Abigail is the upcoming horror/slasher/babysitting movie that follows a team of thieves who hold a little ballerina hostage in the hopes of getting some ransom money. Only the sweet little ballerina is actually a bloodthirsty vampire. You can’t trust any ballerinas these days!
The movie features a stacked cast, including Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Giancarlo Esposito and Angus Cloud, who passed away in July 2023. Directors Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin shared what it was like to work with the young actor.
“It was just so evident how much fun he was having,” Gillett told Variety. “I don’t think we’ve ever worked with somebody that forces the other actors in the scene to pay attention. There’s not a false moment in anything that he does. He kind of gave everyone permission to be a little weird and take some swings that maybe they wouldn’t have otherwise, just because of how natural and charismatic he is in a scene.” Considering the absurdity of the promise, being a little weird was probably pretty beneficial.
Cloud died after he had finish filming, which means they didn’t have to do any reshoots or rewrites for the film. “Every single thing of Angus is Angus in the movie,” he says. “There’s not even an ADR line off-camera that we needed for story. It’s all Angus.” Abigail is one of two movies that Cloud had wrapped before his death, the other being Freaky Tales alongside Pedro Pascal and Jay Ellis.
Bettinelli-Olpin added, “Everybody involved really wanted to make sure that we finished the movie strong and did Angus justice. We felt a responsibility.”
Abigail hits theaters on April 19th.