The Babysitter: Killer Queen begins streaming on Netflix today, with most of the original cast intact. We had the chance to chat with Hana Mae Lee before the premiere.
You probably recognize Hana from either 2017’s The Babysitter (as the murderous Sonya), or as the quiet talking Lilly in the Pitch Perfect films. But, as it turns out, Hana is much more than just a talented performer who can be funny or act like a psycho.
1428 Elm had the opportunity to chat with the actress a few days before the premiere of The Babysitter: Killer Queen.
1428 Elm: It’s a pleasure to talk to you, Hana. Obviously, I know you from both Pitch Perfect and The Babysitter, but your biography online lists you as an actress/model/comedian/fashion designer, that’s pretty impressive! How did you go from fashion designer to actress?
Hana Mae Lee: Well, I always wanted to be in the entertainment business, and my mom has a whole history in the fashion industry and she does well, so it just sounded like a way to make money in the arts world. So that’s kind of what happened there, but I always loved the arts, and while I was in art college, I got into commercials and print during the summertime, because they don’t allow any absences or you fail.
So in the summertime, I booked a few commercials and music videos and I fell in love with the entertainment business, and it was a lot less grueling than fashion design. Now, with the pandemic, everything’s so crazy and different, but back then, it was like: fashion will always be there, and acting won’t because of the age thing.
1428 Elm: And it’s riskier, right?
Hana Mae Lee: Yeah, it is risky, but you know, when you’re young, you’re a little bit stupid (laughs). You’re more adventurous when you’re younger, at least when I was younger, I was like: I can do anything.
Now, as I’m getting older, I’m more like: I’ll just stick with what I’m good at. So, it kind of happened that way, and then I was like, if it’s not gonna work out, I’ll just go back into fashion, and I just haven’t really done that.
I really love it, and now I’m going to direct my first feature, we’re in pre-production right now. It’s been fun, there’s so many things to explore in the entertainment world right now.
1428 Elm: Well, let’s start with Pitch Perfect. You pretty much stole every scene you were in. I think everybody I know that saw that movie watched it multiple times just to decipher what Lilly was saying.
Hana Mae Lee: (Laughs) Yeah, it was so quiet, right?
1428 Elm: But, you were hilarious! Was the role originally written like that, or were you able to do a bit of improvisation with it?
Hana Mae Lee: It’s funny, because when I got the sides, the print whenever Lilly would speak would be in small font. It’s funny, because as the reader, you’re like, that’s hilarious!
I would improv a few lines here and there, but a lot of it was from the script, and I was like, how do I make this really play well? Are people gonna love this, or are people gonna think this is just f***ing weird? I had no idea, but I loved the close up on my face, ’cause then you think you can hear better, but you can’t.
1428 Elm: Well, it was funny, you did a great job with it.
Hana Mae Lee: Thank you so much.
1428 Elm: So, I have to tell you, I love The Babysitter. Any success that movie has had probably came strictly from me, because I told everyone I know about it. And I’m not going to talk any spoilers at all, but I did get to watch The Babysitter: Killer Queen, and I loved it too. As someone who loved the original, I am very pleased with the sequel and hopefully everybody else will be as well.
Hana Mae Lee: Oh, yay, I’m so glad!
1428 Elm: Sonya is a completely different character from Lilly. She’s…well, a little psycho. How did you prepare for that intensity? I just interviewed McG, and he was saying how you did such a great job getting into character, down to the way you dressed and everything, how do you go about that?
Hana Mae Lee: The horror genre’s always been my favorite. I love the victims, because they always scream before they die, and I love the villain, because you get to chase them around by just walking. And you have this kind of confidence as a villain.
Because I love horror so much, I really wanted to give it a good run, even from the first one to the second one, and I liked how everyone is in on it for the purpose of what they can get later, but Sonya’s really into the dark arts. I wanted to make that more real than just based on a caricature of something, although some of the actions are kind of like a caricature because of the story.
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But I just wanted to make sure that people who love horror or are into the dark arts would just really be like, “Oh, cool, I can see that she’s not just faking it.” I mean, I didn’t call any dark spirits to do Sonya!
I just really channeled the horror nostalgia that horror kind of made me feel as a kid, and how I loved it so much, and I wanted to bring that into Sonya as a horror – not just fanatic – but a connoisseur. I just really, really loved playing her, and her fashion I loved too, because it’s always put together, very Saint Laurent-y, and very much like a blogger, with all the nails, and it had a kind of juxtaposition, instead of just doing the satanic star, or always wearing black or something. I kind of feel like satanism had a glam situation in the past five years.
1428 Elm: And killer eyeliner too, by the way!
Hana Mae Lee: Thank you! I love all the crazy eye shadow this year, it’s like slanted, rectangular eyeliner. It was really cool, I loved it.
1428 Elm: Unfortunately, I think in general…I think maybe things are changing a little bit for horror now, but for so long it just didn’t get any credibility at all, and actors were ashamed if they were involved in it. It’s my favorite genre.
Hana Mae Lee: Me too. I mean, I love 1428 Elm, that’s freakin’ awesome, it’s so great.
1428 Elm: Thanks! I’ve been working with them for about two years now. I’ve always loved horror so much, that it’s great to be able to take all this useless knowledge and put it out there for other people to have access to.
Hana Mae Lee: I love that. You know, it is weird. Like you said, a lot of people are kind of ashamed of horror films, I never understood that. They do such a great job of what makes the movies so fun.
But, you’re right, a lot of them are like, “Uh, I don’t know.” I’m like, “What do you mean I don’t know? That was freaking awesome! You were so great!” I am glad that people are kind of embracing the horror now. I’m a huge, huge horror fan.
The old, like Freddy Krueger, the Tromavilles…the humor, the gore, you know, you can’t sleep because you think something’s gonna come out of the bed, like a chopped up body part or something. It’s real, the horror is real.
1428 Elm: What’s the first horror movie you remember seeing?
Hana Mae Lee: I walked in on my parents watching some vigilante Christian thing, I think. I don’t even know what it was, but it was somebody getting guillotined, and them holding the head at the end, and walking off into the dawn, and I was like, “What the f***?”
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I was probably something like four, and it scared the s*** out of me! I could not go to sleep, and I’d always sleep with the blankets over me to protect me, right? But I’m sweating, because I don’t want to lose my blanket protection.
After that, I just kind of got hooked, and I started watching all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Now when I watch them, I think they’re all kind of perverse and Freddy’s sexualizing everybody, but when I was little, it wasn’t like that, it was very scary.
I remember I had this one dream that I was Freddy Krueger’s wife, and I had these crazy knife hands, and everybody was jumping into an emptied out pool, and I could just hear their heads popping, because they would just jump in the pool. And Freddy was like, “You gotta do the knives now.” And I was kind of freaked out.
1428 Elm: Maybe you need to write a Nightmare on Elm Street sequel, and kind of incorporate all that into it.
Hana Mae Lee: Yes! That’s a good one, because there hasn’t been a Freddy wife or a Freddy girlfriend ever. That would be bad ass!
1428: Well, Hanna, it’s been fun talking to you, thank you so much for your time, and I look forward to seeing a lot more from you in the future.
Hana Mae Lee: Thanks!
You can see Hana Mae Lee in The Babysitter and The Babysitter: Killer Queen on Netflix.
Are you a fan of The Babysitter on Netflix? Will you be watching The Babysitter: Killer Queen this weekend? Let us know your plans in the comments section.