In an intense and complex role, actor Max Thieriot managed to keep things relaxed on the set of ‘House at the End of the Street’ while delivering a riveting and nuanced performance, says Mark Tonderai. “Max was very loose and very, very funny,” says the director. “His performance has such beautiful shadings to it. Watching it a second time, knowing what you know about the story, illuminates all kinds of subtleties that may have gone unnoticed during a first viewing. It has been said that filmmaking is 90 percent casting and it’s absolutely true. This is an incredibly difficult part and I can’t imagine anyone who could have done it better.”

Thieriot says the script set his mind racing on the first read. “I was shocked and surprised by the originality of the story. The twists and madness of it really caught my imagination. I never saw the ending coming, and I can usually predict how a script will end.”

Playing Ryan was an opportunity to create a unique character, unlike any Thieriot had played before. “He is really intense,” the actor says. “He has a lot of stuff going on and it is really exciting to play someone out of the ordinary. Mark worked with me on a deeper level than I think most directors do and that definitely helped.

“Clearly, Ryan had a traumatic and tormented childhood that transformed him into someone outside the norm,” Thieriot continues. “He lives as a hermit because he knows he is misunderstood and looked down upon. When Elissa comes into his life, she sees him in a different light. That changes something in him. It exposes a part of him that even he didn’t know was there.”

Ryan is hiding some devastating secrets about his past, but the director and the actor agreed that he is also living his life without any telltale shadows of guilt. “He isn’t consciously concealing anything,” says Thieriot. “It all seems normal to him and that’s how I played it moment to moment.”

Tonderai’s bible was a real help in establishing the character, he says. “You don’t often get to work with a director who goes that extra mile. Mark is so committed to the work. You can’t help but be drawn to his passion and enthusiasm.”

Although he was not familiar with Jennifer Lawrence’s work before the film, Thieriot says it was clear from day one that she had what it takes to become a star. “When we began this film, she hadn’t had any of the success she had now,” he notes. “She had done some television and a couple of independent films. ‘The Hunger Games’ was still just a book. But Jennifer’s acting talent just seems to come naturally to her.”

The role was challenging for the young actor, both physically and emotionally. Like Lawrence, he found the movie’s intensely physical fight sequences demanding. “It’s hard to get to where you need to be in those moments,” he says. “Your emotions have to be ridiculously high. I want it to be as real as possible, so I tell people, just hit me, just kick me; it’s not going to hurt. It needs to look real. Convincing people that it’s okay to go a little bit further can be one of the most difficult parts.”

That level of commitment impressed Thieriot’s cast mates. “Max is a wonderful actor,” Lawrence says. “He can just turn it on and off. It was eerie to watch the light in his eyes change the instant Mark called action. All of a sudden he was a different person. It never felt like acting with Max.”

Image Courtesy of  Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

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Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence, fresh off her success in the worldwide hit ‘The Hunger Games’, and Oscar nominee Elisabeth Shue (‘Leaving Las Vegas’, ‘Piranha 3D’) star in ‘House at the End of the Street’; an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller about a teenager, Elissa, and her divorced mom, Sarah, who move into an upscale neighborhood to start a better life. But after they learn of rumors that the nearby woods are haunted by a homicidal killer, and Elissa befriends the mysterious sole survivor of a grisly double murder that took place in the house next door, their dreams for a brighter future spiral into a twisted nightmare.

Things go smoothly at first: Sarah (Elizabeth Shue) finds a good job and meets a nice guy while Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) settles in at school and finds herself drawn to the boy next door, Ryan (Max Thieriot, ‘My Soul to Take’). Ryan seems like a kindred spirit, misunderstood and passionate, and Elissa sympathizes with his isolation—he is still shunned by the town years after his deranged sister Carrie Anne murdered their parents in a fit of inexplicable rage.

But as Ryan and Elissa spend more time together, details of his past come to the surface. Finding out the truth could be the worst thing that ever happened to Elissa.

‘House at the End of the Street’ is directed by Mark Tonderai (‘Hush’). David Loucka (‘Dream House’) wrote the screenplay based on a story by Jonathan Mostow (‘Surrogates’, ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines’).

Exploring the House

A spooky, decaying house, a young man with a terrifying secret and a teenage girl with a mind of her own are classic elements of horror-thriller movies, but in ‘House at the End of the Street’, a team of ambitious and creative filmmakers transcends the genre with moody, stylish visuals, realistic and relatable characters, and mysterious secrets hidden in plain sight.

“‘House at the End of the Street’ is complicated in the way most good movies are,” says producer Aaron Ryder. “It is a bit of a Hitchcockian thriller, geared toward a younger audience with a great young cast. The script is really good—and by that I mean really scary.”

The characters in ‘House at the End of the Street’ are haunted by a horrific tragedy that took place several years before the movie starts. “A couple was murdered by their mentally handicapped daughter who has disappeared,” says Ryder. “Now Elissa and her mother Sarah move into the house next door to where this massacre happened. There is a single survivor, a young man named Ryan, still living in the house. Elissa begins a relationship, maybe her first love, with this kid. But it turns out there’s an underlying evil within this town.”

Although this taut psychological thriller is full of the kinds of twists and surprises that keep audiences on the edge of their seats, ‘House at the End of the Street’ is a character-driven film, says the producer. “One of the things I like about this movie and these characters is that no one is stereotypical,” says Ryder. “You don’t have the stereotypical mother-daughter relationship. Elissa is actually a bit more responsible than Sarah. Ryan is dark and mysterious, but also very vulnerable and really attractive. You can see why a young girl would be attracted to him.”

Image Courtesy of  House at the End of the Street

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