Exclusive Interview: Vanessa Benavente and Miranda Otto Discuss Their New Film, ‘At the Gates’

Vanessa Benavente and Miranda Otto are two of the stars of the timely new film, At the Gates.

Ana (Vanessa Benavente), a housekeeper from El Salvador, brings her teenage son Nico (Ezekiel Pacheco) to help her clean an affluent family’s Los Angeles home. But after someone rings the front gate, her employers, Marianne (Miranda Otto) and Peter Barris (Noah Wyle), inform them that immigration officers are searching for them and convince the pair to hide in a basement closet, demanding they hand over their cell phones as a safety precaution. As days go by under the same roof, each family begins to question the other’s true intentions in this riveting and emotional thriller.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Vanessa and Miranda about At the Gates, bringing their nuanced performances to life, and more.

Please Note: At the Gates has been granted an interim agreement from SAG-AFTRA. Without the labor of actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.

PC: Miranda, time is never a luxury when you’re working on a feature, and it’s even rare that the cast has the opportunity to rehearse. How did that process allow you to further tap into your character? Were there new discoveries that were made as you worked alongside the cast?
Miranda: Definitely. We didn’t have heaps of rehearsals, but we had a few days during that pre-production week, and it was invaluable. We really did improvise a number of scenes, and little bits and pieces that we improvised ended up in the script. It helped ground the characters and allowed us to work together before we actually committed to anything on film. We shot this in three weeks. It was really fast, but it never felt stressful. It was great to have that time to get to know each other a bit.

PC: Vanessa, Augustus wanted each of the actors to bring themselves to their characters and gave you all the freedom to improvise. Zeke, who plays your son in the film, was especially known for that. How did that not only push you creatively but allow you to bring your shared experiences and that authenticity to that dynamic?
Vanessa: That’s where the rehearsals really came in handy because we had to create that sense that Zeke and I were family and that I had been in contact with the Barris family before. Zeke brought such a freshness to the role and such heart. It was so easy to connect with him and form this bond, and that he was part of my family. I felt very motherly to him. I also got to meet his family and see his natural sweetness and love for his mother. That really helped.

PC: Miranda, the tension in this film is created by your character and the fact that audiences don’t know what her true motivations are up until the end of the film. You brought so much depth to that. Is it more or less challenging when you’re playing a character who’s more about what’s left unsaid than said?
Miranda: I love characters where things are left unsaid. I love mystery. I love things not being fully answered. I love coming out of the cinema and debating different interpretations. I like when it’s not completely laid out. For me as an actor, that’s such a gift to not be completely fenced in, and there’s heaps of room for interpretation by the audience.

PC: Vanessa, there’s an emotional moment that happens at the end of the film where your character is talking to her son about the immigrant experience and how she came here to provide him with a better life. You brought so much nuance to it. As an actress, how did you create the space for yourself to dive into that scene in particular, which I know will resonate with audiences and resonated with you?
Vanessa: Without giving any spoilers, that was the scene when I was like, “I know this woman.” I knew exactly where she was coming from. Before I even read what she says in that scene, I knew what it was going to be. The connection that I felt was so deep when I read the script. As an immigrant myself, I came to this country with my mom. She’s a single mom. We were escaping violence. I’m from Peru. Back when I was a kid, there was a lot of terrorism and violence.

I remember having this conversation with her, and she said, “I needed to take you away from that because I never knew when it was going to be our time or when we were going to end up dead from a car bomb,” which we had every day in Lima at one point.

I understood where my character was coming from. She has immigration show up at her desk and upend her life. Undocumented immigrants in this country never feel completely safe, but there is this sense of normalcy, but the floor is pulled from under you. That sense of “safety” is completely gone. I understood that. I brought whatever I could base my own experiences to this character.

Make sure to follow Vanessa (Twitter/Instagram) and Miranda (Instagram). At the Gates is in select theaters in Los Angeles on 11/3 and in New York on 11/10.

Photo Credit: Beacon Pictures 2022