ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What about this project really pulled you in?
JAMES NORTON:To me, the draw was the relationship.
They’re a progressive couple in a sense, for the time, in that they both have jobs.
James Norton, Ana Sophia Heger, and Amanda Seyfried in ‘Things Heard and Seen’.Anna Kooris/NETFLIX
And that’s not the case, as we know.
So there’s something inherently interesting there.
So there were a lot of reasons to jump aboard.
AMANDA SEYFRIED:I mean, that’s the thing.
And it was the marriage, completely the marriage.
And then of course, James signs on, and thank God.
Was that intimidating at all?
SEYFRIED:It didn’t intimidate me, actually.
Most things do, that didn’t for some reason.
[Laughs] I didn’t know whether or not to take that as a compliment.
“Oh, she sees me as a Catherine.”
But I didn’t know that until after pen was put to paper.
Speaking of the right place, the Hudson River Valley is like a character itself in the film.
What was it like filming there?
NORTON:The atmosphere of the film and the shooting of it, that was really, really memorable.
The atmosphere of the film was really, really powerful off camera as well as on.
SEYFRIED:It’s its own character.
It adds so much dimension.
[Laughs] But no, Mother Nature up there…
I mean, it’s amazing everywhere, and it definitely had quite the impact on our shooting.
Was it difficult to balance the tone between domestic drama and thriller?
NORTON:All of that [horror] stuff did feel sort of secondary.
And that’s what good horror does; it’s not just the jump for its own sake.
SEYFRIED:I’ve got to say, it’s much harder as I get older.
It’s much harder to imagine that there’s an entity in the room that makes you unsafe.
That was really hard.
I was shaken to my core the first time we tried it, that is an authentic reaction.
Then you kind of get used to the whole experience and it’s just hard.
It’s f—ing hard.
NORTON:I had less of that.
I think I was more of the sort of symptom.
SEYFRIED:What’s scarier, the real person or the apparition?
The real person is always going to be scarier, right?
Humans are so much scarier than anything.
NORTON:Yeah, although the house we were shooting in was also kind of scary.
NORTON:And the house they found was perfect for the shoot.
It was this kind of weird upstate kind of old rickety, echoey place which did feel really…
I’m not a massive one for the old seance-ouija board thing at all.
But this house had definite energies.
It was pretty intense.
SEYFRIED:Oh yeah.
Yeah, I wouldn’t stay there alone.
What do you hope the audience takes away from the film?
SEYFRIED:The experience of second-guessing your instincts and being gaslit.
I want us to feel like the marriage is the first terrifying element and the heart of the terror.
People like George make you second-guess your instincts.
You’re born with them, and they’re there for a reason.
[Do] not allow anybody else to take your power and control away.
That’s a conversation I hope people will have afterwards.
But I also hope they enjoy it because it’s fun.
It’s a great thing to watch late at night with your partner.
you could get jumpy.
SEYFRIED:And ideally people will be like, “What the f— just happened?”
