Piper Laurie ‘hated being mean’ to Sissy Spacek in ‘Carrie’

Piper Laurie and Sissy Spacek are two names synonymous with horror for their portrayal of Margaret and Carrie White, respectively, in the 1976 horror classic Carrie. The film, one of the most iconic in the scary movie realm, sticks with you long after you’ve watched it, and Margaret White is one of the most villainous women in horror.

So, what did it feel like to take on a role as multifaceted and heavy as Margaret? For Laurie, she said the most challenging part was how she had to treat her co-star. She noted that it was very difficult to be so mean to Sissy Spacek in Carrie, and the fact that she struggled with it speaks to her talent and determination to nail the character of Margaret.

In a feature regarding her entertainment career, she said that working with Spacek was a wonderful experience even if she had to treat her so poorly:

“Oh, it was lovely. She was so good and that I hated being so mean to her. She’s a sweet lady.”

Upon being asked if the scenes were difficult to perform, Laurie said they weren’t, but it was an experience unlike any she had before, which made it rather fun.

“No, it was great fun; I had an opportunity to play-act — like children do. You know, and I could be the mean lady. And I laughed a lot in between takes,” laughing a lot between takes was likely as healing to Laurie as it was to Spacek, and it spoke to our horror hearts that she said it wasn’t difficult to transform into the role of Margaret because she saw it as play acting.

So Laurie was quite surprised that nominations for herself and Spacek came in for their work on Carrie, and she says that part of the reason why is because it all felt like something extraordinary, not like work at all:

“I was a housewife and mother living in the woods of Woodstock, and I’m suddenly invited to come to Hollywood and had this romp, this vacation that I was being paid for, and then to get an Oscar nomination, it was just fabulous fun.”

Artists of any kind know that when you’re so close to your project, it can be hard to see the magic in it, so it’s not exactly a surprise that Laurie didn’t realize what an impact Carrie would have on horror, but she certainly felt it as the years went by. Carrie is a must-watch during horror season, and it’s still one of the most unnerving movies we’ve seen, but having heard Laurie talk about it, it put things into a new perspective for us.

The content was heavy, the storyline multifaceted, but at the end of the day, they were just having fun. As fans of all things pop culture know, Laurie passed away on Oct. 14 of old age, but her roles in the entertainment realm will stay with us forever. May her friends find comfort in them during this difficult time.