Why It Was So Difficult For Barbarian's Zach Cregger To Direct Georgina Campbell's Scenes
"Barbarian" lead Georgina Campbell is no stranger to roles that require her to run the gamut of emotions. After winning a leading actress BAFTA Award for her role as a victim of domestic abuse in 2015's TV movie "Murdered by My Boyfriend," Campbell has co-starred in the dramas "Retribution" and "Broadchurch," and Season 4, Episode 4 of "Black Mirror," titled "Hang the DJ." Campbell can also be seen in her role as Natalie Thompson in the Apple TV+ series "Suspicion," in which she stars alongside Kunal Nayyar and Uma Thurman. Regarding her role in "Suspicion," Campbell told Town & Country, "My character goes through a lot of traumas, but comes out of them so strong."
So when it came time to the horror film "Barbarian," in which she plays the moral and rational protagonist, Tess, Campbell was ready to go. "Georgina is one of those actors who is white hot on take one, and that's actually really rare," director Zach Cregger told The Hollywood Reporter. "So I knew not to waste her early takes because she's going to be great immediately." He went on to explain that he's used to actors taking some time to warm up, but with Campbell, his approach had to change. "Let's take every take seriously with her because she's just so brilliant."
But despite Campbell's professionalism and ready-to-go attitude, Cregger still found it difficult to direct her when it came to specific scenes.
Cregger had a tough time filming scenes with Campbell screaming and crying
Zach Cregger is best known as one of the creators of the sketch comedy group "The Whitest Kids U'Know" and other comedies. But he's also done plenty of series and films as an actor, with his first screen role as a seven-year-old in "Homicide: Life on the Street" (per IMDb). So he understands the toll emotional scenes can take on an actor, recalling to The Hollywood Reporter that it was hard "to direct her [Campbell] in the scenes where she's screaming and crying because, as an actor myself, I just know what that requires. There were moments where I would tear up watching her, just because I felt so awful for this person. When you watch somebody do that 15 takes in a row, it's just grueling."
"Barbarian" has been getting rave reviews as a horror film that is charming as well as shocking. The film has a solid critical score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and is being called one of the best horror films of the year by critics and fans. Obviously, Campbell was up for the emotional turmoil and vulnerability the role required. And as for Cregger, "I really enjoy directing, so I'll be focusing my energy more on this," he said. We look forward to it.