In “The Intruder,” Erica Rivas plays Inés, a dubbing voice actress who after a traumatic experience during a holiday trip, develops a sleep disorder and starts suffering from very vivid nightmares. Inés fears she’s being possessed by creatures from her dreams.
Did the making of the film affect the cast on a psychological level? According to actor Daniel Hendler who plays Leopoldo in the film, the answer is “yes.”
“I had dreams two weeks ago when I saw the film for the second time and it was hard for me. Yes, the night after that,” Hendler told TheWrap’s Joe McGovern.
“But the interesting thing when we were shooting, that we are all working for Erica’s character because we are her monsters. So it was easier for us working on that because you are out of the dream, theoretically. But in practice, we were invited to be part of this very strange and very deep thing that, that we looked for,” Hendler added.
“For me it was the same,” Rivas said. “I think that it changed my point of view of the dreams. Now I record my dreams and when I wake up and have a dream that I remember, I am always thinking about for who is this dream? What is the audience of this dream?”
“I remember Erica’s dreams during the film, and she had a lot of dreams about laughing and I think it affected the way she was dreaming,” director Natalia Meta said. “Something changes in your life in a very, sometimes in a very different way than what what actually happens in the movie, but the movie has an effect, a very mysterious effect in those who participate.”
“I think this is a mystery and it’s very similar to the mystery about the relationship between reality and dreams,” Meta added.
The psychological horror thriller is based on a novel by C.E. Feiling and premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.
“The Intruder” is Argentina’s submission for the Oscars Best International Feature Film category for 2021.
Watch the rest of Joe McGovern’s interview with the film’s director and cast in the video above.