'Pet Sematary' Actress Jeté Laurence Had Fun Playing A Murderous, Undead Child [Video Interview]
Young actress Jeté Laurence had a difficult task ahead of her when she joined the Pet Sematary cast. Her character, Ellie Creed, goes through a lot over the course of the film, starting off as a sweet, innocent kid before dying, then coming back to life as an evil, undead killer. Despite her age, Laurence handled the task like a pro, delivering a remarkable, memorable performance. I had a chance to talk with Laurence after the Pet Sematary premiere at SXSW. Watch our Jeté Laurence video interview below. And beware of potential spoilers.
Jeté Laurence Video Interview
When Stanley Kubrick directed young Danny Lloyd in The Shining, the filmmaker went to great lengths to shield the child actor from the darker subject matter in the film. Indeed, Kubrick never let Lloyd know he was even in a horror film. Such protections would be impossible for the 11-year-old Jeté Laurence, who plays Ellie Creed in Pet Sematary.
In Stephen King's novel, and the 1989 film adaptation, Ellie is a bit of a secondary character, and doesn't partake in much of the action. For the new Pet Sematary, things have been changed considerably. Rather than Ellie's toddler brother Gage dying – as he does in the book – it's Ellie herself who is killed in a tragic accident. Her father, Dr. Louis Creed, can't let his dead daughter go, though, and buries her in a cursed burial ground that has the power to raise the dead. But the Ellie that comes back isn't the kind, normal little girl we meet at the start of the film. Instead, she's a monster.
During the course of our interview, I asked Laurence if it was difficult to switch between sweet and innocent and dangerous and deadly, but to hear the young actress tell it, the entire experience was a piece of cake – and fun, too. But which was more fun to play: good Ellie, or undead Ellie? I'll let you find out for yourself by watching the interview.
"It was amazing to watch her completely turn around between human Ellie and undead Ellie," said Amy Seimetz, who playes Laurence's mother in the film. "Her ability to differentiate between the two was incredible."
Pet Sematary opens April 5, 2019.