Summary

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff chats with Tatiana Maslany for The Monkey.

The Monkey is Osgood Perkins’ adaptation of the Stephen King short story about a toy monkey that seems to be the cause of random, horrific deaths.

During this conversation, Maslany discusses why she loves working with Perkins, their next horror moie, Keeper, and Josh Ruben’s Green Bank.

Tatiana Maslany’s cemented her place in the world of sci-fi with her outstanding work on Orphan Black playing 17 characters, and has even entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Now, she’s showing off some of her work in Osgood Perkins’ universe with The Monkey, a production where the writer-director allowed his cast to let their freak flags fly.
The Monkey is Perkins’ take on the Stephen King short story about twins Hal and Bill (Theo James), who are traumatized by a string of unspeakable deaths in childhood, believed to be caused by a cymbal-wielding toy monkey. Years later, when the monkey resurfaces, the estranged brothers must come together to put an end to the entity’s reign of terror.
While chatting with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Maslany shares why collaborating with Perkins is the kind of experience she calls a “no-brainer” to repeat, and talks about the environment on set for both The Monkey and their upcoming release, Keeper. Maslany also discusses working with her co-star, Christian Convery, on portraying young Hal and Bill, how she tapped into her character Lois, and teases Josh Ruben’s Green Bank with Jasmin Savoy Brown. Check out the full interview in the video above, or you can read the transcript below.
Oz Perkins Welcomes “Unique Weirdos” to His Sets

Maslany also says reuniting with the filmmaker for ‘The Monkey’ after making ‘Keeper’ was a “no-brainer.”

PERRI NEMIROFF: I wanted to start by talking a little bit about working with Oz because I was reading in our press notes that you two made Keeper together before filming this one. It made me wonder, what did you see in him as an actor’s director and a leader on that film that made you think, “I need more of that?”
TATIANA MASLANY: He’s so much fun to work with for so many reasons. He has such a kind of childlike imagination. He’s so excited by making films. He really is infectious in that way. He hires people who are amazing at their jobs and don’t necessarily have a thousand credits. He really finds unique voices, whether that’s in the props department or the hair and makeup or costumes, set design. He’s really about fostering unique weirdos, and that is the best.
When we filmed Keeper, I won’t talk too much about it, but I just feel, like, free as an artist. I felt this sense of, “Oh, things are possible. Making work with people who are kind and freaky is possible. We can make cool stuff.” So, it was a no-brainer for me to get to do another thing with him.

Image via NEON

Oh, I don’t blame you. I don’t know what tone or style Keeper is, but I just love the fact that he does this complete 180 in a single year, going from Longlegs to The Monkey. I imagine when a filmmaker does that, you can experience a new side of him each step of the way. So even though you knew he was really good on Keeper, is there anything he did on the set of The Monkey that made even you go, “My god, I knew you were a good director, but I never realized you’d be capable of that?”
MASLANY: I think it’s that dexterity. That’s the kind of thing that I look for in anything I take in or anything I’m curious about. It’s like, is it able to shift and grow and change? Oz just has such a facility with so many different tones, and I think what he does really well is not marry any one of them, not get attached to any one of them, and that keeps an audience and the people within the production always present. You can’t just sit back and be like, “Oh, we’re doing the tropes of this thing.” It’s like, “No, no, we’re going to flip the trope on its head, and we’re going to revere the trope, and we’re going to explore it or explode it.”
“Revere the trope, explore or explode it.” I’m going to think about that often!

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You mentioned the idea that Oz finds these wonderful weirdos, and you all get to make movies together. I will preface this by saying I know it’s an unfair question. Every single person who is responsible for making a movie is of the utmost importance to the process, but because we get the opportunity to talk to you and Oz and Theo today, can you maybe name an unsung hero of The Monkey, someone behind the scenes who contributed that wonderfully weird touch, perhaps even in a way that teed you up for success with your own work?
MASLANY: Mica Kayde, who’s the costume designer, is astonishing. She is so smart. She has such incredible character-building ability. She doesn’t think inside the box at all, but she could do that if asked to. I felt like when we did our first fitting, I was like, “Oh, I feel Lois now. I can see Lois. There’s a different thing going on here than just myself.” That’s always a gift as an artist.
Tatiana Maslany Didn’t Need to Revisit ‘Orphan Black’

Her ‘The Monkey’ co-star “had it so in the bag.”

Image via NEON

I always love hearing about an actor who has an “aha” moment when finding a new character. Did you have something you did either in prep or on set that made you stop and go, “I know exactly who my Lois needs to be now?”
MASLANY: Early conversations with Oz were helpful in sort of guiding it. But yeah, it’s always, to me, once I’m actually there and in the skin and in the costume and opposite my kids. There are always moments. Like even in the dancing scene, which was, I think, the last thing I shot, there’s so much information in there for me, and I was like, “Oh, I wish I got to play Lois longer because I feel like I know her better now.” Or even the first thing I think I shot was teaching the dance class to the senior citizens. Just getting to improvise with them off-mic was like, “Oh, yeah, this is telling me a lot.”
Mentioning the dance scene is making me think of this; you obviously have so much experience playing twins, and now all of a sudden, you’re on the other side of that. What is something about your own Orphan Black experience that teed you up for success when shooting scenes like the dance scene, and also, how were you able to pass on that information to Christian so he could make the most of that opportunity?
MASLANY: I said nothing to Christian. Christian had it so in the bag. He knew exactly. There didn’t seem to be a second of question. He was so good. He was so good that, in fact, today I was talking to a friend, and I was like, “Oh, I’m excited to see the twins tonight. They’re so good in the movie.” Then it’s like, “Wait a minute…” Truly, because I haven’t seen him in a while and I have only the film as a reference, I completely believe it. He was so easy with it. It was kind of infuriating.
Tatiana Maslany Says ‘Green Bank’ Will Be “Transformative”

She’s excited to work with more “wonderful weirdos.”

Image via NEON

I want to squeeze in one question about an unrelated project because I’d just seen Josh [Ruben] for Heart Eyes, and I just saw Jasmin [Savoy Brown] for Yellowjackets, so I was hoping you had a Green Bank update. If not, what is it about that project that you think will help you continue to evolve your craft as an actor?
MASLANY: Green Bank is just an amazing script and Josh is such a great director. I have always just been a fan of his impressions and his Instagram presence and then got to know him and was like, “Oh my god, you’re an amazing artist!” He’s so hilarious. And Green Bank is, for me, selfishly, just a great opportunity to play a character again in a way that will be, I think, transformative and back to what I love to do with, again, wonderful weirdos. Jasmin is such a talent. She’s so amazing. So yeah, I’m so excited about that project.
The Monkey is in theaters beginning February 21.

The Monkey

Release Date

February 19, 2025

Runtime

98 Minutes

Writers

Osgood Perkins

Producers

John Rickard, Natalia Safran, Ali Jazayeri, Chris Ferguson, Fred Berger, Giuliana Bertuzzi, James Wan, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, John Friedberg, Jason Cloth, David Gendron, Michael Clear, Jesse Savath, Peter Luo, Dave Caplan

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