Tina Kakadelis
For those who enjoy the world of genre film and TV, Ashley Greene and Shawn Ashmore are familiar faces. Greene famously played one of the Cullens in the global phenomenon of Twilight while Ashmore was Bobby Drake aka Iceman in the early-aughts X-Men movies. The two actors have previously starred together in Aftermath as a young couple who are desperate to save their marriage. Writer/director Chad Archibald’s new film, It Feeds, sees Greene and Ashmore together again as two single parents with kids they must protect. Greene plays Cynthia Winstone, a clairvoyant psychiatrist who runs an at-home private practice with her daughter (Ellie O’Brien). Out of the blue, a young girl (Shayelin Martin) bursts into the Winstone home begging for help with an entity that is feeding on her. Shortly after she arrives, her father, Randall (Ashmore), angrily appears and insists they don’t need the help of the Winstones. It Feeds is about protecting your family even when the threat is not visible.
Ahead of the digital release of It Feeds, Ashley Greene and Shawn Ashmore sat down with Film Obsessive News Editor Tina Kakadelis to discuss how parenthood changes self-preservation, how pocket knives help one get into character, and horror’s ability to go places that a regular drama couldn’t. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Film Obsessive: This is actually the second horror movie you two have made together. What was the working dynamic now that you’ve known each other in these scary scenarios?
Ashley Greene: Shawn and I worked really well together. He’s a good actor and an even better human. When they talked about bringing Shawn on this, I was like, oh my God, this is amazing. Our dynamic in It Feeds is so different from the relationship we had in Aftermath.
As an actor, you just want to play, do different things, and see different sides of people. I was really excited for Shawn not to be the person I tried to lean on, but for him to be someone who actually creates a lot of turmoil in my life. I thought, this will be fun because he’s also the nicest human. To get to see him in a little bit darker shade, I was really excited about the prospect. I think you nailed it.
Shawn Ashmore: For me, Ashley was already cast. I read the script and loved it. The only downside is we didn’t have as much screen time as we did on Aftermath, just because of the type of relationship we have in It Feeds.
It’s just enjoyable to show up on set and have a friendly relationship, a friendly face, someone you trust and have spent time with. That always makes it easier coming onto a film because usually it’s like, well, I don’t really know anybody on this. It’s a bunch of strangers and we get to know each other really, really quickly, but it’s always nice to see a familiar face. I showed up and it was like, oh, there’s Ashley, hey, what’s up? She’d already been working for a week and it was just a fun thing.
It was also enjoyable, sort of like Ashley said, to come in and do something completely different. That was part of what I enjoyed about this character. I get to be an antagonist in this. I felt that, if we were going to do another movie together, it would be kind of fun to have the opposite dynamic that we did the first time.
One of the main themes of the movie that I think is such an interesting moral question to grapple with is when you should help somebody and when you should protect yourself. For your characters, do you think that theme plays out differently when it’s a parent-child relationship versus when it is solely self-preservation?
Ashley: In my life, and I think on the screen, too, it’s like you would do anything to save your child at that point. Nothing matters anymore. You’re kind of laser-focused on that versus with yourself. You do want to maintain self-preservation, but I think that goes out the window when your child’s involved. It is about them.
Shawn: I could really relate to Randall in a lot of ways. Which, maybe that sounds very dark because he’s kind of the antagonist. The actions that he’s doing, without giving too much away spoiler-wise, but I think Randall doesn’t think he’s the villain. Randall is making very, very bad choices and difficult choices against this impossible situation. He’s just watched his wife wither away and die, and now he’s watching his daughter do the same.
If you really ask yourself, what would you do to stop that from happening, you probably end up down a dark road pretty quickly. That’s kind of the way I tried to approach Randall. He’s doing the wrong thing, but for the right reason.
I think that makes him at least redeemable, and not a straight-up villain. He’s just stuck in an impossible situation, and he’s trying to save the one person he has left in his life and happens to be his daughter. I could really relate to that character, his pain, and the choices he was making.
Shawn, I was browsing through your social media and saw you’re a huge pocket knife collector. Since that’s such an important part of your life, when you’re building these characters, are you thinking about what those characters would have on them?
Shawn: I own a small company called Peace, Neighbor. I design and manufacture pocket tools, pry bars, keychains, pocket knives, stuff like that. I’ve always been interested in that. During COVID, that design side came out because I couldn’t act. I just wanted to design something and actually make something. That’s kind of how we started the company.
But yes, especially a character like Randall who does cabinetry and tablemaking. He would have certain types of tools. Chad Archibald, the director, was the biggest part of that because we put files, hammers, and stuff together for the one scene where Ellie’s character comes and confronts Randall at home.We had all these tools and stuff, and I was like, oh, this looks cool.
I played an FBI agent on a TV show, and that’s where I really got into it all. What would he would carry? What would his use be? Flashlights, a pocket knife, and all that kind of stuff.
Honestly, I find it’s predominantly a male accouterment, you know? I feel like it’s style as much as it is function. Your wallet matches your keychain, matches your pry bar, matches your flashlight. It’s just a representation of style for a lot of people too. It’s all a part of this collection and a part of looking and representing a certain way.
Ashley, you’ve played a very famous clairvoyant role in the past. Cynthia’s clairvoyant powers are different from Alice’s. How do you think these differences impact their abilities to form relationships with those closest to them?
Ashley: I felt because she essentially uses telepathy, it almost bordered on more what Robert’s [Pattinson]’s or Edward’s was in the reading of mind versus Alice because she could see the future. But I felt like those things happened to her and then they navigated that. And with It Feeds, it’s not happening to Cynthia. She’s making this conscious decision of going, okay, with your consent, I’m going to enter into your brain and unlock these really painful parts of your past in order to allow you to be free.
I certainly think that Alice, if she had that opportunity, would do the same thing for other people. I think there’s a similarity of both having supernatural abilities and being very compassionate people who do really care about helping other people. I thought that was kind of a fun ride back to her.
Obviously, with Cynthia there’s a lot more darkness surrounding her and the stakes felt a lot more personal and a lot higher.
My favorite horror movies are the ones that use ghosts and demons as metaphors for internal struggles. It Feeds is a great example of that. What is it about the horror genre that allows you, as actors, to maybe go somewhere that reaches a wider audience than a straight-up drama would?
Ashley: I think, like you said, this is almost the mixing of the drama with the horror. Mixing this psychological element with a supernatural horror element on top of it. It creates a really beautiful, layered experience for people.
I’m not necessarily interested in going in and just doing a super-gory-for-no-reason film. Nothing against them. It’s just not something I heavily connect to. When I walked in and read the script, I was like, oh my God, there’s so much going on with these characters. There’s so much they’re fighting internally and mentally that then kind of evolves into what they have to experience physically. I think it’s a full ride for an audience. It touches on so many things.
Shawn: I also feel, and I’ve always felt like this about all genres, whether it’s science fiction or fantasy or horror, I think it allows you to explore everyday emotions and trauma within a kind of broader, more entertaining landscape. You’re adding the supernatural element to it, so people enjoy disconnecting from the everyday problems. We all have to deal with this stuff all the time.
I think telling a legitimate or a grounded story within a genre like horror still allows an audience to escape because we’re watching the supernatural thing, but also process. In this case, emotional trauma. I think it allows an audience to feel like there’s some escape and entertainment while dealing with very grounded subjects.
