Connie Britton in ‘Here After’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Opening in select theaters and on digital September 13th is the new thriller ‘Here After’, which was directed by Robert Salerno (‘Smile’) and stars Connie Britton (‘The White Lotus’ and ‘Friday Night Lights’), Freya Hannan-Mills (‘The Cuckoo’), and Giovanni Cirfiera (‘Ford v Ferrari’).
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Connie Britton about her work on ‘Here After’, her first reaction to the screenplay, her character’s guilt, her relationship with her daughter, working with actress Freya Hannan-Mills, the tone of the movie, and collaborating with director Robert Salerno on set, as well as teasing her other upcoming movie, the true story ‘Winner’, which also opens in theaters on September 13th.
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Connie Britton in ‘Here After’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and why you wanted to be part of this project?
Connie Britton: Well, I’ve joked about this before because of course, doing ‘American Horror Story’ all those years ago, I’ve always been afraid of horror movies. That’s not been my go-to genre, but I was really moved by this story when I read it, and it really took me by surprise, and it tapped into some very maternal feelings that I experience in my life and in kind of this supernatural way. But for me, whenever I read a script, I always really look for something that taps into my own humanity because I feel like if I’m experiencing that now in this way, my hope is that then I can help an audience tap into that thing too. So, that’s what it felt like when I first read the script. I just kind of felt really moved and the experience of what it feels like to be a mother and the unknown, but in a way that I hadn’t quite seen before.
MF: Can you talk about the guilt that Claire is dealing with and what she’s willing to do to protect her daughter?
CB: Well, I mom guilt is a thing. It’s real. Parent guilt is real. We’re not going to just restrict it to moms. I’ve done enough therapy to know that guilt is never productive, so it’s kind of is something that plagues us. So, for me, it was interesting to explore how she’s guilty because there was a consequence to something that was a result of her own emotional pain. There was a deeply emotionally painful consequence to that. So, I really was trying to explore my own guilt and what it would feel like if that was ratcheted up to here and heightened to a point where I couldn’t see the world in any other way other than through the filter of that guilt. It was interesting. As an actor, I always want to try to learn something from the roles that I play and learn something about myself. Sometimes you must look at things that you don’t really want to look at all the time every day. Guilt is certainly one of them. So, it was a challenging exploration, but also a beneficial one. I think it helped me understand the places where I feel guilty and where it’s not beneficial for me. Again, I hope that for audiences who watch it too.
(L to R) Freya Hannan-Mills and Connie Britton in ‘Here After’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
MF: Can you talk about Claire’s relationship with Robin and what it was like working with actress Freya Hannan-Mills?
CB: Well, Freya is so wonderful and just a wonderful human being and a wonderful actress and amazing, transformative in this part. She made it easy, and instinctively she’s somebody that you want to be maternal toward, but we talked a lot about her relationship with her mother, and she’s just a gentle soul. So, it felt very much, like I could just get right into that feeling of I love this being. So yeah, it was wonderful to work with her.
MF: Can you talk about the film’s tone, and as an actress, is that something you are concerned with, or do you just leave that up to the director?
CB: Tone is really one of the most important things always because tone is such a pivotal part of telling the story. So, because if you tell a story with a more humorous tone, it’s going to come across completely differently than if you tell a story with a more surreal or moody tone. So yeah, as we were making the movie, I was constantly trying to understand what my role was between grounding the movie, but also understanding that there was this supernatural element to it and trying to find the balance between worlds. But I always want to try to ground any character that I play as much as I can, because I think that that allows our audience then to open into whatever worlds we’re creating even more effectively because the audience feels grounded as well. But that’s always a balancing act, and just to find out how, you’re firmly on the ground and then how far you can fly.
(L to R) Giovanni Cirfiera, Alessandro Bressanello and Connie Britton in ‘Here After’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
MF: What was it like collaborating with veteran producer Robert Salerno on his first feature film as a director?
CB: It’s always exciting working with someone who is directing the original vision from the script. It’s exciting because, and we talked about it a lot, he really had invested so much of himself into the vision of this story. Then it’s exciting to see that unfold. In Bob’s case, he is a veteran producer, but also, he was directing a movie for the first time in Italy. We had these incredible Italian crews that I just adored so much. But it was interesting watching the challenges that came up for him around that, and being a first-time director, and it just felt like we kind of were all in these beautiful Roman trenches together, really learning how to do this in that beautiful landscape with the wonderful crews that we got to work with.
Director Susanna Fogel’s ‘Winner’. Photo: Vertical.
MF: Finally, in addition to ‘Here After’, you also have the film ‘Winner’ opening on the same day. What can you tell us about that movie and the character you play?
CB: Well, I mean, that is an incredible story. I don’t know if you know the story of Reality Winner or not, but it’s a true story about a young woman named Reality Winner who during the 2016, when Trump was elected, basically she was working for the NSA, and she discovered that the Russians had interfered with our elections. So, because she felt like people needed to know this, she anonymously sent her discovery to a to a media site, and she was arrested by the FBI. She went through a terrible prison ordeal and is still enduring a lot of the repercussions of that. Anyway, it’s an amazing story of this very young woman. I play her mother who helped try to give her a voice because she was given one of the worst sentences, we’ve ever given to someone who’s basically been accused of being a traitor to the country. So, it’s an interesting philosophical story, and hers is a story of courage. You learn a lot about it, but Susanna Fogel (‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’), the director tells it almost as a black comedy, which speaking of tone, it’s kind of a harrowing story, but seen through the lens of black comedy, it makes it more accessible and relatable as well.
What is the plot of ‘Here After’?
Claire Hiller (Connie Britton) is overjoyed when her daughter Robin (Freya Hannan-Mills) is miraculously revived after a fatal accident. But her relief turns to dread as Claire notices changes in her daughter, suspecting something dark has followed her back from the brink of death.
Who is in the cast of ‘Here After’?
- Connie Britton as Claire
- Freya Hannan-Mills as Robin
- Giovanni Cirfiera as Luca
- Tommaso Basili as Dr. Ben Romano
(L to R) Giovanni Cirfiera and Connie Britton in ‘Here After’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.