Night Swim's Wyatt Russell And Kerry Condon Take Us To The Deep End Of Their New Horror Film [Exclusive Interview]
The horror genre has no shortage of films about haunted or possessed items. And I'm not just talking about the usual haunted house or haunted doll fare, either. Films like "Slaxx" boast haunted, killer pants, there's the possessed sofa of "Killer Sofa," and no one could forget "Death Bed: The Bed That Eats." Blumhouse's newest horror flick, "Night Swim," asks the audience to take a dip into a new haunted object: a backyard swimming pool. Based on his short film of the same name, Bryce McGuire's directorial feature debut centers on the Waller family, after former pro-baseball player Ray (Wyatt Russell) and his wife Eve (Kerry Condon) move their family to Minnesota as Ray learns to adjust to life following a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. With hydrotherapy highly encouraged, the Waller family buys a house with a swimming pool — one that, unbeknownst to them, has a deep, dark history.
"Night Swim" taps into something primal: The fear of the unknown while swimming in the dark and unable to see if there's anyone — or anything — swimming alongside you. And yet, it's still hard to say "haunted swimming pool" without letting out at least a little bit of a chuckle. Fortunately, "Night Swim" is well aware that there's an expectation based on the premise and packs in plenty of fun moments alongside the sinking dread and terrifying tension. Ahead of the film's release, I was able to sit down with Russell and Condon to talk about finding the right tone for the film, hear how hard it really is to "just keep swimming," and learn why Kerry Condon chose to follow up her Oscar-nominated performance in "The Banshees of Inisherin" with a horror movie.
Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Why Kerry Condon wanted to make a horror movie
Wyatt, you seem very dialed into the tone of this movie immediately, especially when we are in that nice shot of your face and you say, "We have a pool." Where did you find this tone for yourself and this character?
Russell: Well, I always like it when horror films or genre films have a sense of humor. I think it's relatively important, not every one of them, but even "The Shining" has a sense of humor. So we all talked about times where [we could] let off a little bit of steam and it's not constantly playing this sense of dread and doom. To me, that doesn't always make horror films fun. It's like, you want to have little release valves pop so that when you get to the meaty stuff it becomes really scary. So I was toying with, "Okay, [I'll] give you a funny one, give you a normal one, give you a different one in certain areas." And so in that take, they kept one that was a little bit more tongue-in-cheek.
It worked because I thought, "Okay, I know exactly what movie we're in here. We're going to be scared, but we're also going to have fun." My next question is for you, Kerry. A lot of people in the industry get their start in horror and then they never want to talk about it when they become big successful Oscar nominees. But you are playing with horror now, after your Oscar nomination. What was your draw to the genre?
Condon: I've always liked doing things that everyone else doesn't do. It's kind of why I smoked for 20 years. [laughs] Everyone in L.A. is like, "Why is she smoking?" I was like, "Because you're all not." [laughs] So one of the reasons is because I hadn't done it, and I've always wanted to be a character actress or an actress that could do comedy and drama and do all sorts of things. So I wanted to try it. I didn't know if it would be something that would be my forte, but I was really interested in trying it and I really admired a lot of actors that had done it because it's a lot harder than you think it is. It's almost like they should give awards to people who do something that's harder than an easier part. So what drew me to it was that I hadn't done it and I wanted to try it and that I could show more range.
It was 'tricky' acting while underwater
As I was watching "Night Swim," I kept thinking about how you had to act scared, but there's also the general physical element of swimming. What was it like to add that physical element to an already very emotionally responsive film?
Condon: That was kind of why I wanted to do it also, because I love swimming and I'm a really good swimmer. The idea of a physical aspect and a genre that I hadn't done were both of the things that I wanted to show that I could do. But I really liked the challenge. I don't think it was difficult in the sense that, "Oh, it was so hard." It was more of a challenge that I enjoyed. It was a lot of different aspects of crew members who had to do different things, but I guess it was a little hard acting underwater. That was a little bit tricky. I wasn't sure if I was conveying what I wanted to convey because I was underwater. That was a little bit hard, but I enjoyed the swimming part of it, to be honest.
Wyatt Russell still can't hold his breath
And Wyatt, how about you? I mean, you have a scene where you're underwater for quite a bit of time with a kid on your shoulders. Can you hold your breath for a very long time now?
Russell: No. [laughs] That's movie magic. I really can't hold my breath for that long. Although I did joke that the way I got the part was I went to Jason Blum's house and held my breath in his pool for five minutes.
Condon: That is a joke, right?
Russell: Yes, that is a joke. [laughs] No, I did not break into Jason's house and get into a swimming pool and go, "Jason, look at me. Time. Start now!"
Condon: He probably would've let you, you know? [laughs]
Russell: [laughs] Yeah, he would've. It was a really fun scene to do because you had to convey that there was this otherworldly thing controlling me and the way we did it was interesting. It was sort of in two parts, but you had to go from having fun Ray to this crazy weird possessed guy who's going to drown a kid. And that part was like, "Okay, you got to trust the filmmakers that they're going to be able to make this transition work, otherwise I'm just going to look like a weirdo who's drowning a kid." And so that was a lot of just leaving it up to them to try and figure out after the fact. "I'll give you what you think you need." But yeah, that part was just patience. Just have patience underwater — don't freak out. Panicking is the worst thing you can do. Never panic.
Condon: They did give you a float to hold onto him between takes and I'd always be like, "I don't need the float! I got it."
Russell: And I was like, "I'll take the float, please." [laughs]
Would you take a dip in the haunted pool?
The premise of this film itself is like "haunted pool," which is on its face silly and I love that. But at the same time it's also, it's a pool that can remedy. Is there anything in the world that would make you willingly go into the pool and make that choice?"
Russell: Well, the hard thing about it and the interesting about the movie is you don't know what the pool is doing to you, truly. You actually don't know what it's doing to your family. With Ray, he just knows that it's helping him. It plays on "God, I'm feeling great," and you don't even know what's going on until it starts to happen and then it possesses you in a way. So it's a hard question to answer. Obviously, if I knew that the result of being in the pool is going to harm my family, no, I would not go in the pool. But in the way that it operates in the movie, of course, I go in the pool. I go into the pool to heal my hip.
Condon: I need more than healing to go in. I'm going to need some more things than physical. I'm going to need some money or something. [laughs]
Russell: "How much is this pool going to pay me to get in?"
Kerry Condon: Of course. Like, stopping 9/11, then I'll think about it. But for healing? Nah, I don't know. It depends. I suppose, of course if you were sick ... I don't know. It depends. Yeah, no, probably not, right?
Russell: "This pool can heal my soul."
The pool that turns you into Jack Torrance
Earlier you mentioned "The Shining," and one of my fellow writers and I kept joking that "It's the pool that turns Wyatt Russell into Jack Torrance," because that's kind of the transformation you have as this father character. Was that intentional or was that just a happy accident?
Russell: I definitely wasn't trying to be Jack Torrance, but it lent itself to it, obviously. It was like, this otherworldly element that I'm living by or living in is turning me into this person. [For] Jack Torrance, [the question was] was he always this person? There was no possession as much as it was, has he always been here? Has he always been Jack Torrance? Is he part of the Overlook Hotel? And for this, it was a bit more, what's the word ... I don't want to say formulaic, but in a way it was. "The Shining" is an impossible formula to follow. This is a bit more formulaic, where it's like, "Oh no, the thing is the pool. It is evil. It is the embodiment of evil." It's not like "The Shining," where Jack Torrance super slowly ends up being this person. Here, there's a switch that happens, and you see that. So it was a little different that way, but thanks for saying that. Hopefully, people think that, too.
Condon: Nobody got my Shelley Duvall thing. There was one take where I felt like her when she was crying and exhausted, but I think that was just, I was exhausted. I actually felt like she felt. [laughs]
"Night Swim" is now playing in theaters everywhere.