Riven with anxiety, Samara Weaving found an unlikely balm: acting in a horror film. “I was discovering this inner strength that I didn’t realise I had,” she recalls over Zoom from her home in Los Angeles. “Being able to scream and run and chase people and fight back kind of shook the anxiety out of me… after that, I noticed I didn’t need my meds!”
The movie was Ready or Not, the 2019 scalpel-sharp, eat-the-rich slasher film that transformed the actor from just another talented but under-the-radar Australian export perpetually confused with Margot Robbie (don’t worry, they’re friends), to Samara Weaving, cult movie star beloved by the internet’s gays and gorehounds. “They are the greatest,” the 33-year-old smiles, referring to her burgeoning fanbase. “And so wonderfully weird – I get nothing but love from them.”
