[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Silent Night.]
From first-time feature writer/director Camille Griffin, the story of Silent Night follows Nell (Keira Knightley) and Simon (Matthew Goode), parents who have gathered their children as well as their friends and family for a Christmas dinner before the end of the world. With impending doom hovering over their festivities like a ticking clock, what seems like an evening for laughter and celebration also has some moments of pent-up frustration while they wait for the world outside to finally cause the end of mankind. The film also stars Lucy Punch, Annabelle Wallis, Lily-Rose Depp, Sopé Dìrísù, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Roman Griffin Davis, Rufus Jones and Trudie Styler.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Wallis talked about why she was so wowed by this script that it caused her to weep, how much she enjoyed working with Griffin as a director, how obsessed she is with her co-star Knightley, feeling bad about having to be so mean to Depp, and how she felt about the ending of the story. She also talked about how wild the risk was in signing on to make Malignant, what she enjoyed about working with James Wan, and how much she loved the opportunity to challenge and push herself.
Collider: At least recently, you seem to be attracted to films that appear to be one thing and turn out to be something very different from what they first appeared to be. When you read this script, did they tell you what to expect going into it, or did you read it that first time without knowing what it would be?
ANNABELLE WALLIS: I had no idea. My agent and Keira Knightley’s agent have their offices next to each other, and they were like, “There’s this great thing.” And then, (writer/director) Camille [Griffin] and (producer) Matthew Vaughn asked me to read it. So, I read it and, firstly, I loved all of the characters. I’ve been so thirsty for one of these classic British comedies. And then, I wept. By the end, I was weeping. I was so wowed by my own emotional arc. I hadn’t really read a script like it. It was thought provoking, funny, intelligent, and really saying something, so I wanted to be a part of it.
Because the threat in this story is environmental, it creates the sense of inevitable dread because there isn’t some alien or creature or evil villain to blame. How did you feel about the cause of the fate of the world? Did you find yourself more personally disturbed by it because it is something that could happen in real life?
WALLIS: Yeah. Case in point, the last almost two years now of what’s been occurring. It’s really serious. The environmental issues that we’re facing are ones that we shouldn’t take lightly. The eeriness and the film that you’re left with at the end is the truth. What are you gonna do about it? Who are you? Who are you gonna be? How are you gonna participate in something that could very likely happen? I don’t even know if we’re out of the woodwork yet, in many aspects of that, but I’m glad to be part of a film that is asking that question, or hopefully inspires that question.
This seems like a pretty ballsy story for a first-time feature directors. What sold you on Camille Griffin’s vision, as a writer and director? Did anything about how she wanted to handle the material really assure you?
WALLIS: Camille is a pretty ballsy woman. That’s what sold me. She’s a force field. She has such a high intellect. She’s coming from the underbelly to tell the stories that are at the surface. She’s looking at things in a completely different way. I knew when I met her that there was no stopping her. I am so excited to have worked with her because I can just see her skyrocket now. There are so many exciting things that she’s doing. Keira, her and I are developing something else that we’re looking into. It was really her. And then, that compounded with words on the page and the characters she developed, she just intrigued me. I became fascinated by her.
What was the atmosphere like on this set? This is an ensemble, but you have the family, their significant others and all of these various kids, which is a sizeable group of actors and you’re all working mostly within the house. What was that like?
WALLIS: It was exactly like it is in the film. It was laughter. It was throwing things at each other. COVID was erupting around the world, but it hadn’t really hit London in a really bad way, so we hadn’t shut down, but we could feel this impending thing. We all were naturally heightened and we were so excited to still be working. We naturally just got along. When people come to a project with the right intention and they come for the work, the energy is very clearly different. You’re all there for the right reason and it becomes very easy to just align and have a good time.
What was it like to form that sister bond?
WALLIS: I’m obsessed with Keira Knightley. I just love her. And then, you meet and she’s funny, she’s nice and she’s cool, and you’re just like, “I wish I could be you.” I just used that. It was very natural. I have so many wonderful female friendships as well. It was so easy to adore her, so I just did that.
This family knows that destruction is coming, so they bring their own chaos and they say and do some things that are kind of mean because it feels like they don’t really have to care all that much about what might happen. Was there a moment or a scene that you found most challenging to do because of that?
WALLIS: Anything where I was a bit mean to Lily-Rose [Depp]. My character is so jealous of her, but I love Lily so much that I’d be like, “I’m just so sorry. I love you. I’m so sorry.” And she would laugh. I’d have to improv these mean things to say to her and it was so hard. It broke my heart. I’m always protective of younger actresses on set, so it was really against my nature to do it, but she was a good sport. She helped me. She encouraged me. She gave me some of the worst ones, so that was helpful.
I love that there are some real emotional highs and lows in Silent Night, from this family fighting with each other to then them all dancing together. What was it like to do the big dance scene? Did that feel like a moment of celebration and release?
WALLIS: It was so incredible. We shot in sequence, so we ended the days with that, where you were in this heightened state. Matthew Goode was so funny. Everybody together was so funny. Trudie Styler was one of our producers, so we had the Sting catalog to dance to. Of course, it evokes all of your own memories of your own family and your own friends. If you could imagine that was one of the last dances of your life, it was a real release. It was great. Everybody went for it. Sometimes some people get shy, but not with this one. Everybody went for it. I have to apologize to the boys because I kept trying to kiss their cheeks. It was great.
How did you feel about the ending of the story? How did it most strongly hit you, emotionally?
WALLIS: I wept when I read the script and I wept when I watched the film. I find it quite hard to watch anything I’m in, and I watched with Camille. I fell so in love with the characters that I was so sad. But this is the truth of what we are facing. We are in a world that is slowly being crumbled by the weight of us and what we, as humans, decide to do with our oceans, with our forests, and with our animals. I felt like that kick in the stomach was important because it imprinted the important message that we do have to take what is happening to our planet and our world, for our children, very seriously.
I have to say that Malignant was not only one of the craziest movies of the last year, but it was quite possibly one of the wildest things that I’ve ever seen, which I highly appreciate. How did you react when you first read that script? Did you have to be convinced to take that role? Was it an instant yes? What was it like to experience reading that, the first time?
WALLIS: I was blown away. I was just blown away. I’d never read anything like it. I couldn’t quite imagine the world. And then, James [Wan] came in the room and he just looked at me and said, “Annabelle, if we keep following the same storytelling structures, you can’t stretch as a creative and you can’t stretch as an artist. We’re in an age in cinema where there’s so much similar stuff. Do you wanna be brave? Do you wanna trust me? Do you wanna go on this journey with me?” The second he said that, he’s such a master of his craft that, for me, when do I get an opportunity to do something like that? The roles that were coming my way at the time were perhaps roles that were more the wife or the girlfriend. I get that for my stereotype, so you can imagine what comes my way. So, I was like, “I need to do something out of the box for myself.” We were two people with far more bravery than common sense, and it paid off. That’s what I can say.
Was there anything that you were concerned with, when it came to what you felt you would need to do to convincingly pull all of that off?
WALLIS: I just felt in a very brave place in my life and I could feel James at a similar place. There were days that we’d look at each other, and he’d look at me and go, “Let’s push it even further.” And I’d be like, “Yes, let’s do it!” When you get a chance to collaborate with someone like that and test yourself, you either sink or you swim, and we knew we couldn’t go any speed other than a hundred miles an hour. It was just a meeting of minds at a similar place in our lives and in our careers, where we felt stifled and we just wanted to break out of the mold.
When you were on set and you were really in it, did you and the cast and crew have a good sense of what you were doing and how it would come out, or was it always a leap of faith with James Wan?
WALLIS: We got a sense. He is a real leader on a set. Only a director of that caliber, and such a master and a savant in that world, could guide us all in that direction. Yes, there were moments where I was like, “Are we sure we’re going to do this? Okay, fine.” I said yes, I trusted James a hundred million percent, and it was a great honor. I’m so grateful. We were not expecting the reception it got. I think people can sense when you’re trying to be brave and you’re taking a risk.
At the same time, was there a day on set when you were acting backwards or doing backwards fight choreography and you were like, “What is happening? What am I doing?”
WALLIS: I was like, “I’m glad I’m not single. It might be hard to get a date, after this comes out.” That’s basically what I thought, a lot of the time. But no, if you are fortunate enough to do what I do, you have to take the opportunities that challenge yourself. I don’t want to be pigeonholed into one genre or one type, or guide my career by my aesthetic, or whatever it is. I have to constantly try to fight through, and I’m happy to do that. We felt very lucky to be there, lucky to work, and lucky to have the free reign to create something that we felt was very different. I do believe fortune favors the brave. We’ve gotta all try to keep pursuing original stories and creating original stories. Silent Night is definitely an original story. I think audience are hungry for that and excited about it. We’re so saturated with sameness, that anything that tries to be different, whether they like it or not, people champion it. I think all art and all artists have a duty to keep pushing the boundary. I hope I survive my push.
After doing movies like that, how do you follow that up? Does it raise the bar that much higher?
WALLIS: I’m just happy to be employed. I’m very excited when I get a script, any script. I try to live it day by day, in what I do, but I definitely hope to continue to raise the bar and hope to continue to work with people who are brave and that are happy to allow me to stretch myself and trust me enough. I hope to continue to find those collaborations because that makes it exciting.
Do you have any idea what you’re going to do next?
WALLIS: There are a few things around. I don’t think I can talk about them just yet. One of them is something Camille and I are looking into. That’s something wonderful that came from Silent Night. [I’m looking to do something else with] James as well. These two films seem to be ones where I’ll continue to work with the directors. I just have to wait to tell you. You’ll see. I’m sure you’ll hear about it.
When you work with a director that you connect with in that way and you really want to work with them again, do you know that pretty immediately?
WALLIS: Yeah, definitely. For me, it starts with the humanity of the person. If it’s a kind, good person, life is short and we spend a lot of time with these people. I’ve had the great fortune to only work with people who are good to their actors, good to their crews, good to every single person on the call sheet. For me, that’s where I begin. That trickle down effect into the product is very clear, if they aren’t that way. That’s where I start. When you not only respect each other’s work, but like each other as people, you work extra hard. I know I work for everyone on that set. They come early, they drive to work, they collaborate, they light your face. It’s so important to honor every single person on the set. It can only get better from that point, so that’s where I like to begin with people. If they’re kind, if they’re good people and I respect them, I am going to beg them for collaboration, in the future, and remind them that they owe me. I’ll do it for free.
Silent Night is in theaters and available to stream at AMC+