ComingSoon spoke to Hysteria stars Anna Camp and Nikki Hahn about their roles and working with Bruce Campbell on the Peacock drama series. Hysteria will premiere on Peacock on Friday, October 18, 2024. USA Network and SYFY will simulcast the first episode on October 18, with USA Network airing episodes each Friday.
“When a beloved varsity quarterback disappears during the ‘Satanic Panic’ of the late 1980s, a struggling high school heavy metal band of outcasts realize they can capitalize on the town’s sudden interest in the occult by building a reputation as a Satanic metal band, until a bizarre series of murders, kidnappings, and reported ‘supernatural activity’ triggers a leather-studded witch hunt that leads directly back to them,” says the synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Anna, you have a really incredible role here. I could tell you were just having a lot of fun with it. What was it about Tracy and specifically her role within this story that really excited you as an actress?
Anna Camp: I fell in love with Tracy. I love playing women who have so much internal conflict and struggle going on. They present themselves one way to the world, but inside, they are just bubbling over. Obviously, the hair and the wardrobe I was obsessed with, but I loved the way that Matt Scott Cain, our showrunner and creator, had the character mapped out. You get to see what happened to her in her past that made her the way she is today.
Sometimes when I play “villains,” I don’t look at them as villains, but I never get to see what made them who they are. What made them who they are today. So it was really great to go back in time and get this flashback episode in episode five to see the trauma that Tracy endured. She’s carrying a lot of shame around, and she’s really clinging to religion as a form of armor and protection. So I just found her to be a very fascinating person because inside she’s not at all who she’s presenting to the world.
That’s wonderfully put. I’m glad you mentioned the hair because you’re phenomenal in this, but I feel like your hair even steals a few scenes here.
Camp: I’ll take it. Yes. So, Katie Ballard, who was our wonderful hair and wig designer, when I sat in the hair and makeup trailer for the first time, and they pulled out the wig, and they put it on my head, I could feel myself sit differently and move my head differently. It’s just such a gift as an actor to get such incredible hair and makeup that informs who you are as a person. I was just very excited to look like a different person. Because that’s why I want to be an actor is to transform and play different characters. So, I’ll take it. The wig can steal a few scenes. I’ll let her do it a couple of times.
Nikki, I love this opening to Hysteria, where you get abducted. it’s so intense. It almost feels like a completely different show at first compared to what comes after for a bit. How was it filming that scene? It’s wild. You’re really fighting for your life there.
Nikki Hahn: Yeah, very wild opening to the show. Ironically, so much fun to film. It was my first time doing such a heavily choreographed stunt scene. I was nervous, obviously. It was also my first day of filming, so a lot of pressure, but our stunt team was incredible. Stunt coordinator, stuntman, everybody just put me at ease. Lots of late nights, so lots of coffee, lots of running in the street. But I think those are my favorite type of roles. I love to step out of my comfort zone and kind of do that kind of physical work. Honestly, that was some of my favorite stuff to film.
Yeah, it’s a great way to start the show. It’s definitely gonna get people’s attention and keep them hooked to see what happens next.
Anna, you share some really great scenes with Bruce Campbell. What a legend he is. What stands out about him as a scene partner? He just seems like the best.
Camp: Bruce Campbell is the best. He’s incredibly professional, first and foremost. He’s been on sets for so long. He’s an icon, right? He is a horror icon. So, of course, I was a little bit nervous meeting him. He is a really funny guy, though. He wants to come on to set, knock it out of the park, but he also [loves to joke around], if you’re on his good side, which I think I am.
Me and Nikki, we made up a song about him actually on set because we were on set for a really long time. He was, I think, sitting in front of us in the church scene. Like “Bruce Campbell, mic drop, mic drop.” So we have a whole song, and he would tease him with it, and I think he was into it. So he was a delight to work with. I hope that I get more scenes with them in the future.
Nikki, how was it developing that kind of mother-daughter bond with Anna and seeing that play out throughout the series?
Hahn: What is so ironic is me and Anna on set have so much fun, and we’re always laughing and joking, but as soon as we turn on the camera, as soon as the cameras are rolling Anna is scary. She’s so scary that if I rehearse in my trailer or rehearse at home, she pulls a different reaction out of me than what I initially planned. So she’s such a great scene partner and it really kind of helps to just kind of act and work in the moment. I feel like different takes were different every time. Just because she brings something new to the table every time, and that kind of pulls something else out of me. But as soon as the scenes are over, we’re back to laughing and joking.
Camp: It was so great. We have the best [chemistry]. Like that’s the thing, when you can trust your scene partner as much as I trust Nikki and the way she listens and reacts differently every take, we can just play. Then we create this bond, but we didn’t have to create it, it just sort of happened naturally because I just really like her and like get along with her. I think she’s super cool. It just creates a safe space when you’re acting with somebody, especially when there’s so much conflict between the two of us in the storyline. It’s great to have like a friend to go through that with. So that’s how I feel about her.
Thanks to Anna Camp and Nikki Hahn for talking about Peacock‘s Hysteria.
