One of the rare treats of the year has been Blumhouse’s Freaky, a comedy that had Vince Vaughn play the role of a teen girl in the body of a serial killer next to Kathryn Newton doing vice versa. Vaughn is no stranger to pulling out a bloody knife thanks to his 1998 role as Norman Bates in the Psycho remake. But tapping into the mind of the blonde-haired mascot for Blissfield High was brand new territory for the actor.
Vince Vaughn gets the chance to play the serial killer and pull off some seriously memorable skills in Freaky, but due to the main body-swap event, the heart of his performance lies in playing a scream queen. The Wedding Crashers actor worked with 23-year-old Kathryn Newton on their characters so they could convincingly swap roles. Vaughn talked about his preference to Today with these words:
I would rather the teenage girl. It’s a much better headspace. The serial killer — it’s not a nice day. You’re wanting to hurt — it’s not a nice moment. The teenage girl is kind of vulnerable.
Vince Vaughn had a blast playing Millie, and it definitely shows. It was a new kind of dynamic for the actor to play around with, and he certainly did. His co-star Misha Oshervich told CinemaBlend that Vaughn was constantly improvising onset. Here’s a sense of what he was like:
He’s in the stall, learning about the male anatomy for the first time as Millie and all of that was improvised. At a certain point, me and Celeste literally just stopped talking and Vince was like 'Wow, gosh, I guess this is big, I guess it splashes, huh?' And we’re like [drops jaw and laughs]. So that was really fun to listen to an improviser really nail it like that.
On the other hand, Big Little Lies’ Kathryn Newton would happily rather play a serial killer than teen girl because of how complicated she feels it is to play that age. She got to run around with a knife, hook and chainsaw for some hilarious and badass moments in the movie. Freaky hit theaters back in November on Friday the 13, and is gearing up for a digital release this weekend. The unique release is a product of Universal’s deal with AMC Theatres that shortens the usual 90-day theatrical window down to three weeks.
Depending on how Freaky does, the cast and filmmakers have some ideas for a sequel. The movie was written and directed by Chris Landon, who famously made the Happy Death Day movies, which also has hopes to be a trilogy. Could there be a Freaky/Happy Death Day crossover? You can check out Freaky on digital on Friday, and check out what other scary movies are coming soon in 2021.
