Upon breaking onto the scene via last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, all had gone quiet for Michael Thelin’s psychological thriller, Emelie – that is, until today.
In anticipation of the film’s premiere later this week, Entertainment Weekly has conjured up an haunting new clip for Thelin’s directorial debut, thrusting Irish actress Sarah Bolger (Once Upon a Time) into the role of Anna. As a long-time friend of the Thompsons, Anna wilfully agrees to babysit their three children as the parents set about celebrating their anniversary, although things take a turn for the worse when Bolger’s lead is left alone in the company of the kids.
As the definition of the nuclear American family – white picket fence and all – there’s nothing strange or startling about the Thompsons; rather, it’s Bolger’s Anna that is the real menace fuelling Emelie. It’s a fascinating and layered role for the actress to take on, and here she shares some details about the inherent terror underpinning the horror flick.
“We allow housekeepers and babysitters and Uber drivers into our lives, handing over the keys to our home to a practical stranger — it’s become a normality,” says Bolger. “This is a real girl who enters a home and you’re letting a monster into your house unbeknownst to yourself. She’s kind of a backwards villain: You don’t know what her intentions are, so you can’t understand why she’s doing these things — like, who does she hate?”
Emelie opens via limited release on March 4, and you can peer into Michael Thelin’s domestic thriller below.
