Yahoo Lifestyle 'Companion' Stars Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid Share Their Hardest Scenes To Film (Exclusive)
Learning a foreign language is hard. Learning a foreign language for a film that will be seen around the world is even harder. Learning a foreign language for a film that will be seen around the world in which you play a robot that should be able to speak flawless German is damn near impossible. And yet, that was the task presented to actress Sophie Thatcher for her role in the thriller Companion (now in theaters).
In Companion, Thatcher plays Iris, the robot "companion" of Jack Quaid's Josh. The pair travel to a remote mansion for a weekend getaway with two other couples (played by Lukas Gage and Harvey Guillén and Megan Suri and Rupert Friend), but things quickly devolve among the group, and not everyone makes it out alive.
Of all the difficulties that come with playing a robot, however, Thatcher says that filming a scene in German was the trickiest.
"The hardest thing for me was the German scene, because we were in such a rush that day," the Yellowjackets actress tells Parade. "I was just so incredibly nervous about pulling off the German, because it's not like I'm a normal person trying to speak German. It's a robot speaking German, so it has to be perfect."
Ahead of Companion's release, Parade chatted with both Thatcher and Quaid about the most difficult scenes to film, the gorgeous house they used as the set and if it's easier to play a nice boyfriend or a crappy boyfriend.
Read the full interview below:
Matthew Huff: Sophie, since you're the titular companion, I'll start with you. What was it like playing a robot and how did you create the physicality of this character?
Sophie Thatcher (ST): I mean, she's still the most human in the movie, but it was about finding the physicality, a strange stillness that I'm very much not used to. I grew up dancing, and I'm very in tune with my body which, actually, I think helped build that stillness and find that voice. There's a charm, and there's a familiarity to her voice that soothes Josh in a way. She always had so much empathy, and most of the time I didn't think from an emotional standpoint "she's a robot." It was just all within the physicality of it.
Lukas Gage also plays a robot in the movie. Did the two of you work together on building out what the companions would be like in this world?
ST: We actually didn't. I wish we did so I could say something for this, but I was admiring him and watching him. We were just kind of on the same wavelength, meeting each other on screen for the first time. I think both of us were just very present and focused on other people rather than focusing on yourself. I just noticed that immediately in him and wanted to continue that.
Jack, I love your rom-com Plus One. I recommend that to everybody. In Plus One, you're playing such a likable character, and in this you're playing a crappy boyfriend.
Jack Quaid (JQ): The worst.
How are playing those roles different. Which is more difficult?
JQ: Oh God. They both have their own challenges, and like Ben in Plus One is a good guy, but I wouldn't say he's like the perfect dude. He definitely has his flaws, but Josh beats him out in terms of flaws so much. I mean, Josh is the most insecure character I've ever played in my life. He has this void inside of him. The way I found empathy for him was I think he hasn't really heard the words "love you" a lot in his life, and that was my way in. Now that I'm not playing him, though, screw Josh. I don't like him and he's not a good person. But there was something so interesting having done a rom-com and then doing this, which is just flipping so much of that on its head. I think that's really a credit to Drew [Hancock]'s script and how many twists and turns it takes, and how it's commenting on our relationships and the world at large. I just think he wrote one of the best scripts I've ever read. I still don't know what genre it is. I love that.
The house in the film is gorgeous. Did you film on location or was that a soundstage?
JQ: Yeah, the whole time that's a real house.
ST: And we all just had separate rooms. And in between takes, I would just take naps.
JQ: Yeah, instead of trailers, we just have these dressing rooms.
ST: It was a beautiful room. I had a dollhouse, which I loved.
Where was it?
JQ: Upstate New York.
ST: We were staying in Fishkill, but do you remember the name of the town the house was in?
JQ: Maybe close to Beacon or Cold Springs?
ST: Yeah, Beacon. It was gorgeous, and I love it up there. I think it's so charming, and that house was actually for sale while we were shooting it.
JQ: It was?
ST: Yeah. There was a lot of talk around town.
JQ: Either people are gonna really want to buy it now, or really not want to buy it now after what we did in there.
ST: It's haunted.
JQ: By the set of Companions.
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The movie really goes all kinds of places. What was the hardest scene for each of you to film?
ST: The hardest thing for me was the German scene, because we were in such a rush that day, and there were also three stunts. I was just so incredibly nervous about pulling off the German, because it's not like I'm a normal person trying to speak German. It's a robot speaking German. So it has to be perfect. I knew that, of course, they could help me in post. I just wanted to do my best and then also give everything that I could in, like, two takes because the sun was going down. So it's just a lot. Sometimes on set you can tell everybody's a little stressed out. We didn't have a lot of days like that. Usually that's a norm, where every day is like that, but that was one of those days. I was like, "I can't f--k this up."
JQ: Yeah, we were battling the elements a lot, especially...
ST: The second half because we had a six-month break because of the SAG strike. Yeah, so that was strange going back. But I also feel like we had time to think with the characters. Drew came in more confident because he had been editing it.
JQ: Yeah, he knew the exact movie he was making, not that he didn't before, but the tone was razor-sharp.
ST: It's rare that you get to do that.
JQ: Yeah, it really was. I think the most difficult scene for me actually happened in the first half when it was still summer. Up there you have bugs and the heat and mosquitoes and ticks. I remember there's this one scene I was trying to do, and bugs were flying into my ear every single take. A beetle just landed on my shoulder at one point. I was so frustrated by everything I couldn't control, and I wound up just using it. It's a scene where I am supposed to be frustrated, but it's like the most I've ever seen myself on camera, like, "Oh man. I've never seen myself this stressed." Thank God. I was able to like bring that into the scene.
Sophie, you're a bit of a scream queen now. Are there any horror franchises you'd be interested in joining?
ST: I mean, kind of late now, but 28 Years Later.
JQ: There could be 28 Decades Later.
ST: I know. Yeah, I'm excited to see that. That was a trailer that blew my mind. 28 Days Later was the first movie I was obsessed with, and then I started making movies because of that with my twin sister, just with our friends growing up.
JQ: Oh my god, I did the same thing.
ST: Really?
JQ: Yeah, just with my friends. It was the best. Little Sony camera.
ST: Do you still have them?
JQ: Yeah. iMovie HD. All that stuff. It was the best.
Then Jack, you're in the Scream movies.
ST: You are. I should have said that. That's the correct answer.
Mikey Madison, who played the other Ghostface with you in that film, has been having such a year.
JQ: I know man. I'm so proud of her.
Have you chatted with her? Do you guys have a Ghostface a group chat?
I mean, it would be a group chat of two. Just the two of us. But yeah, I texted her. I just wished her all the best. I'm so unbelievably excited for her. She's one of those people, a lot like Sophie, where you meet them and you're just like, "Oh, this person's the most talented person I've ever met, and they're just gonna go so, so far." So I'm so unbelievably happy for her and rooting for her very intensely. It's just awesome.
This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.
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