Alexandra Shipp Interview: Tragedy Girls and Teen Bloodlust
Alexandra Shipp of the new horror comedy film Tragedy Girls paid us a visit here at 1428 Elm to talk about the hilariously violent film.
Tragedy Girls, a film that combines the best of teen horror/comedies with the savageness of slasher flicks, has been a huge hit across festivals this past year. The film centers around McKayla and Sadie, best friends who have an obsession with serial killers and social media, as they carve out their deadly identity during senior year of high school.
Prior to the film’s release, we had the chance to speak with Alexandra Shipp about her role as McKayla, what is was like to play a blood-thirsty teen killer, and what we can expect to see from her in the future.
1428 Elm: Hi Alexandra, thank you so much for speaking with us today! First and foremost, can you tell us a little bit about what interested you in playing the role of McKayla?
Alexandra Shipp: For me, when it came to McKayla, I loved how much of her humanity she already lost so early in her life. She’s 17, she’s nuts, she wants to kill everyone, and she has this twisted outlook on life. Because she seemed to have lost her humanity at a young age, I just really decided to let loose and go completely, full on, headfirst into this crazy world that she and Sadie had created.
1428 Elm: How were you able to get inside the mind of a 17-year-old serial killer? Did director Tyler MacIntyre give you specific research to do?
AS: I don’t know if there is any sort of textbook or way we could have done any more research (laughs). I watched Heathers and also tried to think of scary high-school movies that were similar. However, those types of films seemed so far-fetched which is another reason why I loved Tragedy Girls so much and wanted to be a part of it. It was so different than all of the teen slasher movies that I had seen. Also, what was really great about the film was we were doing the killings. There wasn’t a guy teaching us how to do it, or anyone teaching us how to do it, it was these female badasses doing it and killing the game. There’s something to be said about women who can kick as much ass as Sadie and McKayla.
(L-R) Brianna Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp (Gunpowder & Sky)
1428 Elm: Speaking of all the killing you were doing, what was it like working with all the gore and was it mostly practical effects?
AS: Yes, which was really great because these days it’s all done with CGI. What was really fun about it was we were working with the real thick, sucrose, blood. I’ve always wanted to play a serial killer, the idea of fake killing someone in a movie has always intrigued me, so when Tragedy Girls came around I was like man, that sounds really fun! Then i found out Brianna Hildebrand was a part of the film, then I met Tyler MacIntyre, and I was like guys, I need to do this movie, I need to be this serial killer! So many movies don’t even use the real blood anymore, that’s why this movie was so fun and creative. This movie has that type of gore movie-making that you don’t see anymore.
(L-R) Brianna Hildebrand and Alexandra Shipp (Gunpowder & Sky)
1428 Elm: You mentioned working with Brianna Hildebrand and I noticed how the chemistry between you two was seamless and totally natural. Did you know each other prior? What was it like working so closely together?
AS: We actually had met because we are both part of the Marvel Universe, so we had met on the Marvel campaign trail since Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse came out around the same time. It was fun to meet her and chat with her, I was like man, she’s such a cool chick. Getting to do Tragedy Girls with her we just really sunk our teeth into it and decided to just go full on. We were like fuck it, let’s just dive in headfirst and do it, let’s create this chemistry. We had already had our own chemistry but we worked on it with Tyler and then we also lived together in Kentucky where we filmed and that was cool. We lived on this farm in the middle of nowhere, 20 miles away from everyone that we knew. It was kind of like we were in our own scary movie (laughs).
1428 Elm: Last but not least, are there any other projects coming up that we should be keeping our eye out for?
AS: Not in the horror genre per-say. Right now I’m just focusing on Tragedy Girls while the director writes the second one and turns this into a real franchise that we all want! I’m kind of holding out when it comes to my scary movies, I don’t want to confuse the genre and I want to stick to my Tragedy Girls ways for a little while. But coming out next year is a movie that I did called Love, Simon that I’m really proud of. It’s a coming-of-age story about a gay teenager who’s coming out and not feeling like he can be open with people around him, and I play his best-friend. It’s so great because it’s the first time a major studio has taken on a pro-gay teen movie and something like that really excited me. If I could have seen a movie like this when I was younger, I feel like it would have affected me in a more positive light in just being more true to who I am and myself in that it doesn’t matter who you sleep with, it matters who you are on the inside. I’m really excited about this and it should be coming out early next year!*
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Tragedy Girls is a film you will not want to miss, so make sure you to check out in theaters now!