Books of Blood has arrived on Hulu just in time for the Halloween season, threading together three chilling tales inspired by Clive Barker’s work in a powerful anthology. Director Brannon Braga has brought together a stellar cast to do so, including Britt Robertson (I Still Believe).
Robertson spoke to Screen Rant about what it was like to play a character with Misophonia, and how the director’s personal experience helped shape her storyline.
Were you familiar with Clive Barker and his original book series?
Britt Robertson: I wasn’t until I became involved in the project. Actually, one of my best friends it is a huge fan of his. After learning about this project, reading the script and doing my own research, and talking to my friend, I realized how influential he’s been in the horror world. But yeah, I wasn’t previously familiar.
Can you talk to me a little bit about Jenna and her relationship with her parents?
Britt Robertson: Jenna is a young woman who is stuck between trying to figure out what her life is going to look like, and she had a difficult time in school, and her home life is not of satisfaction to her. She’s sort of running from everything in her life. And the further she runs away from the things she knows, the more difficult it is for her to exist inside of her own mind. Ultimately, she has to make these decisions and figure out: is it the world that she’s running from, or is it herself?
I’m a big fan of horror anthology. One thing that really stood out was Jenna’s hatred of sound. It’s Misophonia, right? How much research did you have to do to get Jenna’s personality quirks down?
Britt Robertson: Yeah, I read some articles about it. I talked to a few people. Actually, Brannon Braga, the director, has a very similar issue where he has this hatred of sound. I think when he was co-creating this character of Jenna, because she’s not in the original anthology, he used a lot of his own experiences,. Which I used as a very helpful resource throughout the making of the movie.
Jenna does artwork of certain things that she’s conjuring or seeing in her head. Can you talk to me about the significance of Jenna’s drawings?
Britt Robertson: Yeah. I think because of her hatred of sound, all the rest of her senses are really heightened, and she leans into those.
Visual is something that she’s very in tune with, and this idea of touch, and even taste. I think she just becomes hyper aware of everything else in her world, because she’s trying to shut off this other part of her brain. I think that the visual component, mixed with her psychological state, was a useful tool to help the audience understand how much she was deeply suffering.
Can you talk to me about when Jenna meets with Sam and Ellie? What kind of vibe does she gets from their family?
Britt Robertson: Yeah, it’s funny like that. Most of Jenna’s experiences, or the scenes that the audience gets to witness of Jenna, leading up to that are pretty isolated. She doesn’t interact with many people, and if she does, it’s very brief. Most of our experiences are very inward; then when she when she goes to Sam and Ellie’s house, I think there’s a relief.
But she’s also really looking for some peace and some solace, and being around people who seem supportive or encouraging or kind is so refreshing. I think it’s the main reason that she sticks around, even though there seems to be a lot of weirdness and strangeness, and she’s not totally on board with what’s happening. But Jenna’s experience was that she couldn’t even trust herself at this point. She didn’t trust anybody else in her life, but she also couldn’t trust herself. I’m sure the audience has a very similar experience, where they don’t even really know what to trust at that point.
That was probably some of the creepiest stuff I saw in this film, especially those cockroaches. Were those real or digital?
Britt Robertson: Yeah, they were digital visual effects. It was one of the first questions I asked when signing on to the project, because I do not like cockroaches. It’s my least favorite thing. I don’t like bugs in general, but cockroaches especially are a real problem for me. So, they eased my mind when they told me it was something they were going to be adding in later.
This is the perfect film for the Halloween era. Were you previously a horror fan?
Britt Robertson: Yeah, I’ve always loved horror films, specifically psychological thrillers, I like a lot. Which is why I was so attracted to this character, Jenna, because she really goes through it psychologically. I grew up being a big fan of horror films. My mom is a huge fan.
But in a weird way, I hold them hold them to this high standard. I haven’t done a lot of horror films, because I think I do hold them to a higher standard for some reason.
Have you gotten a chance to meet with Clive Barker and pick his brain about any of the horror elements in Books of Blood?
Britt Robertson: No, I haven’t. I’d love to; I’m a huge fan of his now. I wasn’t as familiar with his work before, but one of my best friends is his biggest fan and. Being a part of this project, obviously, I’ve become very intrigued by him. Hopefully I’ll get to meet him one day.
I want to talk about Brannon Braga a little bit, because he’s iconic to me. What did he bring to the directing style, whether it be practical effects, or subtle direction, to help set the mood on set?
Britt Robertson: For me, the thing that I keep coming back to, is he helped create this character of Jenna because she wasn’t in the original anthology series.
But the biggest thing is, he actually has a hatred of sound himself. So, he was a great resource for me when trying to figure out what that was going to look like or sound like. But also, to keep the film tonally consistent with each different story, because I wasn’t really affiliated with any of the other characters or stories that were being filmed – he was always a great resource to make sure that everything stayed in the same family.
Why do you think that Clive Barker’s creations have remained consistently relevant over the decades?
Britt Robertson: It’s a great question. I’m not sure; I’ve heard Brannon talk about him a lot. I don’t have a great answer for you, other than I think that he taps into something specifically in the human brain that keeps us all coming back for more. He’s able to the darkest parts of our minds that we can all relate to, and write about it in a way that feels relevant somehow.
Books of Blood is now streaming on Hulu.