{"id":636313,"date":"2026-10-20T13:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/636313\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T13:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:14:09","slug":"linda-cardellini-on-crystal-lake-and-her-favourite-albums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/636313\/","title":{"rendered":"Linda Cardellini on \u2018Crystal Lake\u2019 and her favourite albums"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linda Cardellini has spoken to NME about Crystal Lake, the Friday The 13th prequel series in which she plays Jason\u2019s vengeful mum Pamela Voorhees.<\/p>\n

In the original 1980 film, attempts by a group of teenagers to reopen the abandoned Camp Crystal Lake are derailed when they start getting murdered by a mysterious cloaked assassin. As the body count rises, it\u2019s revealed that grieving mother Pamela Voorhees is the brutal killer. Her son, Jason, supposedly drowned at the camp 22 years earlier when the counsellors who should have been supervising him were off having sex in a nearby supply shed \u2013 and the murders were Pamela\u2019s revenge.<\/p>\n

As Mrs Voorhees, actor Betsy Palmer only had a few minutes of screen time, but she created a lasting impression on a generation of slasher fanatics. The next 11 movies mostly focused on her masked menace of a son Jason, but new prequel series Crystal Lake explores Pamela\u2019s twisted origin story.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t deny that it is part of a franchise that has many movies as well as fans who are attached to every [one of those]. But it goes back before the first movie begins, so there is room to expand [the story],\u201d Linda Cardellini told NME. \u201cBetsy Palmer plays this incredible Pam Voorhees at the end of the first movie. She is Pam. Her version is the version\u2026 but to be able to expand on that is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

She won\u2019t get drawn on where Pam Voorhees sits in the list of horror\u2019s all-time scariest killers though. \u201cThat\u2019s for the audience to decide\u2026 although it\u2019s pretty terrifying in the original movie, because you expect [the killer] to be another camper,\u201d she said. \u201cThe fact it\u2019s this grown woman who was a trusted cook at the camp, and had this history that nobody knew about, is pretty crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardellini only had a week between wrapping work on the Emmy-winning flirty dark comedy DTF St. Louis<\/a> and embarking on production for Crystal Lake, but that contrast was a thrilling one. \u201cThat was actually the most exciting thing for me coming off DTF,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re just so wildly different. It didn\u2019t give me much time to try to get in my own head about it either. I couldn\u2019t get in my own way. I just had to start doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LindaLinda Cardellini in \u2018Crystal Lake\u2019. CREDIT: Sky<\/p>\n

As Crystal Lake progresses, we get glimpses of Pamela\u2019s life before Jason, including her stint as a lounge singer. Because of this, Cardellini performs both \u2018Blue Skies\u2019 by Ella Fitzgerald and Connie Francis\u2019 \u2018You\u2019re Gonna Miss Me\u2019. Growing up, Cardellini wanted to be a Broadway singer but those musical moments in the new show weren\u2019t inspired by that time or her gorgeous rendition of \u2018Dream A Little Dream Of Me\u2019 in beloved Netflix comedy Dead To Me<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was all Brad [Kane, Crystal Lake showrunner],\u201d she revealed. \u201cHe was on Broadway when he was still a little kid and he was [the singing voice of] Aladdin [in three animated movies]. He based [Pam\u2019s career] on his own mum. He\u2019s a real cinephile and knows every song, so those [songs] are his picks.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Cardellini\u2019s opinion, knowing Pam used to be a singer makes her character even creepier: \u201cThere\u2019s something dangerous about a performer who doesn\u2019t get to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LindaLinda Cardellini in \u2018Crystal Lake\u2019. CREDIT: Sky<\/p>\n

During the all-night shoots in New Jersey and at Blairstown\u2019s Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, which features in the 1980 original, the cast and crew of Crystal Lake would play music to keep themselves awake. \u201cWe would play a lot of \u201870s and \u201880s music. Everybody would call out their favourites, and we\u2019d all be singing and talking as we stayed up all night together,\u201d said Cardellini.<\/p>\n

Her favourite albums are Prince<\/a>\u2019s \u2018Purple Rain\u2019 and Madonna<\/a>\u2019s \u2018Like A Prayer\u2019. \u201cI was a big Madonna fan as a kid. I still remember going to the [\u2018Blond Ambition World Tour\u2019] and that was such a big album for me. I\u2019m also a huge Jesus Christ Superstar fan, so there\u2019s always a little bit of that playing.\u201d As for the perfect soundtrack after a night of fake blood, woodland chases and wrestling with dead bodies? Cardellini wanted to listen to something \u201chappy and cheerful\u201d. Her go-to track is \u2018Groove Is In The Heart\u2019 by Deee-lite.<\/p>\n

View this post on Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n

Linda Cardellini grew up watching horrors at Halloween-themed slumber parties organised by her parents but drifted away from the genre as she got older. She said yes to Crystal Lake because she \u201chadn\u2019t done anything like it before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d been offered things [like it] and I\u2019ve dabbled in this world before\u2026 but I was [always] the person who was being chased. This time around, I get to be the person who\u2019s chasing everybody [else], so that felt very different. It had a different kind of power about it that I had not explored.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, one of Linda Cardellini\u2019s most well-known characters bears little resemblance to Pamela in Crystal Lake \u2013 crime-busting detective Velma from the live-action Scooby-Doo movies, the first of which turns 25 next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved doing that film,\u201d said Cardellini. \u201cWhen I was a kid, I grew up watching fun, adventure mystery movies such as The Goonies. To be in one that was also based on my favourite cartoon growing up too\u2026 I never in a million years thought I\u2019d get to do something like that. So actually getting the part and then shooting the movie [was] so much fun. I really had a great time. It was in Australia and I had never been there before, so I got to do a lot of firsts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Crystal Lake\u2019 is out now on Sky and NOW<\/p>\n