Summary

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff speaks with Heart Eyes stars, Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding.

In the movie, the duo play Ally and Jay, a young couple trying to survive a Valentine’s Day serial killer on their first date.

In this interview, Holt and Gooding share their secrets for on-screen chemistry, how they first met, and more.

Horror and romantic comedies may seem like they have nothing in common, but there is one crucial element these two genres share — on-screen chemistry. If you don’t care about a couple, what does it matter if they end up together in the end or not? Likewise, why do we care if Jason or Ghostface takes them out? The cast of the slasher rom-com Heart Eyes pulled double duty with this one, especially its two star-crossed leads, Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding.
In the movie, directed by Josh Ruben, Ally (Holt) and Jay (Gooding) are just trying to survive their first date — literally. For years, someone has been stalking and murdering couples, like Cupid’s twisted cousin, and this year, it’s their turn. Heart Eyes also brings back horror alums Devon Sawa and Jordana Brewster.
In this interview with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Holt and Gooding discuss the first time they met on set and how they knew they would be the right pair to lead this holiday horror. In addition to their real-life meet-cute, they talk about the methods they use to take scenes to an 11 as soon as action is called, and how Ruben helped them find “lightning” together.
Mason Gooding and Olivia Holt Share a “Monumental” Moment

The two first met on the set of Heart Eyes.

Image via Sony Pictures

PERRI NEMIROFF: I think this movie hinges on your chemistry, so I’ll start there. Can you each tell me the very first thing you saw the other do that made you say, “Yes, he is the Jay to my Ally,” and vice versa?
MASON GOODING: When we first met, we were in a makeup room, and we hadn’t had an interaction. There was no camera read. I obviously am a big fan of Olivia, and that still carries through to this day, but there were enough people, and there was enough commotion going on, and I was just trying to think of, like, “How do I engage with her that doesn’t make me look like a dweeb, but also is memorable and maybe makes her feel comfortable and like I’m here to have a good time and make a good movie?” And before I could think of anything, she walked across all the people, came over, and was like, “Hi, I’m Olivia. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m very excited to work with you.” And I was like, “Alright, I’m in.” That’s all it took.
OLIVIA HOLT: It was just a few words.
GOODING: A simple look. Well, it’s also just that the general atmosphere is one in which I was fully invested. So, thank you for being lovely inside and out.
HOLT: Thank you.
Someone taking that initiative can mean a lot, especially in a high-pressure environment like that.
GOODING: That’s it! So what’s your answer? [Laughs]
HOLT: I do vaguely remember that moment because I had freshly just got off of my 14-hour flight to New Zealand. Such a special moment. Agreed. I think probably our first day of shooting when we were actually our characters because I didn’t know how you were going to portray Jay, and you didn’t know how I was going to portray Ally. I think that first day solidified it. I was so happy. I went home, and I was like, “This is going to be the best making this movie with him.”
GOODING: That first day was monumental.
These ‘Heart Eyes’ Stars Challenged Each Other to “Be Better” on Set

“No matter what, if something goes wrong on the day, you’ve got it under control”.

I’m gonna build on that now. So you have a very good impression right out the gate of each other, but now I want to know, during filming, can you each recall a time on set when you saw the other do something that made you stop and go, “I knew you were going to be good, but I never realized you’d be capable of that?”
GOODING: Obviously, you’re a spectacular actor, and I hope I don’t need to go into how incredible your performance is from a dialogue and delivery standpoint. It’s all remarkable, and that has always been the case. What I think was unbelievably impressive to watch was a day in which I had off because we were filming a stunt sequence in a park. You know where this is going. I came with my camera, and I just wanted to be around set, and I bore witness to Olivia engaging in a stunt sequence that was not only locomotive and moving but also involved heavy choreography that I assume you guys had worked out. Then there was a bit where it carries on into a sequence still in the same stunt sequence, and watching, I was like, “That’s someone who has such control and understanding of her own physicality that I absolutely want to be better at my job, specifically in that facet, but also just in general to make sure I’m not leaving her out in the dust. I want to work at that level.” So, thank you for inspiring me each day.
HOLT: That’s very sweet.
GOODING: Hell yeah.
Job well done describing that without spoiling anything!
GOODING: I know. Look at that!

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HOLT: I have, actually, a very similar one, but I think it was when you were practicing. You were doing some stunt rehearsal for our finale moment in the movie because we had to rehearse all that stuff very, very early on, just so we had it in our body and in our bones and knew what we were going to do on the day. Kind of a very similar experience, you, with all of our stunt actors, just sort of took control, and you guys were working things out. I hadn’t seen it yet, and I hadn’t been a part of it, and you’d been working on it while I was shooting other stuff. I remember going in and being like, “Oh, okay. He’s good. It’s handled.” No matter what, if something goes wrong on the day, you’ve got it under control. And things went wrong, and you got it under control.
GOODING: We still had it under control.
I mean, that’s moviemaking for ya!
GOODING: That’s movies, baby!
“A lot of it comes down to comfortability.”

Image via Sony Pictures

To build on the idea of having things in your bones …
GOODING: God, you’re a good journalist.
[Laughs] Don’t give me credit until you hear my question! I love hearing about an actor’s experience being able to take it to an 11 the second action is called. Can you two list off some techniques or tricks you’ve picked up over the years so that you can get there the second it is go time?
GOODING: I think across the board, and I’m obviously very curious to hear what you say, I think a lot of it comes down to comfortability, which has to either be manufactured through a method or a means by which to access performance in an internal feeling of comfort and confidence. A lot of times, actors need to either procure a moment or take their time to access it.
The most tried and true method for my process, I would say, is a connection with a scene partner or someone I’m working with. Hopefully, a director is as talented as Josh, although that’s very hard to come by because of his level of brilliance, but the goal is to take the known aspects of a movie — the script, the tone, the visuals — and allow that to infiltrate your psychology so that when it’s time to say action, you can kind of just do what actors call “dropping in.” Sometimes it takes a little longer than that, and you’ve just got to be accepting of it. Practical effects help, as well, because you can really feel the gravity of a scene when something’s actually taking place in front of you instead of a green sock or what have you.
HOLT: I would agree with you. I’ll piggyback off of something that you said, which is the scene partner and feeling comfortable, and I think we both did a really good job with each other and with the other actors that we got the chance to be in any scene with. We’re starting so many of these scenes in the middle of a hectic moment. Just for a fun little BTS visual for you, a lot of those scenes started with us running, and we were already mid-run, so Mason and I would do a lot of jumping up and down and jumping jacks to try and get the adrenaline going before we would go into that scene.

Image via Sony Pictures

GOODING: Yeah. Rehearsals, also. I had one of the most productive rehearsals with Olivia and Josh before we had even started filming a scene that was very integral to the characters and their relationships. It was the dinner scene. Josh had easily one of the best moves a director could have thought of. We were trying to figure it out, and it wasn’t feeling quite right for one reason or another. Josh said, “Let’s try something,” and he wrote two notes on two cards and handed us them. He was like, “Don’t tell each other what it says. Let’s do the scene again.” And the second I read it, I was like, “Oh, I got it.” We went in, we did the rehearsal, and it felt like lightning. I’m not going to tell you what was on the note, but I can tell you it was the right thing at the right time, and it led the rest of my thoughts.
Heart Eyes terrorizes theaters on February 7.

Heart Eyes

Release Date

February 7, 2025

Director

Josh Ruben

Writers

Michael Kennedy, Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon

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