Some basements are better left unexplored, as seen in Barbarian. The film centers on a young woman who books a remote house in a rundown area of Detroit, only to find someone else already staying there, though as she slowly warms up to her unintended roommate, she learns of a terrifying secret deep within the house.
Georgina Campbell leads the cast of Barbarian alongside Justin Long, Bill Skarsgård, Matthew Patrick Davis, Richard Brake, and James Butler. Written and directed by comedian Zach Cregger in his solo directorial debut, the film is a thoroughly tense and chilling affair perfect for horror genre fans.
In honor of the film's home media release, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with star Justin Long to discuss Barbarian, his fears reading the script for the first time, comparisons to his character in Tusk, and more.
Justin Long on Barbarian
Screen Rant: I watched Barbarian for the first time the other night, and it just blew me away. It was just an absolute roller coaster from start to finish. Of course, you're no stranger to the horror genre, or even the horror-comedy genre. But what about Barbarian really spoke to you to want to be a part of it?
Justin Long: I look for initially just the dialogue, if the dialogue flows in a natural way, if it's the way people speak, I think probably my initial connection to a script is just I think simply that. Are these people speaking the way people speak? I wish it were more, I wish I had a higher bar. [Laughs] But, then I'm in and then, and then I finish it, and if it's a story that I want to be a part of — and this was just such an original thriller, it was gripping, I was truly gripped by it to the point where, it's sort of embarrassing to admit, but I was reading it in a van.
It was like a camper van, and I was driving across the country, and I was in a little scary little — it was like a setting for a horror movie. This RV park in Louisiana, it was more of a truck stop in Louisiana in the bayou, and there were noises, it was getting dark, and I started reading it around sunset, and it was so scary that I had to put it down that night. But I was struggling, because I was so engrossed in it, and I really wanted to know what happened. I had such a curiosity that I had a hard time sleeping, because I was [hooked], but it was too scary. I knew if I finished it, I might have more trouble sleeping, so I finished it in the morning. But anyway, it was just immediately a story I wanted to be a part of.
That's awesome. I can only imagine with how deep this movie is, you'd want to stick with it.
Justin Long: It was so original, it was so unique. I've never seen a turn like that, I was reading it, the way people watch it now, I guess. It read like a really well-written rom-com in the beginning, which is hard to do. I know, I've attempted to write those scripts, and it's hard to realistically portray two people falling for each other, and enjoying each other. That genre's, of course, been parodied, it's been done so much that I even found that to be original and nuanced, and just really well-written.
So then, I had to look a couple times at the sheet my agent sent me in the email, because when the character of AJ shows up, it was just such a wild pivot. It felt like a totally different movie, and I thought it was going to be like an anthology or something, I was so curious how that was going to connect to the rest of the movie. I had never read anything like that, I imagine it's the way people feel when they're reading a Quentin Tarantino script, or something, but it just felt like I had never read that.
I just felt like it broke all the rules, and by the end of it, I was just so excited that Zach wanted me to do it at all. But yeah, I read that email a couple of times, because I felt like, "Oh, I'm guessing he wants me to play the guy in the beginning, the more rom-com guy who dies on page 30, not this wild douchebag. [Laughs] I was, in a way, very strangely flattered that he did want me to play that part. [Chuckles] Flattered, because it was something that I had never had that opportunity, I don't think people think of me that way. I hope they don't.
Your character reminded me a little bit of your character in Tusk.
Justin Long: Well, that's true, I guess that nullifies exactly what I just said, never mind. [Laughs] Ignore my last response!
Wallace is not as terrible in Tusk as AJ is in this. As a performer, did you see those parallels when you were putting the movie together?
Justin Long: No, in Tusk, I thought of him as more of a — I didn't, I should have, maybe, I guess you're right. They're similarly narcissistic. Tusk felt to me more like, and I remember talking to Kevin about this because it wasn't on the page, I remember he actually did much more AJ-like things. He would go and sleep with all these women on the road, I think he would go and be really unfaithful, that was kind of his thing. There was this whole sexual infidelity component that I thought would make it too hard to care for him, whereas if he were just like a bully, I thought that might be a more accessible way to show that somebody's lost their humanity, that they've lost compassion for other people.
The sex thing was in an earlier draft of Kevin's script, it felt like for a lead character to have that, and then here we are with AJ, and he does this heinous sexual crime. But no, I hadn't drawn those parallels, but I guess there are very clear ones. I just felt like, what he does is just on a different level of despicable, the Tusk character made fun of people, and he teased people, and it was gross, but it was still in the name of entertainment, or at least attempting humor. But this guy, I don't think I'd ever played anyone who did something so awful, and I remember that day, having to confess that in the scene, was a tough one, only because I try to find the truth in any scene, and it was hard to.
This guy was experiencing shame from something that, fortunately for people in my life, I had no frame of reference for, you know? So, I kind of had to go in a little blind, and sometimes when you do that, you feel like maybe you're acting too much. But, I don't know, I just trusted Zach. Zach has a very strong instinct about what is truthful, whether it's in the writing or in the acting. So, I saw him calibrate other scenes that I was doing with an eye for realism, and so I just really trusted him, we went a long way. Especially with a character that I wasn't all that accustomed to playing, since Tusk, I guess. [Laughs]
I got hints of Wallace, but I didn't necessarily think like, "Oh, this is just Tusk all over again." AJ is far worse.
Justin Long: Oh, good! [Laughs]
One of the things I love about this film, too, is The Mother. She's just horrifying to look at. What was your first reaction on set when you saw her?
Justin Long: I remember being really struck by it, and then I couldn't stop laughing, because it was so realistic. I think I did that thing that I hear a lot of people do in horror movies when they're watching horror movies, which is that their fear and their shock turns so quickly into laughter, it's how people process things. I had that very real time reaction to Matthew. Part of what was so funny to me was that he was so casual, he was walking around with his parts hanging out, and his robe half open, so that alone is strange, to just see somebody naked, also a seven-foot-tall woman naked, walking around, and speaking casually about, "What do they have at craft service?"
Matthew has a very light-hearted way about him, he's got a very friendly air about him, he's a very gentle person, and sweet-natured person, so that grotesque imagery of the makeup and all that, juxtaposed with just how casual and happy-go-lucky Matthew was being was f----ng hilarious. It was making me laugh, I couldn't stop laughing, I remember, and I remember saying to him, "I don't know if I can do this, I don't know if I can behave around you normally, and then go right into these scenes where I'm supposed to be accepting your nipple into my mouth." It was just such a wild experience, and I would alternate — I mean, it's also one of those things, Grant, where if you don't commit to it, especially a scene like that, with The Mother trying to breastfeed me, you run the risk of it looking comical.
I remember feeling that in Tusk, as well, you're in that walrus suit, it could easily be comedy, it could easily be The Room, or one of those movies that people make fun of, that are jokes. So that was in the back of my mind. That, if anything, was a motivator to really commit, and if you commit, and it ends up being a joke anyway, it's not on you. [Chuckles] But I, again, the script was so good that I would have done, I remember the scene after that, I would have done anything for that script, to be a part of telling that story. I remember, in fact, after the breastfeeding scene, there was a moment where, since I'm not attaching to the nipple, The Mother takes a rat, and bites the head off and masticates it, like baby birds it into my mouth.
So, I knew that was coming up next in the shooting order, and I remember Zach approaching me like uncharacteristically tentative. He was usually very confident, and forthcoming, he's a very direct, honest person, and he was like, "Hey," and I could tell he was trying to ask me something. He wanted to know if I was okay with Matthew spitting it directly into my mouth, and I said, "Well, of course, we're here, we're doing it already, that's the story, however we can best tell that story." As an audience member, I would want to see the masticated rat head going in the same shot directly into my mouth, and I didn't feel like I was being heroic by doing that, I just thought, like, "Well, that's my role, and I'm lucky to be playing that role."
Then, he cut it out, I completely understand why he did, it was just kind of too much. I think that's one of the strengths of the movie, so much of the real horror is the stuff that you don't necessarily see, and the audience can use their own imagination. I think that's the mark of a really great horror movie, is that a director won't show you everything, if anything, they try to show you as little as possible. This was just too much, but it did make me feel closer to Matthew, and we really bonded, and we laughed a lot. Matthew is also a naturally very funny person, so with that makeup, it was just a very comical situation, and then you get used to it, which is wild, and then you're just chatting in the chairs with Mother with the stringy hair and the wild [look].
The part of all that that was unexpected, and really pleasantly surprising, was how Matthew found the humanity in that character, and how Zach really used it to tell the tragic part of that story. I thought that was really beautifully handled, that Mother ends up, despite her appearance, being a very sympathetic character. I just loved what they both did with that element of the story.
About Barbarian
Arriving in Detroit for a job interview, a young woman books a rental home. But when she arrives late at night, she discovers that the house is double booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgment, she decides to spend the evening, but soon discovers that there’s a lot more to fear than just an unexpected house guest. From 20th Century Studios and New Regency, Barbarian stars Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, and Justin Long. Written and directed by Zach Cregger.
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Barbarian is now available to rent or purchase on digital platforms and VOD.