Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, and West Mullholland have their biggest roles to date inPresence. The trio of young actors star in this Steven Soderbergh-directed film that takes aunique production twiston the typical haunted house story, as the 85-minute taleis shotcompletely from the first-person perspectiveof the titular presence.
Liang stars as Chloe, the youngest of the family that moves into this haunted house.Chloe has the closest connectionwith the presence, as she regularly can sense it when it is near. Maday plays Chloe’s older brother Tyler, an arrogant athlete who constantly dismisses the legitimacy of the presence. Mullholland shows face as Ryan, Tyler’s friend from school who develops feelings for Chloe.
Presence Cast & Character Guide: Who’s In Steven Soderbergh’s Horror Movie
Director Steven Soderbergh presents many new and well-known actors like Lucy Liu, Julia Fox, and Chris Sullivan in his haunted house film, Presence.
In celebration ofPresencehitting theaters,ScreenRantspoke with Liang, Maday, and Mullholland to discuss the impact of the POV style on Maday’s performance in his big screen debut, what acting opposite the titular presencelooks like behind the scenesfor Liang, and the manipulative mannerisms and motivations behind Mullholland’s Ryan.
Maday Makes Big Screen Debut With A POV Film
“[It] made me feel more at home than I think a studio dynamic would have…”
ScreenRant: Eddy, this is your first film. Congrats on your first big production. The POV style, I’m sure kind of threw you for a loop with what you were expecting. How did that impact your performance?
Eddy Maday: Well, honestly, I feel like I’ve done a ton of theater growing up, so it almost felt more familiar because we were doing everything in one take, every point in the scene, you have to be active, you have to be living out the story. So in a weird way, it was super unconventional for classical filmmaking, but made me feel more at home than I think like a studio dynamic would have.
Liang Worked Closely With Soderbergh To Develop Presence Dynamic
“It’s just me and Steven and the camera…”
Callina, you have the closest relationship with the presence in this film, and from what I would assume on set, is that you’re opposite just a camera. So what did you do to develop that dynamic?
Callina Liang: Actually, me and Steven worked a lot just together to choreograph that movement because all of my scenes, it is just Chloe with the presence. It’s just me and Steven and the camera. So it was very fun. It felt like a dance. We had to step around each other and if I’m looking right at the camera’s here, I’m looking, left the camera here from looking left the camera’s there, so it was so fun to play with. There was a lot of nuances and yeah, I just keep saying those scenes, it felt like me and Steven were doing it together, so that was really fun.
Mullholland’s Ryan Struggles With His Sense Of Self
“I think that he’s a very hurt individual…”
West, Ryan is a character that really grinded my gears throughout this film. He’s in high school, he still has that adolescent mind. Is he aware of his manipulative tactics or do you think his morality is still kind of blocked because of how young he is?
West Mullholland: I think that he’s a very hurt individual and I think that he’s been manipulated his whole life, and so it just kind of comes naturally to him. It’s something that is inherent with his mother, which is something that he uses as a way to connect with Callina’ss characters, Chloe. Her mother is not present in her life while the mother in my life is so present and overbearing. Opposites kind of attract, and that’s sort of why I guess we find comfort in each other and are able to express, we’re on polar opposite ends, our sort of sympathies, and that’s why our characters sort of really get closer and open up to each other in that way.
About Presence (2024)
It’s there before the family even moves in. It witnesses the family’s most intimate, uncomfortable moments. It navigates the family’s new house at supernatural speed. It pays unusual attention to Chloe, the teenage girl who’s neither her mother’s nor her brother’s favorite. It wants — no, it needs — something. And as time goes on, the presence pieces together how it might accomplish its goal. An unusual, unnerving, and emotional thriller from writer David Koepp and director Steven Soderbergh.
