Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on July 6, 2012, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
She had already faced ghosts, Aliens and Predators by age 10, so spending time with Some Guy Who Kills People was no problem for Ariel Gade. In fact, her character Amy helps bring out the humanity in Ken, the troubled, murderous antihero played by Kevin Corrigan. The young actress discussed her roles in Some Guy and her past genre fare with Fango.
In Some Guy Who Kills People (reviewed here), just out on DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment and directed by Jack Perez from a script by producer Ryan Levin (who talk about the film here), Gade is surrounded by veteran actors like Karen Black and Barry Bostwick—but the 15-year-old is something of a genre vet herself. She had her first major screen role as Jennifer Connelly’s daughter in the J-horror remake Dark Water, and confronted extraterrestrials as a regular on the ABC series Invasion and as part of the cast of AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator—Requiem. In Some Guy, however, she has her most nuanced role yet as the daughter Ken never knew he had—a ray of light in the darkness of his life.
How did you get involved with Some Guy Who Kills People?
Well, my agent sent me to audition for it, and I loved my character when I read the script. She was just so amazing and outgoing. It’s kind of the opposite of me, because I’m more of an introvert. So I went to the audition and I booked it.
Would you say this is the most complex role you’ve done? Amy has more dimensions than many roles for actresses your age.
I really do think so, because like I said before, she’s just so different from the type of person I usually am. It was a real challenge for me to come out of my comfort zone and play someone so different from my own self.
You have great chemistry on screen with Kevin Corrigan. How did you develop that father/daughter relationship, and how did you get along offscreen?
It was just a lot of bonding. We would talk a lot off set, and actually had a lot in common. We got along great; he’s an amazing actor and individual and was so kind to me. As a matter of fact, at the end of filming, he wrote me a really nice letter. I get emotional at the end of filming anyway, and the letter just made me cry because some of the things he said were so beautiful.
Did any particular scenes you did together stand out for you?
There was one scene where we’re playing basketball, because he has just bought me a new hoop at his house. And it was funny, because I just had to keep throwing the ball directly at the garage and it would make this big bang sound, because I’m supposed to be a horrible basketball player. It was just so funny doing that scene with Kevin [laughs].
How about Karen Black; was she as much fun in person as she appears on screen?
Oh yeah, she was hilarious! I loved working with her. She just brought that wit to the movie.
Were you on set for any of the gory moments?
I wasn’t around when they were filming the actual cutting and slicing [laughs], but I did see the setup when Marty Prichard [Britain Spellings] gets killed, where he’s in the lawn chair with the big ol’ ax in his head.
Are you squeamish about stuff like that?
Oh no, I’m all right. I have a little cousin who’s into gory horror movies like Friday the 13th and Freddy Krueger and all that stuff. So I’m pretty good with that [laughs].
How was it working with Jack Perez?
He was really great. There was one scene where we were filming at the ice cream parlor [where Ken works], and this was the first time Amy was [knowingly] meeting her father. It was kind of a dramatic moment for my character, and I think we got it in one shot and he called me a young version of Jodie Foster. That was a really big compliment from him.
How did you feel about the film when you saw the final version?
I was so amazed with how it was put together, because you read the script and have one idea of it, and then you see it with all the actors and all the music put into it, and everyone did an amazing job.
You’ve been in a number of horror films. You mentioned that your cousin likes them, but are you a fan as well?
Every now and then. The biggest horror movie that I’m a fan of is probably Saw. I like the gore and the scary characters like Freddy Krueger.
So you must have enjoyed being around the monsters on the set of AVPR.
It was really fun, because I got to see the actual Predator. He was ginormous! He had to literally duck under doorways to get through, and it was really cool seeing him all in costume. And the Aliens were great too. There was one scene where they had just called cut, and it was really cold in Vancouver where we were filming, and an Alien was just sitting there drinking a Starbucks coffee! It was really funny to see that [laughs].
You also dealt with aliens on Invasion. What are your memories from that show?
Well, that was quite a while back! It was really different, because I didn’t really get to see the aliens like I did on AVPR; it was mainly greenscreen. But the show was an amazing experience. The actors were just great, and I had a longer experience with them than I would on a movie set, because it was a series that lasted for about a year. So we all got to be really close to each other.
The first time horror audiences saw you was in Dark Water.
I loved working with Jennifer Connelly. She’s such an amazing actress, and one of my favorites. I got to actually go to her house, and we played hide and seek because she has a son my age, Kai. That was cool, because I get to say that I played hide and seek at Jennifer Connelly’s house [laughs].
Were there any scenes in Dark Water where you actually got scared while shooting them?
There weren’t any scenes where I was scared of the ghost aspect, but there was one scene at the end where I’m being drowned by the ghost, and that was really scary for me because at that time, I didn’t know how to swim. I had a fear of water, and every time they would dunk me under, a bunch of water would go gushing up my nose, and I was hating it. That was a really traumatizing experience for me.
There was a similar scene with Jennifer where there was water just gushing around her. The director of Dark Water, Walter Salles, was very, very particular and picky about each take. That was one of the final scenes in the movie, and Jennifer was just being completely drowned, and you felt so sorry for her because the director kept wanting to do it over and over again until he got exactly what he wanted.
Do you have any dream projects, or actors you’d like to collaborate with?
I really want to work with Johnny Depp. He’s one of my favorite actors. I love him in Pirates of the Caribbean, Sweeney Todd… He’s just such an amazing actor, because he can play characters that are so different from each other. None of his roles are alike in any way.
Do you have a particular character you’d like to do—a dream part?
I would like to do something that would really challenge my abilities. Something…I guess iconic would be the word for it? Like A Beautiful Mind—something similar to that, because that would be really challenging.
