Parents will often do whatever it takes, no matter what harm it may pose to themselves, to protect their children from experiencing pain. But sometimes life’s more sinister intentions can overtake a family’s protective nature. That’s certainly the case for the new supernatural horror movie, ‘Brahms: The Boy II.’ The mystery-thriller, which stars up-and-coming young actor, Christopher Convery, follows his character’s harrowing experiences with the title doll, which is seemingly set on harming him and his parents.
William Brent Bell directed ‘Brahms: The Boy II,’ which serves as a stand-alone sequel to the filmmaker’s 2016 drama, ‘The Boy.’ STX Entertainment is releasing the follow-up, which was written Stacey Menear, today in theaters.
‘Brahms: The Boy II’ follows a family of three that’s looking for a new start after they experienced a traumatic home invasion. The trio decides to move into the guest house on the estate that’s featured in ‘The Boy.’ There, the family’s young son, Jude (Convery), finds Brahms and brings the doll into his family’s new home. He demands that his mom, Liza (Katie Holmes), and dad, Sean (Owain Yeoman), follow the estate’s rules, and treat the title doll like a person.
Liza, who’s initially wary of her son’s new doll, soon becomes increasingly more concerned about the unexplained phenomena that’s happening around her family’s new house. Jude blames almost all of the strange occurrences on Brahms, much to his mom’s dismay. Liza’s subsequent research into the history of her son’s new friend leads to a shocking discovery that will forever change their lives.
Convery generously took the time recently to talk about starring in ‘Brahms: The Boy II’ during an exclusive phone interview. Among other things, the actor discussed how he enjoyed working with Holmes, Yeoman and Bell on the set, as they worked closely together to feel as though they were a true family, and encouraged him to share his thoughts about his character of Jude while they were filming.
ShockYa (SY): You play Jude in the new horror movie, ‘Brahams: The Boy II.’ How did you both become involved in the movie?
Christopher Convery (CC): Well, I had just finished filming ‘Stranger Things..’ I was driving back to the airport in an Uber. About 20 minutes before we were going to get out of the Uber, we caught an audition in an email. We had about 20 minutes to prepare, and get to the audition.
So we turned back around to go to the audition. When we got there, I just read the lines, and got the tone of the character and story. I then went in and did the audition, and felt really good about it.
We then went straight to the airport! We took a plane from L.A., back to New York. As soon as we landed, we actually got a call that I had gotten the role in ‘The Boy II.’ So it was really amazing.
SY: The thriller also stars Katie Holmes and Owain Yeoman, who play your character’s parents. What was the experience like of working together on the film, and building your on-screen relationship?
CC: As soon as we got to set and started shooting, I met everyone; I met Katie, Owain and Ralph (Ineson). Everyone was so amazing.
Katie’s a true professional actor. She played my mom, and would do improvisation with me and Owain, who played my dad. She would really show us that we were an actual family. Owain was also super-nice, and always made everyone laugh on set. Ralph was also really cool. After we finished filming, we would go to his old-fashioned, ’70s arcade that had all the original arcade games, which was really cool.
The director was also super-nice. The first time I went to the set, we had a meeting, just me and him. We read the parts of the script that my character’s in. We gave each other ideas, and made cool changes to the script. It was a really cool experience to get to meet everyone.
SY: William Brent Bell directed ‘Brahams: The Boy II,’ like you just mentioned. What was your experience like working with him on developing your character?
CC: Like I said, working with him on the script was really cool. Sometimes, even on the set, we’d talk about a scene, and further develop the character of Jude.
What was really cool was that one time, Katie was watching a video of me playing the piano on my Instagram, and she really liked it. So she went to Brent, the director, and showed him the video, and he also really liked it. So they both made the decision to add a whole new scene the piano in the script. So now, there’s a scene of me playing the piano, which is awesome!
SY: Like you also mentioned earlier, you and your co-stars improvised on the set. What was it like getting to improvise with them-did you like that experience?
CC: Yes, definitely! I thought it was really cool. If you have last-minute thoughts, you can talk about it while improvising. It can really make a scene completely different. It’s really fun, because the more you improvise with your character tone, and the way that they act, the more it brings them to life.
SY: The series’ second installment was shot on location in the Vancouver area. With the film’s story primarily taking place on the Heelshire Mansion, did you like the experience of filming on location?
CC: Yes, definitely! We filmed in Victoria, British Columbia, and it was so beautiful. It was a really nice rural area.
What was really cool was that the Heelshire Mansion was the main location, and it was really creepy. In the first movie, all of the bad things happen in that mansion. It has three floors, and I think it has 18 rooms. So it was so amazing to work at that location.
SY: Speaking of the first movie, did you watch ‘The Boy’ before you filmed the sequel?
CC: Yes, as soon as I got ‘The Boy II,’ I watched the first movie. I enjoyed it so much; it has such an amazing plot, and everyone should go see it. What’s really cool about the first movie is that is showed me what the tone of this new script would be, and also the tone of my character.
SY: Did you get to do any stunts while shooting the film?
CC: I don’t think there were that many major stunts, but there are some stunts that are pretty cool. But I can’t say what they are, since the movie (just came out)! You’ll have to wait to find out what they are until you go see the movie!
SY: With ‘Brahams: The Boy II’ being a horror movie, do you like the horror genre overall?
CC: Yes, definitely! I think it’s such a fun genre. It’s fun to get popcorn and watch horror movies with your friends, and get scared. It’s a really fun and cool experience to watch horror movies.