[Interview] Ingrid Torelli Talks Playing Lilly in ‘Late Night with the Devil’
Late Night with the Devil is the must-see Halloween horror movie of the year, currently terrifying audiences in theaters, and so of course we are beyond excited to talk to one of the film’s stars, Ingrid Torelli, about playing the pivotal role of Lilly in the acclaimed film.
Written and directed by Colin and Cameron Cairnes, the film is set in 1977 and stars David Dastmalchian (Batman: The Long Halloween, The Suicide Squad) as a nationally syndicated late night talk show host Jack Delroy, who, under pressure from execs after the recent passing of is wife, is about to put on one hell of a Halloween episode. The name of the show is Night Owls, and guests on this Halloween special include a psychic, a hypnotist who is also a supernatural skeptic, and a parapsychologist (played by Laura Gordon) with her ward, Lilly, who she alleges is possessed by an evil entity, as viewers witness the chaos behind the scenes of the live production.
In our video conversation earlier this week, Torelli told us that she was not too familiar with American Halloween prior to working on this film, having grown up in Australia, where Late Night was shot. “I don’t think it’s as big here,” she said. “I personally haven’t in the past celebrated Halloween. It’s definitely something I want to get into though this year. It’s something I need to learn about.
“I have a few friends that do the trick or treating and they dress up in costumes. I think it’s seen as a very American thing, but I think more and more it’s definitely becoming more popular here. It’s really interesting. It’s so cool seeing people’s outfits and costumes. It’s felt like a very foreign thing, but I think more and more it’s becoming very popular here.”
Lilly is a central character of the film and one of the creepiest parts of it, in all the best ways, and Ingrid reveals that much of her performance was her own intuitive creation. “In terms of direction on set,” she said, “Colin and Cam, the thing I loved about working with them is they definitely gave me license to do mostly whatever I wanted.
“They didn’t really sit me down and say, ‘You should do this’. At the time, they said they really enjoyed what I was doing, and they kind of fed off that. Like say I looked at the camera, they’d say, ‘Oh, you should do that some more’ and ‘I like how you look back in that one. Do that a bit more’. They kind of fed off of what I was doing.
“I really enjoyed the way that they didn’t just put me in a box and say, ‘You do this.’ They really gave me creative freedom, 100 percent.”
We also discussed getting the role of Lilly, the makeup process and other memories from the set of Late Night, including when co-star David Dastmachian treated the all-Australian cast and crew to Chicago-style pizza, as well as Torelli’s reaction to seeing the finished film for the first time, and more.
You can watch our full exclusive interview with Ingrid Torelli below.
Late Night With The Devil is in select theaters now and will be available to stream on Shudder starting on April 19. You can also own it on Digital here.
[Related: Watch our interview with David Dastmalchian on Late Night with the Devil here.]
[Related: Watch our interview with Laura Gordon on Late Night with the Devil here.]
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