Bo Burnham’s 2018 indie breakout made Fisher a star. Now she’s back with the new ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre.’
Which is chilling : look middle school or getting furrow by a mask assassin wielding a chainsaw ? Elsie Fisher indicate it ’s the former , and she ’s something of an expert on both . In 2018’sEighth Grade , the Bo Burnham - directed indie hit that made her a star , Fisher played a smooth , uneasy teenager desperate to find a situation among her peers ' restrain societal hierarchy . And inTexas Chainsaw Massacre , a newfangled sequel to the 1974 classic that debuts February 18 on Netflix , she is a scrappy amateur lensman who endure head - to - head with the savage Leatherface while accompanying her sister ( Happy Death Day 2U ’s Sarah Yarkin ) on a business trip .
One thing Fisherdoesn’tseem too afraid of is Hollywood . At 18 , the signified of sense of humour she exhibit about herself and the fierce line in which she run has make up off . AfterEighth Grade , she take a recurring role in the Stephen King seriesCastle Rock , and later this month she ’ll appear inFamily Squares , a quarantine - gibe clowning about relative unleashing long - declare secrets as they organise to eat up their matriarch . Fisher is also prepare to inject the dark comedyLatchkey KidsoppositeMinariscene - thief Alan Kimthis year , giving her a wealth of projects that play to different strengths as she near adulthood .
have on a chic sports jacket and sporting forgetful brown hair , Fisher hopped on Zoom for a chat aboutthe waysEighth Gradechanged her life , filmingTexas Chainsaw Massacrestunts while extend in fake blood , and everyone ’s inner asshole .
Illustration by Maitane Romagosa for Thrillist. Photo by Erik Voake/Getty Images.
Eighth Gradehad a very longsighted ledge spirit : It premiered at Sundance , and you were hang the Oscars over a year later , with a whole release cycle in between . When the experience was said and done , how much did you feel your life had changed?Elsie Fisher : It was just disturbed . I would be going to the Golden Globes , and then I had mathematics class the next day and no one gave a crap . So I think that was a very good humbling process for me as anartiste . My whole life has transfer instrumentally , so it ’s been a plenty of play . I ’m really glad to be crack - privileged now and be an player . I ’ve just been able to encounter so many masses and be invested in so much art , and I ’m forever grateful for that because that ’s all I ’ve ever wanted to do : see fine art and satisfy people .
Did you enjoy the flurry of attention you blend through in the grade of that year — the closet , the crimson carpets?I’m an introvert , if you will . I think it was made a lot beneficial because I evidently had Bo Burnham with me , and he was so nice and just made the whole process easy for me as someone who had not done any of that poppycock , really . But I do n’t know — who does n’t like being looked at , right ? We all need attention . So I had sport with it .
What sort of offer did you find after the picture show come out ? Did you have a raft of option in term of roles?There was a lot of stuff justly after it came out that was typecast - y. You ca n’t clean and choose , of line , but I was like , " Well , I experience like you ’re projecting a typecast onto me that was n’t even really the movie"—just the shy , still kid . I think the movie was almost about breaking those barriers and boundaries . No one really is the shy , still kid , but everyone is . But I ’ve been able-bodied to do some really fun hooey — manifestly delving into the world of repugnance , which seemed , I think to a heap of mass , like a strange pick . ButEighth Grade ’s a horror film to me , so it was great . It was a very lifelike modulation .
Elsie Fisher, Sarah Yarkin, Nell Hudson, and Jacob Latimore in ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’|Netflix
It ’s chilling thanTexas Chainsawbecause it ’s so familiar . Of of course . It ’s just too splanchnic .
What was your kinship to theTexas Chainsawmovies before starring in one?I really love horror as a genre , and I always have . Texas Chainsaw , the original , is definitely one of those movie that I saw when I was way too vernal , and it irreparably traumatized me , but possibly I just love it a little more because of that . And it feel very full circle and therapeutic to now be in the midst of that . I love a good slasher . Now that I ’ve been covered in simulated blood , it ’s gross — but it ’s fun to see other people in it .
How long does it take to cancel the blood off?Like , constantly . Because they make it out of sugar , basically . It ’s some glycerol compound thing , and it ’s crack , super congealed and viscous , and it stains your skin . But then it ’s really funny when you ’re coming home at 3 am to this hotel and you have a hoodie on and you ’re cover in water and fake pedigree , and you ’re like , " Hey , can I get a coffee ? "
Elsie Fisher in ‘Eighth Grade’|A24
The climax of the movie is effectively a choreographed action scene . You ’re chasing Leatherface , wielding a heavy weapon , falling into a pool . Was stunt work on your vision board?I do n’t opine it was ever something I was going for , but it ’s in spades been fun to do . Every stunt somebody who ’s trained me and walk me through poppycock has just been so wonderful . That ’s been a very nice residential district — very welcome to this schlub . It ’s kind of once - in - a - lifespan clobber . When are you ever move to get push over by some bulky serviceman into a nasty pool ? It ’s just the memories you keep with you . It ’s one for the résumé , human . Being in that pool was a small rough because we shot that in the winter in Bulgaria , which was quite cold .
Bulgaria?!Bulgaria , yes . Very lovely country , by the way . I super enjoyed buck there , and it ’s amazing . The city we were in , Sofia , is loosely the metropolis where a band of masses come to film , or stay while they ’re shoot down . And it ’s just very beautiful to see that form of history and architecture , which is very much not something we have in America , necessarily .
You talked about the way citizenry picture Kayla fromEighth Gradeonto you . There is something about the intimacy of the performance that makes it feel like an annex of your brain . It left me wonder whether something likeTexas Chainsawleaves you craving that more strip - down experience . The difference in writing style definitely impacts [ the experience ] . TheEighth Gradeset was pretty much , most of the time , just me and the crew , which is a very different environment . And it was a very small bunch , too , because it was an indie , versus something like this , where you have all these citizenry and you have all these prop and stunt . But this was so much sport , too , because I feel that I was very much permit to rap into what I wanted for this very different character , and it ’s a fun geographic expedition of how hoi polloi really would react in situation like that . I love my graphic symbol in this , Lila , because she ’s just a little arse , and that ’s what I ’ve always wanted to play . I guess that ’s a outstanding departure fromEighth Grade .
Because Kayla is very much not an bastard . Or at least , she try not to be . She totally is sometimes , but she very much tries not to be . Do n’t we all ?
I would n’t have call back of this type as an shit needfully , but I get what you entail . I do n’t reckon we get so much time to see Lila in her element , but she ’s just a jolt to her baby a lilliputian bit , in the way that you are with your siblings . And it was significant for me , too , to not let her be entirely defined by her harm , because I do n’t think citizenry who ’ve gone through injury are .
Are you aware how much people adore yourTwitter account?Bada bing , bada boom ! What can I say ?
DuringEighth Grade , you utter very articulately about the pros and cons of the internet and life spent online . I ’m curious what you think of Bo Burnham ’s pandemic clowning special , Inside , which dealt with a lot of that , in particular in the wake of all the closing off that we get going through?It was very interesting , because I did n’t expect it fully . I mean , I kind of knew it was coming before it dropped , but he had peach about not doing comedy so much . It ’s very vulnerable to step back into it , but I cerebrate it ’s also very warranted . I thought it was just special . It really reminded me of YouTube in a lot of way , which I call up was so interesting because that ’s his roots . It was kind of cool to see it come full rophy . Perhaps that ’s because it was segmented into mo , and we do n’t have attention yoke any longer , and it played into that in a corking elbow room , in a very smart , funny way .
Do you feel that your attention span is lost to technology?I call back so . I ’m very much trying to make active step to not do that so I can palpate more like a person again . I had TikTok on my phone for a while . I never uploaded anything , but I used to watch it so much and I quit cold bomb : " Just get it out of there . " And I remember I ’ve been capable to fill my day a little more , which has been good . And I ’ve been reading . I screw reading .
What ’s the last great playscript you ’ve loved?I’m in the middle of this book right now , really , calledArbitrary Stupid Goalby Tamara Shopsin . It ’s a very beautiful , sort of stream - of - consciousness autobiography about her life growing up in New York , and then her life now , subsist in Texas . It is very good and kind of helpful for someone turn over back into record .
