LOS ANGELES — One of the few moments of levity in “Longlegs” – the neon horror film now in theaters about a Satanist serial killer – occurs when Maika Monroe’s character, Lee Harker, meets her colleague’s young daughter.
It’s clear that the analytical FBI agent doesn’t spend much time with children. Her stoic, clumsy personality is comically reinforced by this interaction with the child, who asks Harker to do things she clearly has no interest in, such as seeing the girl’s bedroom or coming to her birthday party.
Critics have praised the 31-year-old’s ‘Longlegs’ performance, which is saying something when you’re sharing the screen with Nicolas Cage. But her calculated, offbeat character is even more impressive given Monroe’s affable, almost erratic personality.
“She has a kind of childlike quality that is extremely compelling, graceful and charming,” Cage said of his co-star.
Her endearing accessibility may be at least somewhat attributable to the fact that she has always kept Hollywood at arm’s length. “I don’t necessarily like to be completely absorbed in this world,” Monroe said in a recent interview.
Neither of her parents work in the entertainment industry and only reluctantly agreed to drive her from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles for auditions as a child while she balanced school and her kiteboarding hobby. And instead of obsessing over getting her big break after years of trying, Monroe took some time at age 17 to become a professional kiteboarder in the Dominican Republic.
“I was like, ‘Acting just isn’t for me.’ I go to classes, I work on my lines, I work so hard for these auditions, and I feel like I’m doing all the things and it’s just not clicking,” Monroe recalled. “It was so frustrating. And it got to a point where it just didn’t feel right anymore.
But she wasn’t ready to give it up completely. Although she lost her agent, Monroe retained her manager, who occasionally encouraged her to submit audition tapes.
In almost a year, she only sent in four or five. She didn’t hear back until she did.
Monroe enjoyed being a professional athlete and said it gave her a healthy perspective on her career, but as soon as she was cast in ‘At Any Price’ alongside Zac Efron and Dennis Quaid, she rushed home. Her big break came soon after with David Robert Mitchell’s 2014 cult indie horror film, ‘It Follows’.
“There have been so many ups and downs and so many times I’ve wondered, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ And it’s such a tough industry, just mentally,” she admitted. “There have probably been two other moments in my career where I thought, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ And yet I keep getting drawn back. And at the end of the day, I feel like this is what I’m meant to do and what I’m good at.”
Rather than looking back on her time as a kiteboarder as a roundabout way, Monroe said it was formative, especially because she was competing at a time when women were significantly outnumbered. “I am so grateful for the strength I felt. I felt powerful and strong. And it was a very important experience for me,” she said.
Superstition makes her reluctant to admit it, but she says this feels like a turning point in her career. She will reprise her role as Jay Height in Mitchell’s “They Follow,” which will begin production early next year.
But Monroe said she initially worried that a sequel a decade later might be a cash grab or ruin the original.
“I was like, ‘Oh no’… because it was so iconic at the time it came out and the way it ended,” she said. “But I have always had confidence in David. He is so special in what he does. It’s clear he barely does anything because he’s so picky. It has to be on his terms, on his scripts. And yeah, I read it and I was like, “Oh, okay. That’s how you do that.’ So I have high expectations.”
Although “It Follows” and “Longlegs” are Monroe’s most high-profile horror films to date, her list of acting credits within the genre is long.
“I want a fucking rom-com. Come on. Good Lord. What am I doing?” She joked about her reputation as a scream queen, but said she’s happy to stay in the world of scary movies if it means continued creative fulfillment.
“The most interesting roles, the most interesting stories and scripts sent to me usually fall into this genre and are usually the films I am most proud of, not only as a whole, but also of my achievements. And I feel like that’s where the most growth as an actor happens.
