A couple ventures to the Pacific Northwest where things do not go as expected in Significant Other. Their backpacking trip takes horrific turns, testing their relationship beyond what they have ever experienced before now.
Significant Other arrives at Paramount’s streaming platform on October 7, 2022, in time for the slew of Halloween releases most streaming services will receive. It's a horror film that subverts the expectations of its viewers, offering many surprises during its run time.
MovieWeb sat down with the stars of the film, Maika Monroe and Jake Lacy, to discuss the upcoming feature.
A Dream Team
MW: How did you two become attached to this film?
Maika Monroe: I had worked with Dan and Bobby, the directors, on a movie called Villains previously. I just had the most incredible time on that set, and then they had come up to me with the next project. I was praying that it was going to be decent, and I read it and really loved it. I thought it was incredibly entertaining, [with] lots of twists and turns–which I always love. So for me, it was a no-brainer.
Jake Lacy: I was not in Villains, so I didn’t know these guys [the directors] before. The script was sent my way and I read it, my agent said, “I watched the movie Villains. It was great, check out this script.” And I loved the script, I thought it was this weird braiding of genres. I spoke to Dan and Bobby via Zoom, and they’re just lovely, creative, smart, fun guys. I essentially got on the phone and was collectively like “let’s do it!” I was a fan of Maika’s, and they were too, and then three weeks later we were all in Portland making a movie.
A Romance Gone Wrong
MW: What draws you specifically to the characters you play? What were your creative processes stepping into these roles?
Jake Lacy: What I was drawn to, finding a way in, is this is a love story, two people who care about each other and see their future playing out differently, but there’s a real care and love there. I’m familiar with that, I know how to build these things as an actor, imbue that with something that’s organic and loving, of use to the story. Then a rip cord gets pulled from the whole thing and it blows into something else. For me, that’s what really drew me into the character. He has blind spots early on, then those blind spots get amplified. It only gets crazier from there. And the process was starting with something organic, grounded, and human then, as our story goes, navigating how to tell the rest of it on the side of camp and scary.
Maika Monroe: I agree with Jake. I think what’s important, especially, in the horror genre at its core, it needs to be a grounded story for the audience to go on this ride with these characters. So I think it is a relationship story, who love each other but have these different views, and it’s a story a lot of people can relate to, then [things] go crazy. For me, it’s keeping the characters.
MW: What were some favorite moments or memories while filming?
Jake Lacy: There was a scene by a cliff, and everybody is harnessed up with safety people. We were eight feet from this cliff. They had the monitors thirty feet away so Dan and Bobby could be watching. And Bobby, out of pure enthusiasm, would consistently run from the monitors to us to be like, “so good.” The safety team had to keep [saying] please stop running to the cliff, because he was not harnessed in, and we had a bit about him running over and going off the cliff only to give no notes.
Maika Monroe: That was hysterical. We’re still talking about it.
Significant Other will be out on Paramount+ on October 7, 2022.