“I just felt like I knew this character in my bones,” East says.
“We weren’t like, ‘We have to find two actresses that were raised Mormon.’
But the reason they won the role is because they were so true when they performed it.
Sophie Thatcher (L) and Chloe East in ‘Heretic’.A24/YouTube
We kept going back to our casting director, asking, ‘Are there more people like these two?
Because there’s a truth there.'”
He continues, “We didn’t know that they were raised Mormon.
Sophie Thatcher (L) and Chloe East at the ‘Heretic’ premiere.Eric Charbonneau/A24 via Getty
We could just feel it; we could sense it.
We heard it in their voices and the approach.
And so they share the empathy and love that we also share for those characters.”
Hugh Grant in ‘Heretic’.Kimberley French /A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection
East says her religious upbringing informed every second of her work inHeretic.
“It was everything to my performance,” she says.
I never went on a mission or anything."
Eric Charbonneau/A24 via Getty
But Paxton’s character still seemed almost disturbingly familiar to the actress.
“I just felt like I knew this character in my bones,” she says.
But it is very nice to have a role that does come somewhat naturally."
Thatcher had a similar experience.
“It felt much more personal than other projects,” she explains.
I just had my mom’s side of the family very much in mind.
It felt very innate."
East believesHereticprovides a more nuanced depiction of her family’s faith.
That is not us.’
And you just don’t see that a lot.
You don’t see this version of Mormonism played out."
Childhood friends Beck and Woods come from different religious backgrounds.
“I was raised Presbyterian, going to church every single Sunday, doing vacation Bible school.
Church and religion were basically my formative years,” Beck explains.
And so when we got married, it was like this combination of religious backgrounds."
Kimberley French /A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection
Woods, on the other hand, married into a Mormon family.
“I was not raised Mormon,” he clarifies.
“The idea of Mormons, it was like, ‘Who are these people?
What is this?’
Didn’t really know much about it until I met my wife.
And we have subsequently a billion Mormon friends.
But all of our friends and family all belong to different faiths.
I mean, we have friends who are Scientologists, if you might believe it.
We have lots of atheist friends.
It runs the gamut.”
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“We have so much love and empathy for these two women,” Woods says.
Mr. Reed and the sisters they all feel like people we know and love."
The filmmakers took special care to take the characters' faith seriously.
Hereticis now playing in theaters.
These interviews have been edited for clarity and length.
