Florence Ordesh says Adam Scott brought no method-actor drama to the set of HOKUM. In a new interview about the supernatural thriller, the actor said Scott did not stay in character while filming the movie, which hit theaters nationwide earlier this month.
"He didn't stay in character, luckily! Otherwise, I don't know what I'd do. He was lovely, so pleasant, and incredibly easy to talk to," Ordesh said. "It was great having him around and watching him discover some of the most random, remote spots in Ireland."
Ordesh stars in HOKUM as Fiona, a pivotal character and the film's emotional and eerie anchor. The movie follows a reclusive writer who travels to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents' ashes and then runs into a terrifying local legend. Directed by Damian McCarthy, HOKUM premiered at SXSW and has drawn strong early response, including an 89% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also produced by the same genre heavyweights behind Barbarian, giving the film an immediate pedigree among horror fans.
The chatter around Scott's role has also carried into the kind of small, strange detail that can stick with a movie long after opening night. Ordesh said she noticed at the premiere that almost all of the characters pronounce Scott's character's name, Ohm Bauman, differently throughout the film. "Yes! I was watching the movie at the premiere, and I realized that almost all of the characters pronounce Adam Scott’s character's name, Ohm Bauman, differently throughout the film," she said. "I say 'O,' but someone else says 'Ah.'"
That sort of inconsistency may be the only loose thread in a film that otherwise seems built to unsettle. And for Scott, who is described in the interview as an Emmy nominee, the larger point is simpler: he fits into the movie without overpowering it, even as HOKUM pushes toward its stranger corners.
Ordesh's comments arrive as the film looks for more word-of-mouth after its nationwide rollout. Born in London and raised in County Meath, Ireland, she moved to Vancouver at 18 to pursue professional training, and she said the role that still lives rent-free in her head belongs to another franchise entirely. "Growing up, my absolute favorite actress was Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality. But when The Matrix came out, I totally fell for Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity. I actually just watched it for the seventh time a few months ago! If I could reboot that movie and step into her role, that would be my ultimate dream. I’ve never done action, but a role like that would be incredible."
For now, though, HOKUM is the one getting her attention, and Scott's easygoing presence may be part of why it works: the movie asks audiences to believe in a haunted place, a grieving man and a local legend, and it helps when the cast sounds as if they believed it too.
