Wicker Man – The Woman

Staci Layne Wilson / Horror.com: You are part of this interesting Pagan colony in The Wicker Man...

Kate: It's a neo-Pagan civilization as it was in the original. They enjoy particular festivals and you know, are very much tied into the land, I suppose.

Q: I wouldn't say that Neil Labute is a "controversial" director but some woman have taken, you know, issue with some of the female characters he's written but he's got really strong women in this one. How did you go into it when you read the script? What did you think?

Kate: He has got strong women in this one and that really did interest me. And I think what he does as a director is he presents particular facets of life. He chooses to portray a particular situation, which may be uncomfortable to see but that becomes (unintelligible) because it presents a challenge and it asks questions...the way we live and how we treat one another and what gender relations are exactly.

Q: The inevitable question… What was it like to work with Nicolas Cage?

Kate: He was really wonderful, very generous and very pleasant and committed to what he does. He has a great, great sense of humor.

Q: There is a bit of the sense of humor in this movie. Did you find that when you were reading the script?

Kate: Neil is very irreverent and very dry but then I think Nic imbued his character with a lot of that, with that sort of sense of adventure and that kind of dry humor I think that comes with feeling completely dislocated, being in an isolated community, very far away from everything he knows.

Q: There's a lot of ambiguity with your character, Willow. How did you play that knowing how it's going to all end up?

Kate: I guess as an actor if you answer all the questions for yourself then you're secure in only playing what it is that you know. I think I created little secrets for myself. I think that was a large part of it.

Q: You have some great scenes with the little girl who plays your daughter. Did you like having her on the set?

Kate: Oh, she was so sweet. She was really, really delightful. She wrote us all these beautiful little notes and made things for us on the last day. So lovely!

Q: The movie does have suspense to it and a little bit of horror. Have you seen the final product yet?

Kate: Yes, I have. Yes I have and it does have a lot of suspense to it. Creepy, I think.

Q: What did you find creepy about it?

Kate: I already knew it, so... When I read the script, and I think the film has done it definitely, I think the interesting thing is as soon as you're on the island it's very uneven ground. The audience discovers things as Nic's character discovers things. Nothing is what it seems. The truth is very difficult to find because there are so many versions of it and I guess so many people are misrepresenting it or representing it.

There's a sense of impending doom but you just don't know what's going to happen. I would turn the page or look at it and go "Goodness" I had the creepy horrible tense feeling but I don't know where this is going.

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Don't forget to read our exclusive interviews with Nicolas Cage and Neil LaBute.