Rachel Thweatt On Her New Film House of Quarantine, Approaching Her Character

The 411 Interview: Rachel Thweatt

Rachel Thweatt is an actor who, according to imdb, has acted in both short films and in feature films so far in her career. Thweatt has appeared in the short film Klepto and the feature film The Rise of Sir Longbottom. Thweatt’s latest feature film is the thriller House of Quarantine, which is available on all major Video On Demand platforms as well as DVD and Blu-ray. In this interview, Thweatt talks with this writer about making House of Quarantine, her character Macy, working with the director and cast, and more.

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Bryan Kristopowitz: How did you get involved with House of Quarantine?
Rachel Thweatt: I saw a casting posted online that needed about nine college aged students for a thriller, and it looked interesting so I decided to audition!

BK: How did you approach your character Macy?
RT: I see Macy as the type of character that hopefully most of the audience would identify with. She is stuck in a house with all of these big personalities that seem to revert to extremes when things go wrong. She is logical, but also just wants to help people and stay out of the way to avoid getting hurt. I want the audience to be able to relate to her and feel what she is going through.

BK: What was it like working with director Mitesh Patel?
RT: Mitesh has a game plan and he sticks to it. We had our call sheets each day, so we knew exactly what scenes we needed to get done each day in order to finish in the scheduled time frame. It all worked out and everyone knew which scenes were next and it ran quite smoothly.

BK: What was it like working with the entire cast?
RT: It was a great experience because I made friends with everyone on the cast and during down time we would hang out. I hope to work with them all again at some point in the future!

BK: What was the hardest part of making House of Quarantine for you as an actor? What was the easiest?

RT: The hardest part was that we didn’t have any time before filming to figure out relations between the characters or to do a table read. I would have loved to have a day or two to get to know everyone and not just go right into filming. We really had to use the time we had between scenes to talk over our characters and determine how they all interact. We also shot 12 hours at a time, usually at night, so taking naps in between scenes really helped. The easiest part was that we got into a routine each day, we all knew what to do and where to go so it made it quite simple.

BK: Is House of Quarantine a horror movie or is it more of a thriller?
RT: I think House of Quarantine is more of a thriller. When I think of horror I think of pop outs and lots of gore.

BK: How was making the feature film House of Quarantine different than making the short film Klepto? How was it the same?

RT: Klepto was lots of fun to film as well. It was a one day shoot and also had slight thriller vibes to it. Since House of Quarantine was a much longer shoot time, I got to become good friends with everyone and started to understand their characters more. Klepto was a shorter shoot time, but since it is a short film, I was able to quickly understand the characters and get a better feel of what the big picture was.

BK: According to imdb you act under the name “Rachel Thweatt.” Why?
RT: So my actual name is Rachel Thweatt, but I decided to change my stage name this year to “Rachel Grace” which is my first and middle name. I changed it to Rachel Grace since it is easier to spell and pronounce. If you’re wondering, Thweatt is pronounced “Sweet with a lisp!” ;).

BK: Any moviemaking heroes?
RT: None specifically, I do always love watching behind the scenes clips after watching a movie and I’m always in awe of all the work that goes into it!

BK: Any upcoming projects?
RT: No upcoming projects, but I’m always looking forward to the next one!

BK: What do you hope audiences get out of House of Quarantine?

RT: House of Quarantine is definitely a unique concept. The whole world has been impacted by the pandemic in one way or another, and I hope audiences will enjoy the movie, and also be able to envision themselves in this thriller and think of what they would do if the pandemic did take a turn for the worst.

BK: Would you be interested in appearing a potential House of Quarantine 2?
RT: I think there is potential! Since the pandemic is hopefully calming down it may be interesting to see a new concept or series as well.

BK: What was it like working in that house? Was it weird?
RT: We worked in the house for a week or two straight so we got used to the routine of coming in and getting to filming. It would definitely be fun to film in some other locations in the future!

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A very special thanks to Rachel Thweatt for agreeing to participate in this interview and to david j. moore for setting it up.

House of Quarantine is now on all major Video On Demand platforms and DVD and Blu-ray (buy the movie here).

Check out my review of House of Quarantine here.

Check out the official website of Applied Art Productions here.

Rachel Thweatt image courtesy of Rachel Thweatt. All other images courtesy of Gravitas Ventures.