SDCC ’10 Interview: The Devil in Ms. Moretz

The actress on her turn in Let Me In

There is a devil inside the little girl of Abby (Chloe Moretz) in Let Me In.

A devil that is a 250 year old vampire she doesn’t know how to control. It is that devil and the other aspects to the character of Abby that Moretz found so complex and difficult to play as she talked to Shock during the press event for the film during Comic-Con ‘10.

“You think of the different aspects of who Abby is. You have little girl Abby. You have 250 year old Abby and you have the vampire Abby,” Moretz said. “The vampire is more of the devil inside the little girl Abby but at the same time there is the old soul. So you have to play a three dimensional character in a two dimensional film.”

Having to master three aspects to one character is why Moretz says Abby is the most confusing and challenging character she’s played in her career – that is exploding after her turn as Hit Girl in Kick-Ass. “[Abby] is so raw and innocent but some of that devil I was talking about is inside of the innocent Abby. She is so old but so young. She is so sad but happy with her life. She loves The Father character but she also loves Owen too.”

That love stems from being lonely over the centuries and not knowing exactly who she is anymore after spending so long on the Earth. “You forget things about when you are a kid even at 40 or 60,” Moretz said. “Imagine being 300 years old and forgetting your parents, forgetting your family, forgetting everyone you know and loved and everyone you loved recently died and you still live forever.”

The complexity of the character had Moretz and director Matt Reeves begin a journal to write as a back story for the character, so Moretz could get a better grasp on Abby. A back story that Moretz says is wicked all on its own.

“She started as a normal little girl,” Moretz said. “Her family wasn’t very wealthy but they worked. Her uncle was wealthy but was always the weird guy. He stayed in a darker house and he had animal skins everywhere. We came up with that my uncle turned me and robbed me of my innocence and made me immortal.”

That relationship that she’s now forgotten is what leads Abby to turn to humans as her companions that end up being very twisted relationships. Sad and romantic relationships that are “messed up and very creepy” and the basis for the core of the movie, she says.

Source: Peter Brown

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