NEON
- Sydney Sweeney plays a pregnant nun in her new horror movie, "Immaculate."
- Sweeney said in a Q&A after the premiere that she hid candy in a pouch inside her fake belly.
- The "Euphoria" star made "Immaculate" 10 years after her initial audition for the role.
Sydney Sweeney wanted to get bloody and crazy in her first scary movie, but she also made time for snacking.
In a Q&A after the premiere of "Immaculate" at SXSW Film & TV Festival in Austin, Sweeney spoke about making the gory horror movie. When asked about the process of designing the habit-heavy wardrobe for the film, Sweeney revealed a behind-the-scenes detail about her costume.
"I had a little pouch inside that had candy," Sweeney said of her fake pregnant belly. "I could just reach in, have a little snack in the middle of a take."
Director Michael Mohan added that Sweeney, who was also an executive producer, was very hands-on with the entire production. She even "took the lead" when it came to giving feedback for the costuming, according to Mohan.
"Everything is custom-made. It's all just dreamt up, not one single piece was store-bought. Everything was actually handmade and very particular," Sweeney said.
During the Q&A, Sweeney also discussed how she'd first seen Andrew Lobel's script for "Immaculate" when she auditioned for an earlier version of the film 10 years ago. It never ended up getting made, but she couldn't stop thinking about it and said she'd call her agent year after year and ask what happened with it.
Eventually, when Sweeney decided to make a horror movie, she knew just the one she wanted to do. She contacted Lobel to ask if she could have his script, and the rest is history.
On the red carpet ahead of the SXSW premiere, Lobel spoke to Business Insider about what it was like to get that call from Sweeney out of the blue, years after giving up hope he'd ever see "Immaculate" get made.
"Fairy tale is one way to put it," Lobel told BI. "Honestly, I had been pushing that boulder up the hill for so long that you kind of burn out the nerves where you believe that it will happen."
Initially, Lobel said, he assumed this was going to be yet another opportunity that wouldn't pan out. In fact, it took him "the better part of production" to accept that his movie was really getting made.
"Rejection is a part of the job, and when it starts to happen — when it starts to feel real — you realize you've built up an armor that stops you from being able to enjoy it," he told BI. "So much of this has been trying to find that kid, that film student who's 20 years old and decided, 'I'm gonna make the most fucked up weird horror movies I can make.' That kid died! I had to find that kid."
"It feels so cool," Lobel said. "It's one of the greatest feelings in the world. It's why we make art, so we can share it."
"Immaculate" is in theaters now.
