Scout-Taylor Compton On ‘A Creature Was Stirring’ And Her Passion For The Genre
The holiday season wouldn’t be complete without some Christmas-themed horror flicks making their way down the chimney. One such stocking stuffer that’s on the horizon is A Creature Was Stirring from director Damien LaVeck. The cast includes Scout Taylor-Compton, who’s no stranger to holiday horror, having starred as Laurie Strode in Rob Zombie’s Halloween duology.
In A Creature Was Stirring, Scout Taylor-Compton and Connor Paolo play two strangers who break into the home of an overprotective mother and her daughter during a winter storm, only to discover that a sinister houseguest lurks within. The film stars Chrissy Metz of This is Us fame in her genre debut and also features a creature made of Practical FX.
Taylor-Compton sat down with Dread Central in an exclusive interview to chat about working with Chrissy Metz, her podcast with Halloween co-host Danielle Harris, and her work on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre multiplayer from Gun Interactive.
Dread Central: So, you’ve Halloween, you’ve done April Fool’s Day, and now you’re doing Christmas. Is any holiday safe from you?
Scout Taylor-Compton: No, man. I’m going to tackle all of them. I’m waiting for Eli Roth to call me for Thanksgiving.
DC: How did you get involved with A Creature Was Stirring?
STC: I was the script by this incredible writer, Shannon Wells. You know, I read a lot of genre movies. I’m always able to tell what the ending is going to be. I think maybe because I do them so much. This is a film that I kept reading and reading, and just when I thought I had figured it out, I was completely shocked by the end.
And I knew when I was going to do A Creature Was Stirring, that’s what the audience would feel. They’ll have to go back and watch this and see if they can figure out the clues. Then when I met Damien LeVeck, the director, we met up for coffee. Because I’ve been around this genre and this community, you just know when you’re in the presence of someone who’s as much of a nerd about this genre as you. We were just shooting the shit for 40 minutes before we even talked about the script. I’d already been like “Yep, I’m doing it.” [Damien] cares so much about this genre that I know it’ll be epic.
DC: Can you speak to the difference between the energy on set with a director who’s a passionate fan of the genre vs. somebody who’s extremely competent and might be passionate about *this* project, but isn’t necessarily a genre fan?
STC: The set tone is so different. Everyone is a massive, massive fan of the genre, so anytime a squib works, or anytime the creature comes in, everyone’s just so stoked. Everyone’s sitting behind the monitor like “Oh, that worked! That was so awesome!” It’s a family, it’s a community.
DC: You mentioned a “creature” that’s created through Practical FX. Have you ever worked with a creation of Practical FX to this scale?
STC: I’ve worked with a lot, and I love to work with practical. As an actor, it’s so much better to look at a creature rather than a tennis ball or an X on the wall. But [this creature] was seven feet tall. Like, it was heavy and it came in pieces. I remember I hadn’t seen the full creature until the end of the movie. I’d only seen it in pieces. One day, somebody would be holding the tail, then the head, then the legs until finally I saw the guy and he was in stilts. It was terrifying, but that’s what makes it so much better on-screen.
And also, the passion is there, man. They built this, people spent blood, sweat, and tears to make this creature the best that they could. You know, I don’t know how much “easier” it is to have a massive seven-foot-creature on set, but it definitely sets the tone. These are fanatics, and they love the genre so much, so to have the creature in plain sight adds such a joy to set.
DC: Is there a scale of production that you’re most comfortable working on?
STC: I like all scales. Like with Halloween, I had such an amazing time and that was a bigger scale. But I think what matters most is the people. It really matters the type of people you have surrounding you. There’s a playfulness, like a playground when you have a smaller set that you’re able to just kind of work on ideas and take your time. Then, when it’s a bigger budget, there are a lot more cooks in the kitchen. That was a big thing for Halloween II. I think Rob was super stressed about that. That must’ve sucked. Being in his creative brain and having people go “no, no, no.”
DC: He’s been very public recently about his experiences making the Halloween movies and his, let’s say, less than amicable relationship with the Weinsteins. Did you get a sense of any of that tension?
STC: You know, Rob is very protective. Rob has been very protective of me and very, very supportive. I always like to say that I was like Rob and Sherry’s daughter. So he was very protective of me on that set and kept me away from [the tension]. The same way Tyler Mane. You could feel it, but I was just unaware of what was going on just because he was protecting me from all that bullshit.
DC: Speaking of working with good people, in A Creature Was Stirring, you’re working with Chrissy Metz from This is Us, of course. What was it like working with her?
STC: When everyone sees this movie, it’s very heavy for her. This character used to be a drug addict. It’s a massive, heavy role for her. And, she had never done horror before. I hadn’t known that.
I was a fan of This is Us and her character. I thought she was an absolute talent. I met her at the table read and she kind of has that bubbly energy, and so do I. So we hit it off very, very well and very fast. Then, I remember, I hadn’t seen her for a few days and then I saw her on the set. I walked into the trailer and I was singing some Garth Brooks song or something. Then I saw her, and you could feel like she was kind of drained. I tapped her on the shoulder and said, “Hey man. How are you doing?” She’s like “Who is this girl tryin’ to get me outta my funk right now?”
She talked about this on my podcast, Talk Scary To Me, she said: “I knew it. From that moment, that girl is kinda like me.” I can sense when someone’s feeling low.
It’s gotta be hard, man. Stepping into horror, it ain’t all rainbows and sunshine. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into it. I talked about this with Danielle Harris (Halloween IV) on the podcast. We’ve been doing this since we were kids. We’re used to blood cannons, we’re used to scary things, we’re used to screaming and crying. We’re used to being physically and emotionally drained and we’re able to snap in and out of it.
But it has to be overwhelming. There were a lot of times when Chrissy and I would talk, and I would help her out in that way. But she really fucking nailed it. I think she’s going to shock a lot of people with her performance, she went to a really dark place.
She was really passionate about challenging herself, especially with this role. It’s a very heavy role. There’s a hidden message in A Creature Was Stirring, it’s about addiction. So she really wanted to challenge herself and do something completely different from This is Us.
DC: You mentioned your podcast with Danielle Harris. For anyone who’s not familiar with it, can you tell them more about it?
STC: Danielle and I have known each other since I was 17 years old. I always poke fun at her—I’ve always tried to make her my friend. Finally, I hit the nail in the coffin and now we’re connected.
She’s very huge on Patreon and we were watching the 2018 Halloween movie one night at her house. And the chemistry we have, her husband pointed out, “You guys have such banter. You guys are, like, almost the same person.” Which we are. We’re turning into each other, I swear to God. When we record now, we finish each other’s sentences.
I was into Loveline, I used to listen to that all the time. She likes Howard Stern. So we wanted to make a platform that’s about a subject matter that people don’t necessarily like to talk about. But with me, growing up, my parents didn’t talk to me about sex or love advice. If I could bring any sort of information on this subject to people to help them, I’m just glad we’re able to. When I go to cons now, hardly anybody talks to me about Halloween anymore. They’re always like, coming up to me and asking me for love advice for their marriage of 14 years.
We’re also just helping one another. I learned so much about people’s stories. We’re just here to help one another in this really weird, strange world.
And now we’re connecting more with the community. We just paired up with Bloody Disgusting and we’re just excited to grow even more.
DC: One more thing that’s important for us to talk about is that you’re not just doing work in film and podcasting, but now you’re doing work in video games. Specifically The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. You play how many roles in that game?
STC: So I play all the female victims. And some of the male stuff, I had to do. It’s a lot of physical work, it really is. And I voiced Julie. I had such an amazing time. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past four days, they’re adding more things. I love those guys at Gun, they’re really awesome and they really listen to the fans.
DC: What was it like crossing over to the TCM franchise and interacting with that fandom?
STC: So surreal. I think [The Texas Chainsaw Massacre] was one of the first horror movies that I’d ever seen. I’ve been a fan forever, so it’s just an honor to be a part of another iconic franchise. I learned everything about Michael, but now I’m learning everything there is to know about Leatherface, so I’m excited.
DC: Do you have a favorite TCM movie, not counting the original?
STC: Well I love Chop-Top, and I love Bill [Moseley]. He’s such a talent. So probably The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, then.
DC: So I’m going to circle back to an important question: what is the holiday that you want to tackle next?
STC: Ooh. I think because I have Thanksgiving on the brain, I would love to do that.
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A Creature Was Stirring is now in theaters and comes to VOD on December 12, 2023.
Categorized:Interviews
