Entering the second week of Welcome to the Blumhouse on Amazon Prime, this week's films are Madres and The Manor. The latter is about Judith (Barbara Hershey), a senior citizen moving into a nursing home after a recent medical emergency. However, things quickly go south as Judith and other residents notice strange things happening around them. Yet, few people believe them, which begs the question: Are these disturbances all in Judith's mind?
Judith's relationship with her grandson, Josh (Nicholas Alexander), is at the heart of The Manor. Initially, Josh doesn't want to see his grandmother in this place. They are best friends, and he thinks she is too healthy physically and mentally to be in a nursing home. However, as the film progresses and Judith's claim becomes more unbelievable, even Josh questions how much of what she says is true. To dissect this relationship, Hershey and Alexander sat with CBR for an exclusive interview.
CBR: One of the most endearing parts of this film to me is the relationship between your two characters, so I would love to know what it was like working together and exploring that dynamic.
Barbara Hershey: It was really an important relationship because I think it's really a love story between them. I really do. He is everything to her. She would die for him. She would live for him, and matter of fact, I think he is the source of one of the reasons she wants to live, so it was a really important relationship. Nicholas and I really hit it off immediately. There was no effort involved. We had a great time on and off camera. We were shooting quickly. There wasn't much time to prepare, but we managed to connect powerfully as actors and as friends.
Nicholas Alexander: It was so amazing working with Barbara and learning from her. She's a legend, and it was amazing. Our relationship was so good. We worked on it. It was so nice to work with an actor, constantly rehearsing scenes. It's fun, and I love doing that. To be able to absorb all this acting knowledge from her, and running all these lines and stuff -- it was such an amazing experience.
Hershey: Yeah, we ran lines a lot. That was our relationship. "Will you run lines with me?"
Both of your characters, at least in the beginning, have different perspectives on what is happening to Judith. For each of your characters, what do you think makes this experience that Judith is going through so scary for Judith and then so scary for her grandson, who's kind of watching this happen and isn't sure what's going on?
Hershey: She's a very vital character, which was one of the things that attracted me to her. I loved her humor. I loved her strength and the fact that she'd swear and was so alive. To have these physical things happening to her is scary in and of itself, but when she starts seeing things that she knows are happening, it takes it to a whole new level of fear. Then she begins to think, "Maybe this is what it feels like to go crazy. Maybe I am crazy." That also is a powerfully frightening place I would imagine to be in, so there's a lot to explore. It was really interesting to do it, and it was wrapped in a horror movie and wrapped in humor. It wasn't hitting you over the head with these issues, but it's really interesting stuff to deal with.
Alexander: I think my character, in the beginning, knows nothing. Nothing is wrong. She shouldn't be in this place, and then slowly, he doesn't want to accept it at first. He doesn't believe it, but there's this slight nugget of something happening and not accepting that. Then toward the midpoint of the movie, he realizes "Oh, no! This might be real. I might be losing my best friend." That part is very terrifying because that anchor is kind of cut. Judith loses all hope from that, and Josh, doesn't want to accept it.
As we wrap up, what do you hope audiences take away from this film?
Hershey: I would like to shake up a bit the cliches about older people -- they're just younger people grown older. They're the same under the skin. If they're healthy, they're vital. They're sexy. They're full of life, and humor, and knowledge. Matter of fact, they're better than younger people. They've experienced more. It seems that Hollywood has had a very prejudicial viewpoint of older people. They're always fit into a certain look and a certain kind of way of behaving. Judith breaks a lot of those molds, and I would like them to walk away with that, and for that to continue in different ways in other films.
Alexander: I totally agree on that point. I really want the audience to take away that the relationship between Josh and his grandmother, and that real sacred bond that they have. I hope audiences really connect with that.