Toni Collette weighs in on a ‘Hereditary’ sequel and why she doesn’t watch scary movies
“Hereditary” might have another relative waiting in the wings ... but it’s unlikely, according to the film’s star.
Toni Collette, whose “shattering” performance in Ari Aster’s 2018 supernatural horror generated Oscar buzz, discussed with the Daily News whether she thinks a sequel could be in the works and what it’d mean for her character, Annie.
“My headless character? Where does she go?” the Aussie star, 48, laughed while promoting her new film “Dream Horse,” released Friday. “I would not have a clue. ... I don’t know what is being concocted in Ari Aster’s fascinating mind. You never know. Never say never, but I can’t imagine it ever eventuating [chuckles].
Though she’s not strictly ruling out the film’s potentially enduring lineage, Collette noted she doesn’t actually watch horror films if she can help it.
“People really love that movie. ... I can’t watch scary movies, so I don’t understand,” said the Emmy-winning “United States of Tara” star, acknowledging that “Hereditary” in particular “does become scary, but it’s more psychologically just very upsetting. Visually so beautiful. Yeah, [cinematographer] Pawel’s [Pogorzelski] very talented. Yup. On it lives! [Laughs]”
The “Midsommar” filmmaker’s feature debut wasn’t Collette’s first fear-filled rodeo.
She starred in 2015′s horror comedy “Krampus” and earned an Academy Award nomination for her role in 1999′s “The Sixth Sense,” although the latter’s genre has been contested by director M. Night Shyamalan and star Haley Joel Osment.
“I make mysteries,” the 50-year-old “Signs” writer-director, known for his films’ twists, told The News in 2019. “So by the nature, you’re going to learn something at the end of a mystery. And so it comes inherently with the genre that I’m in. I don’t consider myself a horror filmmaker, so that’s not the genre I’m in.”
“I totally agree with [Shyamalan],” Osment, 33, who told The News last year of how he views the film, which scored him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
“That was a big reason why the movie turned out the way it did is that we weren’t going in there trying to scare people,” said the “Pay It Forward” star. “The movie is less about ghosts, per se, than it is about the fear people have of not being able to communicate with each other. And I think that’s what gave it its kind of power and made it stick with people.”
