“It was a dream.” Sadie Soverall on being in Saltburn and her new movie Arcadian

Taking place in a near future, when normal life on Earth has been decimated, Arcadian follows Paul (played by Nicolas Cage) and his two sons, Thomas (played by Lost in Space’s Maxwell Jenkins) and Joseph (played by IT’s Jaeden Martell), have been living a half-life – tranquility by day and torment by night. Every night, after the sun sets, they face the unrelenting attacks of a mysterious and violent evil. One day, when Thomas doesn’t return home before sundown after visiting his girlfriend Charlotte (played by Saltburn’s Sadie Soverall), Paul must leave the safety of their fortified farm to find him. A nightmarish battle ensues that forces the family to execute a desperate plan to survive.

We spoke to Arcadian star Sadie Soverall about learning how to shoot a rifle for Arcadian, the legacy of Netflix’s Fate: The Winx Saga now it has been cancelled and the mega success of Saltburn.

What were the main elements that jumped out at you when you sat down to read the script for Arcadian?

One of the main things were the monsters. I was really curious as to how they were going to create these and how they were going to manifest them because it felt like they were this big question mark. I was really intrigued and wanted to know what they’d look like and how they would manifest.

Also I love the themes of this found family and finding people who become your people, and the elements of loss – that felt really, really heartfelt and true.

What draws you to a role? Is it the script, the director, the character…?

It’s an amalgamation of all three. A really good script is something that makes you feel like when you read it, you just want to get up and do it. That’s one of the main things.

But for me, it was all three of these things. It was the director, Ben. I was a massive fan of his work on Everything Everywhere All At Once. He just seemed like a very, very talented individual, which he is, and the script, and also the character. She’s really strong, and that really pulled me in.

How would you describe your character, Charlotte, in Arcadian?

I’d describe her as actually a badass. She’s really independent, she’s strong, and she doesn’t need saving. She’s there in the action with the boys.

She starts off within this world, where she’s quite relatively privileged. She’s in this gated home community. She’s got two parents, she’s got access to food, and she’s safe. So she’s got all these basic privileges that the boys don’t have, and she has Thomas, who comes to the farm, and he’s this intriguing glimpse into what the world actually does look like.

When things go really wrong in the film, and when Charlotte’s world’s turned upside down, she’s got Thomas, and she’s got these people who have become her found family, who she can rely on and be with. Her world’s flipped very quickly but the more beautiful part of loss is that you can also gain things. You can gain connections and you can gain people in your life.

How would you describe this post-apocalyptic world in Arcadian?

It’s really grounded in that the characters and the relationships feel very, very real and it’s scary in the fact that it feels like this could be a future. That is what is really unique about it, as well as the creatures, which are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They’re a fascinating draw.

What were those scenes like to shoot with the creatures? Had you seen what they would look like before you got on set?

I’d seen a few sketches, but I knew that we were in such good hands with this VFX team led by the wonderful Zach Stultz. They’re all such pros.

There wasn’t a lot of imagining that we had to do. Everything that they could do physically in the space, they did. They had this amazing prosthetic creature hand that they’d use to poke through all the slots in the wood. It just looked so real, and it was really helpful to act with.

Also, because the creatures shed these cockroaches and bugs, we had real cockroaches on set, which was terrifying itself. So it wasn’t very hard to be squeamish about that!

How do you get into the right space to act terrified?

Sometimes I do a bit of running and sometimes, for me, it’s about just being super laser-focused and just getting myself to that place.

Sometimes I use music, but getting my heart rate up and getting a bit of adrenaline going is really helpful!

You have a few action scenes as well in the movie – did you do much training to prepare for those sequences?

We had a little bit of training just to get us used to the physicality because the characters in the film live a much more physical life.

My training was mainly to do with the rifle, because I’ve never shot a gun before, and I was really intrigued as to how that looks, and what that’s like. I had a really amazing gun supervisor who walked me through that.

It was really fun. Ben’s such a great director because he gets in there with the camera, and he was so involved in the acting as well. He made sure that for a lot of the faster, more tense scenes where there was a lot going on, that we could do them all through to the end and it felt like we were acting, and he was just going alongside and filming what he could with it.

What was it like working with Nicolas Cage?

It was a real honour. I’ve been a massive fan for a long time, and he’s such a fantastic actor. He really cares about cinema and about films. It was really lovely being on set with him and talking about films and talking about cinema and art and work. It was one of the highlights of my careers. Definitely.

What do you want viewers to take away from Arcadian?

I hope they take ‘hope’ away from the film. For me, one of the central themes is that even when your world gets turned upside down, there can be a light at the end of the tunnel. There can be good things that can happen again, and you can be happy again.

All these characters go through a lot in this film, and they lose a lot but they find each other and that’s a really beautiful thing to always remember in life, that the bad times don’t always last.

You starred in Netflix’s Fate: The Winx Saga – what was it like being part of a franchise with such devoted fans?

It was such a pleasure. It was really lovely. The support from the fans has just been overwhelmingly lovely. I’m really privileged that I got to be a part of that with people who care so much about those stories. It was a real, real privilege.

You were also in Saltburn. What was it like to be part of a movie that everyone was talking about earlier this year?

Oh my gosh that’s the highlight of my career. That was incredible. I’ve been a fan of [director Emerald Fennell’s] for a really long time. When I auditioned for it, it’s one of those jobs you’re kind of like, ‘there’s no way I’m going to get this, so I’m just gonna go in and give it my all and forget about it’.

The whole way through, I was just like, ‘I can’t believe I’m here’. It was such a treat. It was a dream. And just watching the phenomenal actors… I mean, I’m just the luckiest person ever to get to do that!

What’s next for you?

I have a few things in the works, which are very exciting and that I can’t speak on that right now, but I’m currently in a play at the Donmar, called ‘The Cherry Orchard’, which has been beyond a dream. We’ve only got a week after this week left, so it’s over very soon. That’s been amazing and I’m very lucky to be a part of that.

Arcadian is in cinemas now.