LOS ANGELES — Desperate to reclaim her career, once-beloved actress Samantha Lake (Elisabeth Moss) is drawn into the glamorous world of wellness mogul Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson) — only to uncover a monstrous truth beneath its flawless surface.
For an actress whose roles are serious and very dramatic, “Shell” is a movie that she not only had fun making, but hopes people will allow themselves to have fun with it.
“[’Shell’] kind of harkens back to this era of filmmaking that was entertaining and wild and, you know … campy,” she told Spectrum News. “That’s the number one thing I would love anyone watching it — you are allowed to laugh, you are absolutely allowed to have fun with this.”
(Image courtesy of Republic Pictures/ Paramount Pictures)
Moss, who has been in Hollywood for 37 years, said she grew up when there was a much narrower way of thinking about what an actress should look like. She remembers being in rooms, going to auditions and looking around thinking, “I don’t look like her.”
The Emmy Award-winning actress said she has never seen herself as the “cheerleading type” with perfect blond hair or perfect anything. Which is why she found her role as Samantha relatable. Exploring the idea of beauty in the film “Shell” wasn’t necessarily fun for Moss, but it was fulfilling.
Over the years, Moss said, she has been happy to see the changes in the industry. There are still beauty standards, she said, that social media plays a big role with, but are unrealistic, unattainable and not real.
“It is still changing, and it still needs to change. There is still work to be done,” she told Spectrum News. “It has been really cool to see people who look different, people of all shapes and sizes, people who look like people that we live with on this planet … to see that on television and film has been something that I have been really thrilled to see change.”
(Image courtesy of Republic Pictures/ Paramount Pictures)
“Shell” also served as a reunion with her “Handmaid’s Tale” co-star Max Minghella, who directed the film.
“We don’t see each other often, so we have to come up with work to see each other,” she said. “We adore each other, so for us it was very seamless. He has never directed me before, but I have directed him, so we are very used to each other’s processes. We have very similar sensibilities. It felt like we were just working together.”
At a time when local film productions are low for the region, “Shell” was based and filmed in Los Angeles.
“There were times, of course, where we discussed moving the production somewhere else for budgetary reasons, but it always felt blasphemous for a movie whose DNA correlates so deeply with Los Angeles,” said Minghella in an interview for “Shell.”
“Shell” hits select theaters and digital Oct. 3. It stars Elisabeth Moss, Kate Hudson, Arian Moayed, Este Haim with Elizabeth Berkley and Kaia Gerber.
Click the arrow above for the full interview with Moss.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source baynews9.com ’
