To celebrate the release of horror-comedy RAVERS which is out now on VOD, we sat down with lead actress Georgia Hirst to talk about the film, her experiences and how she prepared for the role.
STARBURST: Congratulations on the film, it’s a crazy, blood-soaked thrill ride. After debuting at Frightfest over a year ago, how good is it to finally have the film released to the public?
GEORGIA HIRST: It’s great – there is something quite scary about it becoming public knowledge, with everyone able to see it and talk about it. But obviously it’s a labour of love, in such a short amount of time we had so much to do. So I think I’m excited for people to finally see it. A lot of my friends and family came to the premiere and their reactions were generally really good so I’m looking forward to the public seeing it and I can’t wait to watch it again myself – it’s been a while!
What was it about the story or character that drew you to the project?
Well, I remember the first thing that I was drawn to was really the fact that Becky characteristics are the opposite of mine in real life. She’s a neat freak, she’s a control freak, she hates to party, she’s a workaholic – all of these traits are the opposite of me. So I thought “how am I going to do this?”. I saw it as a great challenge. My sister is a little bit of a clean freak herself too so before I did the audition tape, she did it with me. I would ask her how she would wash her hands, how many times and stuff like that so I could build up this character – when I got the role I put into place of the things I had learned and I loved that she was completely different to me. Becky has so many levels – she is gay and has a romantic interest in the story. I thought it was so important to play her with that not being a defining fact – it’s just who she is. It was really cool to play someone who has all these different levels – it’s unlike anything I’ve done before. Polar opposite [laughs].
One of the strongest aspects of the film is your character’s growth and performance. When we spoke to Bernhard, he briefly mentioned your preparation for the role, could you elaborate on that?
I just played her honestly first and foremost. In terms of preparing for the role, the first thing I needed to do is go to a rave, which I had done at University, but it was a long time ago. I’m certainly not a party animal now so I can relate to Becky on that level. I was a bit unsure about going to a rave so I knew exactly what the character felt like. The OCD aspect of Becky was the hardest to grasp because I didn’t want it to be over the top or a joke, I wanted it to look like something so suffers with – I wanted to master it. I asked all of my friends and built up this sort of dance with the way that she moves and reacts to things. I tried to make it as polished as I could and it was important for me to achieve that. It was a great and inspiring journey to play this character.
What was the biggest challenge as an actor during the production?
The first few days of filming were comparatively really tame as it was just me. I actually worked every single day of the production so it was an exhausting but amazing experience. The office scenes at the start were lovely and clean and then when we moved to Pinewood for the rest of the movie and the fun chaos began. Everyone was running around trying to stick to deadlines but they were all having a wonderful time. Some of the things I saw were pretty scary too in terms of the mutant makeup and everything – some proper crazy days but it was so rewarding and the finished film looks amazing.
What was your favourite scene or set piece to shoot?
Well, I loved the way that the office scenes look at the beginning of the movie considering we were in Wales with miserable weather. The way that it managed to make it look like America was really cool. My favourite was some of the stunts we got to do – I got to do some stuff myself including sliding down a broken bridge all hooked up which was scary but super cool. I can now say that I have done some stunts! An amazing experience all around.
RAVERS is out now on VOD in the UK.
