INTERVIEWS

Written by Todd Lincoln and starring Ashley Greene, Sebastian Stan, Tom Felton, Julianna Guill, and Luke Pasqualino, “The Apparition” arrives in theaters August 24, 2012.

When frightening events start to occur in their home, young couple Kelly (Ashley Greene) and Ben (Sebastian Stan) discover they are being haunted by a presence that was accidentally conjured during a university parapsychology experiment. The horrifying apparition feeds on their fear and torments them no matter where they try to run. Their last hope is an expert in the supernatural, Patrick (Tom Felton), but even with his help they may already be too late to save themselves from this terrifying force.

Greene responded to the script immediately, admitting, “After reading it, I didn’t want to sleep in the dark. The way fear can manifest into something otherworldly unnerved me to the core.”

Stan agrees, “It’s wild to think the secrets and fears each person carries around in their subconscious are powerful enough to literally transfer to their safest physical surrounding—their home.”

Felton was also drawn to the premise. “It’s not a random cabin in the middle of the woods,” he says. “It’s based on something which people can relate to: an ordinary life, an ordinary day, an ordinary house.”

Exploring Helplessness

When Kelly, a veterinary student making a living as a vet tech, and her boyfriend, Ben, a tech expert, move into her parent’s suburban investment property in Palmdale, everything seems perfectly normal—except for the recurring noises, alarms mysteriously disarming themselves, and other strange occurrences. At first, the two find rationale for the odd events that transpire in their suburban abode; but the increasingly bizarre situations defy explanation, and soon make it clear that what they are dealing with is anything but normal.

Greene relates, “This type of thing scares me more than most because there’s nothing you can do about it. There’s nothing that you can really see. You can’t tell the cops ‘there’s a ghost in my house.’ It’s very much that feeling of helplessness. I liked that Todd wanted to focus on that—not just what makes you jump, but also the why. He said, ‘I want this to be very real, I want people to fear for these characters.’”

Greene describes Kelly as “a strong character, good-hearted but with an attitude and sass about her. She’s happily building a life with Ben, but suddenly everything that she knows to be true changes, and the audience goes through that with her—love and betrayal, happiness and sadness. I think what attracted me to the character most is she’s not the type of girl that tolerates being stepped on. There’s a point in the film where that trait becomes very clear.”

Unlike Kelly’s focus and sense of purpose, Ben seems to still be trying to find himself. He is clearly over-qualified for his job at a local electronics store. But as more and more weird things happen at the house, events from his past, and the reason why he is currently stuck, come to light.

In his approach to his role, Stan observes, “Ben is a smart guy who was on a certain path and something went terribly wrong. Now, with Kelly, Ben feels like he has a second chance and is trying to bury the past. He is working to rebuild his life and tries to ignore his unpleasant past. But it won’t be ignored. Ben has to step up and deal with that.”

Tom Felton says that the role of Patrick was an appealing challenge. “It’s way out of my comfort zone. It was nothing like what I’d done before.”

Tom Felton recalls seeing ”ghost consultant” on the crew list and wondering, “What the hell is that?” The consultant was, in fact, real-life ghost hunter Joshua Warren, who was enlisted to lend his expertise. Felton reveals, “The research freaked me out to the point where when we came on set for the opening segment, I wanted to make sure all the machines were turned off during shooting our ‘experiment.’ I was convinced we were actually going to create something out of nothing. Joshua made it all so real.”

Rounding out the cast are Rick Gomez and Anna Clark, who play the only neighbors in the empty housing development where Ben and Kelly reside, and Julianna Guill and Luke Pasqualino as students who participate in the college experiment that first unleashes the dark force.

The Roller Coaster Ride

When the past does resurface to torment Ben, it also draws his girlfriend into the center of the storm.

“Ben and Kelly go on this roller coaster ride, driven by this apparition,” Stan says.

Greene says the set was so realistic she truly felt at home. “The house had a full upstairs and downstairs. In between takes I could retreat upstairs and lie down in ‘my’ bed surrounded by ‘our’ photos. [The designers] did a beautiful job.”

“There are a lot of mind tricks in this film; it digs deep into the roots of what scares us and affects us and hurts us,” Greene confirms.

Stan adds, “I hope everyone gets caught up in the great psychological game that’s being played on these characters. It really leaves you guessing.”