Amandla Stenberg is the not-so-secret ingredient of every movie she’s been in so far.
The 23-year-old actor and singer, whose pronouns are she/they, puts in extra effort on all of their films, not just performing in but also contributing music to The Hate U Give, Dear Evan Hansen, and Everything, Everything. True to form, Stenberg also does double duty on the delicious new A24 horror comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies, both starring in and executive producing the project. In a Zoom interview, Stenberg describes their EP role as being “a translator” between director Halina Reijn and the Gen Z culture the slasher so expertly captures.
“We wanted to make something that felt real — and reachable — for people in this age group,” she tells Them.
Bodies Bodies Bodies is a sort of satirical whodunit following a twentysomething couple, Sophie (Stenberg) and Bee (Maria Bakalova), as they reunite with Sophie’s former childhood friends at an opulent mansion. Amid an evening of partying, drinking, and taking drugs, they decide to play a favorite game from their youth: the eponymous Bodies, Bodies, Bodies — a contest of social deduction similar to Mafia. When the lights go out and they discover a dead body, the game becomes terrifyingly real.
With surprising detail, the film captures rarely shown nuances in queer relationships, reflecting the way a seemingly blissfull and bubbly romantic bond can easily slip into toxic codependency when placed under pressure. As it turns out, solving a murder mystery alongside a bunch of classist and nihilistic mean girls places some strain on Sophie and Bee, putting their relationship to the ultimate test.
Ahead of the film’s premiere, Amandla Stenberg spoke with Them about their first outing as an EP, nailing the authenticity of Gen Z culture, and surviving a real-life hurricane on set.
How did you get involved with your first horror feature?
I got involved when I got this script in my inbox. It was one of those scripts that I started reading while I was on set. I read the first couple of pages on my phone, and then I just finished the whole thing because there was no stopping once I started. So engaging, so hilarious, so sardonic and clever, and it had so much emotional depth simultaneously.
I came on as an actor, and then already feeling very passionate about the project, I asked if I could come on as an executive producer as well. So then I got involved in the casting process and we started putting all the pieces together. God, it feels like that was yesterday. But it was a while ago.
What did your role as an executive producer entail?
I think my job was mostly to, I almost want to say, be a translator for Halina [Reijn] because this movie does exist so specifically within the world of Gen Zers and Gen-Z culture. My job was to ensure that the movie would be authentic to that audience, that we were always using language that felt authentic, or we were exploring circumstances that felt authentic. Because we already had a script that felt so dialed into the specificity of that culture. Halina was like, “Look, I’m not American, I’m of a completely different generation, I’m just gonna lean on you, and trust you.”
Out of like the many films in your filmography, this is your first queer protagonist, right?
I mean, in an outright way. Yes. Yeah. So the first one, yeah, it’s the first one that’s coming out that I’m queer in.
How was it to explore that as a queer performer? Did you bring much of your identity to the character of Sophie?
It was wonderful. It’s such a relief to be able to express that part of my identity authentically through a character and not have to conform to a different expression that is not authentic to me. What was so fun as an actor, and also as a producer, was being able to explore all the nuances of queer relationships through these characters — and being able to use my own experience and my understanding. The minutiae that I feel like we have experienced as queer people could be hilarious or meaningful. It was such a joy.
Speaking of those queer nuances, the movie does such a fantastic job exploring the toxic codependency between Sophie and Bee. What was it like to depict that kind of relationship?
It felt like such a unique opportunity. Because I do think that there is toxicity and codependency within romantic relationships. It can express itself so differently when it’s within a queer relationship because there are all these additional layers of identifying with each other, of seeing yourself in each other, of friendship. But that’s just an inherent part of the queer experience. We thought a lot about how that expresses itself in these characters. And I think ultimately, this movie is about people’s fear and insecurity and how dangerous their fear and insecurity can be, and what can happen when those feelings are left unchecked.
I don’t want to give too much away, but what was it like to become a certified Scream Queen?
It was so much fun. I am a huge fan of the horror genre. I would just get so excited by the mud, and the blood, and being soaking wet, and running around with ridiculous weapons, and operating from this place of fear. Like, I would like to listen to a lot of my favorite horror soundtracks or artists while working on it to kind of put myself in that emotional state.
What are some of your favorite horror soundtracks?
I was listening to [It Follows composer] Disasterpiece, who is someone that we brought on to the soundtrack, a fair amount while we were working on it. I was also listening to some of the Ari Aster soundtracks because I think they are so complex. There’s something deeply chilling about soundtracks that aren’t just outright shock-driven or fear-driven.
You and the rest of the ensemble cast were all inside that one mansion for the majority of the production. Were there any fun stories from the set?
We trauma bonded a lot throughout the process. Our common enemies were probably the wind turbines and the rain machines, which were just these humongous, absolutely deafeningly intimidating contraptions that poured out tons of water and blew winds at 40 miles an hour. So we all huddled together and trembled and just laughed at the situation that we were in because it was so absurd.
We did have a real hurricane threat at one point and we did all have to hide in the basement of the house. For a long time, we kind of did what the characters do in the story, which is coping by making a bunch of sarcastic jokes about the situation and then launching into a ridiculous dance party.
Every single character has a backstory. Sophie’s is so intriguing. How’d you get into the mindset of this character who’s in recovery, sober, and trying to make sure that her friends are there for her throughout this worst-case scenario?
I had such a good time working on the backstory of this character because so much of it was already laid out for me. There was the perfect amount of room for me to fill in the blanks and dive into my imagination. I think so many of us have experiences with loved ones, or friends we’ve grown up with, who are either dealing with addiction, or not expressing their needs or desires in a healthy way, or who don’t know how to respect boundaries or even respect themselves. I feel like whether you’ve been that person or you love someone who is that person, it’s something that we’re all deeply familiar with.
So it was a rich process, diving into my own experiences with that and bringing it to Sophie. I thought about how someone arrives at that point in their life where they abandon an entire group of friends because they know that this group of friends triggers them. When you’re placed into circumstances with a group of people from a very young age, you can develop these toxic relationships that, when shit hits the fan, perhaps are not the most substantial.
What kind of genres would you like to explore in the future in your career since now that you’ve checked off horror? I know you’re doing sci-fi with the Star Wars series The Acolyte.
Horror and sci-fi are definitely up there for me. I also love anime. It would be a dream to play in worlds that encompass some of those qualities. I have another horror movie coming out next, but it’s more of a fantasy than just straight-up horror. There are scary elements, but it’s a werewolf movie. It’s kind of Gothic and dark, sort of, similar to Bodies, and I love playing in that world.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Bodies Bodies Bodies is in limited release nationwide.