Heading into his 24th birthday this October, actor Max Thieriot can already boast a great film career that has put him side by side with the likes of Kristen Stewart, director Wes Craven, and now The Hunger Games star and Oscar® nominee Jennifer Lawrence in his latest horror, thriller House at the End of the Street.
“House at the End of the Street is complicated in the way most good movies are,” says producer Aaron Ryder. “It is a bit of a Hitchcockian thriller, geared toward a younger audience with a great young cast. The script is really good—and by that I mean really scary.”
Thieriot is clearly no stranger to scares, having starred in the Wes Craven directed My Soul to Take in 2010. But ‘HATES’ brought a fresh approach to the genre the actor couldn’t pass up, with layered characters and a storyline that throws twists and turns at its audience.
“I was shocked and surprised by the originality of the story,” says Thieriot. “The twists and madness of it really caught my imagination. I never saw the ending coming, and I can usually predict how a script will end.”
On top of the clever script, Max also had a rich character to delve into that he’s never played before. The role of Ryan involved a traumatic childhood and deep secrets that lead to a life of loneliness, which contributes to what many describe as his creepy and horrifying existence.
“He lives as a hermit because he knows he is misunderstood and looked down upon,” says Thieriot. ”When Elissa (Lawrence) comes into his life, she sees him in a different light. That changes something in him. It exposes a part of him that even he didn’t know was there.”
Outside the characters, Jennifer Lawrence also shines a different light on Theiriot’s talent that others may not have experienced yet.
“He’s like Paul Newman reincarnated,” she says. “And it takes a lot for me to say that—I love Paul Newman. He is good-looking and immensely talented, but he’s also like a cowboy. He doesn’t seem to care. He sits in his trailer and listens to country music and chews tobacco. It’s sexy.”
Thieriot recently sat down with The Seven Sees’ Gerrad Hall in Los Angeles.
House at the End of the Street is currently in theaters, opening last weekend in the #2 spot with $12.2 million, less than a million behind End of Watch.
