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What’s Going on With Ruby Sunday in DOCTOR WHO?

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Spoilers ahead for the first two episodes (following the Christmas special) of Doctor Who season 1.

There’s something strange about Ruby Sunday. We met the Fifteenth Doctor’s companion during the Christmas special “The Church on Ruby Road” and her story set off our spidey senses. She, like the Doctor, is an orphan who doesn’t know the full extent of her past. A woman left her at the episode’s titular church but, thankfully, she was taken in and later adopted. After learning the episode titles for Doctor Who season one, we knew that Ruby’s mysterious background would come into play. “Space Babies” is a heartfelt yet very unserious romp with a literal Boogeyman (like…a man made out of boogers) but it also gives us some curious breadcrumbs about Ruby Sunday and her past. We get another taste of that and some hints about her birth day in the second episode, “The Devil’s Chord.”

BBC Studios/Bad Wolf Studios/Disney+

In “Space Babies”, Ruby Sunday and the Doctor find themselves on a space station that operates as a baby farm in the distant future. Due to pesky budget cuts, the crew—except for a hidden nanny-like figure named Nan-E/Jocelyn—is gone. Left behind are a group of talking babies who are mostly surviving on their own. But, there’s a weird and gross creature lurking just beneath them. A lot of the episode is quippy one-liners, running, a hallway full of snot, and a wild plan to get these refugees to a safe place.

Things get serious halfway through the action when the Doctor notes that Ruby, like the babies, were abandoned. He says that’s a strange connection. He also asks if she knows anything about her birth parents at all and she confirms she was just left in the snow at a church. The Doctor then goes into his memory of her mother walking away, which we saw in the Christmas episode. However, the woman/figure that we assume is Ruby’s mom turns around and points at him menacingly.

Who Is Ruby Sunday’s Mother in Doctor Who?

Right now, we still don’t know who Ruby Sunday’s mother is in the series. We also don’t know why the Doctor’s memory of seeing her walk away from the church is different. But we do know that he’s going to poke as far as he can to find out the truth. For whatever reason, he cannot return to that night to figure out the truth. He’s nearly in tears when Ruby brings him back to the current space to note it is snowing. He says she brought a memory through from her birth day and says this has never happened before. Ruby asks what it means and he says he doesn’t know. Fifteen laughs it off and gives her a hug but Nan-E interrupts them. 

Is Ruby Sunday a Human in Doctor Who? 

At the end of the episode, Ruby runs to greet her mum Carla while Fifteen hangs out in the TARDIS. We see he’s run a scan on her body to figure out more information. It affirms she’s 19 years and 3 days old and that she is a Homo sapien, but other scans still need to happen. And, the scan is not quite complete so there’s a chance that something strange will come up in her DNA.  

Who Else Was There on Ruby Sunday’s Birth Night? Who Is “the Oldest One” and “the One Who Waits” in Doctor Who? Bad Wolf Studios/BBC/Disney+

In “The Devil’s Chord,” Fifteen and Ruby Sunday find themselves battling the Maestro (played by Jinkx Monsoon), the child of Neil Patrick Harris’ Toymaker. At the end of the 60th anniversary special, the Toymaker hinted a legion was coming for the Doctor. This episode gave us a taste of that. At one point, Ruby is caught up in the musical notes of the Maestro, who wants to consume the music left in her heart. Maestro’s tuning fork brings forth Ruby’s hidden song, which is “Shepherd’s Bell Carol,” the Christmas song playing the night she was born. The same snowfall that they saw on the space station begins to fall in that room. Maestro then says, “How can a song have so much power? And power like him?” The Doctor questions who “him” is and Maestro says it is “the oldest one.”

Maestro questions how the oldest one could have been there and why. The Doctor once again wants to know who, but Maestro doesn’t give him an answer. When Maestro is defeated at the end of the episode, they warn the Doctor and Ruby that “the one who waits is almost here.”

BBC Studios/Bad Wolf Studios/Disney+

What does all of that mean? What does all of this have to do with Ruby Sunday’s past? We have no clue at the moment. It’s possible that the oldest one and the one who waits are the same person/entity. We saw the little boy from the opening, who is supposedly Maestro’s son. So he could appear in the future as one of these characters. Outside of her parentage, there’s also the ongoing mystery behind Ruby’s neighbor Mrs. Flood. The season is just starting so we will have to wait and see what is really happening with Ruby Sunday in Doctor Who. 

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Eric Bogosian On Daniel’s Season 2 Relationship with Armand and Playing Couples Counselor on INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE

In Interview with the Vampire season two, many, many immortals are running around. But one character who remains a human, at least when the second season kicks off, is Daniel Molloy. Daniel Molloy, played to perfection by Eric Bogosian, gives us a bit of a different perspective on things in Interview with the Vampire‘s world and serves as a surrogate for the audience in a world as detached from our own as it gets.

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At Interview with the Vampire season two’s New York premiere, Nerdist had the pleasure of chatting with Eric Bogosian about the inner workings of Daniel Molloy. Among other things, we discussed where the series is taking Daniel’s relationship with Armand, how Daniel really feels about his Vampiric subjects, and what it’s like to play counselor to a couple of insufferable bloodsuckers. Here’s what Bogosian had to say about his role in Interview with the Vampire season two.

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Daniel is really the main third character of the Interview with the Vampire series, a human among vampires. At the heart of him, what kind of power do you think he holds, and how does he really feel about his subjects?

Bogosian: Well, working backward, I think he thinks that… I mean, there becomes a lot of sympathy between him and Louis. And I think he wants to find Louis and maybe even sees a reflection of himself in his neediness or his damaged elements. But on the other hand, he wants to defeat Armand. There’s no question Armand is an enemy, and there’s no… Well, things will… If you know the books, all kinds of stuff happens.

But I think Daniel’s strength is brain power. And because he’s a person who is kind of damaged goods, he puts all his eggs in one basket. He’s willing to risk his life if he can just solve this. These guys could kill him at any moment.

AMC

Speaking of the book, Armand and Daniel have quite a complex relationship, to say the least. Do you think we will see any of that appear in season two?

Bogosian: [Puts his fingers to his lips and smiles devilishly, shaking his head.]

You’re on a recording, so we need some words here.

Bogosian: We’re going to have to leave that to your imagination because there is a lot coming. But I guarantee there will be some cool stuff happening by the end of the second season.

Okay. Well, we’ll relay that to the fans of Daniel and Armand.

Bogosian: But, it’s also going to be heavy. There’s going to be a lot of heaviness.

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So, how did Daniel feel about ending up as a couple’s counselor for Armand and Louis in Interview with the Vampire season two?

Bogosian: It’s all in service of the job, which is to get the story. That’s all he cares about. I think when they sit down and they say, at the very beginning of the second season, “We’re going to be honest with you. We’re going to tell you everything now. We’re going to hold hands and be sweet.” And he’s like, “What bullshit are they handing me now? They’re not doing this because they mean it. They’re up to something and I got to figure out what it is.”

After speaking at such length with Louis and Armand in Interview with the Vampire season two, do you think Daniel still holds his desire to become a vampire?

Bogosian: It’s always going back and forth. In the first season, I give plenty of good reasons why I don’t want to become a vampire. But it’s pretty hard to not… I don’t think it’s just a matter of, “I don’t want to be sick anymore.” I think the more he spends time with vampires, the more he understands what an incredible frontier it is to span centuries. I mean, look at Armand. 500 years old. Come on. What would that be like?

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And then, looking at the books, are there any future moments that you’d be really excited to bring to life should there be a season three of Interview with the Vampire and beyond?

Bogosian: The moment that I’m really looking forward to, which has nothing to do with me, is when, I think her name is Akasha, is flying around the world destroying villages with Lestat in her arms. I love that image. And I don’t know, unfortunately, Cher is too old now, but I always think of someone like Cher flying around with Sam [Reid].

On that amazing note, Interview with the Vampire season two premieres on AMC and AMC+ on May 12, 2024 at 9/8c.

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Jinkx Monsoon on Her DOCTOR WHO Villain, Stage Career, Queer Characters, and More

RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Jinkx Monsoon is having a heck of a year. She’s currently playing Aubrey (the human one) in the Off Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors. In Jun, she returns to the Broadway stage of Chicago to reprise her record-breaking performance as Matron Mama Morton. Plus, next February she’ll make her Carnegie Hall debut as a headliner.

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If that wasn’t enough, she also found time to go toe to toe with Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor in “The Devil’s Chord,” now available on Disney+ internationally and on BBC iPlayer in the UK. We sat down to discuss Jinkx’s villainous turn as Maestro on Doctor Who and her iconic stage work.

Nerdist: What does it feel like to get to upstage The Beatles?

Jinkx Monsoon: (laughs) Well, it’s all perspective, right? But honestly just everything about this episode, I don’t know how to sum it up better than just saying it was a character that every actor dreams of playing and should be so lucky to get to play in their lifetime. When you get to play a God, like an all-powerful being, you get to create the rules for this character. And what I love about Maestro is specifically they don’t operate by human standards for gender presentation or identity.  I love how not a big deal that is for Maestro. Because they’re too powerful to worry about petty things like gender constructs.

Yeah. I like how they kind of just casually dismiss it when the character, in the beginning, misgenders them.

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Monsoon: Yeah. Yeah. And they know they’re more powerful. So it’s exciting to play someone who essentially belongs to a marginalized community but is not marginalized themselves. They’re the most powerful thing there.

You’re playing the first villain we’ve seen in this new era that exists as a true threat to Ncuti’s Doctor. His Doctor is scared of you.

Monsoon: It’s exciting because this character is not only powerful but nuanced. And a part of the overarching story. So this character carries a lot of weight, and to be trusted with that as a trans feminine performer, as a drag performer, it was just a huge honor and privilege to get to act opposite Ncuti and play someone that’s on level with him. That was exciting. And we both bring such fresh perspectives, I think.

We don’t see a ton of characters like Maestro. And when we do see them, they’re not always flattering and they’re not always played by the right performer and Ncuti is bringing such a new and fresh perspective to the Doctor. And [Russell T Davies] is just really leaning in this season with the inherent queerness that’s always been a part of Doctor Who. Because Russell has always been a part of Doctor Who.

Yeah. It’s tricky talking about queer coding, a lot of people think of that as inherently problematic, which I don’t think it is, especially when you look back at the history of the Hays Code. It prevented most onscreen depictions of queerness, so a lot of queer filmmakers hid their representation in monsters. So this felt like a nice extension of that. Queer actors playing these characters, chewing scenery, and breaking the fourth wall like this is such a celebration of that history.

Monsoon: I absolutely agree with you. I think it’s all context because it depends on who this character is in the hands of. I think we can see historically damaging representations of queer and trans people as villains. But since then, we have experienced a lot of progress and we have seen queer actors and queer characters be the central focus in a lot of things that I didn’t think in my lifetime we’d get to see. 

With the privilege of so much more representation these days, we get to go back to, okay, let us play any character because we can make the context, right? Where this character can be a villain and can be objectively evil, but we can love them for how freaking queer they are. And it’s just honoring what I think drag queens have always done.

I mean, I based my drag persona off of the larger than life female villains that I was obsessed with who probably were queer coded because they couldn’t cast a drag queen or a trans woman as this character. A cis woman was the only acceptable person to play this character. I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently with Audrey [in Little Shop of Horrors] because I just think there’s parts of Audrey where I’m like, this really feels so familiar that it makes me wonder if aspects of her were based on a trans woman or a drag queen that the author knew.

And so to think about the fact that I’ve derived my drag persona from these larger than life female villains, and then this character was written with me in mind, I got to take all of that back to where it all started, Disney villains.

Literally one of my next questions was, “Do you think having a trans femme actor play Audrey elevates a lot of the nuance of that character?” When I saw [Michaela Jaé Rodriguez] play Audrey a few years ago, that destroyed me.

Monsoon: Yeah. I think with good writing, you can cast anyone in the role and if the story is universal, then the demographic of the person doesn’t matter as much. I think that’s a sign of good writing. We’ve seen Audrey interpreted so many ways now. Specifically, this production has been running for five years and has had a wide array of Audreys. 

I think bringing fresh perspective to characters is how we reinvigorate storytelling. It’s how these stories survive for so long. It’s why Little Shop is still relevant today. 

If the actor and the direction do the work that they’re there to do, it doesn’t matter that Corbin Bleu is mixed race and I’m trans feminine. We are every bit Seymour and Audrey as the Seymour and Audreys who came before us. We just have a different perspective.

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That’s the magic of live theater, too. You have a text that exists as a written script but then who you bring to it, who you collaborate with, how you direct it, how you produce it all creates such an entirely different experience. And it’s different every time you do that.

Monsoon: Well, and I will say candidly that it’s not like I set out to play Audrey as a trans feminine woman. I just set out to play Audrey and I really derived my understanding of the character from the text, which is different from the movie that I grew up with. The original show has different text from the Ellen Green movie that is ingrained in my psyche because it’s iconic and incredible. Her presentation of Audrey definitely makes me feel like Audrey was based off of someone very larger than life or based off of people who can pull off being larger than life. 

And then that informed my Audrey, and then I thought, well, what if Audrey was trans feminine? She would live on Skid Row in the ’60s. And we know that trans people have existed and we know that they existed in the ’60s and their life would not have been easy, though.

BBC Studios/Bad Wolf Studios/Disney+

And that’s what we see in Audrey. So I guess in the end, what I wanted was to not necessarily play Audrey as trans, but to show you the what if, like if Audrey were trans. The story works either way. If you are seeing me playing Audrey like I’m just a performer playing a cis female character, it works. But if you are reading into the nuance of who I am as a performer, it still works. And that’s the beauty of the production, the beauty of the writing. And when you get the trust and respect to bring that to the character, that’s what you get to bring on stage.

Yeah, there’s a lot of conversation these days about whether trans actors should be playing just trans roles or also cis roles. And I feel like kind– going off what you said too, that’s the wrong conversation to have about it. As a trans performer myself, I feel like why do we have to define the character in the text as one or the other? Why can’t an actor just take the role, and play it? I think that defining a character as trans or cis really doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense in the context of it’s just a character. 

Monsoon: And if their gender journey is the story, Okay.

Yeah.

Monsoon: My first suggestion lately when people come to me asking, like would it be appropriate to ask a trans person to play this character because this character is a cisgender character? What’s appropriate? The first thing I say is, “Have you considered changing the gender of the character?” Because if you want this performer, what if the character was more like the performer? 

I really think context is everything. Because like I said, there are performances we’ve seen through history that have been damaging to the community, and there have been performances that have been celebratory. And it doesn’t matter the gender of the character. It doesn’t matter whether the character was the hero or the villain. What matters is the authenticity that the performer was allowed to bring to the character, I think.

BBC Studios/Bad Wolf Studios/Disney+

Agreed, absolutely. My last question for you before I let you go. So you’re playing Audrey right now. You’re going to return to Matron Mama Morton [in Chicago] soon. You’re headlining Carnegie Hall next year. So what’s left on your stage musical bucket list?

Monsoon: Well, I’d really love to originate a role, and as much as it would be exciting to originate a role in a new musical, I’ve been having just a really fun time reinterpreting classic roles. And so there’s a part of me that would really, really love to originate another classic female role from a beloved musical and see what perspective I could bring to it and I’m open-minded to what that might be. Of course, my dream rule is Mrs. Lovett, but they just did that, so we’ll see. That’s down the line, whatever.

But I also like to say that I’m having a really good time with what I’m doing. So my bucket list kind of has been met, and then at the same time, I’m not upset about it. I don’t feel hampered by that. I definitely feel like there’s more for me to do and more places for me to go, but I’m not in a rush because I really like where I’m at. And I just hope that I keep getting to do more of this work because I really feel energized and alive. I really love my life and I love the job I’m allowed to do now.

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Delainey Hayles on Claudia Being Louis’ Second Choice, Meeting Madeleine, and Joining in INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Season 2

Interview with the Vampire season two begins with an elegant title card that reads: “The role of Claudia will now be played by Delainey Hayles.” And, without giving too much away, Hayles is an exceptional choice to take over as Claudia in the second season of the beloved series. Her chemistry with Jacob Anderson’s Louis and Assad Zaman’s Armand is absolutely unparalleled. And Hayles’ perfect, nuanced rendition of an ageless being trapped in the body of a young girl is perfectly gutting. Thanks to Hayles, Claudia is very much a star in Interview with the Vampire season two.

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And so, it was our pleasure to chat with Hayles about stepping into the role of Claudia at the New York premiere of Interview with the Vampire season two. Hayles shed some light on Claudia’s, in a sense, unrequited love of Louis, and the relationships she forges for herself in the second season. Of course, we can’t forget the specter of Lestat that hangs on Claudia in Interview with the Vampire season two. Let’s take a look at everything Hayles had to say.

Nerdist: Can you share a little bit about what it was like to step into Claudia in Interview with the Vampire season two?

Delainey Hayles: I was so excited to step into the role of Claudia. It didn’t escape me the family that I’ve joined, the coven that I’ve joined, and Anne Rice’s writing is ridiculous. This season is ridiculous too. I’m so excited for everybody to see it. Claudia means a lot to me.

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Claudia always seems to be chosen second by Louis—how does that drive her in Interview with the Vampire season two?

Hayles: Yeah, it beats her up. It’s terrible for her. I think she thinks there’s a bit of him that will pick her this time, and it’s something that’s always played in the back of her mind. And then, finally, he does pick who he picks, and it’s not her, and I wouldn’t say it’s a dramatic shock for her, but it’s definitely heartbreaking.

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And how do you think Claudia feels about Louis? Do you think she sees him as her “end all, be all” person, or do you think he’s just the only person she has?

Hayles: She loves Louis, but I don’t think he’s her… What did you say it was? Be all, end all? No, I think that’s why she’s desperate to find others. She knows there’s more to life than New Orleans.

We see Lestat manifest in Louis’ mind throughout season two, but what kind of relationship is Claudia still holding onto with Lestat after she’s left him for dead in Interview with the Vampire?

Hayles: Lestat is always there, whether it be in Claudia’s behavioral mannerisms, or she’s gone to a place where he said do not go, and she goes there. So I wouldn’t say, yeah, he’s definitely escaped her mind. It’s a similar situation to Louis, but not obviously the same love sense, but in a way that I think it’s becoming apparent that she realizes he’s right about Paris.

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Claudia seems to have a deep yearning to be seen as she is, and in season two of Interview with the Vampire, she finds that in Madeleine, a social outcast and dressmaker whom Claudia meets in France. Can you describe their bond and what it means to Claudia?

Hayles: Their bond is very pure. It’s one that they both kind of have a mutual understanding in the beginning, and their energies go together, but it’s not really clear why. And then they realize that they both have been through some stuff and they see it in each other’s eyes, and yes. And that becomes apparent, I think, in episode three.

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It’s a lot, and I have my version of what it is specifically, but I want people to decide their own version of it because it’s such a pure relationship that anyone can take away what they want from it.

And did you have a particular scene that was your favorite to film this season?

Hayles: Yes, but I won’t say what it is.

Very mysterious. We guess we’ll have to catch up with you after!

Delainey Hayles’ turn as Claudia and the rest of Interview with the Vampire season two premieres on AMC and AMC+ on May 12, 2024 at 9/8c.

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Melissa Barrera on ABIGAIL’s Pools of (Literally) Sweet Blood and Her Love for Horror

Melissa Barrera can’t stop getting stabbed and drenched in blood. The Mexican actress’ transition to Hollywood has largely been in the horror genre. After gaining a new legion of fans as Sam Carpenter in Scream (2022) and Scream VI, Barrera is continuing her journey in the genre with Abigail. In it, she portrays Joey, a woman with a dark past who, along with a group of fellow criminals, kidnaps the daughter of a wealthy crime boss for money. But, she gets way more than she bargained for because, well, this kid is a ballerina vampire who is thirsty for blood. We caught up with Melissa Barrera to chat about her love for horror, getting physical in Abigail, and more. 

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Nerdist: You’ve become quite the horror movie queen over the past couple of years. What is it about the genre that keeps you coming back to it as an actor?

Melissa Barrera: There’s so much about it that I love. I grew up loving horror movies. I love the thrill, love the adrenaline rush, I love being scared. I’m kind of a masochist in that way. And I learned that making horror movies is so much fun. It’s like being a child and playing in your living room with your siblings. It’s like that level of imagination and having to pretend to be scared and scream your heart out is kind of ridiculous if you want to be rational about it. So you really have to let go and let your inner child kind of come out and be fearless and do all these crazy things that horror requires. So I love that. And I also just love that it’s a genre that has a great fandom. The horror fans are the most loyal and the most dedicated.

We are indeed very loyal to what we love!

Barrera: Yeah, and I think there’s just so much room for expansion in the genre. It constantly surprises me where these new creatives are taking horror stories and getting wackier and crazier and more creative. And I think the most interesting stories come out of horror. But I love that they’re always metaphorical. There’s a way to talk about really deep and important issues in horror in a way that feels entertaining and not didactic. They’re not trying to teach you something. They’re just trying to make you think and entertain you. And if you grab onto the metaphor of it, then your mind is blown and then you want to talk about it and peel back all the layers.

There’s just so much of horror that I love, and I know that there’s a lot of incredible directors that have started in horror and a lot of incredible actors that also started in horror. And I also love that it’s a very noble genre in that people show up for it no matter what. You don’t need a big movie star for people to show up to the theaters to see a horror movie. And that’s always something that I’ve loved about it. It feels very generous, and I love that because I think we need to keep showing up to theaters. People show up to theaters for yes, big franchises and superheroes and the big movie star movies, but I think horror is keeping theaters alive.

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Indeed, especially with so many inventive recent films. I think Abigail is such a fun take on the vampire genre. Just when you think that there’s not a new way to spin a vamp story, this movie does something totally cool. How did you find out about the film?

Barrera: I found out about the film through my team. They told me that [Scream directors] Matt [Bettinelli-Olpin] and Tyler [Gillett] had this new movie at Universal and that it was a vampire movie. And they were like, “Do you want us to pitch you for it?” I mean, I’ve been obsessed with vampires my whole life. I love all the monsters. Van Helsing, I was obsessed with that movie growing up. And I’ve always loved vampires and I always wanted to play a vampire. So when I found out that Joey was not a vampire, I was kind of disappointed. I’m not going to lie. [laughs]

But I was still like, “You know what? I just want to be a part of this. It sounds super fun working with Matt and Tyler again, if they’ll have me it would be a dream because I adore those guys and I think they’re brilliant.” So yeah, that was basically how I found out about it. It was right before Scream VI came out in theaters and then shortly after I got the role and I was so excited to stay in the genre, but to try something new and have more creative freedom with a character. 

For sure. What was it about Joey that drew you to her?

Barrera: I love complicated gray area women, as I call them, where you’re like, “You’re not all good. You’re not a good person, really. You’re a criminal, so you’re kidnapping a girl. What the hell?!” But you also have to root for her. I loved trying to find that humanity in her and play her with vulnerability. I always like to flip things a little bit on their head and allow for women to be complicated and to have a softer side, even though they’re supposed to be badasses. 

We get to see a soft maternal side to Joey as well. And I like the veteran aspect of her also because I’ve always been deeply heartbroken by the situation of so many veterans in the United States and how they live and how the government doesn’t really take care of them or follow up on the trauma that they experience. And a lot of them end up being homeless. They’re on the streets and losing their lives because they’re carrying so much pain. And so I really was interested in that aspect of Joey.

Universal Pictures

I love that. Now, Joey got super bloody and did some pretty physically challenging things too. Did you get a chance to do any of that stunt work or get physical? And what was that all over you?!

Barrera: I did. That final sequence, we rehearsed for that for two weeks, and then it was another two weeks of shooting it. I wanted to do all the stuff, but they wouldn’t let me because of insurance and stuff like that. They were throwing me through glass and stuff like that they don’t really let actors do. But I rehearsed all of it. I could do all of it. They were just like, “If you don’t have to do this, if you don’t have to be thrown from the first floor to the second and break the banister and crash into the wall and then fall to the floor, we’re not going to have you do it.”

Hannah and Ifa were my stunt doubles, and they were doing the hard stuff with falling on the bookcase and breaking it and flipping and all the very painful looking stuff. And I was just doing the final falls and I did all the punching and the stake through the chest, which was super fun.

The rehearsals are actually super fun because you get to do everything in the rehearsals. They teach you to do everything in the rehearsals, and then when you get to set, the directors are like, “Yeah, no, we’re not going to want you to do that. That feels dangerous.” So it was incredible. It was an amazing experience.

Totally makes sense to keep you all safe! But you did get to throw punches, which is awesome.

Barrera: Yeah! And the blood is like syrup, I guess. I know that it’s gooey and sticky. Actually I don’t know what the blood that they put on me and my clothes is. I know that it’s a syrupy blood because if it goes in your mouth, it tastes sweet. It’s a combination of a syrup or a gel and food coloring and all this good stuff that is so hard to get off afterwards because it stains you, it’ll stain. I kept finding blood even after we wrapped in places where I was like, “Oh, behind my knee. There we go.” And it goes through clothes. You’re just completely red. And the key to taking it off is shaving foam, shaving cream.

Universal Pictures

Ah yes, I remember Jack Quaid saying the same thing about getting rid of The Boys blood. 

Barrera: That’s the only way! You got to get in the shower with a bottle of shaving foam and put it on a wet towel and then just go in all your body. That’s the only way. I don’t know who figured that out, but thank God.

Sounds like a good time. If you could describe Abigail in three words, what three words would you use?

Barrera: I would describe it as bloody, funny, and surprising!

ABIGAIL is now available to watch at home exclusively on digital platforms from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

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Radio Silence on ABIGAIL’s Wild Final Scene, Sinister Location, and a Melissa Barrera Reunion

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who are a major part of the Radio Silence creative collective, have become two maestros of horror. With titles like V/H/S 94, Ready or Not, Phobias, Scream (2022), and Scream VI under their belts, the duo continues to expand the genre with innovative (and deliciously bloody) takes on classic subgenres. Their latest foray, Abigail, is a wild blend of a heist movie and a horror comedy. It starts with the former as a group of kidnappers abduct a crime lord’s ballet-loving daughter for ransom. Quickly it transitions into the latter when they discover that she’s actually a vampire. Abigail is as wild, funny, and chaotic as you’d imagine, so we had to catch up with the Radio Silence co-founders to get all the behind-the-scenes details. 

Universal Pictures

Nerdist: Abigail is one of my favorite films that I’ve seen this year so far. 

Tyler Gillett: So glad you liked it. Thank you. That means so much.

You’re welcome! What was it about Abigail that made you two want to come on board and direct this film?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: I think it was a kind of a mixture of things, but we loved the simplicity and fun of being able to do a thriller that gets hijacked by a monster movie. That, to us, was just such an exciting movie to get into. And the characters all were really great on the page, and there was a lot of room to grow them with the actors. The possibility of [the film] was really exciting when we got the script, and then the chance to actually get to work with all those actors and get them to bring a lot to their characters. 

I’m glad that you mentioned that there are so many different characters and a genre mashup. There’s a lot going on in Abigail with that as well as tonal shifts. How do you all navigate it and keep things streamlined from a director’s standpoint?

Gillett: I think a lot of it is just getting really clear with the tone between the two of us, and making sure that what the actors are reading is really representative of that tone, even if things are going to change on the day and there’s going to be improv, and we maybe don’t fully have the scene 100% figured out in the script. At the very least, the tone is crystal clear.

And for us, at the end of the day, that’s really just placing characters, who feel really real and really nuanced and like they exist in the real world, in a situation that is just totally f*cking absurd and insane. For us, that means that then you get to have these incredibly tense, scary moments, but because it all exists under the umbrella of this crazy absurd concept, it also can be funny at the same time.

The same goes for Ready or Not and the two Scream movies that we made. That, for us, is really the hack in making that tone something that works. It never feels like you’re in a movie that’s too funny to be scary or too scary to be funny. You’re walking through the experience with the characters, and they’re as wacky and crazy as their point of view may be, but they’re also relatable to a certain extent. And you believe that their reaction is real and grounded in a reality that you and I, as an audience member, would understand.

Universal Pictures

Absolutely. You definitely had an excellent cast to be able to pull that off! You two got to work with Melissa Barrera again, and Scream fans are excited to see you all come together once more. How has your working relationship with her evolved over the years?

Bettinelli-Olpin: We’ve grown together a lot. I think Scream V was a really big step up for Tyler and I, and it was also a big step up for Melissa. The Scream V experience left all three of us in a place where we were really happy with what we had done, but we also had a lot of things we still wanted to do. So, we went into that next one together like, “All right, cool, we did that. Now, let’s go to another level with this.” So, we really were invigorated going into Scream VI.

But then for Abigail, we wanted to make sure that we weren’t doing the same stuff we had already done together. She really brought a lot to her character to make sure that Joey is not Sam Carpenter. And there’s still something quintessentially Melissa about it. I think her essence comes through in all three [films]. And I think a lot of that is her vulnerability and her just strength and her will. But going into this, we wanted to keep working together and we wanted to do it in a way that we could all grow. I think at the end of the day, that’s what we hope we’re doing with Abigail.

It’s a different type of playground. You went from an established and very popular franchise to this wholly unique film. You definitely got to play more.

Gillett: Totally.

Bettinelli-Olpin: Exactly.

Abigail is such an awesome vampire story with a twist. And a lot of what makes it work is the main location. I love the house! What was the scouting process like and what were the requirements that you had for the perfect location?

Gillett: We saw a bunch of different places… traveled out the November before we started shooting with the express task of finding a place that could hold all of the scene work that exists in the story. I think we probably saw half a dozen places. What we were really looking for is to not just find a place where you go, “Yeah, this could work. We could put this scene in this room. We could see this scene in that room.” 

[What we wanted was] to walk into a place that actually feels like it’s going to inspire new ideas. That it’s not just, oh, this is the box that we need to fit the script in. We need to find these specific things. But finding a place where you go, “Oh shit, it is much cooler to put this scene here!”

Universal Pictures

When we walked into the Glenmaroon House, it was just that. It was not only large enough to contain what was originally scripted, but there were so many interesting anachronistic, bizarre little corridors and rooms that made the house really feel like it existed through time and that it was maybe Abigail’s house for hundreds of years. It had this sense of a bizarre history to it. The layout of the house and the physical limitations and restrictions of it actually allowed us to look at the story and go, “Oh, what if we just choreographed this differently? And instead of building sets, [we can] use what we have available and retrofit the story and the action to fit.” That, for us, is always so exciting. There’s such an exciting opportunity to build something that feels really alive and really tactile because it exists in a real physical space.

That house had so many fun opportunities that existed within it. We’re so grateful. Then, of course, you have a great production designer and an amazing art department to come in and fill it with all of those textures, and it just comes alive.

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I really love the way that the space was utilized, specifically in that final fight scene between Joey, Abigail, and Frank. I’m curious about the details behind shooting that scene because there were so many different moving parts. Joey’s getting thrown from one floor to the other and there’s just blood and stuff everywhere! 

Bettinelli-Olpin: That scene took two and a half weeks? Does that sound right, Tyler?

Gillett: Yeah. It was very technical.

Bettinelli-Olpin: And it was a giant scene on the page, too. There were no scene breaks… So with the ADs and everyone, we had to break it down. But it was a lot to shoot just technically. There were a ton of stunts, there was a ton of blood, and all of the effects work. Then we were also trying to keep the tone and the characters alive within that chaos. One of the things that was the weird silver lining of the [actor’s] strike for us was that we shot mostly everything up to that prior. Everything except the cellar where [Abigail is] locked up and the library, that end scene, we shot before the strike.

So, we got to watch the movie. We put together the movie and got to watch it. The studio got to watch it before we went back to shoot that scene. One of the things that Universal Pictures said was, “Hey, we really love this. Let’s really blow out the third act and make it awesome.” So we got Wade Allen, who’s incredible, to come in as a second unit director to help us with all of the stunts and the choreography. It really elevated that scene to something that throws you into this whirlwind where all of a sudden two characters who were trying to kill each other are now teaming up against Frank, who you’ve always known is an asshole.

Oh god, yes. He’s the worst. 

Universal Pictures

Bettinelli-Olpin: The whole combination of the movie takes place in that room. So we really had to make sure that we did it right.

Gillett: Yeah, and that we were using all of [the space]… I mean, for obvious reasons there are production challenges. When you want to do any stunt work with any form of verticality, you’re talking about stunt rigging and wire work and all of that. That stuff is so time-consuming and there’s obviously a safety component to it that you have to be really aware of. But as Matt said, to Universal’s credit, they were like, “Look, let’s just take the time and deliver on this big, fun blowout of a vampire fight.” There’s only one way to do that, right? And it is taking time and shooting a little bit every day. Eventually you realize, “Holy shit, we’re at 380 something setups and we finished this crazy scene!”

Well, you pulled it off and it’s brilliant, just like the two of you.

Bettinelli-Olpin: Thank you. That’s so kind!

ABIGAIL is now available to watch at home exclusively on digital platforms from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

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Jordan Peele’s Next Movie Is a Psychological Horror Set in the World of Football

Universal and Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions have announced the title for the next movie Peele will produce: Him. The title is news, but we knew about the film’s setting. The psychological horror will be set in the world of football. Yes, football. Justin Tipping will direct the film, which stars Marlon Wayans. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wayans will play a legendary quarterback who must train a rising young athlete. Tyriq Withers plays the mentee, who trains at the aging athlete’s isolated compound.

CBS

Uh-oh. We can see where the psychological horror is coming in. Is it ever a good thing when a location is isolated in this context?

Julia Fox, Tim Heidecker, comedian Jim Jefferies, Guapdad 4000, and Tierra Whack also star in the film. Him comes from a Blacklist script by Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie. Peele will produce the movie alongside Ian Cooper, Win Rosenfeld, and Jamal Watson. Executive producers include David Kern and Kate Oh.

Him is scheduled to release on September 19, 2025.

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Ralph Ineson Cast as the MCU Galactus in FANTASTIC FOUR

The MCU has finally found its Devourer of Worlds. Announced via The Hollywood Reporter, it appears veteran character actor Ralph Ineson, known for his roles in projects like Game of Thrones, The Green Knight, and The Witch, will play Galactus in the upcoming Fantastic Four film. Matt Shakman serves as director of the movie. As previously reported, his herald the Silver Surfer will be played by actress Julia Garner. This will be the first time this major Marvel Comics character will accurately appear in live-action. The 2007 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer chose to portray the iconic character as a giant cosmic cloud, a very unpopular choice to this day.

A24/Marvel

Ineson joins a very stacked cast, which includes Pedro Pascal as team leader Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as her flame-powered brother Johnny Storm, a.k.a. the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Reed’s best friend and former pilot, Ben Grimm, better known as The Thing. Recent cast additions include Paul Walter Hauser and the legendary John Malkovich in undisclosed roles. Many believe Hauser is playing a version of the Mole Man. Although possibly, he may voice the F.F.’s sidekick, H.E.R.B.I.E the robot. As for Malkovich, he’d be perfect for someone like Puppet Master, or Sue and Johnny’s father, Dr. Franklin Storm.

The gigantic Galactus is one of the most important characters in the Marvel Comics canon. He first appeared in 1966 in Fantastic Four #48. After dropping the ball with Galactus in the 2007 film, we’re sure it’s a priority for Kevin Feige to get it right this time. That means leaning into the wild Jack Kirby design for the character. He’s just got to have the big, goofy helmet, or it just isn’t Galactus. Although a bit of a left-field choice, we think Ralph Ineson is an ideal choice to play the role. We can already hear him utter the words “My herald” with panache in our heads. Fantastic Four hits theaters on July 25, 2025.

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Funko’s Dave Bere Talks Pop! Yourself Figures and Re-Releasing Old Designs

When one thinks of pop culture collectibles, Funko Pops are often the first figure to spring to mind. Over the last twenty-five years, fans have seen Funkos celebrating every kind of important fannish moment imaginable spring up. And at conventions and the like, it’s not unusual for attendees to be carrying huge bags of Funkos around and sometimes even cosplaying as the Funko version of a character.

Funko

At Nerdist, we’re big Funko fans ourselves, so we were delighted to chat with Dave Bere, Vice President of POP! Yourself & Retail at Funko at C2E2 this year. Bere gave us some insights on one of Funko’s coolest new releases, Funko Pop! Yourself figures, and chatted up everything from the circumstances under which Funko considers re-releasing figures to how Funko works to keep fans at center. Check out our conversation below.

Nerdist: Our readers are very excited to see the Funko Pop! Yourself figures come online and become available to more people. What was it like to bring that from just a few locations to a mass online market?

Dave Bere: We’re really excited about it because the response was so strong in their stores. It’s an idea, it really came from fans. But there’s a lot of work that went into bringing it to Funko.com. You think about the complexity of the scale of how many units compared to the store and on the fulfillment side. It’s really important for me and the team that if someone has a birthday party that they need to do or have a gift that they need to give next week, that we could give it to them on time. So that’s been a big deal. So it’s been really great, and I think we figured it out. We still have a lot to learn. We’re off to a good start.

Funko

Nerdist: We recently saw new duo sets released for Pop Yourself. Is there anything else people can expect on that front? More IP for the Funkos, more items you can mix and match? Anything like that?

Bere: Yeah, really all of it. We do have, so we’re in the middle of our Mother’s Day push right now. We have Father’s Day right behind it. Then we’re not far off from dropping several new items to our evergreen assortment, all of which came from fans. So we’re looking forward to that. Then, from a license standpoint, it’s something that we are definitely going to be getting into. I can’t go into the specifics now, but we’re not far off. We did the DunKing promotion, and that’s just the start of the types of things that we’re going to be doing going forward.

Funko/DunKings

Nerdist: Funko figures are obviously a staple for pop culture lovers as far as collectibles go. How do you work to keep your offerings fresh?

Bere: Absolutely. I think we hold a thousand different active licenses. I think we look very closely at what’s happening in culture and what conversations are going on. I think the beauty of our form factors in most cases, we’re able to go out and bring whatever that conversation is into Funko Pop form. We know that pop culture is ever-evolving, so we always have something new to talk about, in addition to going back and mining nostalgia and keep finding those things. So, I think it’s that combination that has made the Pop brand and Funko so strong over the last decade.

Nerdist: These days, you can get a bunch of different Pops in addition to the main Funko figures. Are there any new kinds of arms in the works for that?

Bere: Yeah. We’re always looking at that. We’re always looking at different scales, different ways to collect. We obviously just launched Bitty Pop, and there are a lot of plans, fun plans for that in the future. So we’re constantly looking at that. I think it really just starts with the fan, who we really listen to is the fan. What do they want to collect? How do they collect? So we’re always going to be innovating within the Pop brand.

Funko

Nerdist: I know from my experience as a fan that sometimes you discover a show that aired a long time ago and then trying to find a Funko for that property can be like the holy grail. Do you ever consider re-releasing designs or, via a mechanism like the Pop Yourself, allowing fans to create that kind of thing?

Bere: Yeah, it’s a great question. I think that we want to… People collect a lot of Pops, so we want to preserve and protect that. So if items have not been in the market for a while, I think how, if we chose to go back to them, like we’ve done with our classic series last year, I think we have to be very intentional about why and what we’re doing with that. But I think the beauty is if you do discover that show and it is still resonating with consumers, there’s an opportunity to bring new products to the market to meet that demand.

Funko

Nerdist: What do you think your most successful Funko release has been overall?

Bere: There’s been so many. I mean, what I like is here we’re in Funko Airways, we have Freddy, and we just introduced Franny, who Freddy’s sister. But Freddy is one that has been around since the beginning. So that’s just a staple of success that we continue to release and continues to resonate with fans. I’ll say, Freddy.

Nerdist: And what is your favorite Funko of all time?

Bere: That’s a great question. My favorite is, I think it was in 2020, maybe. I’m a big Ninja Turtle fan, and we did… Michelangelo is my favorite character. He’s why I love pizza today and all the things. We did a Surfing Michelangelo, and it was pretty epic. That’s probably my favorite.

Funko

Nerdist: Then, just to finish off, is there anything else you’d like to share about the brand’s future direction? What can fans really get excited about?

Bere:  Yeah, I think it’s that we keep the fans at the center point. This experience here (at C2E2), we’re going to continue to push the boundary of our fan engagement and our fan experiences. Because ultimately everyone loves the product, but it’s really a byproduct of the experience and community we’re trying to create and build. I think that that’s where the focus is going to stay, and remain, and will help us be successful in the future.

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John Malkovich Joins THE FANTASTIC FOUR

When Disney purchased 20th Century Fox, lo those many years ago, that immediately meant all the X-Men characters could appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also meant Fox’s other (and let’s face it, far less successful) Marvel property, the Fantastic Four, was joining the fray. However, aside from a Reed Richards cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the Fantastic Four have been MIA. But, hope is on the horizon! The Fantastic Four will be part of the MCU’s Phase Six.

In the latest piece of exciting news to do with the movie, according to Deadline, John Malkovich has joined the cast of The Fantastic Four in an undisclosed role. Given his distinctive voice, we can’t help but wonder if he’s playing Galactus.

Marvel Studios

Here’s everything we know about the MCU’s The Fantastic Four movie.

Title

All the initial branding from Marvel indicated the movie’s title would be Fantastic Four. Of the three previous Fantastic Four movies, two of them were just called Fantastic Four—despite the ill-fated 2015 movie’s logo making people call it “Fant-4-stic.”

Now we know that to slightly stand out, the MCU’s Fantastic Four movie will be called The Fantastic Four.

The Fantastic Four‘s Plot

Zero idea currently what the plot of the movie will be. Not a sausage. Bugger-all.

Marvel ComicsBehind the Scenes

The Fantastic Four is possibly the most in-flux title in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe slate. Marvel Studios president and primary producer Kevin Feige announced the movie at San Diego Comic-Con 2019. Marvel then named Jon Watts, who directed the three Tom Holland Spider-Man films for Sony and Marvel, in December 2020. Watts then stepped away from the project in April 2022, stating he was taking a break from superhero movies.

Then, in August 2022, Marvel named Matt Shakman—who had directed WandaVision for Disney+—as Watts’ successor. Feige confirmed this at the D23 Expo in September of that same year.

Later in September, Marvel said Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer were writing the script for The Fantastic Four. By March 2023, Terminator franchise and Avatar: The Way of Water screenwriter Josh Friedman was at work rewriting the script. In October 2023, Cameron Squires’ name was added as co-writer.

The movie has a scheduled start of production for early 2024.

The Fantastic Four‘s Cast

The MCU’s Fantastic Four team has officially set its cast. Pedro Pascal will play Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic. Vanessa Kirby will play Sue Storm, a.k.a. the Invisible Woman. Ebon Moss-Bachrach will play The Thing. Finally, Joseph Quinn will play Johnny Storm, a.k.a. the Human Torch.

Netflix/Marvel Comics

Julia Garner (Ozark, Inventing Anna) will play the Shalla-Bal version of Silver Surfer. In the comics, Shalla-Bal appeared as Norrin Radd’s partner, but at one point, she received the same powers as the Silver Surfer and they were both Galactus’ heralds.

Paul Walter Hauser has also joined the cast, as has John Malkovich. We don’t know who either them are playing.

The Fantastic Four‘s Release Date

The Fantastic Four will release on July 25, 2025.

Originally published on December 22, 2023.

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