“Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen” stars Camila Morrone as Rachel Harkin, a young woman set to marry her dreamy boyfriend, Nicky Cunningham (Adam DiMarco), at his secluded family home in Upstate New York. From the moment Rachel steps into the dimly lit cabin, where Nicky’s siblings share a frightening tale of a bloodthirsty man who ascends from hell to terrorize people in the nearby woods, it is clear why the limited series bears its name: Rachel, a naturally anxious person, knows she is unsafe here — but hasn’t yet discovered why.
Created by Haley Z. Boston, the feminist horror show from Netflix offers a stylized critique of heterosexual marriage. What does a woman knowingly sacrifice to marry a man who might not be her soulmate? What else could she stand to lose? Rachel learns she is the latest in a long line of betrothed Harkins to be plagued by a family curse that threatens their lives, allowing Morrone ample opportunity to express a myriad of shocked, perturbed and resigned emotions.
“When I read the pilot, I saw this dark, skeptical, paranoid, anxious young woman who is living with this heaviness and fear of the world on her shoulders,” Morrone said. “And then she was also still dry and funny and sarcastic and smart and sharp and lovable. I thought, ‘That’s such an interesting dynamic and dichotomy to play.’”
The actress is best known for her Emmy-nominated role as a wronged wife in “Daisy Jones & the Six.” She has also starred in indie films such as “Never Goin’ Back” and “Mickey and the Bear,” and appeared in the most recent season of “The Night Manager,” playing an associate of an arms dealer who doubles as an intelligence asset for Tom Hiddleston’s character.
“Something Very Bad,” which the Duffer brothers executive-produced, was an enticing project. Not only was it a genre piece, requiring Morrone to be covered in more fake blood than ever before, but it would also mark her first time leading a television series.
“You get the job and there’s the excitement, and then there’s the horrible feeling, a pit in your stomach, where you’re like, ‘Now I need to start prepping and studying and deliver,’” she said. “I realized I was leading this thing and that I was carrying this show on my shoulders. A lot of the success of it would be based on whether my performance is believable and I’m doing the character justice. That was the first time I felt that pressure. And I had to let it go.”
“Something Very Bad” favors tight shots capturing the fear and unease in Morrone’s wide eyes. She conveys much of Rachel’s anxiety through tense body movements, an impressive performance that peaks with an amputation scene toward the end of the series. (“I’ve never gone through a physical experience like that,” she said.) The actress manages to hold her own opposite veterans like Jennifer Jason Leigh as Nicky’s protective mother, and has fun playing off the self-centered wimpiness exhibited on screen by DiMarco, a rising star himself.
“The chemistry with Adam was so natural,” Morrone said. “We have the same sense of humor and it makes your job easier, especially when your character is dealing with all of these other things. Such a big part of the show is selling that these two people are really in love and that they really should be going down the aisle in a few days, until that all turns on its head.”
The role is a showcase for Morrone’s versatility as a performer — which is ideal considering that she aspires to someday star in a romantic comedy reminiscent of classics led by Julia Roberts or Cameron Diaz. She’d also love to book the equivalent of Jessie Buckley in “Hamnet” or Florence Pugh in “Lady Macbeth.” Or maybe Amy Adams in “Arrival.” Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty.” Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook.”
“I’m just so inspired by female performances,” she said. “I hope to dabble in all genres.”
This story first ran in the Limited Series/TV Movie issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine. Read more from the issue here.
