One of the most suspenseful scenes in director Johannes Roberts‘ Primate sees a deaf father arrive home, unaware of the vicious animal attack waging in the recesses of his house. The character, Adam, as Roberts initially wrote with collaborator Ernest Riera, wasn’t deaf at all. Nor was Adam a character who’s as warm and present […]
Primate doesn’t just mark Kotsur’s first horror role, but for star Johnny Sequoyah as well. Sequoyah plays Adam’s daughter Lucy, the film’s protagonist, tasked with going toe-to-toe with one ferociously pissed off chimp.
That the actress happens to be a huge horror fan meant this was a dream project. Even if a bit challenging. “I had never done horror before,” Sequoyah said. “So I think honestly, most of it intimidated me just because I had no idea how it was going to work, especially with so much of the script. You can’t really imagine what it’s going to look like when you’re reading it, right? I didn’t even understand how they were going to do the chimp when I was reading it. So it was pretty mind-blowing to get there to set and to see the world that they had created and to see Ben in real life.
“It felt like walking onto this magical set. I feel like a lot of the challenges then became actually doing the stuff, like acting in the water for three weeks, running around, and fake falling. And the emotional sides of it. There were so many physical and emotional challenges that were required. It was really satisfying to be able to get an opportunity like that.”
Both would love to return to horror again, though Kotsur cites an understandable caveat: “As long as it’s old school, I like old school and practical effects and that kind of feel. Old school is my thing.”
Primate releases in theaters on January 9.
Gia Hunter as “Erin” and Johnny Sequoyah as “Lucy” in Primate from Paramount Pictures.
