Sophie Wilde has criticised film awards panels for failing to recognise horror films on the same level as films from other genres.
READ MORE: Sophie Wilde on her scary big year: “’Talk to Me’ was pandemonium”
This summer, Wilde starred in the lead role of the breakout indie horror hit Talk to Me, earning rave reviews for her performance.
The Australian film follows Wilde’s Mia, a young woman who becomes embroiled with the supernatural following a séance with an embalmed hand and the horrors that follow.
Michael Philippou, Sophie Wilde and Danny Philippou of ‘Talk to Me’ at SXSW Film Festival 2023. CREDIT: Robby Klein/Getty Images
In an interview with NME, the 25-year-old Australian actor, who also starred in the Netflix series Everything Now, opened up about what she perceives to be the unfairness with which actors in horror films are treated by the film industry and awards panels.
“It’s really interesting that horror doesn’t get recognised in the same way as other films,” Wilde said. “I think that with horror, you often get such wide-ranging performances from artists who have to go to so many extremes.”
“People just don’t take horror seriously or maybe because it’s just a commercially mainstream genre that they think it doesn’t have the gravity of a traditional drama. But it requires the same level of integrity and craft as any other performance. Like Mia Goth in Pearl: snubbed!”
No actor has received an Academy Award nomination for a performance in a conventional horror film since Daniel Kaluuya in 2017’s Get Out.
READ MORE: ‘Talk To Me’ review: give this hair-raising debut horror a hand
Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou in their feature directorial debut, Talk To Me also stars Alexandra Jensen as Jade, Joe Bird as Riley, Otis Dhanji as Daniel, Miranda Otto as Sue, Zoe Terakes as Hayley and Chris Alosio as Joss.
In a four-star review of Talk to Me, NME wrote: “Hardcore horror fans should expect less of a full-on festival of bloody carnage and more a new-school chiller in line with the first two films by Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar) or Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us). Regardless: for a top-ranking summer fright from Down Under, don’t miss Talk To Me.”
After the runaway success of the film, it was confirmed by production company A24 in August that a sequel, titled Talk 2 Me, is in the works.
The post ‘Talk To Me’ star criticises awards bodies for ignoring horror movies appeared first on NME.
