The horror works of Mike Flanagan have taken the world by storm over the last few years, with popular movies like Doctor Sleep and Hush, and Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and most recently, The Midnight Club providing binge-worthy chills for horror fans of all ages.
Out of these different series have come incredible acting performances from all involved, including Katie Parker (Absentia, The Haunting of Hill House) and Rahul Kohli (Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Bly Manor). Parker and Kohli have reunited in Next Exit, a supernatural drama written and directed by Mali Elfman. We got to chat with both actors about their new film and experiences throughout the horror genre.
Horror Geek Life: Looking at Next Exit and your work in Mike Flanagan’s projects, does something attract you to the more tragic stories and characters in darker genres?
Katie Parker: No, it’s just sort have been the trajectory of my acting career in film. I studied theater, and came out to Los Angeles, and met Mike. He was one of the first people I’d met. He introduced me to the horror world. We crowd-funded a movie on Kickstarter called Absentia; it introduced me into the genre, and I’ve just been working in the genre. But I would love to do comedy, this has just been my journey, but it’s been really exciting to be in the horror genre, because it keeps expanding into a blend of genres. I think that’s through Mike, I think it’s through Mali Elfman’s work with this movie. There are some spooky elements, but it’s also a blend of genres.
I like that the horror genre is doing that, and I really, really hope that the horror genre gets the credit it deserves with the Oscars and Emmys. I don’t know why, the industry just doesn’t embrace it. It feels like the most visceral and honest way to story tell, so I’m really proud of it and really happy to be in this genre. I’m not attracted to just those stories. I’m attracted to a lot of different kinds of storytelling. This is just the one that I’ve been embraced by.
Rahul Kohli: No, it’s pure coincidence! My big break was iZombie. At that point, I hadn’t really been in anything before, and it just happened to be a genre show about zombies. When that was over, I auditioned for a ton of stuff, as it was the first time I was available for five years, and I booked The Haunting of Bly Manor.
That was just what came along, and then I worked for Mike, and he was enjoying my work as Owen and asked me to be in Midnight Mass, which led to him asking me to be in The Midnight Club and The Fall of the House of Usher at the same time. While we were working on Midnight Mass, Mali asked me to be in Next Exit. While we were doing Usher, I got asked to be in Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed. None of it has to do with me! It’s just all kind of coincidence, really.
I’ve got a lot of roles out there that make up a bucket list. For instance, I’d love to be in a spaghetti western. On stage, I used to be pretty damn good at playing villains. But this industry has decided that I’m the everyman, lovable sweetheart. So, I have yet to show that, which I think people will be pretty surprised. But I’m pretty content as it is. I’m attracted to character, I’m very fortunate that I can say no and still work.
With Next Exit, it kind of came along at the right time. I was in the middle of playing Sheriff Hassan on Midnight Mass, and that was a character that was very stoic and reserved, keeping his emotions under the surface and never giving anyone the satisfaction of seeing them get to him. While I’m playing that very stoic and rigid character with an American accent, this project comes along, and it’s a road trip movie with a motor mouth, and the characters couldn’t be more different, and so I was like, “Let me do that!”
HGL: Next Exit hits this message of always moving forward and finding hope, even in unexpected places, like the friendship found between Rose and Teddy. How important do you think that messaging is, especially with how everything kind of currently feels in the world?
Katie Parker: I think it’s everything. Honestly, we get so bogged down with our pasts and our traumas that have happened to us as humans over the course of our lives, and I think societally there’s a lot of perfectionism that’s put on people, especially American people; like “This is how it should be. This is how it should go.” And I think dropping that, and allowing yourself to be vulnerable in your truth and pain of who you are, and being able to share that with another person is the medicine of our times.
I think the big mental health movement right now is the medicine and the truth of our times. To talk about what is really going on, and to know that it’s actually not that heavy, and that we’re all kind of the same in our pain. There’s kind of this really sinister narcissism with our pain, where we think we’re the only one going through it, when someone else has their other version of it. So I hope people are able to see themselves in Teddy and Rose, and to know that it’s not so different than where they’re at, and to trust that somebody really wants to give you light, and to hold and share space with you in the grief, and give you the opportunity to keep moving forward, because that’s our journey as we’re on Earth. Just to take it a day at a time.
Rahul Kohli: I mean, it’s a timeless message, right? Sure, it can be applied to current events, but every generation has their defining moment. I remember ours was 9/11, and the backlash, and the experiences that being brown had, and watching our rights being taken away, and watching airports become more like big brother. This generation has the pandemic. It’s a timeless message that has been applicable since we started writing stories.
HGL: What was the biggest challenge of portraying your character in Next Exit?
Katie Parker: I sometimes have a hard time accessing anger, and I think it’s because it’s actually a huge part of me, and I’m ashamed that it’s such a huge part of me. There’s a scene between Teddy and Rose, where Rose really lets Teddy have it, and I was nervous about that because Mali was like, “I really need you to go there.” And I just did it in two takes. It’s there and accessible. But I think anger is just one of those things, because anger is just a manifestation of fear and a pull for control. So, that was really hard for me emotionally, but it was really freeing.
I had a body-work teacher recently tell me that it’s really important to access anger and to let out a primal scream in my car. I’ve been doing that, and it kind of sets the tone for the day. I don’t have to do it every day, because some days, everything feels good and in alignment here. But that was something I was nervous about when shooting Next Exit, was Rose’s fury, her hard edge, and her “fuck you” mentality. It’s just not fun to be in that space every day.
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Rahul Kohli: I… don’t think I had one! And that sounds like a really egotistical thing to say, but I took this job for a very specific reason. I wanted to change up my approach to characters, and I’m not content with just doing the same old shit. I don’t mean playing the same role, which I haven’t done. I mean preparing for a role the same with. With Sheriff Hassan, that character was kind of by the books… almost… you know, I don’t really want to say the “M-word”, because of Jared Leto, and people like that who have kind of made method acting terrible, but that is a valuable method and technique that I have used, depending on the job.
With Next Exit, it was all about being free for me. I didn’t overprepare, I just wanted to be in the moment. I just wanted to riff off of Katie and feel where we were at, and not have to kind of hammer my lines in. The other shows kind of needed that to a degree. A bunch of content in a very short amount of time. So, there wasn’t really any kind of room to muck up. With this, I wanted to kind of come in underprepared, I wanted to be loose, I wanted to be Teddy. I guess that would be my challenge, sort of doing away with my technique.
HGL: What has been your favorite project to work on thus far in your career?
Katie Parker: Probably Next Exit. I loved playing Poppy Hill in The Haunting of Hill House. That was just a rad character on the page, and I loved getting to do that monologue. And in The Fall of the House of Usher. I play a character named Annabel Lee, and I’m really excited about that work. It’s going to be a wild ride!
Rahul Kohli: I don’t know who is looking out for me or who my fairy godmother is, but I have been very fortunate. My first ever show was iZombie, and what a special show that was. I’m so proud of it to this day. It existed at a time when the CW was thriving. You had Flash, Riverdale, Legends of Tomorrow and stuff, and we sat there, this weird cousin from Vertigo Comics, and people still discover it and still love it.
Almost everything I’ve done with Flanagan has been passion projects, working with a man who truly believes in me and champions me, and is so encouraging to me to do something different. I just voiced in Ghostbusters, which came out this month. There hasn’t really been a dud yet, you know? In terms of how I feel about a project. I don’t think there’s any I look back on and wish I hadn’t done. But there’s still time.
HGL: Is there an established character in the horror world that you would consider a dream role?
Katie Parker: Oh, what a good question! Anything Jamie Lee Curtis has done, I think I would love to do my take on it, but also, she’s like, untouchable, but I love the characters she plays. Also, Mia in Rosemary’s Baby, that’s such a beautiful part. Alex Essoe re-did Wendy in Doctor Sleep, from The Shining series, and she did such a great job. She was Shelley Duvall – and incredible… but yeah, that would be a cool role.
This isn’t necessarily full horror, but the lead in Old Boy. I would love to play that guy, as a woman. I just think that journey of that character is so cool.
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Rahul Kohli: Werewolves are cool! I have specifics… people always ask me who I would play in Star Wars or this comic book world, and the truth is… all of it! I’m down for it all. It’s easy when people do like fan casts and stuff, and they’re like, “Oh, Raul should play him in that”, and the truth is… I like the stuff that you don’t think I’m good for. Why do I want to walk into a role that someone thinks I’m perfect for? I want to walk into a role that people think I’m not good for, and make it my role.
I’ll tell ya what, seeing as I’m in the mood, I’d love to play the Doomslayer in a DOOM movie. You know, it’s really flattering. I’ve seen articles that mention phenomenal actors like William Jackson Harper, and obviously John Krasinski was a fan casting thing for Mr. Fantastic, and when I see an article I’m not tagged in, that lists a bunch of names and I’m one of them, I’m like “That’s cool that you’re a conversation”, but that’s all it is. Marvel aren’t ringing my phone, and that’s cool. I’m more than happy with the things I’m doing.
HGL: What upcoming projects are you most excited for audiences to see?
Katie Parker: I definitely want everyone to go see Next Exit. It will be On Demand on November 4th and in select theaters, and I think it’s going to be on Hulu. Look out for The Midnight Club; it’s on Netflix right now. I play a character called Aceso. Also, The Fall of the House of Usher will come out sometime next year.
Rahul Kohli: Oooh! The Fall of the House of Usher, really. Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe. It’s a crazy, crazy, crazy one. Amazing ensemble cast. Shit, I got to work with Mark Hamill, and my favorite thing about The Fall of the House of Usher is that Malcolm Goodwin, my best friend and iZombie co-star that played Clive Babineaux, Mike cast him in this. So yeah, I can’t wait, and I hope we get paired up for press next year, because it will be nostalgic.
Horror Geek Life would like to thank both Katie Parker and Rahul Kohli for their time and fantastic interviews. Next Exit releases on On Demand, Hulu, and select theaters on November 4th, 2022. You can also catch them in The Midnight Club, currently streaming on Netflix, and in The Fall of the House of Usher, which releases on Netflix in 2023.
 and Rahul Kohli (Midnight Mass) about their new film, Next Exit.){kind=link}