One of the most famous horror franchises, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, is back with a new installment streaming on Netflix on February 18. The film is billed as a sequel to the classic 1974 original, with Leatherface terrorizing people once again. It features characters from that first movie from decades ago, but the cast is largely comprised of newcomers looking to leave their mark on the property. Among the ensemble are Elsie Fisher and Sarah Yarkin, who have both earned acclaim for turns in other projects so far.
Screen Rant spoke with Fisher and Yarkin about their experience making Texas Chainsaw Massacre, their favorite Easter eggs, and much more.
Screen Rant: I want to back it up to the first time you saw the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and what went through your mind. Elsie, do you remember the first time you saw it?
Elsie Fisher: I think I probably was 12 or 13 and my dad was like, "Hey, look at this cool movie. It looks fun. It's from the 70s." And I'm like, "Yeah! yeah!" And I saw it and I was like [wide eyes]. [It] changed the trajectory of my life, but now in two different ways. And I think that's very special. But mostly traumatized me, but I love it.
Sarah Yarkin: So I don't watch horror movies. I'm scared of mostly everything. I'm scared of the dark. I don't watch them. And so I made a pact to myself that I wasn't going to force myself to watch the movies unless I got the role. Then I got the role and I was like, "I guess I gotta watch this." And I sat down, and it was horrifying. I was like, "I'm gonna go do this." It's also just such a notorious, epic movie, iconic in so many ways. The grain, all of the grit of it. I was really excited but also so traumatized, just holding my dog crying.
To land a role like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the new one, what do you have to do in your audition? Did they say, "Hey, let's hear your scream. You have to scream your head off." What is that like?
Sarah Yarkin: There were three scenes, I remember, and none of them were really in what we ended up shooting. I guess there's been a lot of edits. So the three scenes, they weren't screaming. The third scene, I remember, [Elsie's] character's name was another name and I was screaming for her, being worried. But it wasn't the majority of this movie, which is me under a bed crying, screaming. It wasn't that. So maybe they just saw me and had a feeling I could thrive in that kind of environment. I don't know. But it wasn't the majority of the audition.
Elsie Fisher: First of all, it's very interesting to hear about Sarah's because I think I came probably one of the latest in the process because I only auditioned maybe a week and a half out before I was flying out to go shoot it. But I knew it was part of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But none of my audition sides were really the horror part. I think they were all drama. It was us walking down the stairs after I'm with Richter and me saying, "I don't want to live there." And I think maybe one other one. So then it was very funny because I've done a little bit of horror stuff. But yeah, it was fun.
How did you react when you found out you landed the lead roles in Texas Chainsaw Massacre? It's such an iconic franchise. People love it so much. Elsie, how did you react? What did you say? Who did you tell?
Elsie Fisher: My agent called me and she was just like, "You're going to shoot this." I was super thrilled. Especially just because it's always so lovely when you're able to land a movie and work just in general. Obviously, this is a super big deal and very fun. But also, it was mid-2020. I think everyone had pretty much just been locked in their houses for months at this point. So it's like, "Oh, my God, I get to go do stuff? Sets are even going?" It was very good and very big and just all those emotions combined.
Sarah Yarkin: I auditioned February 28, 2020, and then had been told that it was going my way. But nothing had been signed, and then COVID happened. So then for four months, I kind of went crazy and lived in a yurt and bought a dog, totally just went on an emotional roller coaster being like, "Did I just get this epic role or not? I'm going crazy." So then, finally, months later -- it was only delayed a couple months, actually -- it came back around, and I got the call from my agents and I was so relieved and excited that I did get to do the thing that I thought I was going to get to do months before, and especially during COVID and getting to travel. We were in Bulgaria and, though we were under all the COVID restrictions, getting to be in a new country during COVID while we weren't even allowed to travel anywhere, it was amazing. I was so happy.
You two play sisters. You're shooting in Bulgaria. How did you bond on your downtime? Was there anything special that you two did together to solidify your bond?
Elsie Fisher: I don't know how much downtime we actually ended up having. Because I think the both of us were on set pretty much almost every day of filming. There was a lot of sleeping when we were off. And then when we're on, just in hair and makeup getting covered in blood, and fake poo and everything, and just going crazy, but together, so that was really beautiful. And I think how most families bond anyways, so it felt very real.
Sarah Yarkin: Getting covered in blood together.
Elsie Fisher: Yeah, yeah. That's what me and my brother always do.
Sarah Yarkin: It was a super rigorous shooting schedule. So when we weren't shooting, I was trying to take a walk or sleep. But there were these nights, Elsie and I had these long night shoots under the rain machine in winter going crazy, losing our minds, covered in blood and glycerin and soaking wet and some poop and all the elements and keeping each other--
Elsie Fisher: The four elements! [laughter]
Sarah Yarkin: I know you kept me sane a lot of that, and awake and not freezing by doing bits over and over.
Elsie Fisher: Yeah. That's all I can do. They don't hire me because I'm good. They hire me because I'm funny off-camera. I'm the court jester of films.
I gotta say your Twitter is hilarious. Genuinely, very funny.
Elsie Fisher: Thank you very much. It's my magnum opus. It's the best thing I will ever achieve. And it's really bad and I'm glad you like it. Thank you.
It's great. Now, Leatherface. We gotta talk about Leatherface, obviously, one of the freakiest horror villains of all time/ What were your interactions with Mark Burnham between takes? Was he freaky on set or does he fall out of character?
Sarah Yarkin: There wasn't much hanging out. I mean, especially with COVID stuff. it was kind of like, 'I'm going to my area and he's going to his." He's such a hulking figure. It was, no matter what we did off set, talking or not, he's going to be horrifying. That mask, it's horrifying.
Elsie Fisher: I think there wasn't probably a lot of taking the mask on and off. Because I think there was a whole process. I mean, we just stayed in regular blood and he had this whole thing on him. So I'm sure it's a lot to deal with. I did talk to him on our plane ride into the country, though, before we started shooting and it was very sweet because we bonded over me having a book of Bulgarian phrases or something to try and familiarize myself with the country and the language. So he was very nice. I think we just didn't get to talk too much because there was a whole lot of stuff going on.
Now, Sarah, you're part of another horror fave, the Happy Death Day franchise. It's one of my favorites. There have been rumblings for years about the third installment, but now it feels like it's actually kind of close/maybe happening? There keeps being hints. Have you heard anything?
Sarah Yarkin: No but tell me more! What? I would love it.
You know, Jason Blum does interviews and every once in a while people say, "Where's Happy Death Day 3?" and he keeps saying, "It's coming." But no timeline. No idea.
Sarah Yarkin: I'll call Chris [Landon] and be like, "Yo, what's up?" I'm really close with Rachel Matthews and I'm still in touch with the whole cast. It was such an incredible experience and we constantly are like, "Do we think we're gonna get to do another?" It was just fun hanging out. It felt fun. But again, that was a horror-comedy. It was such a different experience, I will say, shooting this movie versus that, because that was fun and games and I don't remember even being in a scary part of the movie.. and this was not fun and games. [laughs].
Elsie Fisher: Yeah, very intense.
Do you have a favorite Easter egg in the movie that eagle-eyed fans should be watching out for?
Elsie Fisher: There were a lot of little character choices I definitely made to try and be like, "hoo hoo hoo." The one Easter Egg that does come to mind that's kind of fun is -- I don't know if it's an Easter Egg -- I get to pick up a cowboy hat at the end and put it on, and that was my idea and it was pretty fun. It's a little bit of a reference to David Blue Garcia, the director's, last movie, so that was kind of fun to tie that in.
Sarah Yarkin: I think this is an Easter egg, I'm not sure if it counts as an Easter egg, in the theater, there's a movie theater scene, and David Blue Garcia, his movie, Tejano, they were able to print his movie posters inside the theater and your character walks by it, which I think is super funny.
And then also, I don't know if you noticed this Elsie, [...] when Shin is holding [his phone] and he's like, "If you do this you're gonna get canceled" or whatever on the bus, holding his phone and you see the Instagram Live and the names are like Fede and--
Elsie Fisher: Oh also that's an Easter egg though. Shin, the main guy on the bus who has the phone, is one of our producers, and he was with us the whole time and it was hilarious that he's in this.
