For the matriarch of the Carter family -- Ethel Carter, a one-time 60s flower power girl turned protective suburban mom – the filmmakers turned to Academy Award nominee Kathleen Quinlan (APOLLO 13) who takes an unusual turn with this role of a sunny mother facing the grimmest circumstances. Comments Aja, “I’ve always loved Kathleen’s work as she is a very believable and natural actress. I thought she was perfect for playing this very real American mother.”
Quinlan was intrigued by HILLS because she had never starred in a horror film before – and, after being won over by the artistry and commitment of Aja and Levasseur, the deal was sealed. “Horror is really the only genre I haven’t touched yet, so I just had to give it a try,” states the actress. “I was also really impressed with Alex and Gregory – they are so young and so passionate about what they’re doing. I think they are visionaries.”
In playing Ethel, Quinlan evokes the inner drama of a woman who has always lived her life in deference to her husband and children’s needs – and now must watch as her family is terrorized in every conceivable way by a mysterious desert clan. “Ethel’s a really interesting character in that she doesn’t seem at all like a typical character in a horror film,” says Quinlan. “She’s a loving wife and mother, but she also has an edge at this point in her life, after her husband has just retired. She’s someone who has her complaints, who is aware of her family’s various weaknesses and flaws, but she also is the one person in the Airstream on that fateful night who has faith that everything will work out.”
When Ethel comes face to face with the blood-curdling and brutal mutants, Quinlan had to face a unique acting challenge: creating a portrait of pure, unadulterated fright. “The key to doing that is totally committing to believing this is happening to you while you’re in the moment,” she says. “I had to put myself in Ethel’s situation as if it was completely real. It was very, very scary to do that -- and hopefully that comes across.”
With Bob and Ethel cast, finding an actor to play their son-in-law Doug Bukowski posed the next major challenge. A pacifist cell-phone salesman, Doug undergoes the most radical transformation of anyone in the Carter family as he attempts to rescue his infant child from the clutches of the mutants. After an extensive search, the filmmakers found their man: Aaron Stanford, best known for playing the role of Pyro in X MEN 2, and an actor capable of turning from meek and frightened to furious and heroic in the course of one night.
“Aaron was a wonderful choice to play Doug,” says associate producer Cody Zwieg, “especially because the audience relates so strongly to him right up front. Then, they have a chance to completely savor his powerful transformation into a man who will stop at nothing to get his family back.”
Stanford was immediately attracted to the role because it was like absolutely nothing he’d done before. He also found himself taking a liking to Doug’s eccentricity – and the way the events in the New Mexico desert push him to discover unseen sides of himself. “Doug is an odd duck, this sort of very uptight creature of comfort,” observes the actor. “But what’s so interesting about him is that he’s this guy who’s very much about being comfortable and in control and then these horrific events push him completely out of his comfort zone and he is forced to respond as he never has before.”
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