In Measure of Revenge, Broadway actress Lillian Cooper (Academy Award-winner Melissa Leo) is making her final on-stage appearance when her famous son, Curtis (Jake Weary), is found dead. When his death is ruled as an accidental overdose, a suspicious Lillian decides to take matters into her own hands. On a quest for answers, she strikes up an unlikely alliance with her son's drug dealer, Taz (Bella Thorne), setting in motion a bloody warpath to uncover the truth and punish those who killed her son.
The movie is now playing in theaters, and is available on Digital and On Demand. Last week, we sat down for a conversation with Leo and Thorne to discuss their respective roles in this memorable thriller that borrows heavily from Shakespeare's work to tell a powerful, exciting story of revenge.
In the video below, both actors talk about how that influenced their respective performances, the preparation involved with playing these two very different women (with a shared mission), and how they tapped into their respective characters. We also learn more from Leo and Thorne about the tense first scene they shot and get the latter's thoughts on playing Lady Deadpool in Deadpool 3.
Measure of Revenge delivers a lot of surprises and is definitely unlike anything else you'll watch this year. Whether you've already checked it or still need to, there's plenty to delve into here courtesy of the two leads, and it's clear this project is one they both relished the opportunity to be part of.
Measure of Revenge goes to so many interesting places, it must have been a really fascinating story for you to both delve into?
Bella: Definitely, 100%.
Melissa: Definitely that and, most to all, to be able to have the chance to work with Bella on it was one of the delights.
Bella: [Laughs]
Melissa: And I think you can see that when you watch the movie!
Bella: Yes, me and Melissa were joined at the hip. It was hard to separate us [Laughs].
Your characters are both so fascinating, but couldn’t be any more different. Did the two of you get together before shooting started, whether it be inn rehearsal or just to get to know each other, so you could establish a dynamic before getting on set?
Bella: I was shooting a show at the time we filmed this movie, so I was only able to fly in when they had already started building their family. I was just like the last one [Laughs]. I came in and I didn’t have real rehearsal time with Melissa, but luckily us talking about it and going over it…that was our rehearsal in a way for our scenes because I was only in and out. I was just so f***ing lucky to, and I don’t know the word for this, be in her presence. For me to just keep digging in her presence [Laughs], I’m not saying this right, but it completely brought me to life for sure working with Melissa as that character.
Melissa: Yeah, that’s exactly what it is Bella. It’s called acting! [Laughs] When you’re able to do it together, it just happens and it’s the happiest time on the planet.
Melissa, your character in this film is dealing with terrible grief and every parent’s worst nightmare. As a performer, what is it like getting into the mindset of a woman like this where everything in her life is going so horribly wrong before embarking on this mission of revenge? Is that something that follows you home at the end of the day?
Melissa: No, because of the fun of it. She’s being guided by these characters that she’s played, so my attention wasn’t on…I’ve played the parent of a dead child in the past. I’ve had the response from parents who have lost their children and it’s too serious a subject to [Pauses]. I was engaged in the mystery and fun and the coaxing of these characters because Bella, don’t you bring all of these characters along with you in some way in your life?
Bella: Oh, 100%. All the characters you play, and especially as far as I think her character, who has starred in these various Shakespeare productions, they literally push her character to feel the way she does instead of just being focused on the death. The death pushes her, but these characters push her to strive forward instead of sitting in the sadness. That’s how I viewed it.
Bella, on the other hand, your character is this very enigmatic, mysterious person, so did you think much about what led her to this point in her life or was it more interesting to not delve into that so much to approach her as she was written?
Bella: The backstory is really important. Thinking of how she’s gotten here…I remember, when I was shooting with Melissa, I kept thinking in my head and just repeating to myself while we were speaking, ‘I have so many things to hide. I have so many things to hide. I have so many things to hide.’ She really is hiding something, and it’s piece by piece she decides to give this information to her. Her background is not a clean background, so that threads into why she has so much to hide and why her mouth is closed until it’s opened. That I kept repeating to myself because, especially in that first scene where I see her in the car with the gun and the whole situation happens, that was a really pivotal scene. We actually started with that and I was super happy that we did. I started when I started, but we began with that scene and there was so much anxiety that needed to be built between these two characters. There was so much left unsaid that needed to be said in silence. That was so important when it came to working out, ‘How do we say this in silence without giving away the information we need.’ Again, I kept repeating that to myself [Laughs]. ‘I have so many things to hide…oh, Jesus, oh no, don’t look into me because I’m hiding a sh*t tonne of information you need!’
Melissa, Bella mentions that scene with the knife and gun - it’s very intense and very interesting to hear it was the first thing you shot together, but what was it like from your point of view? It felt like you character was going in so unprepared and in this panicked state, but the tension just builds and builds.
Melissa: I wanted to be sure that the mother had a build in the capacity to murder. That did cross my mind as an actor. It’s just happenstance. It’s interesting she was using the knife to do the apple, so she had it in her hand, but ends up bringing it downstairs with her as a last thought or something like that. That helps me because as you look at what goes on in the film - not to give anything away [Laughs] - you see how she could build towards grosser and grosser taking of human life.
Throughout the film, the story is peppered with all these Shakespearean references. With the way that feeds into the story, more for you Melissa than Bella, did that factor into your thought processes as well?
Melissa: The characters to me were an enormous part of doing the film. I wasn’t very interested in doing…someone had asked me, my producer Jen Gatien, which is how we knew Bella as she’d worked with Bella before, while we were trying to find another project to work on, ‘When would a woman kill?’ The only possibility that came that felt at all a tangible piece of reality to me had to do with the taking of her child’s life. Then, the police turn a blind eye and then she knows something is so and she begins to discover she’s right. Then, the characters are the thing that make it fun and make it a movie [Laughs] and an adventure. Yes, to dive into some plays I hadn’t read since college - which is a couple of years ago for me - and re-learn about the lovely ladies that come whispering in her ear was fascinating.
Bella: You can definitely see, when you watch the movie, that these characters - even when she’s not dressed in their hair and makeup - they are with her. It’s like they are with her in all the scenes and following her throughout her life and convincing her to do this. They’re her strength almost is how I felt.
On another note, Bella, you mentioned years ago in an interview wanting to play a female verison of Deadpool. It’s followed you around since and I’m always seeing you fan cast into these superhero projects - they have done a Lady Deadpool character now, but is that world or superhero projects in general something that still interests you?
Bella: Yes, superheroes are definitely fun. I love action stuff, naturally, and I do a lot of action stuff with stunts and whatnot. It’s just always really fun on set and it breaks up the work day when you get to concentrate on the body and feel and how to perform not just using your voice. That’s always really fun for me. Deadpool is my favourite. It’s so raunchy and, hello, I love Ryan Reynolds. He just f***ing nails that role to the floor. What I love about Deadpool is that realism mixed with the, you know, superhero world. It’s something where we feel we can talk to this superhero now in today’s day while still having them be a superhero. I love that shit. Like, The Boys? Love that TV show [Laughs].
Well, they are doing Deadpool 3 now, so fingers crossed for you.
Bella: Guys! I’m here. Where are you at?
Melissa: Oh, she’d be so good for it, man. They’d be fools to overlook her [Laughs].