Exclusive Interview with Caroline Néron from "Eternal"

“Life Is Fleeting. Evil Is Everlasting.”

That’s the tagline for Québécois actress Caroline Néron’s latest horror movie, Eternal. Now out in limited release in the United States, the film follows the historical figure Erzsébet Báthory, the Hungarian countess who murdered hundreds of females in order to bathe in their blood and soak in their youth. The movie is an interesting mix of vampire film, mystery, erotica, and horror.

“I didn’t know a lot about her when I started,” Caroline says, “but when I got the role and started talking about the Countess Bathory [in interviews] nobody knew about that story. I was surprised [because] she killed over 600 girls. That’s a lot. She’s a big serial killer. It was great to learn about that story and play somebody who really existed.”

Caroline’s character, called Elizabeth Kane, lives in modern times but she is still drawing on her old 17th-century ways: namely, stalking and killing. Males usually play predatory characters like this, and Caroline agrees she had a great opportunity in Eternal to tweak the genre’s mores a little bit. “She was a very complex character. I mean, to kill girls over her own obsession with beauty. To play somebody who seems very strong and shows no emotion was very challenging.”

Caroline is no stranger to horror. In fact, she started watching horror films when she was about five years old. Her favorite of all time is Halloween, which she says she’s seen dozens of times. Her favorite in the blood-sucking genre is Interview With the Vampire, which she describes as simply “amazing.” As for what makes Elizabeth a non-traditional vampire, “She’s different because of the motive. Most vampires kill for blood to survive. It’s their food. Elizabeth kills for blood because she believes it will keep her beauty alive.”

Her first horror film was the 28-minute short Ice Cold, for which she won a Best Actress at the Newport Beach Film Festival last year. The movie itself won Best Short Film at the Los Angeles Screamfest Festival.

Having done an investor’s reel for Eternal a year before the film actually began shooting in earnest, Caroline had some idea of what to expect and what qualities to bring to her character. “Whenever I first take on a role I like to study the character. I work out the psychology. But first I’ll talk with a director to see what they want to do with their movie. What do they want to show of the character? Then I work with my coach. And when I’m on the set, I always defer to my director because they are the one who has the global view of the movie. With Eternal, they wanted Elizabeth to be very imposing. To talk slowly, be very much in control, and there was an artistic side, too. I find that every shot looks like a tableau. Everything is thought out.”

Directed by first-time helming team Wilhelm Liebenberg and Federico Sanchez, the actress says she hadn’t worked that way before — but she found it an interesting experience. “One director was really into the backgrounds, sets, and the artistic direction,” she says, not naming names. “He was there for all the fittings, and even the makeup. The other one was more involved in directing actors. Actually they both did that, but you know, there’s always one who’s better than the other! [laughs] It was their first project and it was hard at times, but they were two very passionate people and I think that’s why everybody just jumped in.”

Shot on location in Montreal and Venice, Eternal makes the most of its locations and sets. “It is a beautiful looking movie,” she says. “And I had a blast in Italy! It was my first time there. It was really cool because most of the crew was Italian and I loved being in the real Italian culture. I had no trouble communicating, because Italian and French are pretty close languages. And I took a year of Italian at university, so I finally got a chance to practice it and use it.”

Caroline has a lot of intense, dramatic — and sometimes sexually-charged — scenes with her two main costars in the film. Conrad Pla plays a detective who’s hot on Elizabeth’s bloody trail, while Victoria Sanchez is her Renfield-like henchwoman. “In Quebec City the English-speaking actors don’t really know the French Canadian actors. We have two different markets,” she explains. “I didn’t know Victoria and Conrad before we started Eternal. I guess, because the movie took us to Italy and everything, we became very good friends. We were very involved.”

For now, Caroline is very involved with her singing career. She wants to take it down a notch on the acting side. “I did eleven series in six years, where I was the lead. I’ve slowed down on that and decided to focus on my music. My first album came out three years ago. Now I’m coming out with my second one. Music is taking a lot of my time.

“I’ve been working like crazy for the past couple of years. I love working. I love acting. Even though I broke my arm and my leg in a motorcycle accident last July, that didn’t stop me. I love my music, and performing onstage. [also] I started my own jewelry line a year ago and we’re in 23 stores now. I’m the happiest when I’m creating — whether it’s jewelry, acting, or music. Just being an artist is what I like.”

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by Staci Layne Wilson

photo courtesy CarolineNeron.com