Abigail stars Kevin Durand and William Catlett discuss their new horror film, including stunts, fake blood, favorite vampires, and playing bad people.
Abigail perfectly combines humor, horror, heist, and mystery, as it follows a group of criminals who kidnap a 12-year old girl in order to hold her for a large ranson, only to quicky to discover she is a creature of the night. Filled with twists, turns, and a whole lot of blood, this is the must see movie of the year.
We sat down with William Catlett (Rickles) and Kevin Durand (Peter) to talk all about Abigail. They reveal just how much fun it was to work on this movie, their favorite vampire stories, and why they think Abigail should be seen in theaters.
Kevin Durand & William Catlett on Abigail
Tessa Smith: This is my favorite movie of the year so far. It is so much fun. Was it as much fun to film?
William Catlett: Oh, yeah, we had a blast from the moment we got off the plane. And we’re all living in the same living quarters. And then we get to set and our first big scene is with everybody and we don’t really know each other. So you get to know each other inside of the scene. And it was just an incredible experience. I think Matt and Tyler did such an amazing job bringing out a group of people who don’t know each other together.
Kevin Durand: Like really bringing people together that I don’t know how they knew we were all going to like each other the way we did. We would have Friday dinners, we would go swimming. We would train. We really became a family. So we were always curious to see if it was gonna come through on the screen. And it did. That’s so great because in a film like this, there’s so much happening. Everybody has their moments. It was just the best time right from the table read. They really put together the A-Team. It never felt like work, even when you were really cold and lying and blood.
William Catlett: It felt like work to me, because I remember that day. I woke up and I’m like, Okay, today the day. I don’t want to spoil it for nobody, but today’s my day. You know what I mean? And you got the prosthetics on, and they got the blood gushing out, and Matt walks over, he’s like more blood. And Tyler walks over, he says more blood. Then they walk over together, more blood. So you’re not getting any warmer with the blood gushing out. But it’s just their way. The joy that they had. Like, this is their first film. We know it’s not their first film, but they approach it as their first film. It was just amazing to work with each and every one of the cast members and even the crew too, just a great experience.
Tessa Smith: Do you have a favorite Vampire book, movie, or series?
Kevin Durand: My favorite is The Strain. I was on the opposite side of it. I was actually the most equipped, the most ready to take on vampires, whereas Peters is drunk and sad. So I would have to say that’s my favorite in being a part of it. But then also watching it. I just thought it was so wonderfully playful.
William Catlett: And I really enjoyed True Blood. That was that was my show. So to be a part of another vampire thing, it’s great. And it’s my first introduction into the world has an actor, into the whole scary movie universe. And it just been cool.
Tessa Smith: I feel like this is our first ballerina vampire.
Kevin Durand: Yep. Dan, there was one day where he was throwing out these different names, I think he had 17 different names for names for her. Caterina ballerina. It just kept going on, in every single take. The most enjoyable thing was watching as to whether or not he could break Melissa.
William Catlett: She’d be trying to not break, but breaking every single time because he would come up with a different name.
Tessa Smith: What would you say to people to tell them Abigail needs to be seen on the big screen?
William Catlett: I think this has the same effect as Tom Cruise in his film that came out, Top Gun. Everybody went back to the theater and now Abigail has the same effect. You can bring your family. Your teenagers and your high schoolers are going to want to come out. Everybody can come out and enjoy the film. You got a heist, you got a mystery, you got a haunted house, you got a lot of blood. So I will tell you get your tickets now. Bring the crew, you’re going to have a lot of fun, and you’re going to be scared, and there’s a lot of blood. There’s blood, blood, blood and more blood. And it’s an incredible cast.
Kevin Durand: You’ll also find a lot of laughs. You’re gonna laugh a lot, too. You’re gonna be a little scared. Maybe a lot scared. I don’t know what what scares you. I mean, she scares me. I know that because she’s forever tattooed on my consciousness on top of me. That’ll never leave my consciousness. Tattooed forever. The sweet girl who when she when she turned it on, it was terrifying. There’s moments in there where you really get to sit with the characters and you’re like, I like this human. This human is probably not a nice person. They probably made a lot of mistakes in their life. That’s what kind of brought us all together. But I think people will connect to them. So it just raises the stakes when the inevitable happens.
Tessa Smith: This is a group of people who most of them are not the best human beings. So how do you find a way to connect with them?
Kevin Durand: I constantly play unsavory human beings, and I just know that no matter what situation you’re in, whatever the things are, that you’ve done in life, it doesn’t take away from the fact that you’re a human being. 99.9% of the time, I would say, we’re all good natured but circumstance and environment contributes to who and what we become. So it’s not very hard to step into these places. Even when I’m doing the most horrible things on screen. I still feel like they’re human. So I don’t judge.
William Catlett: I want to say that.
Abigail dances into theaters on April 19th.
NEXT: Abigail Review: The Most Fun You’ll Have All Year
About Abigail
Children can be such monsters.
After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.
From Radio Silence—the directing team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett behind the terrifying modern horror hits Ready or Not, 2022’s Scream and last year’s Scream VI—comes a brash, blood-thirsty new vision of the vampire flick, written by Stephen Shields (The Hole in the Ground, Zombie Bashers) and Guy Busick (Scream franchise, Ready or Not).
Abigail dances into theaters on April 19th.
Tessa Smith is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved Film and TV Critic. She is also a Freelance Writer. Tessa has been in the Entertainment writing business for ten years and is a member of several Critics Associations including the Critics Choice Association and the Greater Western New York Film Critics Association.