With a trailer that has already permanently put off every single viewer from visiting the dentist, Insidious: Out of the Further celebrates the return of the legendary horror franchise. As we dive back into the premise of The Further, circumstances are a little bit different this time around, because the evil that lurks within can now travel to the real world. When mother Gemma (Amelia Eve) unfortunately uncovers this nightmare setting, she comes across some of the scariest Insidious villains yet, including the highly mysterious Cyrus (Sam Spruell). With a career of playing incredibly dynamic and layered characters – including Ole Munch in Fargo and Maekar Targaryen in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms to name just a few – Sam is here to reveal everything he is able to about his time playing Cyrus!
STARBURST: You’re playing the mysterious, blindfolded villain Cyrus, can you tell us about how the character was initially pitched to you, and maybe what elements about Cyrus attracted you to playing the role?
Sam Spruell: OK, well, who doesn’t want to play the main villain? That was a big draw. I was in LA for something connected to Fargo because I did a series of Fargo a few years ago, and it was either an awards event or something similar, and I took some meetings there. One of them was to meet with director Jacob Chase. I’d seen some of his work, and I really thought it was really accomplished, and we just had this really great chat about Insidious. I didn’t know much about Insidious, but he did obviously. He was slated to do the next instalment. He talked about the world and what he wanted to do with the film, and he also said, “I’d like you to consider doing this part”, which was Cyrus, who is kind of a cult leader that’s killed and ends up in The Further, which I learnt all about doing this film. So he said he is a cult leader, who then becomes a cult leader in The Further, and brings all the spirit followers with him back to the real world. I loved that; also, he didn’t really need to pitch it because he was so interesting, so I was kind of already, really up for working with him. It was my opportunity to do a horror feature film, as I haven’t done much of that. I’ve done lots of other genres; I’ve done fantasy, and I’ve played horrific characters, but I’ve never been a part of that horror world. So I was like, “This could be really exciting, really fun”, and it was everything Jacob promised; it turned out to be a really inventive space. He was really creative to work with, so yeah, it turned out great.
What else did Jacob really want to see from Cyrus?
I think he just knew that I could play extreme characters. He wanted me to be creative with Cyrus, and so, that’s what we did. He had first seen me in Fargo Season 5, playing this crazy character called Ole Munch. I think he really liked that character and thought if I could bring a similar creativity to Cyrus then we would be cooking.
We’re not really used to evil characters talking within The Further, so it must have been really fun to build that as an actor, alongside Jacob? As it’s a completely new idea for the franchise?
Yeah, we had all kinds of ideas and the script developed. I’m sure there were chats right to the end between Jacob and his producers of how much he should talk. We tried to give him as much personality as possible. Every discussion around the scenes that he was in, they were really creative and filled with ideas, and that’s all you want when you’re making work really.
Insidious franchise legend, Lin Shaye (Elise Rainer) recently compared Cyrus to Dracula and Shakespeare! Would you maybe agree with that?
Lin Shaye saying that, is really, so lovely of her. If I get even like, a minute way towards it being Shakespeare or kind of Dracula in an iconic sense, I would be really happy. She saw me first as me, and then me as Cyrus so maybe she just enjoyed the transformation, and enjoyed a few things that I was trying to do with him. That was her being really complimentary, and so, thank you Lin Shaye, those comments have travelled, and I’m not going to disagree with them, but I’m also like, aware enough that they were not hyperbolic, but very kind.
From your perspective, are there any iconic characters that really went into defining the DNA of Cyrus?
My perspective is that I had all kinds of references of powerful men in real life who have not behaved well, and that was enough for me. There’s plenty of reference out there to kind of draw from. So, I wasn’t really drawing from characters, one character maybe in a film, that I probably had on a kind of list of images, but I’m going to keep my process slightly a secret. But definitely powerful men abusing that power. I felt like Cyrus fits into that category.
As well as being blindfolded, Cyrus wears a long robe, and elaborate jewellery, can you tell us about the costume design of Cyrus?
It was really great. The costume designer [Liz Keogh Palmer] came with her thoughts, then Jacob and I discussed a lot about the feel. He knew what colour he wanted, I had cult leaders in mind, Cyrus is killed and ends up in The Further in the ’70s. So, course you have that feel as well. I wanted him to maybe be quite hippie like, but also a bit of a murderous and nasty hippie. So that informed the costume, where I had sandals and flowing robes, and all of the rest of it. But then also, there was this amazing creation that was around my neck, which is kind of like lots of keepsakes from my victims. Whether it’s rings, or little bits of iconography that are linked to each victim. Just really horrible, terrible, frightening things. But that’s who he is and that’s what we tried to achieve, things that would signify how awful this man could be.
When it comes to practical effects, what did Jacob bring to the movie, and what was his approach like to work within?
The great thing about Jacob is that very early on in his career, he had a lot of success with an immersive theatre show (Big Worm’s Sherwood Scare), which he created and made largely on his own, obviously with the help of people, but he really created this incredible sounding show, which was horror based. Actually, I think he was approached to make it a franchise, where they have the same show running in different cities of America. Which, in the end he didn’t want to do, because he didn’t have any creative control, and creative control is very important for him. He didn’t want to give that up. However, he has that in his DNA, that theatricality. In camera making it there and then work, rather than having it done through CGI and all the rest of it. So much of what I shot that is in the film we just did there and then, it hasn’t been added later. From winding curtains, to lots of different effects. It was all happening in a practical way on the day of filming, which felt really exciting, it felt really old school. It felt like proper movie making, I loved it.
The Further is one of the coolest kind of, worlds that we have seen in recent horror. Could you tell us about what The Further is like to work within as an actor, and how they go about capturing it on camera?
It’s empty, there’s nothing there but smoke. Sometimes as an actor you turn up on a set and you think “Is this going to work?” It really does, and we had a really talented DOP (David Garbett) on this, who was not kind of, snobby about how he made it work. How sophisticated the lighting was, as long as it read in camera, in the way that they wanted to read it, then he would do anything to make that work. Some of the lights he used, would just be a torch, and I’d be like “This is such an expensive film, is this going to work?” Really, of course, the DOP has a high level of sophistication but he also just wants to make it work, and have the feel that the fans of the Insidious franchise have come to expect as well. I actually thought that the cinematography in this film was excellent.
James Wann says that “The Further is now leaking – escaping into our real world,” can you elaborate on that, on what else fans can expect from The Further within this movie? How else does it compare to what’s come before?
Well, I think The Further and the real world are bleeding into each other. So there’s much more accessibility, either way for people to travel to The Further, and for the spirits in The Further to travel to the real world. It makes for a really exciting, and frightening atmosphere in this film. The science behind it is really mental and mind-bending. It means that people become victims of their own power in a way, which is an interesting concept in the film.
You got to act opposite Amelia Eve, can you tell us about what that was like, and maybe what viewers can expect from that dynamic?
Amelia leads the whole film, she leads it with absolute realness, and force, and power, compassion. She is everything you would want in a lead actually, of a film like this. When I was acting with her, from the rare times I was actually, it was kind of, we only had a few days really, when we were properly in the same scenes. It was great, because she was really coming with an intensity, and she really is my character’s adversary. For us to be able to play off each other like that was great. That’s all you want in a scene partner, somebody that comes with energy and dynamic, and decisions, and you’re like “Oh, okay, now we can play.” It’s fantastic.
We have to bring it back to Lin Shaye, what was it like to act opposite her, and what does she bring?
Well, actually, in the film what I thought was great is that she has a real kind of power. She really sits in that character, which I had seen acting with her in the scene, I’m in my own world as well, covered in prosthetics, all the rest of it, you’ll see that when you watch the film, I just thought that she really anchors the film. She really is the baseline of that world. She has the performance, the voice, the physical strength to be that. It’s amazing.
Finally, why should STARBURST Magazine readers watch Insidious: Out of the Further?
I think it is a slight departure from what’s come before, cinematically certainly I think it’s more epic actually. But then you’ve got all of the great characters who will at some stage crop up. I think it is truly frightening in bits. Also, it’s funny, and subversive at other times. And just, every moment of the film is filled with creativity, filled with scares, and is really entertaining, right to the first bit of the credits and beyond, there’s a little clue. Stay in your seats!
INSIDIOUS: OUT OF THE FURTHER is in cinemas from August 21st. You can find Sam Spruell on Instagram.
