Sophie Thatcher is not a morning person.
On a typical day off, the Chicago-born actor and musician, who now lives with her identical twin sister Upstate, likes to sleep in past noon. When we meet for breakfast at 11 a.m. at the East Village diner Joe Jr. (on a Monday), she tells me she tried to push our interview as late as could be possibly considered “morning.” She orders a cup of black coffee and a side of… jalapeños and pickles, to the delight (and mild shock) of our waiter. “Oh my god, I’m going to die, holy shit,” she exclaims, upon first bite of the peppers.
The 25-year-old stars in Nicolas Winding Refn’s first film in a decade, the stylish experimental thriller Her Private Hell, which premiered out of competition at Cannes and will release in theaters July 26. With Showtime’s Yellowjackets, the show that propelled the actor to fame in 2021, about to end after four seasons, Thatcher—who’s also starred in recent horror flicks Heretic, Companion, and The Boogeyman—is considering an onscreen hiatus. Guests of Refn and Hideo Kojima’s Prada Mode installation at the Hotel Chelsea earlier this month were graced with her first live musical performance, and Thatcher’s looking to dive back into the “millions” of “random songs” she’s written over the years. Below, we touch on everything from beta blockers and drunken family sing-a-longs to her Sims obsession and the emotional Olympics that was Yellowjackets.
How do you feel about Los Angeles? Do you have to spend a lot of time there?
As soon as I leave a place, I miss it. I miss it in a way that I can appreciate it from afar. Living in [LA] felt like I was living upstairs of the restaurant I work at or something; I felt like I couldn’t escape anything.
How did you like growing up in Chicago?
Chicago is everything. Chicago theater specifically is really good. I grew up with a little bit of improv, but something about improv to me is traumatizing. I think doing improv was when I realized I had anxiety.
How close were you to your twin growing up?
We’re best friends… We went through a phase in high school where we had different friends, and I was working all the time. She felt like an older sister… She smoked weed first. I was always a couple steps behind. Now, I feel very much like the older [sister].
Is she artistic as well?
Oh my God. That’s the beautiful thing about having her. She’s so inspiring, because she just works all day. She does a lot of Claymation, stop-motion stuff, puppetry. We’re building a music studio. We’re just making art all day. I want to start a band with her. We have the same taste. Our older sister is a writer-director. And we have a brother, too.
Were you guys making art all the time as kids? When I was a kid, I would always write plays and make my brothers be in them.
Oh, yeah, we all made movies… Ellie and I have made at least 10 zombie movies. I’ve been thinking about maybe one day leaking them. It adds to the lore. Because I’m like, “I’ve been doing this since day one.”
Did you think of yourself as a child actor?
When I think of “child actor,” I think of actors on TV or film sets, [that] exposure. I had no exposure. I was doing eight shows a week because I was a theater child actor. There’s a difference. It mainly just taught me a work ethic… It was my life. It’s always been like there’s no other option in my head.
Were your parents fully on board?
My dad wanted me to be a lawyer.
Would you do theater again?
I would love to. It is intimidating, and there’s a sense of imposter syndrome because I haven’t done a play in a while, and that’s how I kind of measure real acting because God, being on TV, I feel like a cheater…
The filming conditions for Yellowjackets seemed wild, when I would see the little vignettes that aired after the episodes about what it was like on location…
Yellowjackets is like the most extreme. It feels like emotional Olympics, because everything’s always up here… I’m excited to do a project that’s mumblecore, give me something.
I saw Her Private Hell over the weekend, and—
It’s weird. People are fucking hating on it. It’s bizarre, but I like it.
The tone is so specific and special. How did you get there?
That was the hardest part. It was a lot of disassociating. Like, head empty.
How did you know what Nicolas was looking for?
I just watched his movies, and we talked about a bunch of different Brian De Palma films and Don’t Look Now. He would play music; that’s how he would communicate. He would play a song, like the Dressed to Kill Brian De Palma soundtrack, and to me it made perfect sense. “Oh, this is soap opera-y, but it’s slow…” It felt like modeling a little bit. It was transcendent, trippy, and not grounded at all, but a really good exercise to do something entirely different… I know that [the movie] is not going to be well received, but the people who get it, or who respect its strangeness, I just have so much more respect [for them].
What was it like at Cannes? Does it feel out-of-body… Whenever I see you guys on those red carpets, I’m like, That seems so wild.
Beta blockers.
What’s your sign? I’m a Libra.
I’m a Libra, too.
Don’t they say we’re really balanced?
I don’t think I’m balanced at all.
Tell me about music. As early as you were doing acting, were you also working on music? Or is that more recent?
It’s definitely more recent. I’m not very good at playing instruments. I’ve taught myself how to use Ableton and synths… My mom’s a pianist, but I was very against anything classical, and now I wish I could just go back in time.
Have you guys ever collaborated? Would she play music for something you sing to?
All the time. We have a very musical family.
Your family’s holidays must be just constant—
We all just sing “Jesus Christ Superstar” and get blackout drunk.
Growing up, were you going to a ton of concerts?
Oh, yeah. My first concert was Blonde Redhead. I was 14. It’s like the hottest band of all time.
Do you like performing live?
I did this Prada show, and it was my first live show, and it was fine. It was interesting, people were posting videos. I felt so locked in [during the performance], and people were just commenting like, “She has autism, too.” I’m like, “What? I was a little fidgety and getting into it, but I was being vulnerable.” People were like, “Is she nervous?” And I’m like, “I was just being vulnerable.” I don’t want to be polished. People were like, “She looks so awkward.” I’m like, “Fuck off.” I’m so sensitive.
Will you look at Instagram comments?
I spiral. I went through a Reddit phase. I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor. This was during Covid. And Yellowjackets had just come out, and I was just on Reddit for hours crying.
Wait, why? People can be so—
Because I hated myself… It was all just about my wigs. It was out of my control.
Are you on Twitter?
Oh, Twitter is evil.
I don’t know if it’s a people pleaser thing, or maybe a Libra thing, but I used to feel way more concerned about making sure everything’s good with everyone. I’m trying to get better at carving out my own space.
I’ve always been that way. And because I grew up Mormon and in the Midwest, it’s like…
I read you all grew up Mormon—are any of you still now?
My mom still kind of is. She plays the organ at church. I left when I was like 12. I left because I was doing theater. I was doing eight shows a week, so I couldn’t go on Sundays.
Do you get to have any alone time, or are you not an alone time person?
I need it. That’s been the hardest thing right now.
Are you a “tons of friends” type? Are you talking to people all day?
I’ve always had two best friends, three best friends, but honestly, now, because I have Ellie, I feel like I don’t…
Do you have industry friends?
I don’t hang out with actors. I can’t. I love my Yellowjackets girls, and [Her Private Hell castmates] Havana [Rose Liu] and Kristine [Froseth]… It couldn’t get better than them. But I just have to keep it separate. It’s the last thing I want to talk about. I’m on set all day. I think it’s really important to keep a separate life and everything.
Where would you want to be in 10 years?
I could see myself stopping acting for a bit for music. I want to go back and forth, because you can’t really do both [simultaneously]; that’s what I’m realizing. It’s hard to take myself seriously as a musician while I’m acting, because it feels so separate, and I feel just huge imposter syndrome with music. With acting, I’m like, “Oh, I’ve been doing this since I was a kid. I got it out of the womb.” But with music, because I haven’t had to endure touring and all of that, I just get to put stuff out. That’s the beauty of now. Everything’s so DIY, and you can just put stuff out. You don’t have to be on a label.
Do you want to release a full record soon?
I have millions of songs. When I put out the EP, I was so sacred with it, and now I kind of just want to put up random songs.
Would you direct a movie, or write a movie, or do anything like that?
I would love. It would definitely have to be something I wrote, because again, it’s about control. I think Ellie is so attracted to Claymation, stop motion, because you have full control, and you’re building the world. You are God in that sense. I’m obsessed with the Sims; you are God.
Wait, are you still into it?
Oh yeah, I still do it. Usually when I’m really depressed. If I’m playing Sims, it’s like, “She’s going through it right now.”
You post a lot of political and sociopolitical content on Instagram…
Especially as a public figure, you have to. It’s the least you can fucking do. When people say that acting isn’t political, I’m like, that’s the most— I have nothing to lose.
Do people ever say to you like, “Don’t post that stuff”?
I would fire them. I’m in a position where I have all these young followers, so everything I post makes a difference. I see them resharing it too, and I’m like, “Good”… All my family is quite political. My mom told me that if I went to the Met, she would lose respect for me. I was like, “Hell yeah, we have our morals.”
Do you stay in touch with [your Yellowjackets co-star] Juliette Lewis at all? [Lewis played the older version of Thatcher’s character on the show.]
Not really. I mean, I fucking love her. I think she was a really good role model for when I was younger, too, because I was a lot more reserved. She helped me kind of get out of my shell. She hardened me a little bit, which is cool… I’ve talked to Sammi Hanratty about this, where she’s like, “I feel like Christina Ricci lives inside me.” I said that about Juliette.
Do you want to keep doing horror? Are you over it? How are you feeling?
I can’t. I lean on all these affections that work for horror, that don’t translate into other [genres]. Everything’s so heightened; I think it’s getting me into bad techniques. I’m like, “I can’t fucking do it anymore.” You have to learn how to do it really quickly… I’m leaning on a lot of dishonesty.
I can sense that you’re looking for something different.
I’ve done so much of horror. I’m not doing TV again. Maybe a limited series in 10 years.
Are you good at saying no to things?
I’m getting better. I turn down a lot of projects now. I’m unlearning everything I was taught.
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