Chloe Fox on Playing Celeste in 'The Highest Stakes' Psychological Thriller

[00:00:08] Chloe thank you for joining me today at Pop Culture Unplugged. Thank you very much for having me. Excited times we have the highest stakes coming out soon how excited about you this project? Oh I can't wait it really was probably the most fun I've ever had on a project and I was around so many great performers and so for me it felt like a real learning experience to see how people look like a lot more experience than I had just sort of see how they work and kind of

[00:00:38] relish in that and build on that myself it was really nice. How were you how were you approached for that for this movie anybody you worked with before they said we might have a part for you how did this happen? No actually I'd never worked with anyone this one was in now out of the blue thing you know it came from my agent just as a normal self tape um so I did that and I sent that off and you know I can't remember how long it was uh in between sort of my self tape and then hearing that I had

[00:01:07] got a recall um I got a recall um but I got a recall and I think actually I had a call with um the casting director of a zoom call with the casting director to sort of go over everything before I then went to the recall in person with the producer Stephen

[00:01:27] and uh we went into this uh hotel room and uh we went into this uh hotel room and Eloise um who plays Aurora was uh she had already been cast and she'd worked with Stephen quite a few times so she was there to help with casting and so she was the first person I met actually she came yeah she we introduced ourselves to each other and she came and brought me up to Stephen

[00:01:50] and then and then the recall was really really like crazily chilled out you know we just kind of sat down on this on um on the chads and had a little chat and then Stephen got his phone out and just recorded whilst I was yeah we're going over the scripts it was really funny um because most recalls I go to you know sometimes they'll have the full you know you'll go to an actual studio split light studio or something and they'll have the

[00:02:18] the full thing but it was really really chilled out and relaxed and probably the nicest environment for a callback I've had um and then yeah and then I think I I heard that I got the role and it was all super super quick after that we had a few days before being flown out to Bulgaria which is where we filmed yeah which was so lovely I'd never been to Bulgaria before and um and we did a read through a table read

[00:02:48] uh via zoom most of them were already there but Seth uh Seth Green and I weren't there yet so we joined on zoom and we all did a table read and uh that was the moment I was like oh this is really cool this is gonna be really good and then we flew out and a couple days later we were filming so it was really quick yeah uh was the was the audition always for Celeste yes it was always for Celeste yeah so

[00:03:17] yeah she was she was the only one I taped for and uh it was fun it was funny because obviously when you very first get uh something through you only sometimes or usually just get a scene or something and you don't get the context of the rest of the movie and so it's so funny to see how I played it different in the audition because I kind of had no context to then after when you kind of realize everything that's going on you're like oh it's funny I played it so different at the start

[00:03:45] what what was the description you were given for uh for this role remember that's a great question you know I can't I I can't remember there being I can't remember anymore um were you able to did you have like your own freedom then with this character how you're gonna play her I did it was quite that and I think that's why I had two scenes to do and I think that's why in one of the the second scenes I

[00:04:12] sort of took it outside of where it ended up because I think the context just wasn't fully there so I didn't know how to play I didn't know whether I didn't know what intentions my character had basically I like how you know uh psychological thrillers you know they often rely heavily on tension and mystery too like when you're reading the script like what went through your mind I don't want to talk spoilers but like what went through your mind with this sure it was great and and um I

[00:04:40] really enjoyed the read-through and like I said it when we did well reading through myself but when we did the read-through all together that's when I was really like oh this is really cool um I love psychological thrillers it's probably psychological thrillers and comedies are like my favorite genres so to be able to have a script that I could really get involved with in in a work context was really exciting and just lots of twists and turns and um things just get weirder and

[00:05:09] crazier the more you read through and I just there's a lot of fun in that kind of not really knowing where you're headed or quite where it's going which I think is the best part of it the big question is though are you a poker fan do you know how to play poker do you know I've never ever played poker before um before this and uh it's really funny one of the cast members and I um I you know I kind of been we all got on so well so I've been visiting everyone

[00:05:38] afterwards and we uh sat down to play poker and I was taught how to play poker and uh I was really good at it weirdly good at it and I think because we weren't making any real bets I probably was a little uh bold with with how I went with it and they all it seemed to really pay off for me so I'm really intrigued to uh have another sex bill and see if I'm this lucky you know this time around how would

[00:06:07] you uh describe like Celeste's uh journey throughout the film without obviously no spoilers I like it she um she goes through a lot she's you know she's young and uh um I would say she's a very pure innocent soul you know she's uh she's very sweet and she uh has a lot of trust in you know

[00:06:36] people and um and I think as things go on you know I think like as a as a lot of teenagers and stuff you know you go through experiences in life where real life just sort of hits you um and you I suppose you kind of come to an understanding of oh you know not everyone's how they seem and you know and maybe I should be a bit more careful that's what I actually wrote down over here like you know you see in the movie like you know she could have started to figure out who to rely on the most

[00:07:06] right exactly exactly it's like she's just there kind of bright eyed ready to make friends and talk to everyone and just yeah unfortunately life can't always be that way and poor Celeste poor Celeste definitely finds out yeah was there a particular scene or moment that for you that challenged you the most you think as an actor oh man I um there were there were uh oh there were a lot

[00:07:36] of good scenes I mean there's two that kind of come to mind oh no there's three that kind of come to um there's um so my my scene with Seth okay I remember being very nervous for you know because we had a nice uh back and forth dialogue and um for him being an actor that I'd kind of grown up watching and you know I loved Buffy and I loved um Scooby-Doo I love the Scooby-Doo movies

[00:08:05] uh so that for me it was like um I was just really nervous to try and keep on the same level as as him and uh he really is one of those actors that even when the cameras aren't on he's he's always on and he's always doing a bit and um so to be around that was nerve-wracking but also very very helpful at the same time um and also uh another one my very very first day um filming

[00:08:35] there's quite an intimate scene uh I had two scenes actually I had an interrogation sort of moment and that was a kind of dialogue scene and then after that there's sort of uh a scene after that was you know a little intimate and it was really funny because after that day everyone was sort of um trying to talk to me about the intimacy you know like that was a lot for a first day you're

[00:08:59] okay but I I get so scared of blanking on my lines I was far too afraid about my scene prior where I had to you know do my first dialogue of the show um so that was kind of my main fear really but it went really well and um it all went really well and everyone was so lovely yeah it was really a nice environment I like how the film you know it explores you know we have secrets of survival too in a way

[00:09:29] like what do you think that what do you think is going to surprise most about the audience when they tune in to watch this oh that's a good question I don't know um I think definitely the end I think like things are very sort of um they kind of start off normal they become very become very ambiguous sort of through the middle you really don't know what's going on and then

[00:09:56] um as as we come to the last bit it sort of really really hits you exactly how things all sort of tie together and I think if people haven't got an idea before that bit that's when people will be like oh okay I like those I like these type of movies I like how they just give this you have to like sit there pay attention put your phone away because there's a little secret messages throughout the movie too you gotta pay attention absolutely absolutely little easter eggs which is really fun

[00:10:25] um would uh would Chloe be friends with with us would Chloe be friends with Celeste do you think I think so I think yes I think we would I think we share similarities in in certain ways for sure um she seems by most part particularly unproblematic I think she would be someone you could just go and have a coffee with and and just never really have problems with and just kind of nice person to talk

[00:10:52] to so I think we'd get on for sure yeah now this movie has been played at a few festivals right do you know anything about I thought I think I read that I'm not 100% sure we are so I'm not sure if it's doing a few or not but we are doing the um the LA film festival uh on the on the 13th it's playing on the 13th at the uh five Chinese theaters okay um as part of that festival so that's really

[00:11:20] fun and I I was so excited to be there really wanted to be there but I actually have a filming day back here in London um literally like a day before so I can't make it which is such a shame but um but we'll all be meeting up I'll be back in LA a few days after weirdly and we'll all kind of have a catch up which is nice I don't know if it's in any other festivals yet but uh but it's

[00:11:45] certainly in that one yeah so are you one of those uh you travel back and forth for work is that what you do I do I uh uh Steven I've done uh this is my third one with Steven now and the first two were in Bulgaria okay um because they have these really big new boyana studios these really big beautiful studios they

[00:12:09] film a lot of stuff in um and we stay in Sofia which is lovely um and then this one is another one of Stevens actually and it's it's in England and oh I also before Covid I was in a show called By Me in Paris and we filmed part in Brussels part in Paris which was so cool so you get to travel over the world too absolutely yeah if you're lucky enough it always depends where you're filming but yeah you

[00:12:38] can get lucky and just get to go to these beautiful places I'm still waiting on like a tropical beach or something that would be fun so uh with all this with your acting career and everything what's the goal do you have like a specific role that you hope to get someday a specific role but um but again I find that when I watch things myself I'm always drawn to comedy and psychological thrillers so if I was able

[00:13:07] to be within that genre and kind of expand myself in that genre in any way in those genres I suppose that would be so much fun for comedy movies or you want to do maybe tv too down the road sure yeah absolutely like sitcom or something yeah that would be so much fun because again it's so long format so you have potentially you know if it does well years to sort of right grow that character

[00:13:35] and and have her go through all these different changes and how she evolves over these years and I think that would be a really interesting thing to dive into as an actor just get lost in this person you know amazing Chloe I want to thank you for giving me a few minutes today good luck with the film this uh hopefully we get some good uh reviews out of this one when it comes out fingers crossed I really hope people enjoy it it was it was such a joy to film and be part of the job but I just really

[00:14:02] hope people are able to enjoy it as much as we were you know we did filming we'll have to get you back on for future projects oh I would love to I would love to thank you so much for having me