Image Source: Beautynesia, GeekTyrant
Orphan, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, was released in 2009 and since then has been recommended as one of the best psychological thrillers of all time. The film portrayed a creepy child, played by Isabelle Fuhrman, who made everyone have goosebumps. The role was Fuhrman's first acting debut, and she is still remembered for being the scary girl from Orphan.
Now, more than 12 years later, the audiences can once again see Fuhrman in her phenomenal role in the film Orphan: First Kill. The actress will, hence, once again get to play Esther, the 9-year-old character, who now she has to play at 24 years old. In fact, Fuhrman herself stated that many “people will be shocked” to see her play the same role as Esther from back in the day.
In her interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actress shared that playing the 9-year-old child at the time when she is 24 is practically a historic beginning in the history of cinema. She detailed that such an attempt has never been made before, and her portrayal of Esther will be a unique thing to witness where an adult plays a child.
“I love the challenge of being able to play a kid because that’s never historically been done in cinema — I was like looking all this up, because I love looking up old movie history and things like that, and I was like, ‘Oh, an adult has never reprised the role that they played as a child," she shared.
"Will Smith, for example, recently did that movie, Gemini Man, where they de-age somebody, but to reprise a role that you literally did as a kid as an adult has never been done before. It’s kind of impossible," she said proudly. "And we did it."
Sharing how they managed to make the adult play the role of the child, she revealed that the film does not rely on special effects to make her look like a child. "We didn’t use special effects, we didn’t use any crazy makeup tricks," said Fuhrman. "And I think that’s what makes the movie work, is because you really can’t figure out how I look like a child, but I do. And it’s really creepy.”
The story of Orphan portrays a child, who in reality is a psychotic killer. The adopted child actually has a condition where she does not age and looks like a child even as she grows older. So when Fuhrman played her for the first time as a child, she was just a 12-year-old girl but had to portray a character that looked like a child but, in reality, was an adult. The challenge then was to convincingly play the adult, who hid behind the body of a child.
However, now more than a decade later, the circumstances are entirely different. This time Fuhrman is 24 years old and has to play the child who is still stuck at 9. Being an adult, it is simply not so easy to look and act like a child.
Sharing what it was like to portray the role with its distinct approach of character, Furhman told Collider, “I was there every day. I know how we did this. I know all the tricks, and I’m so thoroughly disturbed right now because I somehow am nine years old again, and it doesn’t make any sense… I was like, how do I revisit this part and then also convincingly play a kid?"
The creeped-out actress continued, "Because that was the easy part last time, the hard part was trying to be an adult. Now the hard part is I have to be a kid.”
Now in the prequel of the film, Orphan: First Kill, Esther is shown to have escaped from the Estonian psychiatric facility. The girl managed to reach America, posing as the missing daughter of an American family. As she becomes "Esther," she has to face a mother safeguarding her family at all costs while Esther is adamant about wreaking havoc.
The film is directed by William Brent Bell ( director of The Devil Inside, The Boy), along with a screenplay by David Coggeshall (from The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia). The cast of Orphan: First Kill also includes Julia Stiles, Matthew Finlan, Rossif Sutherland, Hiro Kanagawa, and Morgan Giraudet.
Though Furhman did an amazing job portraying the creepy killer child, the actress is not the one who would suggest watching a horror film on a movie night out. She shared that she is not into the genre and adding to that was the very real horror of the pandemic.
“I do not watch horror movies, and when I was sent the script for it I was like, ‘I don’t know. I’m not into that genre.’ And I was also really worried about going back to work after COVID," said Furhman. "And the script was so dang good, I couldn’t put it down, and I was so surprised by the twist that I’m not gonna give away that I think you’ll like it.”
Though not being a fan of the genre and the bloodshed that usually comes with horror movies, just like Fuhrman, Stiles said that it was the film's psychological element that called out to her.
The actress shared that she played Esther without any special effects; Credits: The Business Standard
“It’s incredibly psychological. I’m not really interested in blood and gore. I find it gross, but I don’t find it really scary. What I find scary is the stuff that happens up here. And Isabelle Fuhrman’s character, Esther - although she has multiple names, Leena, I don’t know - it’s just such a fascinating - especially now because she’s a grown-up. She’s 23 now playing the same part," she shared. "It’s just such a fascinating sociopathic character, along the lines of why Norman Bates was so interesting to watch.”
