Exclusive Interview: Emma Roberts and John Gallagher Jr. Discuss Their Thriller, Abandoned

Emma Roberts and John Gallagher Jr. need no introduction! The two are joining forces for their new project, Abandoned.

Abandoned follows the sharply intense lives of Sara (Emma Roberts), her husband Alex (John Gallagher Jr.), and their infant son as they move into a remote farmhouse, which harbors a dark, tragic history. As their home’s past is revealed, the mother’s fragility escalates to a state of psychosis that jeopardizes her own safety and that of her newborn son.

Pop Culturalist was had the pleasure of speaking with Emma and John about the must-see horror-thriller!

PC: The two of you have done it all throughout your career. What was it about this particular character and script that stood out to each of you? Emma, do you want to kick us off?
Emma: When I read Abandoned, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even just the title, I was very intrigued by the setup of this couple with their new baby moving into a farmhouse where weird things start happening. I’ve heard a version of this before, but this was done in such a fresh, exciting way. You think you know where it’s going, but you absolutely don’t. It made me really excited to take the bones of a story that we all know and love and take it to a new level.

John: Echoing what Emma said, it was really the same sentiments for me. I love the horror genre, and I love how it was subverted and played with. The expectations were always shifting as you kept reading. But more than anything, I liked that at the heart of it, they managed to keep the intimacy and the stakes of this family dynamic and drama alive and have that at the forefront. No matter what was happening, I was rooting for this family and worrying about them and caring about them—that kept me reading and invested.

PC: Emma, throughout the film, we see the emotional journey your character goes through as she struggles with postpartum depression and trying to connect with her son. As an actress, how did you create this space for yourself to dive into that arc? What was that preparation like?
Emma: First, it was working with Spencer Squire, who was one of the writers and the director; he had such a vision. He really wanted to portray everything in the movie with nuance and wanted to keep it grounded. That made me feel super comfortable in getting to explore what that means. My character, Sarah, is dealing with very real things, but then it does take a turn where you’re like, “What is real? What isn’t?” It’s really interesting to get to explore what it means to be a new mother and in this genre’s world.

PC: John, in addition to acting, you’re an acclaimed singer-songwriter. If you had to pick one of your own songs that best describes your character’s arc or the film, which would it be and why?
John: Oh my goodness. First of all, you’re very kind for saying acclaimed. That’s a good one. I would say maybe a song off my first album. I’ll plug it right now: Six Day Hurricane available on iTunes and Spotify. There’s a song called “Imagine If”, which is all about self-doubt. I would say that one because I think the character is doubting his own ability to be a good husband, doubting his ability to be a good parent, and doubting the future of his family.

PC: Emma, in addition to acting, you’ve also been doing a lot of producing, including on this film. Have you found that the work that you’ve done behind the scenes has impacted the way that you approach your work as an actor?
Emma: I love working behind the scenes when I’m not working in front of the camera. I feel like that’s the most fun. My first show under the Belletrist Production banner, First Kill, is airing on Netflix. That was so much fun because it was a short story that then got turned into a script and now a series. Then, we got to do casting on it. It was so fun to exercise this other creative part behind the scenes and not have the pressure of also being in front of the camera. It’s definitely a passion of mine.

PC: Final question for the two of you: There’s such great chemistry that comes off the screen between your characters. How did the two of you build that bond and what was that collaboration like?
John: We got thrown in the deep end, honestly. I hadn’t met Emma until the first day of filming. That’s just how our schedules worked out. I was coming straight from another project, and Emma got to North Carolina before me. I got there and walked onto set. We met each other and the next thing I knew, we were married and had a kid. There was an immediate connection and trust. You trust your partner on set, and we went for it.

Emma: We vibed, we definitely vibed. We would sit in this green room together. We had a holding room in the house, and we would just read our books, read our magazines, chit chat about little things, sit in silence together, as you do. And then go work. It was quite nice.

Make sure to follow Emma (Twitter/Instagram) and John (Twitter/Instagram). Catch Abandoned in select theaters!