The Girl within the Yard is an upcoming Blumhouse horror movie directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by Sam Stefanak. The movie follows Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler), a grieving mom recovering from a devastating automotive accident that killed her husband (Russell Hornsby). As she and her youngsters attempt to rebuild their lives in a rural farmhouse, a mysterious girl wearing black (Okwui Okpokwasili) begins showing of their yard, slowly encroaching on their dwelling with seemingly sinister intentions.
Black Woman Nerds had the chance to go to the set of The Girl within the Yard and chat with actor Russell Hornsby together with a small group of journalists with an inside look of what his character has to supply and the way his function impacts Ramona’s journey all through this movie.
Within the story of The Girl within the Yard, we study that Ramona is coping with the post-traumatic stress of a current accident she was in involving her husband, performed by Hornsby. Ramona survives the accident however is paralyzed; tragically her husband doesn’t. Throughout our interview with Hornsby, we will solely assume what we do study or know of his character is thru flashbacks inserted all through the movie.
Marriages might be sophisticated and the query is what sort of relationship does Ramona have together with her husband? Hornsby says, “I feel with any marriage or any relationship it begins off with good intentions. Love is there. My feeling is, having been married for nearly 17 years, issues begin when the youngsters come.” He laughs.
Ramona’s children are the anchors to her story as she’s coping with the aftermath of this incident. She has two youngsters. Peyton Jackson performs Taylor, her 14-year previous son, and Estella Kahiha performs Annie, her six-year-old daughter. Because the household grieves and tries to maneuver on, they turn into more and more threatened by the eerie presence of a mysterious girl of their yard.
In accordance with Hornsby, he additionally describes how David and Ramona have completely different targets on the subject of what their needs and desires are out of life. “Each Ramona and David had their collective dream and their particular person dream. Ramona being an artist of types and doing her factor, and David being this architect. Seemingly we see that David’s dream has been fulfilled, and Ramona is considerably deferred. And it’s clearly, seemingly not panning out,” he says.
Hornsby additional describes Danielle Deadwyler’s character Ramona as somebody “not being fulfilled,” regardless of transferring out to the nation and dwelling in a spot that’s seemingly peaceable. After we meet his character he comes with a “bottle of frustration,” which signifies a sample of Ramona carrying this sense of feeling unhappy and unfulfilled even throughout her marriage to David. And though David feels he has been a real associate and has been there to assist, he says that Ramona “feels in a different way.”
When it got here to the manufacturing of the Common Footage movie The Girl within the Yard and particularly the script, for Russell Hornsby, what reeled him in to this challenge was the chance to work with Danielle Deadwyler and producer Stephanie Allain. Danielle Deadwyler has had a stellar profession these previous few years with tasks in movies comparable to The Piano Lesson, 40 Acres, and Until, and Stephanie Allain is notable producer who labored on Hustle & Circulate, Exhibiting Forgiveness, and one other Blumhouse horror flick The Exorcist: Believer.
“I believed it was an ideal script for Danielle. I feel that she is an actor of the primary order. Exceedingly proficient, very shiny, what I prefer to name an actor’s actor. Clearly, Stephanie having her historical past with being a producer of some fantastic and iconic movies, traditionally and I simply wished to be part of it and lend my skills nevertheless I may. As I mentioned to them once we acquired on the Zoom, “You had me from hey.” And it was actually simply that, as with the chance to work with each these ladies and and I had been actually appreciating and respecting Danielle’s work from afar, and simply actually been a fan of hers,” Hornsby says.
That is Russell Hornsby’s first Blumhouse manufacturing and he’s pleased to be part of the household. He recalled a scene that takes place at a restaurant, which made this expertise one of the crucial memorable and distinctive productions he’s labored on, when he was instructed by director Jaume Collet-Serra to do just a few pages of dialogue. However as a substitute of studying it off of the web page, Jaume instructed Russell to “play.” Each Hornsby and Deadwyler improvised their scene, and he recalled that second as being “particular.”
Though Hornsby didn’t learn any particular horror books to prep for this function when requested whereas capturing if there have been any books that match tonally with this movie, he in contrast it with Stephen King’s Distress. “The thought of being trapped, that’s what comes up in my head,” he provides. He additionally says Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. Including within the idea of what’s down is up and what’s up is down. And the truth that… we’re not in Kansas anymore.
The Girl within the Yard premieres in theaters March 28, 2025.
This interview was edited and condensed for readability.
