The voice is deep and silky, but the words ring out like a threat: “I’m going to take you to places you’ve never been. I’ll show you things you’ve never seen. And I’ll watch the life slip away from you. » From the movie Ghost Story (Milburn’s Ghost), this line is delivered by Alice Krige, as a vengeful revenant, and then at the very beginning of her career. repeatedly the public in unusual lands, but certainly leaving them alive. These days, she portrays a woman who discovers strange powers following a mastectomy in She Will, selected at the Locarno festival. Fascinating comedian, Alice Krige is the guest of Comiccon this weekend.
future author of Frankenstein in Haunted Summer (A summer in hell), an incestuous feline creature in Sleepwalkers (Sleepwalkers), seductive Borg queen in Star Trek: First Contact (Star Trek : Premier contact), fanatical priestess in Silent Hillfeminist witch in Gretel and Hanselprotective landlady of the killer Leatherface in the recent Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Chainsaw Massacre)… Make no mistake regarding it: Alice Krige is a cult actress of horror and science fiction cinema.
A status that the main interested party, met at the Palais des Congrès, rejects with a blush.
“These are the roles that I am offered. For me, it’s the character that counts rather than the genre. My objective is each time to “find” the character: each of them is the occasion of a journey. Now, is it true that horror, dread — apart from the fact that it’s infinitely vast — allows you to explore areas, let’s say, less frequented? And then, everything is often amplified: the stakes, the emotions… It can be exhilarating to play. »
In the heart of darkness
Exhilarating, yes, but sometimes frightening. In that it can happen that by “exploring”, one ventures further than one had planned.
” At the time of Silent Hill, I had a little dog, Skipper, who always threw me a party when I came home. Shooting this film was very stressful: I hadn’t understood how much this trip would be in the heart of darkness. But I had signed up and it was out of the question for me to do my job halfway. And anyway, following the shoot, when I got home, Skipper rushed to greet me, but when he got to my level, he suddenly backed up, whining. He refused to approach me for three weeks. It’s the only time, and I’m very happy regarding it, where a character clung to me like that. In this regard, Alice Krige specifies that one of the factors likely to make her refuse a role is an excess of gratuitous violence.
” In Texas Chainsaw Massacre, my character dies before the massacre, so it was perfect for me! she jokes before adding: “For me, this woman was completely innocent: she had no contact with the outside world; she was like a child. »
Conversely, in a role like Holda, the witch in the spellbinding Gretel and Hansel, it is an unfathomable well of knowledge that Alice Krige must have suggested in the slightest of her glances. “What attracted me to this film was the language that Osgood uses in it. [Perkins, fils d’Anthony Perkins] ; a rich language that we no longer hear in the cinema. Visually, the film is a delight; form and substance are in constant dialogue. »
As it happens, Alice Krige has a weakness for aesthetically ambitious proposals. That’s why, within an ultimately very varied filmography that includes excellent dramas like Barflyby Barbet Schroeder, by Bukowski, et See You in the Morning (See you tomorrow my love), by Alan J. Pakula, some of his fondest memories are associated with experimental works.
” I think regarding Institute Benjamenta, Quay brothers. We were filming at Hampton Court House, in a dilapidated mansion. As soon as I walked through the door, I felt like I was stepping into a dream. This impression lasted throughout the filming. »
For the record, this magnificent black and white opus resembling a poetic-expressionist dream takes place in a school for servants where the character of Alice Krige teaches. Friend of the Quay brothers, the filmmaker Guy Maddin, another unclassifiable poet of the image, then asked Alice Krige to Twilight of the Ice Nymphsor the adventures of an ex-convict in mysterious territories.
“I finished filming Star Trek: First Contact, a big Hollywood production, and I flew to Winnipeg for this production without means, but carried by the singular artistic temperament of Guy. What an adventure! I look at my career, with its extremes, and I tell myself that I’m incredibly lucky. »
The film She Will constitutes another of those “adventures” that Alice Krige cherishes. Written and directed by Charlotte Colbert and produced by Dario Argento (the subject of a cycle at the Cinémathèque québécoise from July 15 to 24), She Will indeed promises a striking invoice and an intriguing story where revenge dominates, as in Ghost Storyand sorcery, as in Gretel and Hansel. From yesterday to today, we come full circle…
When asked why she thinks so many people like being scared in movies, Alice Krige pauses. “It’s a strong emotion, perhaps the most visceral of all… Cinema allows you to feel it without danger…”
We know we’ll be terrified, but the urge is no less irresistible. For a bit, you might almost hear Holda in Gretel and Hansel when she whispers, “The thing regarding poison is that nothing in this big, bad world tastes so sweet.” »
Alice Krige is signing at Comiccon from July 8-10. The film She Will will be available in VOD from July 15.
