'Lullaby' Interview: Oona Chaplin Talks New Horror Movie

Moviefone speaks with Oona Chaplin about 'Lullaby.' "The reason it appealed to me was the lengths to which a mother will go to take care of her baby," she said.

Opening in select theaters and On Demand December 16th is the new horror movie ‘Lullaby,’ which was directed by John R. Leonetti (‘Annabelle’).

The film stars Oona Chaplin as Rachel, a new mother who discovers a lullaby in an ancient book and regards the song as a blessing. But her world transforms into a nightmare when the lullaby brings forth the ancient demon Lilith (Kira Guloien). Ramon Rodriguez (‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’) also stars as Rachel's husband, John.

Actress Oona Chaplin was born into acting royalty as she is the daughter of actress Geraldine Chaplin, granddaughter of legendary filmmaker Charlie Chaplin, and the great-granddaughter of playwright Eugene O’Neil.

Chaplin is probably best known for her role as Talisa Maegyr on HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones,’ and will be seen in the upcoming sequels for James Cameron’s ‘Avatar: The Way of Water,’ currently entitled ‘Avatar 3’ and ‘Avatar 4.’

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Oona Chaplin about her work on ‘Lullaby,’ how she got involved in the project, her character, and the legend of Lilith, as well as working with Ramon Rodriguez, director John R. Leonetti, and a baby that won't cry.

Oona Chaplin stars in director John R. Leonetti's 'Lullaby.'

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Chaplin and director John R. Leonetti.

Moviefone: To begin with, how did you get involved with this project and what was your first reaction to the screenplay?

Oona Chaplin: Well, John Leonetti actually reached out to me, which I found extremely flattering and wonderful. We met up in Toronto and talked about the script. Then I think the reason that it appealed to me was a number of things, but the main thing was this mother's love, and the lengths to which a mother will go to take care of her baby.

That journey is really beautiful, especially with this person who is coming from a very successful career. She knows what to do, she's got everything under control, and then she completely loses control because she invites life into this world and then there's no stopping the baby from crying. So, it's like this person that's got everything all set suddenly being challenged with the most natural process in the world that she can't handle and then that gets taken away from her. It was an interesting piece.

MF: Every new parent fears for the safety of their child, can you talk about how being a new mother affects Rachel and your approach to playing her?

OC: I have never had the experience and I hope to God that I never needed to deal with it, but I imagine that losing a child is the most horrible thing that can happen to a person. It takes a lot to recover from it. But I think the fact that the child isn't lost, that it is just taken somewhere else is easier, I think.

Oona Chaplin stars in director John R. Leonetti's 'Lullaby.'

MF: Your character spends most of the film either exhausted or in complete fear. What was the mood on set and was it difficult to keep those emotions going while you were shooting?

OC: It's very tiring and it's also really fun. It's only fun because of the people really. The people make it fun. I was blessed with the most beautiful group of people to make this film. It was just so chipper in between the takes, even though the takes were very horrible, and we were just finding moments to laugh with one another in between the horrible horror moments. So, that makes it easier.

But it was very, very exhausting. My nervous system was completely shot. I think that's one of the great gifts that John gives, is he's not relying on CGI. So, he wants everything to happen right there. So, that for me was like, let's do this, because it really stretches your imagination and it stretches your emotional resilience.

MF: Can you talk about Rachel and John’s marriage, and what it was like working with Ramon Rodriguez?

OC: Ramon and I clicked instantly. It was on Zoom and it was more like we spoke about relationships and in that conversation, within the first two minutes, I just thought, we think about things in a really similar way. We're going to get along just great. This is going to be really easy. We can totally go. So, that made things very pleasant.

Then I feel like the trust, it's very difficult to trust other people when you don't trust yourself. I think that in fact it's impossible. I think that what happens is that Rachel finds herself not trusting herself, and she's not used to that. So, therefore in that place, she can't trust John. She can't trust anything.

So, until she finds that trust within herself again, and it happens in the film, then she's working with John and they're in tandem again. I don't know if the writers did that on purpose, but it was a really astute analysis of relationship. Because it's what it's like. If you don't trust yourself, there's no way you're going to trust anyone else.

(L to R) Ramon Rodriguez and Oona Chaplin star in director John R. Leonetti's 'Lullaby.'

MF: Can you talk about the challenges of acting opposite a baby?

OC: It was challenging because the babies were so well behaved and they were having the time of their life, and the baby's are supposed to be crying the whole time in the film. They wouldn't cry! They were just smiling, super chill and fascinated by the camera and playing with my face. They were so adorable. It was like, how am I going to make this baby cry?

So, I'm trying to hide his head away from the camera. The parents were there. They were so sweet. The parents, they were such a beautiful family and we were so blessed to have gotten to be with them in that time. But yeah, the babies were just having the time of their lives.

MF: Lilith is based on an actual character from the Talmud, can you talk about how she is depicted in the film?

OC: I think that it's really handy that she has that horrible hag doing her dirty work, because they make a really good duo. Then Lilith, for me, for the movie as the Boogeyman, it was just great because she's super beautiful, but really spooky, mesmerizing and enchanting. But then if you look at the real Lilith myth, I feel like they didn't quite do her justice. It's like we get to explain in the movie, there's a lot that happened to this woman.

MF: Finally, what was your experience like working with director John R. Leonetti?

OC: Working with John was great. He's extremely nice and that was very confusing to me because he makes such scary films. I was a little bit nervous because he's created so much horror, and then he's so lovely. As I said, I really admire his conviction of making things that are right there on the set without having to lean too heavily on fancy computer stuff.