also stars Christopher Abbott and Matilda Firth - follows couple Blake and Charlotte and their daughter Ginger who are forced to barricade themselves into a farmhouse after they are attacked by an unseen animal.

As the night drags on, Blake begins to act strangely, before he ultimately transforms into something far more frightening than anything Charlotte or Ginger could ever imagine.

Reflecting on the film, Garner said she chose to sign on to ‘Wolf Man’ because she wanted to challenge herself with acting through distinct "stages of grief" within a single night, and compared the scary flick to her 2015 comedy ‘Grandma’, which takes place over a single day.

She said: "The thing that interests me with this film was that it took place in one night. Doing anything in one day — I did that with ‘Grandma’. It took place in one day, and that was really hard. But that was a comedy.

"I mean, it was still hard, but this was this kind of movie and had the different stages of grief, and it took place in one night, so that was just challenging. I knew that was gonna be challenging.

"And, of course, I was like, ‘Okay, this is hard, so I'm going to do it.’ Because, for whatever reason, I'm addicted to things that are hard."