When starting anything, you never know where it will end up. Looking at this idea more in-depth, Henry Thomas broke big at eleven years old with the lead role of Elliot in the massively popular 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. On the other hand, Sarah Lind launched her career with several television roles at fifteen. Now all these years later, both continue to pursue their passion as actors.
In more recent years, many will recognize Thomas for his role in the successful Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, while others will look to Lind for her various parts; including 2014’s cult favorite Wolfcop. Each taking unique paths, now in 2024, they join forces in the new Horror film The Curse of the Necklace. Portraying a married couple at odds, unfortunately, there are supernatural forces making matters far worse. Proud of the work put into The Curse of the Necklace, they sat down to talk about their characters, the roads traveled in entertainment, plus more.
Cryptic Rock – Each of you has an extensive resumé in film. Both of you started quite young. So, how would you describe your journeys in film and television to this point?
Henry Thomas – Mostly haphazard. That’s how I would describe it. It’s always been an adventure because I didn’t have any business being in the film business in the first place, and it sort of happened. Then it just kept happening. Next thing you know, I had a career. The life of an actor is sometimes strange, and it’s never very plotted out.
You kind of roll with the punches, you see where it takes you, and you survive. That’s what it’s been like for me. There’s been great moments, some scary moments, but I love it. It’s been a great adventure.
Sarah Lind – I’ve fallen in and out of love with it. One of the things that I had to figure out how to do was to choose to do it and not continue to do it by default. When you’re lucky enough to have a career as a kid, it just kind of keeps going.
I don’t exactly know how to start in this business. If people ask me about that, I really don’t have advice. I found myself being a little envious of actors who started as adults or as at least older young people. It was a process of discovering that for myself. I’m just now so thankful to be able to do it still and look back. We’ve made so many cool movies.
Cryptic Rock – It is interesting to hear how you both have kept moving forward. It seems like it has been a relatively positive adventure for both of you. As stated, you both began in this industry young. Diversifying quite a bit, is the Horror genre something you both enjoy working in?
Sarah Lind – Yeah. There’s a lot of Horror being made, and there’s a lot of very diverse Horror. The genre is pretty vast. It’s been cool to explore that. I’ve always liked watching Horror movies.
There’s room for acting in it. I like to do storytelling that I enjoy in any genre, including Horror. With The Curse of the Necklace, family or interpersonal drama, dysfunction, and suffering heighten the Horror aspects of it. It makes it scarier and it raises the stakes for it. I think it’s a great genre to work in.
Henry Thomas – The interesting thing is, to work with emerging filmmakers these days; because horror is the genre that people are using to break in. Just like in the ’90s, in independent film, that was how emerging filmmakers were breaking into the industry, creating new films and new ideas. These days, it’s Horror because Horror is a sure thing in the minds of a lot of financiers. They’ll go, “Okay, well, we can do that. Those will make money. We can sell them.”
In the ’90s, that was an independent film. It was a kind of speculative investment. The interesting thing about it is, that if you want to work with emerging filmmakers, meet new directors, and you want to work with people who are maybe doing something slightly outside of the norm, that’s where you go. That doesn’t mean that it’s always a great thing. Some of these people perhaps should remain submerged rather than emerge. At the same time, it’s exciting, because you can have a little more room to play in these things as an actor, and as an artist.
Cryptic Rock – It certainly gives you a broad range. As you both said, there are so many sub-genres in the Horror world. This leads us to the new Horror film The Curse of the Necklace. Sarah, you said interfamily issues are working within here. There is also an undertone of possession and a little bit of family dysfunction. What was it like working on this movie together?
Sarah Lind – It was great. There were serious gifted, actors who were dedicated to the project, and interested in exploring and deepening those relationships. The main building blocks of the story really are those relationships. It’s a great time to be able to do that. Violet and Maddie are consummate professionals, and they’re lovely people. They make it very easy for everyone to love them and get close to them. Even though our relationship off-camera is quite different from what it is on camera; the bonds were very strong. It still does come through on the screen with us all.
Henry Thomas – My character Frank is sort of emotionally compromised, I guess.
Cryptic Rock – Right. As you mentioned working with the McGraw sisters; obviously, there is a chemistry between them being real-life siblings. What was it like working with them and portraying their parents?
Henry Thomas – They’re great. I had only worked with Violet before, but of course, I had met Maddie because Jackie, their mother, was on set with Violet throughout The Haunting of Hill House. I have seen their dynamic, but you have to understand that both of them are so professional. They are so committed to everything. They know all of their lines.
When I worked with Violet when she was six or seven, we had this two-page scene that I was really worried about; because I had never done a scene with her before. When I got to set and we rehearsed it, I thought, “Wow, this little girl knows the scene better than I do.” What I thought was going to be a real slog of a day turned out to be the best scene that I did in the whole project with any of the other actors.
It was my favorite scene from The Haunting of Hill House, and it’s Violet and I outside of a hotel room on a bench. She’s just rock solid. She was rock solid through the whole thing. She’s like that every day. She was like that in this film too, and her sister Maddie is the same way. They’re very talented, and it’s a joy to work with them.
They get along really well, they’re well-behaved, and they’re mature. They’re still kids. They’re not like these kinds of precocious young adult children. They’re real kids. It’s just a testament to their family and their mother and father for raising them in a crazy business, but really keeping their heads on straight and just being good people.
Cryptic Rock – That is great to hear. It sounds like a very grounded situation.
Henry Thomas – Yeah, they’re just a good family, and that’s the heart of it. They’re tight. They work all the time, they’re separated all the time from each other, but they come back together. That’s the hardest thing about this business and for kids in this business. It’s the moving around, the changing of locations, the necessity to leave for six months at a time, check out of your real life, go work, and then come back to your real life. That adjustment, being fluid with that adjustment, some people can’t handle it and handle it really poorly.
As a person who’s handled it both ways throughout my career at various times, it’s very life-affirming. It puts me at ease somewhere in my soul to see these girls doing it right. It’s nice.
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