Before there was Peacock's upcoming Vampire Academy series, Richelle Mead's beloved young adult vampire series was adapted into a movie that was met with decidedly mixed reactions and a lackluster box office. During an episode of Collider Ladies Night, Collider's own Perri Nemiroff chatted with Not Okay star Zoey Deutch about the vampire drama, the critical reaction to it, and how grateful she was that the response to the film didn't hurt her career.
For those who may not be fully aware of the Vampire Academy series or the 2014 film adaptation, Deutch starred as Rose Hathaway, a Dhampir guardian-in-training tasked with protecting her Moroi best friend Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Fry). Due to a series of really bad situations, they get thrown into a world of chaos that leads to them meeting Dimitri Belikov (Danila Kozlovsky), Rose's eventual love interest and mentor, and Christian Ozera (Dominic Sherwood), a Moroi outcast that eventual woos Lissa. The film largely covered the events of the first novel in Mead's series, and was slated to have a sequel that would have covered the events of Frost Bite. However, despite the studios' attempts to crowdfund for the sequel, Vampire Academy's critical reception caused plans to be canceled.
Nemiroff questioned Deutch about how actors mitigate their disappointment when the box office numbers aren't exactly where anyone wants them to be. Especially seeing as how box office numbers aren't anything that an actor can control, especially when Deutch gave such a great performance in the film. Deutch revealed that it wasn't box office numbers that stuck with her, but rather reviews. "I am a double Scorpio. I remember every journalist, everything they say, and they don't know that, and when I see them I know every single thing that anyone has ever said," she revealed. "I keep it in my head and I lock it away, and that's that."
Deutch also shared that when Vampire Academy premiered, the box office numbers did initially worry her. "I was definitely scared. I'm sure I was really scared. I think I'm grateful that it didn't totally deter me from getting other work." One poorly received film definitely hasn't affected her career. Since Vampire Academy premiered, Deutch has starred in hits like Good Kids with Nicholas Braun, Set It Up with Glen Powell, and most recently she has starred opposite Dylan O'Brien in both The Outfit and Not Okay. She also appeared as Madison in the cult classic zombie flick Zombieland: Double Tap, which she's previously said she'd love to do more of.
Sticking with the theme of Not Okay, Deutch went on to talk about the toll that negative reviews has on an actor, saying, "I don't know how you let it not like mess with you. It definitely feels like the ultimate form of rejection and public shaming. But you just keep going. You keep going on and there's always more failure to have. If you're so lucky. So you know it's ups and downs, ups and downs." She continued on to say, "The person that remembers the stuff the most is you, and you just [have] to keep going."