Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston
It's official. Paranormal Activity is the most profitable movie in history. It took only $15,000 to produce and one week to film at director Oren Peli's San Diego home. So far, it has made over $65 million in the US and Canada – an astonishing 414,233% return on investment.
The movie's stars remain humble newbies to the Hollywood scene. Katie Featherston, 27, was born and raised in Texas, and Micah Sloat, 28, is from Connecticut. Both think The Exorcist is the scariest movie they've ever seen, and neither dreamed of the film's rampant success after playing two years on the indie circuit. In our exclusive interview, we talked with the actors about the details of filming, the stuff that scares them, and their thoughts on Paranormal Activity 2.
Q. What are some of the reactions you get when you're recognized in public?
Featherston: I've had some people tell me they're glad I'm a normal girl. Of course I'm a normal girl! I'm so new to all this, and I don't feel any different, so when people come up to me and say, "I loved your movie" or "I was really scared," that's just awesome.
Sloat: A lot of people have come up to me and said, "I'm so glad you're not dead!" especially on Facebook and Twitter. I'm getting interesting messages from a lot of long, lost friends I didn't even know I had.
Q. What did director Oren Peli have you do in your audition together?
Featherston: Our callback was when we met. We walked in and Oren said, "Micah this is Katie, Katie this is Micah. How'd you guys meet?" Immediately, we just started spinning off this story about how we met overseas…instantaneously, we were able to listen to each other, play with each other and just have a good time. It felt really natural.
Sloat: Working with Oren and Katie as a unit and a team, we got into a rhythm really quickly. We learned to trust each other, and we were able to go through a lot of material in a very short time, which is one of the reasons why we were able to shoot an entire feature film in seven days.
Q. How were you able to channel the fear that translates onscreen?
Sloat: I think you have to have real fear in order for the audience to believe what you're going through. The difference between acting scared and actually being scared is the amount of control you have over your circumstances. We were in that place for so long, shooting 18 hours a day--
Featherston: We were never really leaving the house--
Sloat: [So] it was easy to get there and stay there. Especially, Katie standing over you when she's possessed is enough to frighten anyone.
Q. How was your psyche affected after filming?
Featherston: Oren sent us a screener of the movie a while back of a different version of it…I hadn't seen it in a long time, and I wanted to see what this new version looked like. I got through the beginning of the movie, but by the first nighttime scene, I turned it off. I could not watch the movie alone in my house. So definitely, I'm a little more nervous than I used to be.
Sloat: Things have definitely changed for me as far as what I'm able to experience. I used to love playing with a Ouija board, and now I don't even want one in my house.
Featherston: Finally! [laughs]
Q. Do you believe there are things such as ghosts or demons?
Featherston: Sure. I think there are a lot of things you can't explain in the world and I'm certainly open to that kind of stuff.
Sloat: I am fascinated by the occult, by the paranormal, by the conspiracy theories. As far as whether or not I'm a believer or not, I'd say I'm an agnostic. I'm just fascinated by the storytelling of all this.
Q. There are some funny moments in the film. Since it was all unscripted, were there a lot of rehearsals?
Sloat: If there's anything that's funny in there, it's all original, happening in the moment, spontaneously for the first time. I never told the same joke twice. The scenes that we did a lot of takes of were expository, or we needed to get out information in a natural way and a short amount of time. A lot of the stunts and effects were very difficult to pull off on a small budget. We had to work on those a number of times.
Q. What freaks you out in real life?
Featherston: For me, it's what's in the dark, what you can't see. I think fear of the unknown is the scariest thing.
Sloat: Katie. [laughs] I still have nightmares from filming the movie.
Q. What do you think of the idea of exploring Katie's demon in a prequel or sequel?
Sloat: I think it's a great idea. There are a lot of questions that are unanswered about the movie. There's a lot of room to play with the back story and I think the fans deserve it. I'm sure after Blair Witch 2 didn't do so well, [the filmmakers] have a much better understanding of a sequel to this kind of movie. I expect whatever's put out there to be a lot closer to the heart of our movie.
Featherston: We haven't actually heard anything directly. We've been asked about it a lot, but who knows. If they have a good idea, we'll see.
Q. How has the success of Paranormal Activity affected your future plans?
Featherston: I feel proud of Oren, I feel thankful and it's very overwhelming. So many doors have been opened. We're reading scripts, we're meeting awesome people, and it's so crazy right now. I know good things are coming, but I don't think either of us have really settled on one of the many opportunities yet.
Sloat: Music is definitely going to take a backseat as the movie's taking off. But in the future, I definitely will be working on getting an album out there at some point. It's really early in the process. We've just gotten all this exposure, all at once, and we're taking offers and reading scripts, seeing what's out there.
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