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Actress Mackenzie Foy talks to The Inside Reel about intuition, the duality of brutality and revenge, and the primal instincts that drive survival in regards to her new western thriller: "The Isolate Thief" from Radial Entertainment.

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Transcript
00:20We have what you might call a delicate situation.
00:24Ain't you figuring it out?
00:27What regimen did you say you're from again?
00:33Something like the isolate, I know it seems like you have an interest in history, but
00:38also an interest in behavior in many ways with the characters that you've always played
00:44and even the ones you're coming up to play.
00:45Could you talk about looking at that and specifically Ada's sort of thought process within that for
00:52this film?
00:54I think what really drew me to Ada is that she's such a strong character in the sense
01:01that she's using everything around her.
01:05She's very connected to nature and she has such a strong intuition.
01:08And that's what really is helping her get through this whole story.
01:12And I also like that as she discovers this world because of how isolated she's been her
01:19whole life, she doesn't know what people are like.
01:21She doesn't know necessarily how heinous and evil these people are because you don't know
01:27if you've experienced or never heard stories like that.
01:30And so as she's kind of discovering who these people are and she's listening to her gut and
01:36her heart and it's going, this isn't right, this isn't right.
01:38But also there's parts of her in moments in this story where we go, well, is she actually
01:44getting along with them?
01:45Is she thinking about becoming one of them?
01:49And why?
01:50Why would she do this?
01:51Or is she just playing them?
01:53Never quite know.
01:54And I thought that that was just a really, really interesting texture to the character.
01:59Outpost log entry, February 5th, 1865.
02:04This is my last entry.
02:06I'm leaving here anyhow.
02:07Those conditions have become too harsh.
02:11You are the caretaker's daughter?
02:13Yes, sir.
02:14Criminal John Goode.
02:17I hope you'll forgive us the intrusion.
02:19It looks like we'll be here overnight, but don't you worry.
02:23We'll be of no bother.
02:27You know these woods better than anyone, isn't that right?
02:30Yes, sir.
02:32We have business in these woods.
02:35Should be settled by tomorrow.
02:38Even faster with your help.
02:42But she has so much more experience than she gives up for.
02:44That's why the way you interact with every single one of the characters, specifically
02:49Joey as Perry at the beginning, and then obviously Fiddler with Sean Bean.
02:54Every actor has their different sort of cadence, if you will.
02:59So it's interesting to see how you play with each of these kind of actors.
03:03Can you talk about that and finding the right sort of dance to do within those scenes?
03:09I always love that part, especially when a script is written, like how Kevin wrote this
03:15one, where each character has a rhythm.
03:17There's a rhythm in why the words are the way that they are.
03:21It's very intentional.
03:22And so you look at your character.
03:25You see that.
03:26You feel that.
03:27You find that rhythm.
03:28And then you see, okay, all the other characters have their own unique rhythm.
03:33And each actor brings in their own interpretation.
03:35And they bring that to life.
03:37And you go, okay, how do I keep the originality of my character in that rhythm, but also blend
03:45it with the others so that it's not like this jarring, like all these things coming together.
03:50And when you get onto set and you get to be with the actors, it's this kind of unspoken
03:55thing where everybody kind of goes, oh, this is what you're doing.
03:58This is how you're doing this.
03:59Okay, I'm going to do this.
04:00I'm going to do this.
04:00And it all kind of starts to blend together.
04:02And that's always such a fun part.
04:04That first day when we all get on set, we're in character, we're in hair and makeup, and
04:08we finally all get to interact with each other and do our thing.
04:11It's so much fun to explore life.
04:14You have no idea what these men are truly like.
04:18This here is Burial Perry Parker.
04:21The gold he stole from me.
04:24He was close by in these woods.
04:28If this man is a thief colonel, then he should be dealt with rightly.
04:32In times of peace and civility, you'd be right.
04:36But these are extraordinary times.
04:42His temperament has changed.
04:45They know.
04:46The actual subject matter, I mean, it's intense.
04:49It's dark.
04:50It's bleak, you know, because you have so many different things between class, sex, everything
04:55that sort of dictates what's going on.
04:58It dictates the violence, too.
05:00You know, it's an interesting thing to how to play the brutality, but then how to play
05:04the sort of revenge back and forth.
05:07Could you talk about that?
05:08Because that's very physical.
05:09It's probably very emotionally draining, but it's also probably very precise.
05:14It is.
05:15It is.
05:15You know, I think with Ada, too, specifically, she is because, you know, again, she has lived,
05:22you know, a very remote life.
05:25And so she doesn't necessarily understand why this is wrong, why this is evil, because you
05:31you don't innately imagine cruelty unless you've experienced it.
05:36I think as we get to see her, she understands that kind of intuition part of her, that something's
05:41not quite right.
05:41But as she learns who these people are, why they've done what they do, why it's so bad,
05:46she starts to go, oh, I understand.
05:48I understand this and this and this.
05:50And you get to see that kind of primal survival instinct, as well as her going, I don't understand
05:57why they're underestimating me.
05:59Why am I not as smart?
06:01Why am I not as clever?
06:02Why am I not as good as a tractor?
06:03I live here.
06:04I've survived for this long.
06:06I've done all the things that you have.
06:08And it's her also fairing that and going, there's a difference between us and there's
06:11no reason for it.
06:12And I'm going to use that against them.
06:15And that kind of partnership with Emily and her kind of showing her, we have to be clever.
06:21We have to do things a certain way so that we can survive.
06:23And that relationship between them was very, very interesting.
06:27No man can be washed of his sins and no sin can be left unpunished.
06:36All right, I'm coming in.
06:45We have to do things a certain way.
06:48We have to do things a certain way.
06:49We have to do things a certain way.
06:52We have to do things a certain way.
06:52We have to do things a certain way.
06:52We have to do things a certain way.
06:52We have to do things a certain way.
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