We spoke with celebrated actress Kathryn Hunter leading up to the release of her new A24 thriller The Front Room, where she plays a sort of wicked mother-in-law of new mom Belinda, played to perfection by Brandy Norwood. Born Aikaterini Hadjipateras, Hunter seems to steal the show in virtually every high-profile project she’s appeared in of late — The Tragedy of Macbeth, Andor, and the list goes on.
Beyond The Front Room, Hunter is co-starring in Francis Ford Coppola’s highly anticipated new film Megalopolis. Sure, it has already faced a few controversies leading up to its release, but the cast alongside Hunter is stacked, and Megalopolis is a passion project the Oscar-winning filmmaker has apparently been constructing for decades. “I think what Francis has done is incredibly bold,” Hunter told MovieWeb, “So don’t go in expecting… ‘vintage Coppola’ because I think the amazing thing about Francis… is that he wants to explore. ” She added:
”
So, you know, it’s kind of set in a kind of New York of the future-stroke ancient Rome. It’s sci-fi, it’s naturalism, and what’s truly extraordinary in a man of his legendary status… is that at his age, what comes out is hope for humanity. So it is amazing. And on our first Zoom with Francis, people coming on board, that poured out of him as if he was a 25-year-old, you know? I was just, like, so touched. But
it’s very experimental, and I think people will be challenged and enjoy it
.”
‘This Is Quite Funny, Isn’t It?’
In the meantime, moviegoers can enjoy seeing Hunter on the big screen with The Front Room, and her villainous turn as Solange might just haunt your nightmares — whether you’re busy starting a real-life family of your own or not. It’s a Belinda vs. Solange showdown once Belinda’s naive husband (Andrew Burnap) allows his needy stepmom (Hunter) to move in with them.
Hunter told us about how she was able to utterly become Solange, “I was aided and abetted by a very well-written script. Do you know what I mean? She just really kind of leapt off the page, and that’s such a gift. You know, the big challenge as an actor is when you get a poor script and you just have to kind of rev it up out of some kind of corner. But this was so fully written.” She went on to say:
“Sam and Max also shared stories with me of their grandfather who came into their home when they were teenagers and was battling with his kind of preconceptions, politically, socially, his fury at getting old. So boy, was I kind of fed in that sense, to create [Solange]. And then, you know, playing with Brandy and [co-star] Andrew [Burnap], that was a gift, you know, because that’s where you really find your character when you start to play the situation. And we had a gift of rehearsal time as well. So that was great and fun. We kind of turned to each other, despite the heavy themes, and said, ‘This is quite funny, isn’t it?'”
From A24, The Front Room is now playing in theaters.
