Interview: Ariana Greenblatt, Ella Rubin and Rebecca Ablack on ‘Fear Street: Prom Queen’
Prom Queen, the latest installment of the Fear Street franchise, is a blood-soaked high school thriller that blends classic slasher nostalgia with a fresh, unique edge. It’s 1988, prom season is in full swing, and the school’s inner circle of It Girls is locked in a cutthroat race for the crown. But when an outsider joins the running and girls start disappearing, what should’ve been the biggest night of the year turns into something much darker. We spoke to stars Ariana Greenblatt, Ella Rubin and Rebecca Ablack about the film, which is now streaming on Netflix.
Film Updates: Were you fans of the Fear Street book series prior to making the film?
Ariana Greenblatt: I didn’t read the books but I watched all the movies quite a bit, actually.
Rebecca Ablack: It was fresh for me, the Prom Queen story, for sure. I was a Goosebumps fan but I hadn’t read any of the books before.
Ella Rubin: Yeah, same. I got cast like two minutes before I went and did it. So I felt like I like didn’t have time, and then the book is, I think, quite different plot-wise [compared] to the film. So maybe we should read it now. But yeah, I’ve seen the movies.
Film Updates: The film is set in the ’80s. What was it like to dress up in the ’80s clothes and have ’80s hair?
Rebecca Ablack: I think, look-wise, all of the ’80s looks are really iconic. My favorite part is the big hair. Everybody’s got big hair. I think Ilan [O’Driscoll], who plays Linda, had awesome ’80s hair.
Ella Rubin: And that’s all her real hair.
Rebecca Ablack: No wig at all!
Ella Rubin: She has an impressive head!
Rebecca Ablack: She’s incredible. Yeah, I think everybody’s hair was so fun. That was probably my favorite [element].
Ariana Greenblatt: Christy kind of had the most boring ’80s look. I feel like she puts very little time into her daily routine so her hair was pretty normal and her clothes, I feel like she just kind of found them randomly, cut them up, and that’s kind of her signature look.
Rebecca Ablack: But she’s a rockstar!
Ella Rubin: Yeah, effortless!
Ariana Greenblatt: She’s rockstar, yeah, but she doesn’t spend like an hour in the morning hairspraying; whatever the hair looks like that day is what she goes with.
Ella Rubin: I loved the ’80s era for beauty and fashion, and all that. It’s so much fun because coming from a standpoint of modern times, it’s not that cute. Like I didn’t look that cute. But I did very much enjoy it. You realize the ’80s materials, the fabrics, were different on the bod, on the skin. But I really relished in getting to look completely different than how I do. Like up the makeup, up the hair. It’s very fun to push the look as far from yourself as possible.
Film Updates: How did you guys balance some of the more comedic elements of the film with the horror tone and genre?
Rebecca Ablack: I think horror it creates such a good space for comedy. You know, things are so ridiculous and over-the-top and I think with timing and everything, like the timing of kills, how surprised you are by it. And then the way that these girls talk to each other in itself is so funny and ridiculous. I think it’s easy to be funny and it’s easy to be a campy. When you have like a really good Ensemble of people that are just Into improv willing to play with you and stuff.
Ella Rubin: I think that’s what was easy for Becky to be funny, because she’s so funny and Incredibly funny, and also like a comedian like no other like a real comedian. And so I like you said, like timing is such a thing in horror, it’s such a thing in comedy and so it kind of creates like a really nice blend of like, you know, creating a drop in a moment, whether it’s like a joke or a kill or something. It’s all kind of actually like the same and then working with Becky and like, sir and watching watching her timing and like kind of getting to play off of someone who’s so kind of like entrenched in comedy like almost scientifically. Like it was really cool to see Becky sort of up the ante of the horror through her like comedic chops. It’s like it’s really really impressive.
Film Updates: Ariana, we hear you are also developing your own horror film. Are there any updates on that?
Ariana Greenblatt: Yeah, that definitely is in the works. There’s so much going on right now, and I’m so fortunate to be able to say that, but when the time is right, and when I have the the right amount of time to sit and put the right thought process into it, just hide in my room and get all my ideas straight, then it is definitely really something I would love to do in the future. My love for horror speaks for itself. I think there’s so many different types of things to happen in the horror space and there’s a kind of endless ideas and endless endings for horror, I think it’s one of my favorite things about the genre. So when things slow down just a tiny bit and I’m able to give the proper amount of care and love to the project, I that will be something in the future for sure.
Film Updates: Ella, this is your second horror film of the year following Until Dawn. What is it that keeps you coming back to the horror genre?
Ella Rubin: They keep letting me! They keep letting me do it and I will do it until they stop! I love doing horror. At the end of the day, as an actor, it’s such a joy to get to act and get to push your body and push yourself. We’ve been talking about this all day, but it’s a genre where holding back is almost antithetical to what you’re supposed to be doing in certain moments, and I find it very cathartic. It’s obnoxious to say but I love running and screaming, and I find it really exciting. I feel like an athlete. I will do horror for as long as they let me.
FEAR STREET: PROM QUEEN is now streaming on Netflix.