"I could take 'em", Katy O'Brian's bodybuilder Jackie grins as she ices her bruised cheek early on in Love Lies Bleeding. She's just been warned by Kristen Stewart's skittish gym manager Lou not to make a habit of getting into fisticuffs with the iron-pumping locals ("round here, I'm telling you, that could've gone a lot worse"), but she's not fazed; she knows what she's capable of. Or does she? In the neon-lit thriller, co-written and directed by Rose Glass, we find out – in the most grimy, gory, and sometimes surprisingly goofy way.
When O'Brian first read the film's script post-audition and callback, though, she wasn't feeling as confident as her onscreen counterpart. "I remember shaking as I was finding out, page by page, what happens to Jackie. It was so scary. It was so intense," she tells GamesRadar+ ahead of the movie's UK release. "I was on the edge of my seat as I was reading, which doesn't happen often. Usually, like, one out of 100 scripts that you get even catches your interest. Such a visceral reaction is incredibly rare.
