Kathryn Newton on Bonding with Vince Vaughn During Blumhouse's Freaky

Hey. Well, welcome. This is this your young Hollywood debut?

I feel like I've been on Young Hollywood, is that bad? My publicist says I have.

Okay, well, not with me. So, welcome to Young Hollywood this time.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I know I love Young Hollywood. Like, I I I know I I watch these videos, too. So,

Oh, perfect. Well, you're very acquainted with us then. Yes. Well, Halloween's coming up. Do you know who you're going to be yet?

I do. I have plans to be Murder Barbie, and I have plans to be Madonna. So, we'll see how it goes. Um, I love Two very different things. I love dressing up. I think I was the Corpse Bride last year and like, I killed it on my makeup. Not going to lie. Like, I did a good job. So, we'll see what happens this time.

Yeah. Well, people might be dressing up as you, even though it's not out yet.

That's why I'm saying, that's why I'm wearing this today. Like, I feel like Halloween is coming up and I thought about it when I was like creating The Butcher's look. I was like, maybe someone will cosplay The Butcher. So, I want it to be easy for people, if they wanted to. Right, that'd be sick.

Okay, so you are Millie in Freaky, which is coming out on Friday the 13th of November. Did do you believe in all that? Like, do you get spooked, knowing it's like Friday the 13th?

Oh my gosh, yeah, I do. I do. Like, I think, um, when you're making a horror film, too, you get a little superstitious because it's kind of fun. And, um, we had Friday the 13th on this movie. We I think we wrapped on the 13th. So, for us, the 13th is a really lucky day. Um, but also all the lights went out, and, uh, the wind started going really fast, and we had to like wrap early, so that was a little scary. But like, all things aside, it's a good vibe.

That's what happened when you wrapped filming on the 13th?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure, like, I know we had the 13th because we talked about it. I can't remember if it was the last day or like the, you know what I mean? Or like we because I'm pretty sure like some stuff happened. Like, like a light like went out and like we had to come back like for real. And, um, I was when I tested on Paranormal Activity 4, back when I was 14, I had all the lights go out in my house the night before my test, and I went to the test and the directors were like, our lights went out, too. And I'm like, No. Weird. So, Blumhouse, you've got some spooky stuff on you, but, you know what, it's working. So.

Literally. And that's what happened when you wrapped filming, so I wonder what's going to happen. Something's going to happen. Like, something's going to happen.

I know what's going to happen. Everybody's going to go to the movies, and it's going to be great.

Yeah. Predictable, but it's going to happen. Yeah. And this, this is a very interesting role for you because you switch places with Vince Vaughn, and you, like, how, like, basically take us through that. How is getting in the mindset to play that kind of role?

You like can't prepare. You can't prepare. I had no idea what to do. I mean, I had my meeting with our director, Chris Landon, he was like, you're going to play, um, this little girl and you're also going to play a serious psychopath killer. And I was like, I don't know if I do that. Like, I can play the teenage girl because that's who I am. Like, I'm such a dork, like, I didn't have like friends in high school, like, I was the one who ran for class president. Like, nobody knew who I was. So, I was well prepared to be Millie, a girl who was invisible and a dork. Not so much the latter. But, um, then we had news that Vince was going to be in the movie as well and it took it to a whole new level. I mean, I'm a huge fan, like, for real, like, a huge fan of Vince. He's one of my favorite actors of all time. He's iconic. And so, I was like, well, now do I need to watch every Vince Vaughn movie and like learn and talk to him? And I was like, I realized that that's not what we were going to do. As soon as I met him, I realized this isn't about imitating each other at all. It's about creating two characters and embodying both of them. So, I got so many ideas from him. He was so collaborative, which was amazing because I was secretly fangirling the whole time but played it really cool. Yeah. Yeah, so the character is super deep and all of this stuff. But the truth is I was like, oh my god, I can't even talk. But I didn't do that. I was I just kept it cool. And, um, so I got a lot of ideas from him. And he, uh, was was so like inspiring because he really was trying too. So, to have someone to create something with you was mind-blowing. I'd be on set being The Butcher and maybe there was an opportunity to do something, but I wasn't so sure. And it was really interesting to have another actor and I'd be like, do you think The Butcher would do this? And since he was also The Butcher, you know, it came from a different place, and he'd be like, yeah, try it. Let's see if it works. So, it was just a different thing that you don't get to do on movies like Yeah. It's always great.

Yeah. To that you were so, like, such a big fan of him because you do this movie where you're literally him. Like, you have to look like you, but be him. So, like, you went from fan girl to being him, which is like, hardly ever happens ever. That gives a whole new meaning to a fan, doesn't it? Like, to actually become your the star, You become them.

Yeah, that's I'm not going to mention that to him. So far, we have a pretty good work work relationship, so I'm just going to keep it cool. I don't want him to know how weird that is now that I think about it. Wow. That's.

And we were going to ask you, how did you like bond to kind of get to know each other more and like things I mean, I know you were playing characters of each other, but what was like some funny things that happened behind the scenes say that

Oh my gosh. Well, immediately, we met each other at dance rehearsal, and come on, like, to watch Vince, Hail, Hail, Blissfield High. It was the funniest thing in my life. But just having that, like, it was a complete icebreaker. And he was down to make a fool of himself and so was I. And that's what you do when you're in a movie. You give everything. And that's what he did. And so, when I saw him do that, I knew that I could do anything and I just flew. And like, we had icebreakers through rehearsal with our director, Chris, like, doing improv and talking about the characters. And also Celeste and Misha, the our my two best friends in the movie. We went to go see Post Malone. I took them to go see Post. So, we just had like a fun night like hanging out. And I think that you can really feel the chemistry between all of us. And my best scenes are definitely my scenes with Vince and Celeste and Misha because the energy of that and getting inspiration from Vince. You know, Vince is so comedically, he's a genius. So, to improvise with him was so much fun. Like, so many of the things in the script are not written that we do. Like, I don't know, like, the the scene where like I eat with my hands my breakfast. That's not in the script. You know, it's just she sits down to eat. And I was like, well, let's do something weird. And when you're really, really authentic, I was like, how would a guy serial killer eat? I really thought he would eat with his hands and eat that way. You would think that he would eat with his hands, though. I mean, he's a serial killer. Right, like, you think there's no way this man has manners. So, like, things like that, like, you just can't plan for. You just have to get ready to run and be in the moment and actually keep it really, really grounded. The more you can commit to like the absurdity, the funnier it is. So, I really learned that from Vince. I mean, in those scenes where he's Millie, he was Millie. There was no

He really was. Like, he like, in the trailer like, you both killed it.

Thank you. Thank you so much. He turned out so good. He's, I mean, the run. I mean, I'm a little offended that's how I look when I run, but, you know, he did a very good job. You can't win them all. Can't win them all. This is what I mean, though. Like, you got to die for the joke and I was down to be the joke. It's fine.

Yeah. Well, we love it so much. And we can't wait for it to come out.

Thank you. I know I love this movie. I hope everybody loves it.