There are certain, rarely found people in this world who are able to make you feel like you’re talking to an older soul, even if you’re twice their age.
Olivia DeJonge is one of them.
The 17-year-old speaks at pace but not overly quickly and wastes no words getting her point across. She is, at the same time, charming and friendly and her tone carries a relaxed conviction in everything she says. Without even having to ask it, these characteristics answer the question of why M Night Shyamalan chose to fly the young Aussie actress halfway across the world to star in his new psychological thriller, ‘The Visit’.
Consensus among critics (and the internet at large) is that ‘The Visit’ marks a return to his roots for Shyamalan. Its brooding strangeness is reminiscent of his earlier, highly-respected films ‘The Sixth Sense’, ‘Unbreakable’ and ‘Signs’. And there is a noticeable absence of anything Hollywood (Shyamalan wrote, produced and directed the film himself, completely independently and only found a distributor after it was completed).
Speaking of her time with the controversial filmmaker, Olivia is full of praise: “Night is an amazing Director and it was an honour to be able to work with him and get to know him. He’s a very friendly, very genuine guy. A perfectionist, but in the best of ways. He brought out the best performances in both Ed and I and really challenged and pushed us which has helped me (and Ed I’m sure) grow as a person and especially as an actor.”
Set in Philadelphia and filmed during a particularly brutal winter, ‘The Visit’ has an eerie quality to it before the scary parts even kick in. Olivia and her young co-star Ed Oxenbould (also Australian) play siblings who are heading out to their grandparents’ farm to meet them for the first time. There’s a reason the kids have never met their nan and pop-pop before, but the film’s many secrets take time to surface.
The family farm lays deep in snow. Tall, dark trees shrouded in mist surround the place, creating a sense of isolation and uncertainty. “The set design, the location and the performances were so amazing, there were moments during shooting where I got lost amongst everything and it felt a bit real and a bit scary.” But Shyamalan and the rest of the crew kept things light and jovial so the kids could have a break from the intensity.
While she appreciated the happy atmosphere between takes, Olivia is no stranger to working on creepy sets. “I was filming a movie earlier this year called ‘Scare Campaign’ and we were working in an old mental asylum at night. It was rumoured to have ghosts and everything, which was scary enough but – and this probably sounds stupid – I’m pretty sure I saw one. It’s probably not true, I was probably just imagining it but I like to think that I did! I saw this strange white flash and I was like [pauses for dramatic effect] ‘it’s a ghost’.”
While she’s worked on a thriller or two in the past, ‘The Visit’ is completely unique in its take on the genre. Most of the film’s scariest parts are attributed to ‘this is just what happens when you get old’. Perhaps more disturbing than the scares themselves is the fact that the explanations given are believable. And you start wondering, as the film progresses, if you are leaping out of your seat in terror at nothing more than the natural effects of old age.
“I think that’s what the film rides on, that fear of getting old and what happens when you get old. Although, obviously it’s a very exaggerated situation in the film.” Pondering the real-life ramifications, Olivia is unconcerned and happy to allow life to unfold as it will. “I’d like to grow old with grace when my time comes. I really hope I don’t turn into nan and pop-pop.”
Starting from these odd foundations, ‘The Visit’ develops into a strange blend of psychological thriller and dark comedy, hitting peaks of bizarreness that get people vocally and physically reacting. This is something of a rarity with today’s audiences who are overstimulated and consequentially desensitised. Yet, in screening after screening, people scream, jump, laugh, cover their eyes and yell at the screen as though it might achieve something.
During the recent premiere in Melbourne, Olivia sat in with the audience and was able to see their reactions first-hand. “It was so much fun because we all knew what was coming so we were just waiting for people to yell or scream or laugh. It’s kind of where all the hard work pays off. I think that bit’s always going to be fun.”
And the amount of hard work Olivia has done at such a young age is impressive. She was not one of those kids pushed into acting by her parents. In fact, Olivia’s agent actually had to sit her parents down and explain that they needed to start taking her acting career seriously. This kid knew what she wanted and didn’t wait for anyone to give her permission to go after it. “I got my American agent when I was 12 and I’ve probably done about 70 auditions since then. It’s been a lot of hard work. A lot of hard work.”
A necessary part of all that hard work has been dealing with rejection. “It’s a bit heartbreaking to be told ‘no’. When I was younger especially. But you get it all the time. It’s part of the business and you develop a resilience to it after a while which has helped me grow as a person as well. It’s a tough industry and, while it might seem as though it’s all come quite quickly for me, there are so many people working behind the scenes and so many years and so much hard work that’s gone into this. I’ve been working for a good six years at this, so it’s been a long time coming. I feel incredibly blessed though that it has come.”
Olivia doesn’t consider herself as particularly mature. She just is who she is. Yet, her outlook on life, particularly within an industry where you are constantly and very personally critiqued, is so balanced. “I think people really just underestimate how many no’s you’re going to get. In this industry but in life too.” The most important thing, according to Olivia, is not to confuse a no with a full stop.
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When asked if she’s ever felt like giving up, Olivia responds: “absolutely” but follows this up immediately with a resolute “not”. “There was a time when I was younger that not getting roles really broke my heart. There was one in particular that I was in the final two for and I was so in love with it but I didn’t get it. I had a bit of a cry. I was thirteen and I was pretty upset but that was kind of where I realised ‘every no is one step closer to a yes’. My dad always said that to me but that was the moment when it really made sense. I’ve held onto it, kind of like a motto. And it’s true, not just with acting but with so many different life situations as well”.
'The Visit' is in cinemas 24 September.
