ComingSoon spoke with Grey’s Anatomy stars Sophia Bush and Chris Carmack about showing different sides of themselves in their new movie, The Stranger in My Home. Directed by Jeff Fisher, the thriller movie is out today on Digital from Republic Pictures (a Paramount Pictures label).
“Ali and her daughter Katie have a perfect life – until a stranger claims to be Katie’s father. As secrets unravel, his obsession turns dangerous, pulling them into a web of lies and fear. Based on the bestselling novel,” says the official synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Sophia, I was so impressed by just the pure emotion you showed during The Stranger in My Home. Because I can’t think of any bigger emotional responses than finding out your daughter isn’t related to you by blood, and then her going missing. How is it really letting Ali’s emotions show during these scenes, but still keeping her this very strong woman and mother that she is?
Sophia Bush: Well, thank you so much. I think one of the things that I loved about the script really is thanks to the book, which was so wonderful. Adele [Park] created this world in this novel that I think Jeff [Fisher] and the team adapted so beautifully. One of the things I loved, and maybe one of the reasons I love any film that comes from a book, is because the world feels big, and Ally’s world felt big to me. The experience, the moment that we find her in her life.
One of the things I really enjoyed about it is that I got to play a woman who was allowed to be so thrown, who was allowed to be so scared. Working in a thriller capacity, doing a lot of stunts like we got to do in this movie. The last time I was doing a ton of stunts, I was playing a cop. I was a tough person. One of the things I really enjoy about Ali and that I think makes her so representative of so many people is that she has no experience dealing with these sorts of high stakes. Who really does? So, I think a lot of people get to sort of see themselves in her, and I really enjoyed it.
Chris, your character Tom, is clearly going through a lot, shall we say. I see your Instagram. You’re clearly a big family man. So, how is it subverting that love for your family into a much darker energy for this role?
Chris Carmack: Tom is in a very different place in his life than I am, thankfully. But the strange thing is it was love of family, I think, that sort of drives Tom to the place where he is. I don’t wanna give too much away, but his family life is much more tumultuous than we are first led on to believe. He has another opportunity at connecting with what he would call family. It’s his biological daughter that he didn’t know he had. In his mind, this is a golden opportunity to share love and family that maybe he hasn’t had that opportunity in a while. So, I was able to bring that to the character quite a bit, even though in a different way.
I think your fans are gonna be really excited to see a different side of you. I was thrilled by your performance.
Sophia, I have to ask you about Amiah Miller because she’s such a talented young actress. I’ve loved her in a couple of films now, what really stood out about working with her, because, you know, she’s very young, but it’s clear she’s got it
Sophia Bush: Absolutely. Amiah is incredible. It was so important for me to really make sure that we had the kind of bond that would translate on camera. From the moment that we all met our cast, we just got along famously, and to watch her embody this young woman and really just fearlessly dive into this stuff. She’s not afraid of anything. She’s not nervous about anything. What really touched me, in addition to just enjoying watching her and working with her, was the fact that we bonded in the way that we did.
Because, not too long into the movie, I suddenly realized, I was like, “Oh my goodness. I’m the person now that she gets to come to on set and ask advice of, and we get to really bat ideas around together.” I didn’t have that when I was her age, starting in the industry. So, it was really special to be able to do that with her, to be on set with her and her whole family. It was really kind of lovely for us.
You create this little sort of ragtag, Little Rascals bunch, and it was very cool to have such great family energy around with her, certainly with you, Chris. To Tyler’s point, like, you’re such a good dad, you’re a great family man. It was really fun to see everybody interacting both on camera and off with scripted family and real, it was a cool experience for us. I think it probably added something that you feel on screen.
Chris, I wanted to ask you about Sophia as a scene partner, because your relationship in this movie goes from awkward and unwanted to very trusting and almost romantic — but not quite. Then it goes to so many other places. How was it having a different experience every single scene, because that relationship’s always changing?
Carmack: Well, I mean, you know, not to blow smoke, but you couldn’t ask for a better scene partner than Sophia Bush. She’s 100% present, 100% willing to dive in, have fun, do work, talk about the scenes, talk about the character, find nuance, and as an actor, there’s nothing you could ask more than having a scene partner that you feel like you just have to react to. That’s what I got with Sophia Bush. So thank you, Sophia, for being so awesome.
Bush: Something that I really loved about us finding how to do this together, because also, to your point, Tyler, that their relationship changes so much. You’re not really sure where you stand with these two, and you know, they’re, they’re sharing such an intimate journey, but they barely know each other, right? So we had to sort of really settle on that, that adage of “people don’t always react to you as you are. They react as they are.”
So, we constantly tried to move together and figure out how to play scenes where you might have a moment going, “Wait, what did that person mean?” Then immediately, what you wanna do is be your best self and say, “This is a crazy circumstance. I need to be generous here.” Yeah, he didn’t mean anything by that, or she didn’t mean anything by this. It allowed us to be in these scenes together. As actors always kind of wonder, “Am I on the same page as you?” I think that question is what lends itself to the mystery we wind up in by the end of the movie.
Sophia, my last question for you. There were reports that One Tree Hill could be coming back. That’s so exciting. Is there any movement on that? Any positive update for fans?
Bush: All I can really say is now people, I think, are beginning to understand how incredibly long and arduous the development process is. Filming is really the best part. The pre-production stuff is tricky, but development is going very well. We’ll see where we wind up.
Thanks to Sophia Bush and Chris Carmack for taking the time to talk about The Stranger in My Home.
