Anne Winters is an actress and singer who gained fame for her recurring role of Carly on Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, which is set to have its second season later this year. Having appeared in films such as Sand Castles and The Tribe, Anne shows some potential as a future “scream queen” with her latest role as she must evade her Mom and Dad, played by Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair in Brian Taylor’s upcoming dark comedy, coming to theaters, VOD, and Digital HD on January 19.
World Film Geek had the chance to talk to Anne about her experiences on the film.
Thank you, Anne, for talking about Mom and Dad. This movie was absolutely insane and I love insane movies so I ended up enjoying it.
Yay! That’s awesome to hear! Thank you!
Are you a fan of horror films?
Yes, 100%. I definitely love horror films. But, I feel recently, the more “super scary” they are trying to be, the less scared I actually am, which sounds weird. I’m kind of picky. I’m an actress so I’ve always seen behind the scenes and stuff so it’s hard for me to get out of it.
And that’s why I loved Mom and Dad because they weren’t trying to be like super, truly scary. It was the perfect scary movie. It felt like you were on a roller coaster. You’re not taking it completely seriously. You’re kind of laughing sometimes. You’re going “what the hell are they thinking”? You don’t have to think too hard. You just join us on this adventure and just have fun. And that what’s I love about scary movies and that’s what we did.
What attracted you to the role of Carly in the film?
I honestly wanted to play Nicolas Cage’s daughter, and Selma Blair’s daughter, and have a really great time and do a really fun horror movie (Laughs). I loved the script and who was cast. When I talked to Brian [Taylor], our director, we just really hit it off. His vision was super cool and different and interesting. I was like, “Wow! This is different,” and I’m always looking for something different. Something that’s not typical. And that’s what drew me to it.
Brian Taylor is known for films like the Crank films and this marked his solo debut. What was it like working with him on the set?
He is definitely out there, super crazy and always throwing out insane things for us to do. He was pushing us to give it our all. I love Brian. I think he’s great. His vision is super different from what you would think. So, it was always fun talking to him what he thought about certain scenes because it was different from what you would really think seeing it on the page. So when I saw the film, I was like, “Wow” because you saw Brian’s work come to life because when you read it, it’s so crazy and when you see it, it’s completely different. So it was really fun to work with him. He’s really awesome!
What was it like working with Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair, who play the titular Mom and Dad? Nicolas Cage was truly crazy in this and I thought Selma Blair broke against type because I always saw her as an innocent type character.
Yeah, I know it’s so weird because Selma Blair, at least how I’ve seen her, she is so serious. I don’t even know. Not like that at all. When I even met her, she was different than what I thought she would be. She’s super funny and hilarious. Dry sense of humor. She really got the hats on to play this character and it was really fun to watch.
And obviously, Nic is like, really crazy to watch as well. He goes from zero to a million in like seconds. It was fun to see him work in his head. To see him so in his head and about his character is so interesting. It was fun to also see them work together because they were funny together.
Did you face any challenges while shooting the film?
Every day was a challenge. But, the biggest thing I learned from it was to just “go for it”. Especially with the screaming. I’ve had people ask me, “Have you done horror movies before” or “Have you screamed so much before”. As a kid, I never screamed and when I became first got into acting, that was the one thing I said I wasn’t going to do. No screaming because I can’t scream. It was like whistling to me. And I just literally went for it.
You just have to go for it. You have to go for whatever you’re doing. Always screaming, always crying, always running. So I feel like the biggest challenge was to let go and not think about things too much. Just literally try it and see what happens. A perfect example was when I was falling down the hill. They wanted to rehearse it and I said, “No, let’s just do it! I’m not going to rehearse falling down a hill. How do you rehearse falling down a hill? Let’s just try falling.” (Laughs)
And that’s great and the reason I asked why you were a fan of horror films is because I thought with the way you performed in this film, I could actually see you as a future “scream queen” in horror films.
(Laughs) Yes! I would love to do that. It was really fun to do that so I would love to do more of this brand of horror movie down the road.
Finally, what can fans see you next in after this movie?
This film is actually the start of things for me this year. I’m not quite sure of the order. 13 Reasons Why is going to be coming around March, but it might get pushed back because of the fires that happened so we had to push filming back. That will be coming out and I’m in the whole second season. Then, I have Night School coming out in September with Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish, which is my first big comedy. Then, I have season two of Zac and Mia coming up. Season one is now available on Verizon Go90, and it’s free, so you can binge watch it. It’s super great. It’s about two kids with cancer and it’s honestly one of the realist and coolest things I’ve done to date. It’s really like a passion project so if anyone wants to watch something before other things I’m coming out with, this is one to check out.
Great! Well, Mom and Dad comes to theaters, VOD, and Digital HD on January 19. If you like a chaotic film full of horror and comedy, this is one film I would recommend and check out a potential scream queen in Anne. Thank you again for taking the time to talk about the film.
Thank you so much for having me!
A Special Thank You goes to Katrina Wan PR and Anne Winters for making this interview possible. For more on Anne Winters, check out and follow her official Twitter page.
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