The talent highlighted in Variety’s Young Hollywood Impact Report come from the worlds of film, television, music and digital and all made a splash in the last year. All interviews were conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike began.

The buzzy Showtime hit “Yellowjackets” offers some of the juiciest roles for young actors around, and Nélisse and Thatcher were standouts in Season 2, handling complex characters and explosive storylines. Nélisse, 23, loves the fact that the Emmy-nominated drama explores womanhood in ways “that we don’t tend to see that much on TV,” noting that it shows “sides that aren’t so pretty, that aren’t perfect — that women can get mad and can be jealous and do terrible things.” Thatcher, 22, applauds recent projects that “explore the nuances of a woman’s experience and point of view,” but maintains that more gains are needed for women in Hollywood. “What concerns me more is the lack of representation behind the camera,” she says. “I think the number was like 14% of movies distributed in 2022 were directed by women. 14%! That number makes me question how far we’ve really come as an industry.” Both actors would like to write and direct. “I’ve written a few scripts now, and once I have a little break, I can’t wait to dig into them and get them on their feet,” says Thatcher. Nélisse, who also wants to create her own projects, is pursuing rights to a book to produce a screen adaptation.

Source: variety.com

Tamara Rappa: You’ve always been intent on being a storyteller, not only as an actor. What do you think had an early influence on you, to create that desire?

Sophie Thatcher: I think it came from maybe some kind of discomfort within my own life and wanting to live in a fantasy world. Not to go too dark or anything, but from a genuine dislike of and discomfort in myself kind of early on. I had an okay childhood, but I think I was just trying to reach beyond, and find something so different. Being so glued to the computer; being obsessed with film…it was me trying to find some kind of escape, wanting to live in a different world.

TR: You’ve said that you want to tell stories that make people feel less alone.

ST: For me, the most powerful thing I can feel from art or music, is when it can center me, when I can see myself in an artist or the music; find some point of connection. There’s loneliness in everyone, but I think growing up, I felt that especially. [Musician] Elliott Smith is the best at it. He’s very open about his personal experience. It’s not that I have to be ‘open’, but if I can share my vulnerability, and people can connect to it, and see themselves in different characters I play, I feel like it will help them accept themselves, and feel less alone. It’s a lot to talk about. Pieces of music and pieces of art….can really push you forward, and make you feel less of that impending sense of doom.

ST: I was re-watching, I Know This Much Is True, by [Director] Derek Cianfrance. It’s really depressing, it’s about these twins, and Mark Ruffalo is just fantastic. The music is fantastic. The music is almost my favorite part. Harold Budd, I think it was the last thing that he did, he does a beautiful score, and a lot of ambient pieces for it. I loved it. I just watched it, and it stayed with me for a couple weeks. Then I re-watched it again, and it’s still stuck with me. If I can have any kind of impact like that with the roles that I play… It made me feel fucking amazing. It made me realize that I’m kind of going on the right path. I was at a bar in the East Village, and this woman came up to me and was like, ‘You’re in Yellowjackets?’ And she showed me her rings. They were all the rings that my character wears, and she said to me, ‘You are me. I’m seeing myself on TV, and I’ve never seen myself on TV before.’ It’s just fucking insane. It was a little intense. It was a little scary too, because there’s some kind of, I don’t know…there’s power in it. For me, it was kind of the ultimate validation. If I can make people feel seen again, if I can help people in that ‘other’ box feel seen, then I’m on the right path.

TR: Your twin sister is an artist. Is there anyone else in your family who shares your creative soul? How were you raised, when it comes to the arts?

ST: I have so much family because my family’s Mormon. I have endless cousins, and they’re all in Utah, in Idaho. My great aunt died recently, and I took my boyfriend to go to Utah to see some of my distant family on my mom’s side. That made me realize that everybody’s strange in their own way. Everyone’s very musical, that’s how I grew up. That was something that was an outlet for me. I was in the church choir. My mom played piano. Everyone in my family has very specific taste, and I think it’s very English, very old fashioned, and I think that comes with the religion. It was refreshing to go back to Utah even though I’m not practicing the religion anymore. Everyone is still so kind and so welcoming, and they’re all freaks too. [Laughs] They’re all weird. I always thought that me and [my sibling] Ellie came out of nowhere! We didn’t come out of nowhere; we came from feeling like all of them, feeling out like outcasts.

TR: What’s it like for you, twin siblings, both artists?

ST: I think we really fuel each other. There’s nobody else in the world that I trust more than them, and I trust their taste. We basically have the same exact taste. Whenever they make a painting, or anything, I’m like, ‘Why the fuck didn’t I do that?!’ I wish I had more time to do that kind of thing. Everything they do, I can see perfectly in my head. Now that I’m getting back into drawing and painting, I’ve noticed that we’re living in the same kind of fantasy. I’m very inspired by their art. The drawings that I make are very medieval, and a lot of their art is medieval-inspired. I don’t know where that connection comes from; maybe because my mom and my brother are history buffs. We grew up relatively cultured. Ellie, whenever I make anything new, they’re the first person I send it to. I know that they’ll be honest, always. I can’t imagine not having Ellie. It’s hard, too, because Ellie’s so exceptionally talented. Not saying that acting isn’t art, but for a while I felt like acting wasn’t art, which is bullshit. I felt like drawing was their thing, and I wanted to create space for a healthy relationship. Being a twin makes you naturally competitive. But they’re so encouraging of me in terms of my drawing. They’ll give me tips because they’ve been doing it longer. All those years when they mastered the skill, I was I on set and such. I’m a little late getting back into it, but it feels like the most natural thing.

TR: I love that you make time for all of these different creative outlets and endeavors.

ST: I can get lazy. I’ve noticed recently, it’s either that I’m taking a nap because I’m so tired, or I’m drawing or making music. There’s no in-between.

TR: That makes me think about how people really do kind of fall into two categories. You’re either that person who unwinds at night, or who lights up with creativity.

ST: It’s my time to be alone. I have hours without getting emails, without people texting me. It’s my time to put my phone away, to put on a record, and start drawing for a bit. I can make music for hours. I’ve been pretty good with that recently. And I’m getting better with being proactive with my time—not scrolling, not doing the scrolling.[Laughs]

TR: How do you like your physical surroundings to be, when it comes to being at home? Being an actor requires that you travel all the time, so what needs to be present at your home base, wherever home base is for you?

ST: For the first time in a while, I’ve built myself a home, in Silver Lake, and my boyfriend just moved in officially, It”s awesome. It’s so fucking nice. I’d never really realized what having a home can do to you, because sometimes you have to find home in people, in music, in a book, in these very specific things you’ve had throughout your life. It’s nice to have an an actual, physical, safe, home. It’s filled with art, with my friend’s paintings, it’s filled with my favorite movies. When I’m in Vancouver and when I’m staying at Airbnb’s, it’s about things like bringing my keyboard so I can play in my downtime. I get so antsy when I can’t. Bringing my keyboard, bringing a stuffed animal…physical items.

TR: You have such a strong artistic and visual sensibility. What kinds of things do you love?

ST: I love connection: I just want to feel connected. I want to be transported away from my world for a little bit. That’s the power of what a really good movie can do, what a good piece of art can do. You can live in that world for a second. I want to be immersed, fully,

TR: Are there specific times when you love to consume content? Is it when you’re working? Is it when you’re not working? Does inspiration strike to devour content at a particular time, for you?

ST: It’s interesting, when I’m working, when I was doing this last season of Yellowjackets, I could’t really watch other TV shows. It makes things feel very tainted. I need to have such a one-track mind, and mentality. I’m living in this world, and I don’t want outsiders to get in my head. It’s also for mental health reasons, that I have to be very light with what I watch. I tend to skew towards, you know, watching something a little darker, something that makes me feel something. I was watching a lot of reality TV during the second season, for the lightness. It doesn’t take anything out of you.

TR: When you’re working, you need the balance of something else.

ST: It’s too technical. I have too much anxiety for the actors. I’ve noticed it recently, even going to plays. Live theater stresses me out so much, especially having done it myself. I always want the actor to succeed so badly, to the extent that it takes me away from the experience of live theater. LA’s not the place for that, it happens whenever I go to New York…

TR: You’re an actor, you’re interested in writing, you play music, you express yourself through fashion and art. You’re a creative, through-and-through. Did you find that Mormonism was in conflict with, or bumping up against your freedom and mindset as an artist?

ST: Yes and no. It was so time consuming. What took me away from the church was that I was working all the time. I was doing theater. It was kind of my way out. [The church] felt very one-sided, and it instilled a lot of anxiety in me. I’m already such a hyper-aware, anxious person, it wasn’t doing me any good. The influence of my older siblings; seeing them be artistic, hearing their points of view…took me away from [the church]. As a kid, I thought, I’m never gonna have kids. I made that statement. I always said that because I thought, I’m going to be working. I was very adamant about it. Now, I don’t know how I feel. It was me being stubborn as a kid, seeing all these women in my church getting married very early. It’s a beautiful thing. The role of mother is such an important thing in the church, but it was something that was so far away from what I wanted, that it pushed me the other way. I think if I’d grown up without religion, without that influence, I would be a little less strange. It forced it in my head to be opposite, to go the other way entirely. If it hadn’t been a part of my life, I wouldn’t be exactly who I am today, I wouldn’t be into what I’m doing, I wouldn’t be as driven.

TR: How do you feel about working on a series or a film that will allow you to sing? Has that presented itself yet? Are you looking for projects that will allow you to do that?

ST: I have an interesting take on movie musicals. Because I was so intense as a kid, wanting to feel everything—blending dancing, singing, and acting—it was the perfect option. That’s why I was drawn to musicals. It’s a release of energy, and I had so much fucking energy stored inside of me. I think I’ve calmed down and I crave that less. But if it’s done right, it can be so powerful. I re-watched Cabaret and was bawling the entire time. I cut my hair short a while ago. Liza Minnelli is like my fucking icon. Growing up, when I was singing, I was like, I need to sound like her. I need to try to replicate my vibrato to sound like her. My number one karaoke song is Maybe It’s Time. I told my boyfriend, ‘This is an example of a musical that can be done so tastefully, it’s avant-garde, so ahead of its time.’ I think if you’re going to incorporate a musical sensibility into a movie, it has to be somewhat avant-garde, or somewhat surreal.. It can’t just be…breaking into song. It has to have grounding beyond that. It would have to be the right project and the right music, because I’m very specific with music.

TR: What were some of your very first impressions about acting professionally? It was in 2016 when you acted in Chicago PD.

ST: I grew up very, very competitive, knowing that whatever I was going to do, it was going to be with the best people. I had to be surrounded by people who would inspire me so I could learn from them. That’s why I never really did school plays. I grew up surrounded by people who were older than me, so when I was 10, I was comparing myself to them, thinking that I needed to be on their level. It was always me trying to elevate myself. I was only 10, but I was 10 going on 40. With TV, it was a little different, a little bit more daunting. During my first TV experience, I thought I was going to have a panic attack on set. It’s so normal for me now. It’s crazy to think about how I used to approach it. It’s flipped, now theater seems more anxiety-inducing to me than film, because I’m more used to film. When I first attacked TV, it felt like I had one shot, a couple of takes, and if I wasn’t present in those moments—which I usually wasn’t, because I was nervous—then I was screwed. It felt very life or death. With theater, it felt to me like you can play around. You have the time to move around and dance in the character’s shoes; actually live in the shoes, rather than being too hyper-focused on being present in that one minute you have on screen.

TR: In 2018, you worked with Jay Duplass for the South by Southwest award-winning film Prospect. He’s someone who has vast experience in front of and behind the camera. What did you learn from Jay about the business, about the work?

ST: He has a very collaborative approach, and that’s what I want to take with me. I was recently talking to some people about this other show that I might do, and they were saying that they would want me to be a part of the entire creative process, to write and give my input. I think that’s so important, and [Jay] showed me that, really early on. We were working with these two amazing directors, Zeke and Chris, but it was their first thing, so he was helping me out a lot. There was the idea that it’s important to build a family. It’s important to keep lightness on set. It’s important to trust everyone, and to give your input. Jay Duplass does it all. I think a lot of actors are leaning towards this more now than ever. That feels like my own approach. And it’s easier if you’re an actor and you’re also a writer, or you have to have a writer’s sensibility. I had a hard time feeling like I wasn’t an artist when I was growing up, because I was an actor. The more and more I do really serious shows and serious roles, the more I see the impact I can have. That makes me understand, ‘No, that [mindset] is bullshit’.

TR: It’s not surprising to me at all that you are being thought of for projects in this way, and it’s so exciting.

ST: It’s exciting because that’s the dream. I feel like I want to be making my own movies by the time I’m 30. I would love to direct, I would love to make my own movies, and tell my own stories. Not yet though. [Laughs]. So much for me to learn on set still, and I want to attack it at the right time and when I’m at my most confident. I’m still learning so much right now.

TR: Stephen King posted an incredibly complimentary tweet about Yellowjackets last year, and upcoming, you’re starring in an adaptation of his The Boogeyman, a story line previously adapted for films like Black Swan and A Quiet Place. It’s releasing on June 2nd.

ST: I’m really, really happy that it’s getting a theatrical release, because it was originally supposed to just be on Hulu. I’m happy that horror is having a moment, and horror is being taken seriously.

TR: Do you love the horror film genre?

ST: I do, I do, and I don’t want to be totally, you know, boxed into one category, but it’s what I grew up with. There are so many things to play around with, within horror.

TR: What were the first horror films that influenced you?

ST: Definitely 28 Days Later. Love that movie. Pan’s Labyrinth was a big movie for me. What I was saying earlier, about wanting to live in a fantasy world…Guillermo Del Toro does it so well, it felt like such a lived-in world. When I watched it really early on, it blew my mind. That’s the fun thing about genre pieces. They’re something that I don’t get to experience while I’m here, but I get to experience in my fantasy world, when I’m on camera and hopefully, fully present. I’m very excited about Boogeyman going into the theaters and not just on your TV screen or phone screen, because you’re actually forced to go on a journey with my character. I was really excited when I watched it. I think I’m getting better at watching myself and removing myself from my character, realizing that this character, is so not me. With Boogeyman, I was able to do that pretty quickly. It took about ten minutes of looking at the screen to be like, ‘This isn’t me’.

TR: Some actors are okay with viewing themselves on screen; others have a difficult relationship with it.

ST: It was bad for a while for me. It’s like body dysmorphia…

TR: What did you love about working on The Boogeyman?

ST: At the core of the movie, it’s about a family, it’s about grief, and about how different people deal with grief in different ways. I was lucky enough to portray a character who has a really well-rounded arc. Watching it, you have a lot of empathy for my character. I felt so close to her. Living in that world for two months was fucking exhausting [laughs], and I wasn’t expecting it to be that exhaustiing. It was fucking heavy, experiencing it; living in that world to my fullest potential; having people who were pushing me; having a director who really believed in me. We built a very strong foundation before going in, which is so nice to have. You don’t really get that as much in TV because it’s a faster process. We had a couple of meetings—myself, and [actor] Chris [Messina], and the director, and went through the script. We started improvising, we started building very specific moments, past memories—all that I think made for a fully lived-in world. It was a really tough experience, but after seeing it, I’m really proud.

TR: In Yellowjackets, of course you play Natalie alongside Juliette Lewis, who plays older Natalie, and you’ve collaborated closely with her for the role to build out the character in terms of her style, her interests, all the things. Did you get a chance to regroup with Juliette around who Nat is in season two?

ST: Not really. We have so much trust in each other, so much trust that I think, to some extent, the trust speaks for itself. And sometimes it’s better not to be overly self-aware, which I can lean towards. Sometimes knowing too much of what’s going on with present day Natalie isn’t going to help me, because that’s the end result of Natalie. I get to fill in the blanks about what gets her there. That’s exciting for me; it’s an exciting job to have. It’s a very rare opportunity, getting to see where your character ends up. Sometimes it’s hard for me, watching the show, thinking that I’m not as intense as Juliette, that kind of thing. But my character has so many more years of turmoil and trauma and guilt ahead of her, that it makes sense that she’s not there yet. There’s a 20 year difference, and that’s a long time.

TR: What do you think the value will be for you, in having collaborated so closely with a veteran actor like Juliette Lewis early on in your career? She’s someone who is a distinct talent in TV and film, someone who has made a big mark with her artistic contribution. Do you ever think about what this experience might mean for you in the future, or how it might prepare you going forward?

ST: It’s definitely given me confidence. It’s given me the feeling that I can have artistic freedom. I don’t have to just do one thing, and I don’t have to be only an actor. Juliette does it all. To me, she’s like a fucking performance artist. On stage, she goes to the other extent. It’s so exciting to see that, and see how much respect people have for her. It makes you realize that you can be taken seriously as an artist, and not just as an actor. That was always kind of my concern, growing up around musicians and such, that I won’t be taken seriously. Juliette has the confidence and artistic freedom to delve into music when she doesn’t want to act. She can do anything. Playing a younger her has made me…more confident. I’ve forced myself, [laughs] forced myself, to be more spontaneous and less aware. It’s an interesting place to be, playing side by side, playing this role. And then there’s also that the role is being played by this iconic actor. It’s such a mind fuck in a great way. Her voice is in my head as the character. Natalie is such a clearly drawn character because of her, because we have Juliette, and then I interpret her in my own way.

TR: This season, Yellowjackets becomes more intense. How did you get ready to work on season two? Is there anything you did to prepare yourself in advance, to go dark and go deep for the season’s story lines?

ST: I was trying to not get myself in the same spot that I ended up in, last year. I was very focused on almost not bringing the character home too much. I wanted to remain healthy. I had a really bad and crazy scooter accident the day before I was supposed to leave for shooting, and that put me in a really dark place. I lost teeth and stuff. I was supposed to be in Vancouver, but I had just gone through something very traumatic and very random. That built some heaviness and grit in me that lived in my character, and stayed within me. Going into season two, I thought, I can’t let this get too heavy, so I brought my boyfriend, and also I would travel back and forth, often. If I had two days off I would go to LA, because I was already living with so much heaviness.

TR: Having just gone through a pretty jarring experience, you were going into this project where there’s heavy material…

ST…Which is also jarring.

TR: How do you do the dance of both keeping Nat with you and letting her go, during the course of shooting a season? What happens in those in-between times in the shoot schedule?

ST: I’m just learning, which is funny, that I’m very sensitive to my physical environment. Vancouver to me is a great city, but sadly it’s Yellowjackets, and it’s hard to get out of that head space no matter what, no matter how hard you try. Home, for me, is with my boyfriend; it’s with my twin; it’s with my mom; it’s with my sister. Early on, you learn to cultivate that, when you’re working a lot and traveling a lot, and a lot of pressure is on you. I was lucky enough to find those things.

TR: The group’s cannibalism is finally seen on screen this season, in a pivotal key group scene, but also in scenes with teen Shauna. How was that for you, before, during, and after?

ST: I loved the way it was introduced into the episode. I love how there’s this crazy surrealist dream sequence. I viewed it as them trying to cope, them trying to escape. I love that the show is kind of going into the more obscure, the more outlandish, and the dream sequences. We’re getting to go to places we haven’t before. I love how it’s such a huge moment. It went there! I was nervous because it was such a big moment. I know it from my friends, too, they all love the show, but everybody was like, ‘When are you going to start showing it?’ That’s the big question of the series because it was set up so early in the pilot. When is it gonna happen? I think we’ve done such a good job in building up to this moment, so it feels justified. If it happened too early on, it wouldn’t have felt justified. You wouldn’t have the same connection to the characters. You wouldn’t feel the empathy that you do for them. When I was reading it—and we make jokes on set— it’s not normalized, but it feels like you can’t judge them. So much empathy has already been built up for our characters. They are in the worst possible situation. And once they get to this point, there’s no going back. They’ve opened up a door, a door into the dark abyss, They have to live with the guilt, and that means that, basically, anything can happen now.

TR: What was the discussion like, around how each of you should perform in that scene, in eating a human body?

ST: It was definitely different for everybody, because each character is taking it on in their own way and also trying to justify it in their own way. What I was naturally feeling that day, on set? I was pretty disassociated. They did a very good job with replicating her body. It was great, and they did the best they could. I had a lot of, almost out-of-body moments, and panic moments. When that was happening, it played well with my character. I think Natalie would’ve turned to her numbness so she can survive. As I was doing that, as an actor. I was like, ‘What the fuck am I doing with my job, with my life? What the fuck is this?!’ [Laughs] I was feeling that naturally, so it played into everything. We all tried to remain light on set, but a lot of people were throwing up. It got weird that day. All of us were interpreting it, interpreting it as our characters—in different ways.

TR: I’d read that Natalie would maybe not be one who participates in the eating of Jackie’s dead body. She’s the skilled huntress of the group, and she’s emotionally tough.

ST: I think it could have gone either way, but this season she’s so focused on survival that she’s losing a sense of herself. Her moral foreground is getting a little bit muddled. I think it does make sense for her to eat Jackie. She has to survive. That’s her mindset this season. She’s still the most grounded. She’s facing reality every day. She’s the one who’s facing the practical issues, feeding everyone, physically going outside every day while everyone else is going to that other place, following Lottie. It’s not exactly optimism, but she’s giving them some kind of answer.

TR: One of the things we also learn a lot more about this season, is Natalie’s relationship with Travis. How do you describe their relationship this season, and how do you view their relationship in adulthood?

ST It’s so toxic and it’s so codependent. They originally bonded through trauma and through being outcasts. I don’t think that would’ve happened if they were just in school together. They never would’ve crossed paths. This is a very strange, intimate experience. It’s weird thinking about it. Natalie is someone who doesn’t have a father, who never had any strong parental figure in her life. In her relationships, there’s a heaviness, a more desperate desire to search for some kind of parental figure, some kind of guidance, some kind of…

TR: Anchor…

ST: Anchor, yes. It’s a deep desire for her. I don’t talk to my dad, so I completely understand it, and feel it, in relationships. They’re so codependent, and they’ve seen each other at their worst. That’s also their point of connection. They know that no one else will ever understand what they’ve been through, therefore no one else will ever have as deep of a connection as they do with one another—which is terrible. But sometimes that’s how it is. It makes total sense to me. I would be the same as Natalie. I would be drawn to him. You just want your person, and like I said earlier, you just want to feel less alone. Natalie had a lot of loneliness, already instilled within her.

TR: Natalie does something to help Travis deal with his loss this season. Is that the height of their codependent relationship, is that when it’s established, and fully takes root?

ST Definitely. It reaches a peak this season, and she carries a lot of guilt. In episode two, when she fakes Javi’s death, I read it as, she’s just looking out for him. I know that morally, a lot of people disagree with it, but immediately I thought, of course; she can’t have Travis die searching for him, hour upon hour. Who knows what would happen? In her mind, what she did was what would save him. She knows it’s wrong. There’s so much guilt from her past, guilt from what happened with her dad. Even though it wasn’t her fault, there’s so much guilt in her already. There is so much guilt that continues building in later episodes, too, that makes it so much worse. [Laughs] So much worse…

TR: Would you have done the same thing, Sophie? ‘Let me make this a little easier, for this person who I love.’

ST: I don’t know, I think Natalie is a bit more resilient than I am. I want to take that quality from her. It is my favorite quality of hers. She’s so focused on survival and has been her entire life. I don’t think I have that in me. It’s so hard to put myself in those specific shoes. But then also, selfishly, I’m always going take her side as an actor.

TR: Belief system emerges as a theme this season. There’s the group, sometimes called a cult, that adult Lottie leads in her wellness center compound. And in order to create higher purpose and ritual while stranded, we also see the crash victims turn to a practice led by Lottie. The effects of trauma is a core theme in Yellowjackets, but how do you think the show is tackling the discussion around cults and spirituality and belief systems?

ST: The crash victims are coming from is a place of desperation, a place of feeling lost, and wanting to grasp onto something to find tangible answers. It’s hard. People who are prone to falling into a cult—and I’ve been watching a lot of cult documentaries—come from a very lost place. They’re seeking guidance. It’s that idea of having somebody. It’s the same with religion. It’s the same with, like, giving purpose to everything. If there’s not an afterlife, then what are we doing? It’s trying to find a reason and a sense of purpose. Natalie talks about that, and I think all of them, to some extent, lost their sense of purpose after life in the wilderness, but Natalie does, especially. She had an important role there and she was keeping them all alive.

TR: From the perspective of someone who is Gen Z, how do you see 90s culture, and how do you feel about the 90s nostalgia we’re seeing so much of right now? It’s an integral part of the Yellowjackets story line, an integral to the look and feel. Do you think there’s something special about the 90s, as an era?

ST: I think I’ll always kind of glamorize it because I didn’t live in it. I grew up with 90s music. I think there was an openness to the 90s era, and it also it seems to have felt a little bit more relaxed, less self aware. Today, we are very self aware to the extent that it can be dangerous, to the extent that it can taint you from being yourself fully, to the extent that it can hold you back in a lot of ways. And I think the 90s were just cooler because there wasn’t social media.

TR:. After two seasons of playing a core character on an Emmy-nominated show, the most watched Showtime series of the last six years, how has it changed the way you understand what your strengths are as an actor, and how you want to navigate your career going forward?

ST: I love being able to be vulnerable on camera. That feels therapeutic to me. No matter what parts I take on, I want to be able to be as vulnerable as possible. And that’s scary. It’s weird to realize that everyone’s seen me be vulnerable. People like to say that Natalie’s a lot like me, and she kind of is, but she’s definitely not, because we’re live in different circumstances. I just want to go on to play vastly different characters. I want to play someone so far from who I am. My goal is to experience things I would never get to experience, in real life.

Source: storyandrain.com

IN CONVERSATION WITH SOPHIE THATCHER

Multi-hyphenate talent Sophie Thatcher has captured audiences with her layered performances, making her one of the most enticing young performers on the rise to watch. She is best known for her role as Natalie on Showtime’s Emmy-nominated, coming of age survival drama series ‘Yellowjackets’, which premiered its second season on 26th March. The series is receiving rave reviews as Showtime’s most watched series of the last six years.

Sophie, we’re currently able to watch you in the second season of Showtime’s ‘Yellowjackets’, which is receiving raving reviews. How did you feel when you got cast on this series and what are your thoughts about it and its story?

Karyn Kusama is an absolute legend, so knowing she was attached from the get go made me confident. Hearing later on that Juliette was cast as my modern-day counterpart felt so flattering because I’ve looked up to her for years. To think I shared any sort of resemblance to her helped instill confidence in me. The show is so exciting because it pushes boundaries thematically and truthfully could go anywhere. I think it’s natural for humans to be drawn to the survival genre and curious to see the breakdown of societal norms within these girls as they rid themselves of who they used to be.

In the series, you portray the younger version of Natalie, a character with punk rock spirit and a habit of finding trouble. She is dealing with a drug and alcohol abuse, but proves to be an invaluable member of the team after the plane crash. How challenging do you find portraying Natalie, someone with such a strong spirit and dealing with substance abuse?

Natalie is a very vulnerable and complex character and I’ve found similarities within myself when I was younger. She masks her vulnerability with this tough and sometimes stoic exterior, but deep down she is incredibly sensitive and full of intensity which ultimately drains her completely. This season she really latches on to the role of the huntress and finds solace within taking on that distraction. She feels a sense of importance within this task, as she is keeping everyone alive and fed every day. After the wilderness she loses her sense of purpose and that ultimately leads her into a spiral of craving that specific intensity she may never feel again. I admire her resilience more than anything and would love to take that on with me in life. Natalie lives in me to an extent. I’m excited to continue the journey with her and then let her go and move onto different collaborations and projects.

In the second episode of the second season we’ve been able to witness the group succumb to cannibalism in a truly schocking scene. How was it filming this scene and how did you personally deal with it?

I love the way they played with surrealism in this dream sequence. I believe this fantasy world they go into is their way of subsisting and numbing themselves to get through the experience. The banquet was a beautiful and manic day. I brought my boyfriend to set that day and wanted to make it clear to him that this was the furthest away from what our show typically feels like. Usually it’s much more bleak. I found myself dealing with the actual cannibalistic shoot rather similarly to my character. I began to disassociate and it almost turned into an out of body experience. I had a couple moments where I thought “What the hell am I doing with my life and my job”. The cast is very good with remaining light on set and that ultimately brought me back to a more grounding place.

Next up, you’ll be starring in the 20th Century Studios adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘The Boogeyman’. Tell us more about this film, that will be premiering this June.

The film centers around a family that has just lost their mother and my character Sadie is in a very distinct stage of grieving. All she wants is to feel a closeness to her mother and reconciles her grief through her mom’s belongings to embody her and replicate that feeling of intimacy again. Sadie starts off reclusive and internalizing her sadness as she distances herself from her friends and family. But soon she’s forced to face all of her anxieties and defend herself and her family against the antagonist. The boogeyman for me stands for a lot of different abstract examples of our internalized anxieties, and for the Harper family it embodies grief in sinister ways.

Both ‘Yellowjackets’ and ‘The Boogeyman’ have very dark stories. What makes you so attracted to darker stories and portraying darker characters?

I’ve found comfort in the past from depressing stories. It’s grittier and often more to play with within the character’s story arc. There is somewhere to build upon the blackness and gloom, a starting point that leads towards an upwards trajectory, molding layers upon layers in the story and characters. I’ve said this before and ultimately stand by this for my purpose as an artist as of now, I just want people to find solace within the characters I play and feel less alone. These darker stories allow me to dig deeper and hopefully effectively resonate with those watching.

After portraying characters with such heavy stories, how do you disconnect from all the darkness and heaviness when you’re done filming?

I always bring my keyboard whenever I travel, so I can have music as an outlet. For season two of ‘Yellowjackets’ I was very persistent with going back to LA to be with my boyfriend and the home I’ve cultivated. Being around people that I love and ground me back to reality is the most important thing alongside finding music as a therapeutic outlet where there’s no pressure, only simply to create. I often times have my twin visit me from Chicago, so I can have another semblance of home in whatever strange place I’m staying in. I noticed after first season of ‘Yellowjackets’ that Natalie remained in me for a couple months after. Although that wasn’t entirely negative, it brought me spontaneity and solidity. I think going forward with roles it’s best not to take the characters home post filming.

You started your career with guest roles on TV shows before making your feature film debut in ‘Prospect’ in 2018. What are some of the biggest hurdles you’ve had to overcome to get to a point in your career that you are at now?

I had a moment after filming ‘Prospect’ at 16 where I didn’t book anything for two years. I was finishing school online and turned to a pretty strange and isolated place. I turned to my other outlets, like music and art, and that reminded me that the pressure to work consistently in entertainment is not in the end all. I moved to New York at 18 and took Meisner classes and immediately regained a sense of confidence and conviction I hadn’t known in a while. After I regained that confidence, I luckily started booking again. Through this I’ve learned that the lulls are never the end and it’s important to remain grounded and in touch with all of your artistic outlets and sides.

Before TV and film, your resume includes quite some stage credits from your days in theater. How did being on stage prepare you for being in front of the camera? What are the most valuable lessons theater taught you?

I learned the importance of remaining present and the significance of committing to a role, fully letting yourself be immersed into your character’s way of living. Filming my first TV credits was difficult because there is so much pause and start, and so much off time for your head to wander to other personal places. What I love and miss about the stage is the quality of endurance and immersion within a play. You get to transport to that world fully for two hours and escape it afterwards.

TV and film has had more of a lingering sensation for me and I’m still learning how to balance staying in character without it overwhelming me on off days. I remember early on taking film acting classes and the teachers always telling me to throw away my lines for a more naturalistic approach. Now looking back, I understand where they’re coming from, but I don’t condone it because it leads to uncertainty and disillusion within the characters’ objectives and overall motives. Theater taught me the power of my voice, breath work and thoroughly mapping out my characters decisions.

Born and raised in Chicago, how much do you miss ‘The Windy City’?

Most of my immediate family is still there. My twin, my older sister and mom are there, so I try to visit often because it will always be home. I’m proud of growing up in the Midwest, I think it’s given me a sense of modesty and solid grounding. I love ‘Chicago Dogs’ more than anything and still love the Chicago music scene. Being in LA now stands for a different point in my life and makes more sense for my job, but Chicago will always be my home.

Sophie, let’s also talk about your first love, music. What feelings does music evoke in you? Can we expect to listen to your songs someday as well, besides seeing you on our screens?

Music will always be my first love. I’ve been making my own music since I was 16, all pretty DIY, starting off in my mom’s basement to isolate myself. I use Ableton and have a summit novation synth that I usually improvise vocals and other melodies over. I released music on Bandcamp when I was younger, but hope to take some of my demos to another, more well-rounded, better produced place. I’m beginning to collaborate and learn from other musicians and that’s very invigorating and exciting for me.

Source: numeromag.nl

Sophie Thatcher doesn’t want to be your next scream queen
The ‘Yellowjackets’ actor shares more details about season 2 of the hit show, as well as her upcoming Stephen King horror and secret music project.

“I woke up like 20 minutes ago,” says Sophie Thatcher, laughing. It’s noon in LA where the 22-year-old Yellowjackets star is currently catching up on sleep after six months shooting season two of the hit Showtime series in Vancouver. The platinum blonde hair she sports in the show as teenage burnout Nat has made way for her usual jet black look.

Born in Illinois before moving to New York, Sophie has been singing and acting since she joined a performing arts school at the age of four. “When I was younger I always had the intent of doing theatre. You know when you put what you want to be when you’re older in your yearbook? I wrote ‘A famous Broadway star’ and then, with an asterisk, ‘A very famous Broadway star’,” she says sheepishly. The raspy vocal fry she uses to emulate 90s Hollywood star Juliette Lewis, who plays the older version of Nat on the show, has made the ability to do musical theatre again difficult. “When I sing now I can’t hit the same notes,” she says. “But I would go back to theatre in a second,” she adds.

Sophie landed her first major role at the age of 15 in the 2016 TV series adaptation of The Exorcist, playing the young, soon-to-be-possessed Reagan, and, two years later, in the sci-fi indie Prospect (2018) with Pedro Pascal. If fame was something her younger self craved, Yellowjackets brought it to her. In early 2022, she won a part in the grisly series about a high school girls soccer team whose plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness in the mid-90s, forcing them to fend for themselves. In a parallel timeline, we follow the surviving members of the group in the present day, as they try to reckon with the disturbing actions they took in order to survive. The show’s first season was a hit, fast becoming the second most streamed series in Showtime’s history and receiving seven nominations at the Emmys; when it won none of them, it caused online outrage. In March, the show returned for season two and has since been renewed for a third.

Sophie’s Natalie Scatorccio is an outsider at school and ostracised by her soccer teammates due to her dark energy and struggles with alcohol and drugs. After the plane crash, however, Nat quickly proves the most useful of the group, becoming one of only two that can use a gun and hunt for food. She soon forms a romantic bond with the sole male survivor, Travis.

At the start of season two, several months have passed and winter has set in. “Nobody’s in a good place,” Sophie says of where we find them. “Everyone is losing their sense of selves and getting further away from who they used to be. Nat is deeper in isolation. Being the huntress is the only thing that’s keeping her going.” Nat was the most grounded character in the first season, Sophie thinks. While the others are lost in delusions, reckless hopes and petty qualms, Nat’s past trauma keeps her rational. She acts as a sounding board for other characters’ troubles. “That’s why people watching resonated with her; she has this heart. But of course we’re gonna lose some of that.” Not only do the arctic temperatures bring new hardships, there are also mysterious malevolent forces in the woods that threaten to tear the survivors apart.
Sophie’s character evolves, over the course of this season, to be more like Juliette Lewis’ older version of Nat. “Juliette and I text each other after each script is released like, ‘Yo, thoughts?’,” she says. “We’re always on the same page. Juliette’s Nat is very complex; she’s a harder version of Nat to play. But I’m getting there, which is fun. Of all the characters, there’s a finer distinction between 1990s and present day Nat. They both share the same vulnerability but there’s still some lightness and humour in younger Nat that remains and this season that gets slowly chipped away.”

Filming season one in Canada’s forests during the pandemic offered the cast a real insight into the isolation and fears of the unknown their characters were facing. “It was just us,” Sophie says. “Being out there in the wilderness was an immersive experience. It was almost like a parallel world.” While a few early days of production on season two were also spent in the forests of Alberta — where The Revenant was filmed, coincidentally — much of the second season was instead shot in a studio in Vancouver. “Alberta was absolutely freezing but it was beautiful and scenic and vast and so cinematic,” she says. “I was worried that with the stage we’d lose that feeling but it looks incredible.”
Sophie had a different traumatic experience to draw on for season two. “The day I was supposed to leave for Vancouver, I got into this really bad scooter accident,” she says, a little hesitant at first. “Like, my face was kind of fucked up and I had to get new teeth. It was one of the worst things that has ever happened to me in my life.” She channelled that into understanding Nat’s own struggles and hardships. “I came into this experience with something really traumatic but it pushed me forward and gave me a different outlook and survivor mentality. Nat has had a survivor mentality her entire life.”

“I feel like I’ve been through a lot in my life and I’ll keep going no matter what,” she adds. “I’m not Natalie, I wouldn’t be as skilled or as smart as her but I have the same resilience. I’ve been having so many dreams about the end of the world and post-apocalyptic situations and in all my dreams I never give up.”
As the script got darker towards the end of filming season two, both Sophie and the rest of the cast began having intense nightmares. Fans will have already seen how the show gets deeper into the fleshy realm of cannibalism teased last season. “I don’t know how to say this without sounding psycho but, on the show, we kind of normalise it. We go into those scenes thinking about our character’s mentality and it’s fucking defeating and terrible but it doesn’t feel evil.” Sophie has her own theories as to why cannibal tales, like Yellowjackets and Bones & All, might be resonating with people right now. “Everyone is striving for something as dark as possible as if our world isn’t already dark,” she says. “As an actor, I just want something I’ll never experience, something really far out. I grew up with horror and was obsessed with zombies. I made 10 zombie movies with my twin and my friends growing up. I think that’s why I keep getting cast in stuff like this.”

Sophie’s next project is, aptly, an adaptation of the 1973 Stephen King novella The Boogeyman. In it, she plays Sadie, a high school student mourning the death of her mother that a demonic entity latches on to, preying on her pain. She calls her character “a loser”. Horror has become a familiar genre for her, but she doesn’t see herself as a long-term scream queen. “It’s a compliment, but I wouldn’t continue with it,” she says. “I think I might take a little break from horror. I don’t want to be restricted to one thing because nobody wants to be put in a box and I just want to explore everything.” She pauses, catching herself. “But I’m not not open,” she says with a smile. Nonetheless, she’s excited for the release of The Boogeyman. “The Stephen King movie is full-on final girl horror. It’s actually really sick. It’s rare that you leave a movie that you’re in like, ‘Good job!’” she says.
Given her rocketing success, Sophie is surprisingly self-conscious and coy about her work. “When I first saw my movie Prospect in theatres, I thought my career was over,” she says. Just 17 at the time, the act of watching herself on the big screen in a packed cinema was alien. “I thought my acting was good but the body dysmorphia…” she trails off, taking a moment. “It’s inevitable and I notice things nobody else will ever see. I still feel like that sometimes but I’m getting better at pushing that down.” She credits watching Juliette Lewis with helping her to stand up for herself and giving her a new sense of confidence.

Feeling self-conscious has also held Sophie back from sharing another of her lifelong passions: music. She’s finished an album, but the success of the show meant she was worried about people hearing it, “because it feels less lowkey.” Sophie has released four albums already via Bandcamp, but temporarily removed them from the site when Yellowjackets came out. Sophie’s sound is “noisy, dark and dreamy” and she cites Portishead, Blonde Redhead and Elliot Smith as inspirations. She’s now in a place where she’s ready for people to hear it. “I recently unprivated the albums,” she tells us. “Music is number one to me, which is why it’s more precious too. But over the next couple of months, whenever I have a couple of hours by myself, I’ll be working on music.”

That may be difficult, though, since Sophie seems to be working non-stop. “I have a movie that I’m not officially announced to be in yet but it’s super cool – very, very cool. That shoots in May. I might even have a movie before then too.” She quite rightly has big dreams for the future — admiring the paths of polymathic arthouse icons like Charlotte Gainsbourg and Beatrice Dalle — and has ambitions to direct too. Then there’s the hit list of filmmakers she wants to work with at some point: Gus Van Sant, Kelly Reichardt, Lynne Ramsay… Still, she’s hesitant. “I’m not at that point, or even close to that point,” Sophie says, as if forgetting that she’s a breakout star of one of the most critically-acclaimed and watched television shows of the year. “But I hope I’ll get there.”

Source: i-d.vice.com

From Yellowjackets to The Boogeyman, Sophie Thatcher Finds Her Dark Side

They say good things come to those who wait. For Sophie Thatcher, there was an entire year between filming the pilot of her hit show Yellowjackets and the project getting a full series order from Showtime. Then it took another year after that for it to premiere in November 2021. Now—16 months, multiple Emmy noms, and a dedicated cult following later—the psychological thriller is back for season two in what promises to be an even wilder ride than the first.

Thatcher and I meet via Zoom a few days after the show’s season two premiere in Los Angeles. She’s traded in her glamorous ruby-red John Galliano for Dior archive gown for a casual oversize tee—ever the sartorial chameleon—her signature tousled brunette shag on display. Sitting at her kitchen table, she has a relaxed disposition that makes for easy conversation, so we dive right in.

It’s safe to say a lot happened in Yellowjackets season one. Taking place across two timelines (1996 and 2021), the series follows a New Jersey high school girls’ soccer team whose private plane crashes while en route to nationals in Seattle, leaving the surviving group of teens to eke out an existence in the brutal Canadian wilderness. In the 19 months before they are found, unspeakable and unexplainable events ensue, driving the group to cannibalism. As we fast-forward 25 years later, it’s apparent the survivors haven’t fully come to terms with their trauma and will stop at nothing to keep the secret of what really happened in the woods from getting out.

“I think the second season gets a lot more surreal and dives into the unknown and into the supernatural and what the wilderness is as a whole and what it does to us psychologically,” Thatcher shares. “The stakes keep rising, and I don’t know what’s going to happen in season three because, to me, this is the worst-case scenario for any person.”

Thatcher returns to the role of young Natalie “Nat” Scatorccio, an outsider with a natural inclination for survival. She’s independent and resilient and knows her way around a hunting rifle. The part came easily to the actress, who likened her to a cooler version of herself in high school. Thatcher submitted one self-tape, and it was hers—no follow-up needed. “I’ve never had that happen to me in my life before,” she tells me, “where you don’t have to go out there and prove yourself a million times.” Thatcher was living in New York at the time, going back and forth between the city and New Jersey and watching The Sopranos, so there was this broad New York–New Jersey mentality already inside her. The part came at the perfect time, and to the creators, there was no question she was Natalie.

Not long after Thatcher’s casting news, it was announced Juliette Lewis would be playing the older version of Natalie. Having seen Lewis’s iconic performances in Natural Born Killers and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Thatcher was beyond excited by the news. “I thought, ‘If I’m anything remotely close to that, that’s a huge compliment.’” Spoiler alert: She is.

Though the actors would never share scenes, they quickly connected over Natalie. Early phone calls were spent talking a lot about how the character presents herself, the music she likes, who her idols are, and what she would have in her room. “Funny enough, me and Juliette had a lot of similar overlap,” Thatcher says looking back. “So within that moment, realizing that we’re into a lot of the same artists, I was like, ‘Oh, we get each other. That’s great.’ So I think there was trust from the very beginning.”

Wardrobe was a huge piece of the puzzle for both Thatcher and Lewis. A lot of season one was Thatcher fighting against Natalie becoming a caricature and somebody else’s idea of what rebellion is. It could have easily gone emo or pop punk. Band T-shirts with the likes of Blondie on them felt too on the nose for the actress. “I was always trying to push against that because realistically Natalie is so independent and doesn’t dress ’90s or grunge,” Thatcher says. “She is in her own era, and that’s what makes her cool. She’s not at all interested in what’s happening then.” Thatcher’s reference was a young girl stuck in the late ’70s listening to post-punk bands. Even her hair, a bleached mullet, was a nod to an earlier time period and intentionally didn’t fit with the ’90s.

As the teens head deeper into the frigid winter and madness in season two, the wardrobe takes on a post-apocalyptic flair. Think tattered layers and animal pelts. Thatcher was particularly excited about this evolution and likens Natalie’s “huntress” look to something out of Mad Max or Princess Mononoke. She lights up describing her braided warrior headband and the avant-garde and “iconic” nature of the looks.

Before we start getting into spoiler territory, we pivot to Thatcher’s next project, The Boogeyman, which hits theaters June 2. The film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel looks genuinely terrifying (just watch the trailer), and I start to sense a theme building in Thatcher’s résumé. The actress admits she is attracted to darker stories, which stems from being a naturally intense person and her desire to feel something deeper. “Most of my taste in music and art is kind of depressing,” she says with a laugh. “I just want to feel something. That’s why it’s fun on set, living through these characters. When you are doing such a crazy genre piece, it’s cool to go through something you have never experienced before.”

The Boogeyman was a challenging project for Thatcher. The story is rooted in grief, which forced her to live in such a dark place while filming. When I ask how she grounds herself after wrapping such psychologically intense projects as The Boogeyman and Yellowjackets, she credits the importance of having a home base. When filming season one of Yellowjackets, Thatcher bounced from one Airbnb to the next and couldn’t shake the chaos. Now, she has an apartment that she shares with her boyfriend and their cat, which serves as the ideal refuge when she’s not filming. Then there’s her music, another form of therapy.

Music has always been Thatcher’s first love, and she just might be ready to share it with the rest of the world too. Talking about it is the first step. “Just bringing it up in interviews is kind of forcing me to be like, ‘Okay, I got to start putting it out.’” The whole thing feels extremely personal to Thatcher, hence her hesitation. There’s also the potential to ruin the cathartic aspect of making music. But she has a couple of songs she wants to release soon, and moving forward with her music, her art, and her writing is all part of a bigger plan to finally see her passion projects through this year.

As with Yellowjackets, I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

Yellowjackets season two is now on Showtime.

Source: whowhatwear.co.uk

Sophie Thatcher finds salvation in storytelling

The ‘Yellowjackets’ star opens up about her music career, childhood obsessions, and her desire to ‘become unrecognizable’

Behind every acclaimed actor is an 11-year-old girl holding auditions for self-authored screenplays after school. Or at least that’s the case for Sophie Thatcher, best-known for her breakout role as Natalie in Yellowjackets, a Showtime original series that details the complex dynamics of an all-girls soccer team—and what happens when they survive a plane crash, only to find themselves stranded in the Canadian wilderness.

Jumping between past and present, the show chronicles the unraveling of social norms over the next year and a half, and the emotional aftermath faced by adult survivors as they struggle to reintegrate into society some 25 years later. It’s a captivating premise, made even more so by a star-studded cast—including the likes of Christina Ricci, Melanie Lynskey, Tawney Cypress, and Juliette Lewis, who acts opposite Thatcher as the older version of Natalie, a charismatic rebel whose insouciant attitude conceals a troubled past. Once the show became a smash-hit, Thatcher’s razor-sharp performance launched her headfirst into stardom—which, though her down-to-earth attitude doesn’t show it, is what she’s been preparing for her entire life. “From the time I was four or five years old, I was doing everything: drawing, singing, writing, performing,” Thatcher recalls. “Now that I think about it, this all boils down to wanting to tell a story.”

By age 12, her artistic oeuvre included gems like 103 Dalmatians: The Musical and Propagation, a post-apocalyptic zombie drama set in the world of The Sims, which featured characters like Melonie Darth, Allison Bloom, and, at one point, an undead (“whatever, infected”) turtle named Snappy. In middle school, she spent hours looking up last names online, which she might use for her characters: Leo De Lorme, for instance, a deer who is hit by a car and transforms into a human by way of magic. (“Lying before me is a legendary wizard, and god was he handsome,” Thatcher’s protagonist swoons in one story she sent me, with the caveat that it was written in 2012, and that “most of the words were from synonym.com, if you can’t tell.”)

In retrospect, Thatcher says that the relentless focus with which she pursued her artistic vision probably “lost her some friends.” But, growing up Mormon in the suburbs of Chicago, there wasn’t much else to do—and her sisters, who are also creatives, were always game to put on a show. In an old email Thatcher forwarded to me—sent in 2012 to her twin Ellie and a handful of close friends—she describes the audition process for one of her plays, along with character descriptions and excerpts of monologues to memorize. “It gives you a little vibe of how intense I was,” she laughs. The email—which I now consider a prized cultural artifact—is a portrait of a young playwright on a mission: one whose passion for storytelling is matched only by her desire for everyone else to find as much joy in it as she does (and, adorably, a certain fondness for italics).

Thatcher began professionally acting for TV at the age of 10, scoring a guest role in the 2016 police procedural Chicago P.D., and later that year, another in Fox’s supernatural horror series The Exorcist. In 2018, she made her big screen debut in the sci-fi thriller Prospect, co-starring opposite Pedro Pascal. Natalie was her next big role, which she acquired with a self-taped audition she sent to producers after hearing that one of her idols, Karyn Kusama, was attached to the project. Her performance in Yellowjackets landed Thatcher a starring role in upcoming horror-mystery The Boogeyman, based on Stephen King’s short story of the same name.

Though Thatcher’s current focus is on acting, she’s a talented multihyphenate, with creative pursuits that span from fiction writing to visual art to producing her own music, some of which can be found floating around Bandcamp under her middle name, Bathsheba. (At my urging, she shares a collection of in-progress demos with none-too-serious file names, like “2000s rock on radio idk” and “nnew song tripbopbppbp”—which, though described by Thatcher as “really rough,” are actually quite good.)

If you haven’t caught on by now, Thatcher doesn’t take herself too seriously—perhaps why she comes across as surprisingly grounded for her 22 years. “It’s a classic child-actor story. Growing up on set, you’re 12 going on 30,” she says, describing afternoons spent speaking with adults and finding education in everything around her. Her childhood was also defined by an early obsession with death, which she thought about all the time from as early as seven or eight years old. “I was just so concerned about going to heaven. It totally was overriding my mind,” she recalls. “I’m already pretty introspective, and growing up Mormon instilled a lot of anxiety in me, as most religions do. But it also forced me to rebel to some extent; it forced me to be different, to go all the way in the other direction.”

For Thatcher, learning to let go of her self-consciousness has been a process. It’s one of the things she likes about the role of Natalie, who she describes as exhibiting both a deep interiority and a confident nature that’s embodied on a physical level. “As Natalie, I had to let myself be completely vulnerable,” she says. “People my age are very aware of how they’re perceived; growing up on social media, you know exactly how you’re presenting yourself and how you want the world to see you. I’m trying to get outside of that.”

Going into the second season of Yellowjackets, Thatcher felt some trepidation; while the first seemed “almost like filming a really intimate indie film,” the stakes were now much higher, causing a palpable atmospheric shift among the cast. “There was definitely more pressure, but it all subsides once you’re in the character,” she says. “Luckily, we were able to help each other stay grounded, and it took no time to get that spark back. We’re like family. I know everybody says that, but we really are.”

At first, watching herself on-screen presented an emotional challenge for Thatcher—one she’s overcome as her career has progressed. “Now that I’m more accustomed to watching myself, I’m better at distancing,” she says, describing how The Boogeyman required her to take on a completely different persona—something she worried she wouldn’t succeed in, until she watched the scene in which her character attempts to smoke weed for the first time. “It’s like an anti-smoking ad,” she laughs. “In that movie, I’m a total loser. But there’s something special about channeling something entirely different, and playing somebody like that. My goal as an actor is to not be recognized. I want to be fully immersed in character. I don’t want people to be like, ‘That’s Sophie Thatcher.’”

While this approach might be successful on-screen, Thatcher has gotten used to being recognized in real life—sometimes by people she considers creative idols, like Argentine filmmaker Gaspar Noé. (“We were, like, on the dance floor, and we started talking. I told him about my Mormon upbringing,” she says, hiding her face in her hands.) Equally impactful was the experience of meeting Kim Gordon, whose book Girl in a Band changed Thatcher’s perspective on music growing up. “It’s surreal meeting someone, and being like, As a child, I wanted to be you,” she says. “Thinking about it makes me want to cry. I always felt I had to do something big with my life—but younger me never would have expected this.”

Source: documentjournal.com

CHASING DARKNESS

WHEN A TV SHOW YOU STAR IN BECOMES A HIT, FILMING THE SECOND SEASON COMES WITH ADDED PRESSURE. KNOWING SO MANY PEOPLE ARE EAGERLY AWAITING THE NEW EPISODES OF HBO’S YELLOWJACKETS MADE SOPHIE THATCHER NERVOUS AT FIRST. HER NUANCED PORTRAYAL OF NATALIE, A TROUBLED TEEN TURNED GROUP HUNTRESS WHEN HER HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER TEAM’S PLANE CRASHES IN THE WILDERNESS, WON PRAISE THAT SHE WAS ANXIOUS TO LIVE UP TO, DESPITE THE ROLE’S PHYSICAL AND MENTAL TOLL. BUT, ACCORDING TO THATCHER, THE STAKES ARE EVEN HIGHER FOR THE CHARACTERS THEMSELVES.
THE SECOND SEASON, OUT LATER THIS MONTH, IS SCARIER AND MORE SHOCKING THAN EVER. THATCHER, WHO GREW UP MAKING AT-HOME ZOMBIE MOVIES WITH HER TWIN, HAS ALWAYS BEEN DRAWN TO DARKNESS. IT’S NO SURPRISE THEN THAT SHE’S BEEN RACKING UP SCREEN TIME IN HORRORS AND THRILLERS.
WE CAUGHT UP WITH THE 22-YEAR-OLD TO TALK FILMING SEASON TWO OF YELLOWJACKETS, SURVIVAL INSTINCT AND WHY MUSIC IS LIFE.

Hi Sophie! How have you been since we last spoke?

I’m good! I’m in LA. I just moved here two months ago. I got a place. It makes sense for my job. It’s raining today which we’re not used to. I have a leak already in my bedroom so I’m ready to set up a trash can and just have the rain pour into that.

Oh no! So, let’s talk about Yellowjackets. When we last spoke, you said you hoped your character Natalie would become a bit more integrated into the group. Does this happen or does she become increasingly isolated?

I think she becomes increasingly isolated. There’s clearly tension between her and Travis. He’s taking Lottie’s side and choosing Lottie’s faith because everybody wants some optimism to grasp onto, but Natalie is so focused on survival and being the hunter so that’s her entire goal. When I was talking to people before we shot season two, I said I just wanted her to explore the huntress realm because I feel like that’s her main drive and it makes the most sense for her and that’s what happens in season two. I was just selfishly saying I wanted her to become more integrated in the group so I could work with the other actors. I want to work with everybody. I was hoping I’d have more scenes with Misty because there’s such a cool dynamic between her and older Natalie that I thought would play out, but I think that’ll be in season three. You can see some brewing tension.

What do you think viewers will take away from this season emotionally? Would you say that it’s scarier than season one?

It definitely takes more risks. I can’t think of any other TV show that has gone to the places it’s going. I think it’ll shock everybody because we’ve had more time to build empathy for the characters. I think there will be more of a feeling towards what they’re going through. The circumstances just keep getting worse and worse. The stakes keep rising and everything keeps becoming more and more heightened. It becomes a more thrilling show as time goes by because everything is getting more difficult. You get to see some of the older cast connect and there are some new characters connecting the past to the present.

And there was more of a budget behind season two.

The scenes we shot in Alberta were my favourite days. They were slightly miserable because it was so freezing, but it was really good insight into what it’s like out there and how your physicality changes and your voice changes when you’re actually there in the freezing cold. When we were shooting on a stage I was worried about it playing out realistically. The beauty of season one was that we were all actually there and it was deeper into COVID and quarantine so there was this kind of mania and craziness. I feel like this year we were all more separate and the circumstances were easier, but I’m really glad I was able to go and shoot in Alberta because I was able to see the world they’re in which will make a difference building that world for the viewer. It builds the atmosphere and the tension. The beauty of last season was that it was all in front of us. We were actually living it so it didn’t take as much preparation. We have to use a lot of our imagination this year. Building the world in season one and building that foundation and the dynamic of the group was essential. Now that we have it, it took a second to get back into it. It’s been hard being on a stage with a bigger budget, but then also really hard trudging through the snow.

Why do you think that Natalie maintains this hunter’s instinct and rejects the spirituality that some of the others embrace?

She grew up with a different background. She’s been in survival mode her entire life so I think hunting comes naturally for her. She’s determined. She goes out everyday to provide for everybody. She’s faced with reality everyday. Everybody else is going stir crazy in the cabin, but she’s going out and seeing real life. I think that’s keeping her grounded. Other people don’t have that experience. This is keeping her alive. Providing for everyone is keeping her going. She definitely remains the most grounded for most of season two. In season one, she’s the heart of the group and remains that way for most of season two.

Which part of filming did you find the most physically strenuous?

Those days in Alberta. The snow was so deep and I was really out of exercise. Trying to deliver some quippy Natalie lines while I was walking through the snow going back and forth. I was losing my breath. I think it was harder because I’m so keen on matching Juliette’s [Lewis, who plays older Natalie] voice. Sometimes it felt harder to match the lowness of her voice when I was in that circumstance in Alberta. It was hard to maintain that but, as an actor, I just want to experience everything.

Another big difference filming this season was the knowledge that so many people are anticipating the release.

Yeah. In the first couple of episodes, I was pretty anxious. I was pretty self aware. There was a lot of great feedback, but sometimes great feedback can hold you back or make you stagnant in your process. I was like, okay, they’re complimenting me and Juliette. We have the same energy. How can I maintain that or outdo it? I was really keen on matching her physicality this year because watching her in season one, she’s so physical and fluid, but of course it’s winter and we’re in all these layers so I was put in this insane tight leather jacket and I felt like a mannequin so there were a lot of hurdles. It always takes a couple episodes to get back into it, but I think Natalie’s just in me so it was easy to snap back into that.

In between the filming of the two seasons did you do more research or think more in your imagination about the role like while you weren’t actually working on it?

When I left season one, my voice was a little bit different. My voice was lower. I’m not a method actor at all, but the role stays in your body. There was a bit of a shift. I was a little bit more spontaneous. It was a hard experience so I feel like we were all going through it. Leaving season one, there was a lingering sensation of Natalie which wasn’t the best feeling, but it also pushed me because Natalie doesn’t play it safe. I feel like I was finally a little bit more confident. That’s sometimes the beauty of our work. Characters can bring you confidence. That’s really cool when that happens, but I think Natalie lingered a bit. For the second season, it helped that I have a boyfriend and I’m just better with separating work and life now because I saw how badly it got to me in the first season. Not badly, but it was intense. And I hope that doesn’t happen again [laughs.]

Last time we spoke, you said that you wanted to spend more time making music and making art. How has that been going?

I have a lot of songs that I want to release. I just saw Kim Gordon play live with her noise band, and immediately went home and started making music. I’m inspired. I feel like right now, I’m keeping these as my side projects and my outlet. It’s selfish and it’s personal, but it’s mine. I’m keeping that for now. I want to release these two songs in the next month or two on Spotify so that’ll be cool, but I don’t want it to become something bigger. With acting, there’s a lot of pressure on it. I want music to remain a healthy outlet. Music is number one. Music is definitely before acting. Music is life. That’s my mentality now. It could change and it could be something that comes naturally, but it’s really just about what that feels like and what it does for me. It feels more personal.

You’re also starring in Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman which is out later this year. Are you a horror movie fan?

I watched 28 Days Later when I was really young. I grew up making zombie movies with my twin and my friends. For my ninth birthday party, we made a zombie movie. I can take anything with horror. Stephen King is insane. He gets really dark and I guess I didn’t realise how dark it gets with horror because it’s not always taken seriously as a genre, but I think this film will be pretty elevated. It’s coming from a dark psychological place.

Are you drawn to darkness?

Absolutely. I think I need to do a comedy or something otherwise it’s gonna eat at my soul. Darkness is definitely what I’m drawn to. It’s easy to go there because I’ve been going there for so long. Naturally, the music and the art that I’m into is a bit darker. It comes from a very vulnerable place. Being vulnerable is my favourite outlet, but you can be vulnerable in a comedy. I want to experiment with something lighter. There’s something very vulnerable about trying to be funny.

Source: behindtheblinds.be

Digital Cover: Sophie Thatcher’s Back for More

With the massive success of Showtime’s first season of Yellowjackets, all eyes are on the show’s breakout star. Thankfully, she’s ready to prove herself all over again.

It takes at least one billion years and 825,000 lbs of pressure to form a diamond. Sophie Thatcher is only 22 years old, but the pressure of returning to one of 2022’s most-watched shows, Yellowjackets, will likely be enough to crystalize her career as one of Hollywood’s most exciting new actresses.

Originally from Illinois, the musician and actress struck it big when she was cast as the teenage Natalie Scatorccio, or “Nat,” a character she shares with Juliette Lewis, who plays Nat later on in her life. Now, Thatcher’s burgeoning career is finding her space within the fashion world, having recently starred in Calvin Klein’s latest ad campaign along with Ella Emhoff, model and stepdaughter to Vice President Kamala Harris. With some music floating around SoundCloud, Thatcher’s varied interests and talents make her career as unpredictable as it is captivating.

V MAGAZINE: Hi Sophie! Where are you?

SOPHIE THATCHER: I’m in L.A. I was living in New York, but I finally made the move. I’ve been here the past couple of months, but also in and out of Vancouver because we’re finishing season two of Yellowjackets. I just got a place in Silver Lake, but at the moment I’m staying in Sherman Oaks with my boyfriend because I don’t have any furniture in my apartment yet.

V: Besides working, what is there to do in Vancouver?

ST: Actually, I think of everyone in the cast, I’m probably the one who flies out to LA the most, because I really try to keep my artistic and social life pretty separate. Especially now that I have a life and a place here. But Vancouver is really gorgeous. The first year we went there it was a bit depressing because we were all stuck because of the pandemic. So that kind of tainted the experience. Obviously, now it’s a lot better.

V: That first year, you also had no idea how big the show would become, I’m sure. What was it like going back this time around knowing there is an audience of millions waiting to see more Yellowjackets?

ST: It’s strange for me to have people that I admire say that they’ve seen the show, like Liz Phair for example. The awareness kind of spurs up excitement, if anything, and that pushed me to work harder this season. I think we all sense more pressure going into it this time around. We’re all more present, and almost hyper-aware of anything that could be bad. At the same time, it’s almost detrimental to an actor if you’re too aware. For me, it’s also about my connection to my character Natalie, whom I feel like I’ve been playing for so long. But it took me a second, like a scene or two, to snap back into it, like getting into her body and speaking like her.

V: It’s definitely true that success can also bring about new levels of stress!

ST: The first season, we didn’t really think anybody was gonna watch it. We didn’t know how it was gonna turn out. There was something really beautiful about that because we all just kind of let ourselves play around with the characters. It felt more like an indie film, to some extent. The difference with this season is, well, they have more money (laughs), and we’re shooting in a studio and it’s set in the winter. So we have to physically and emotionally fake a lot of the circumstances as actors.

V: I’m pivoting directions here. I read that you recently binge-watched Daria. What resonated with you from that show?

ST: Well, I had the biggest crush on her best friend Jane growing up. I’m really sensitive when I’m watching shows, like I would change my voice to sound more like Jane. She has such a deep, sexy voice. I also did that with Claire Danes while watching My So-Called Life. I dyed my hair to look like her and would always practice her character’s lines. But with Daria, that show held up really well, and so did My So-Called Life. They were both kind of groundbreaking.

V: Why is Calvin Klein a brand you’ve been excited to work with?

ST: It’s just a really timeless brand. It makes me think to the ‘90s, like Kate Moss, Brooke Shields…I think of how effortless and cool everyone looked, and seeing women looking androgynous and confident. It really belongs to any decade, and that’s what’s exciting to me about it. And their clothes are just tailored so well, the jeans last forever. They have such iconic ad campaigns that everyone can identify immediately.

V: We’re reaching the end of the year, believe it or not! Are you a New Year’s resolution type of girl?

ST: Not really, because I feel like for the last few years I always have had the same two, which are to read more and be on my phone less. This year, I just want to be nicer to myself, and maybe to release some more music or art.

Source: vmagazine.com

For Yellowjackets Star Sophie Thatcher, Coachella 2010 Was Peak Fashion

The actress discusses how growing up Mormon still influences her style and the “intense” second season of her hit series.

Sophie Thatcher has spent the past three months splitting her time between Vancouver and Los Angeles—jetting from Hollywood North, where she is filming the second season of the hit Showtime series that propelled her into the public eye, Yellowjackets, to her boyfriend’s new house in East L.A. But this summer, the Illinois native spent time in New York City, where she shot Calvin Klein’s fall 2022 campaign alongside Ella Emhoff. (“We’d never met, but I’d known who they were because we run in a similar Bushwick circle,” Thatcher tells me over the phone from the West Coast.) In the black-and-white, grainy photographs shot by Drew Vickers, Thatcher sports a light-wash Canadian tuxedo reminiscent of what Kate Moss wore in her iconic CK ads from 1992. “That photo of her with the double denim is a really specific image that’s stuck in my head,” Thatcher says. “Double denim was a big thing for me in high school. But I can never pull it off the way she did.”

But the most recognizable look from the campaign is all Thatcher’s own—the actress has become known for the shaggy mullet she sports in Yellowjackets, in which she plays Natalie, a 1990s teen who suffers a plane crash that leaves her and her soccer team stranded in Canada. Her personal, everyday style is inspired by the likes of Brigitte Bardot and other French New Wave stars, cementing Thatcher as a vintage fixture on the fashion circuit. “Everyone recognizes me for my Yellowjackets hairstyle, and I’m fine with people knowing me for that,” she says. “But there’s a lot more I want to experiment with, taste-wise and looks wise. Because my taste is far beyond an Eighties mullet.” Below, the 22-year-old—who just wrapped shooting the horror film The Boogeyman—shares behind-the-scenes details from Yellowjackets season two, and her teenage style phases.

If your Yellowjackets character, Natalie, could wear anything from Calvin Klein, what do you think it would be?

A pair of high-waisted, acid wash jeans that I wore in the campaign. They were actually pretty similar to the jeans I wore in the pilot—except I could move better. There’s also that black, sleeveless crop top. It’s effortlessly punk without trying to be punk. That feels very up Natalie’s alley.

I read an interview that you were excited to lean into Natalie’s darkness in season two, and that you, “Want to go bat shit a little bit more.” What has that ended up looking like?

This season, there’s a little bit more conflict with me and Lottie, which is interesting, because we’re such polar opposites and have such different beliefs. That really tears Natalie down in the first couple episodes. I know they’re really trying to piece things out, because the hope is that it would be a couple more seasons, so it’s still a journey that will continue throughout. I still haven’t gotten the script for the later episodes, but I have this feeling it’ll get pretty intense; it’s already gotten pretty intense. But I’m waiting for episodes eight, nine, and 10.

Wait, you haven’t gotten a preview of what’ll happen this season?

I have absolutely no idea what’s going on. I like not knowing. Because [the characters] don’t know, and that’s what is keeping them going every day. It keeps everyone on their toes. Survival is their main focus. But everything’s heightened now, because the stakes just keep raising. I keep thinking, how could it get any higher-stakes? But I guess it’s gonna keep going up [Laughs].

Natalie’s hairstyle has become the subject of much Yellowjackets-related lore. It’s a look reminiscent of Juliette Lewis’s character in Natural Born Killers. Did you expect your hair to become such a focus for fans?

For the pilot, it was my natural hair, and it was so much like Juliette’s as Mallory in that movie that they decided to keep it. I knew the mullet was a huge tie to Juliette in the Nineties. But this season, I have dark roots, which makes a lot more sense. I think it’s actually going to create more of a connection between me and Juliette.

Do you have a favorite salon?

I actually have an addiction. I cut my own hair with scissors. I get trims every once in a while, before events. They’ll be like, oh my god, this is so incredibly uneven [Laughs]. But I think I’m growing up, because I’m cutting my hair less. For the first time in my life, I want healthy hair, and I want to be separate from my character. Now, I’m on a different path.

Let’s get into the Style Notes questions. What is your favorite fashion moment from pop culture?

I don’t know if this is a pop culture thing specifically, but I think of 2010 Coachella. It’s funny, in season two, they’ve experimented with my huntress look: I wear a headband over my forehead. It’s very 2010, MGMT, Indie Sleaze. I remember experimenting with that in middle school. And now, suddenly, having it for my Natalie going-out-hunting look is so awesome.

Do you have a style icon?

I’ve always stuck to anything French and reminiscent of the Sixties or Nineties: so France Gall, or Charlotte Gainsbourg for modern references. As a musician, as an artist, Charlotte is probably my biggest inspiration. I remember watching Tess—not to bring up Roman Polansky—but Nastassja Kinski in that film was, and still is, a big fashion inspiration for me.

Which friend or designer’s style do you most admire?

I have been modeling with Batsheva for the past couple years, and I’m a huge fan of her work. It’s nice to see her blow up; everybody’s wearing her dresses now. I also have a friend named Zoë Bleu Arquette, she has this very post-apocalyptic, Eastern European style that I really appreciate. She’s starting a new brand called Caca Couture. We both have very similar hair.

Do you have a style pet peeve?

I’m really over pins as earrings, and the dangly cross earrings. Being in Bushwick and going to bars, seeing a lot of those is a bit much. Some people can pull it off, but wearing just one dangling cross earring has gotta go.

What was your style like as a teenager?

It was pretty close to Natalie’s. I went through a big French New Wave phase freshman year of high school. Because I grew up Mormon, I was always wearing button-ups and turtlenecks to cover my body. It’s been interesting growing out of that as I left the church when I was around 13. Turtlenecks still feel very comfortable for me. It just looks classic.

I went through a clog phase in high school, too. I would wear these light wood, silver clogs with bright leggings. Anything Victorian has always been a big inspiration. When I was 18, I cut up all of my clothes, and I would wear these neck scarves and ties. I wish I was more into making my own clothing, which is a route I wanted to go down, but the truth is, I can’t sew. My style has always been super quirky. And I’ve clearly gone through a lot of phases!

Source: wmagazine.com

I added 15 scans to the gallery of Sophie in the current issue of Foxes Magazine. Click on the galelry link below to see all scans.

And Sophie is also featured in Cultured Mag’s Seven Gen Z Talents Standing Up for Their Generation

Sophie Thatcher
Actor and Artist, Age 21

Do you have a favorite set moment from Yellowjackets?

I strangely adored the mania and lunacy on set the first fewdays after the year-and-a-half break between the pilot and second episode. We shot all the plane crash sequences those first few days and bonded over the intensity of the content. There were very definitive breaks between laughter off-screen and screaming for your life on-screen.

How do you get into character? What did you like most about playing Natalie?

It depends on how I initially connect to the character, their circumstance and their setting. Natalie was easier to tap into because I felt emotionally connected to her off the bat. I even grew up on a lot of the music I’d imagine her listening to. If I were to do a more specific period piece with history I’m not well versed in, I’d do more thorough research. But with Natalie, it was about cultivating songs she would listento get into her headspace as she felt all her frustrations rise to the surface. I imagined certain music as her primary outlet and release.

Music seems to really drive your creativity.

Finding new music usually helps me get in the zone andout of my head. I constantly have headphones in. I’ll spend hours on YouTube trying to find new music from different channels I subscribe to. l look for an ambient album I can space out to and write or draw to for an hour or so. I also try to go on long walks to get out of my head or reflect. If that goes well, I’ll feel refreshed after and maybe ready to work on something.

Where do you hope to be when you’re 30?

I would like to have scored and directed my own movie by that age. I want to experiment more with directing, for sure. Hopefully, I’ll also be in a more satisfying place musically.

What is your song of the summer?

Anything by Royal Trux.

Source: culturedmag.com