Evil Dead Rise star 'was drooling to get to the chainsaw': 'My fangirl was going off'

While Lily Sullivan was shooting a certain about-to-be-released horror sequel in her native Australia, the actress visited a masseuse who was concerned by the amount of bruises covering her body.

"She was like, 'Um, is everything okay?'" says Sullivan. "I'm like, 'Yeah, just shooting an Evil Dead film."

Specifically, she was making Evil Dead Rise (in theaters this weekend). In the film, Sullivan plays a woman named Beth whose trip to visit her older sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) goes horribly awry after the latter becomes possessed.

"She's a guitar technician, lost in the washing machine of tour life," says Sullivan of her character in the fifth Evil Dead film. "Her life is dislocated to a lot of the things that anchor you in life. She's found herself in a place where home has no meaning and her sister represents that."

"She's back for the ultimate homecoming," she adds, sarcastically, given the gory mayhem which ensues.

Warner Bros. Pictures Lily Sullivan in 'Evil Dead Rise'

The actress was familiar with the Evil Dead franchise prior to being cast in the film by writer-director Lee Cronin, thanks to her mother.

"My mum, massive horror-lover, would take me to the cinema far too young and pull my beanie down, instead of getting a babysitter or block my ears," she says.

Sullivan first made her mark starring opposite Toni Collette in the 2012 Australian comedy-drama Mental and later appeared in the 2018 horror TV show Picnic at Hanging Rock before landing the role of Beth.

"I did two tiny little scenes [on] tape that had no adrenaline energy to it at all, it was just two conversational scenes," says Sullivan about auditioning for the role. "Next thing, I was chatting to Lee, and we got on like a house on fire. And then I was just thrust into an Evil Dead film, which was bonkers."

Actor Bruce Campbell has long complained, albeit good-naturedly, about the physical torments inflicted upon him by director Sam Raimi while the pair shot the first three films in the series, 1981's Evil Dead, 1987's Evil Dead 2, and 1992's Army of Darkness. Filmmaker Cronin admits that he too asked a lot from his star during the shoot for Evil Dead Rise.

Warner Bros. Pictures Morgan Davies and Lily Sullivan in 'Evil Dead Rise'

"Lily had to go through the wringer in terms of that real physical grind: kicking, punching, stabbing, running, all of those things, that left her battered and bruised," says the filmmaker. "But she was happy to do it."

Well, happy-ish. Sullivan does have a retrospective complaint about Cronin requesting she be thrown around for footage that never actually made it to the screen.

"Being flipped around in harness work and being tug-of-warred between two stunt [performers] was bananas," she says. "Some of that was cut. Was that just for fun and games, I ask now? Was everyone just enjoying the rag doll situation?"

Sullivan also had to contend with vast amounts of fake blood, some of which would dry on the actress, resulting in various parts of her body sticking together.

"I'd lift my head up after a nap in my trailer, my chin would be stuck to my shoulder," she says. "I'd have to spray water under my chin. It was like being the Tin Man. But with blood."

In the course of the first three Evil Dead movies, Campbell's character Ash utilized both a shotgun and a chainsaw in his battles against the possessed "Deadites," weapons which Sullivan also got to wield as Beth.

"I was drooling to get to the chainsaw," she says. "It's a real chainsaw, they just remove the chain. It was so heavy. To get the chainsaw above my head, there'd be moments my whole body would be shaking from the motor and the adrenaline, from my toes to the tip of my head. It [was] the closest moment to feeling like Ash in the movie. My fangirl was going off."

Warner Bros. Pictures 'Evil Dead Rise'

Sullivan got to meet Campbell, who is an executive producer on the film, when Evil Dead Rise screened at Austin's SXSW Festival in March.

"We instantly bonded about the torture," she says. "It was hilarious to hear some of the wild shenanigans he went through. And at one point I was like, 'Yeah, you know, because sitting in your trailer...' He was like, 'Trailer? We didn't have a trailer back then.' I was just laughing."

More recently, Sullivan hung out with Jane Levy, who starred in 2013's Fede Álvarez-directed reboot Evil Dead.

"We met about a week ago, which was really, really fun and really, really lovely," says the Australian. "Just so many great stories of ear infections, absurd laughter on set, and absolutely glorious chaos."

Sullivan will next be seen in the science film Monolith. The movie also played at this year's SXSW and has been bought by XYZ Films for likely release later in the year. The actress describes the movie as a "one-woman show."

"So I'm the only actor onscreen," she says. "It's based around this outcast journalist, who has a clickbait podcast, and it kind of explores the world of spreading misinformation in a fantastical way. It's a descent into madness really. So, yeah, that was a total opposite to Evil Dead."

Less fake blood and real bruises?

"Yeah, but the last 20 minutes of the movie, all I'm going to say is that, at one point, I was rolling around in cow s---," she says. "It was absurd. The whole movie feels super contained and then the last 15, 20 minutes of the film goes off the Richter."

Evil Dead Rise will be released in theaters this Friday. Watch the film's trailer above.

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