{"id":374919,"date":"2026-01-17T09:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374919\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T09:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:13:09","slug":"samara-weaving-talks-ready-or-not-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374919\/","title":{"rendered":"Samara Weaving Talks Ready or Not 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWith three movies and a bundle of joy<\/a> on the way, Samara Weaving<\/a> is primed for what promises to be a life-changing year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Australian actor kicks off her eventful 2026 in late March when she returns to her most memorable role in Radio Silence\u2019s Ready or Not<\/a> 2: Here I Come. Weaving reprises Grace MacCaullay, the blushing bride who was forced to lay waste to her wealthy new in-laws during their sadistic rendition of hide-and-seek. The sequel picks up right where the horror-thriller left off in 2019, as Grace\u2019s (foster?) sister, Faith MacCaullay (Kathryn Newton), is threatened unless a still-recovering Grace plays another dangerous game with four more murderous families. The ensemble also includes Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elijah Wood and David Cronenberg.<\/p>\n

\n\tWeaving was overjoyed to reunite with Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett<\/a>, especially since their aforementioned filmmaking collective wasn\u2019t always slated to helm the sequel to their breakout film. In an alternate timeline where COVID didn\u2019t upend schedules, Ready or Not 2 would likely mark Weaving and Radio Silence\u2019s fifth collaboration together after a trilogy of Scream films in which Weaving played Sam Carpenter, the main character of Radio Silence\u2019s Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023) who was named after Samara\u2019s own nickname of Sam. Instead, Weaving fulfilled the Drew Barrymore role in Scream VI before putting on the blood-stained wedding dress and mustard-colored Converse Chuck Taylors again during Ready or Not 2\u2019s 2025 shoot.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m just so glad that it all worked out how it was meant to work out,\u201d Weaving tells The Hollywood Reporter.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone will be disappointed by how much pain Grace is put in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReady or Not 2\u2019s world premiere is taking place in the middle of March at 2026\u2019s South by Southwest, and it\u2019ll be joined by another one of Weaving\u2019s films, Over Your Dead Body<\/a>. Directed by one-third of The Lonely Island comedy trio, Jorma Taccone, the darkly comedic thriller is a reimagining of Tommy Wirkola\u2019s Norwegian film, The Trip. Weaving plays Lisa, an actor who goes on a weekend getaway with her writer-director husband, Dan, played by Jason Segel. The rub is that the highly dysfunctional spouses are plotting to kill one another. Minus the homicidal intentions, the story hit close to home for Weaving as she is also married to a writer-director. Thus, Over Your Dead Body prompted the ultimate gag gift from her to her husband, Jimmy Warden.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy husband and I never had a wedding. COVID happened, and so we put a pool in instead. We might do it later on,\u201d Weaving shares. \u201cSo we don\u2019t have any wedding photos, and growing up, Jimmy always got told that he\u2019s similar to Jason Segel. And he is very Jason Segel-esque. They could be related. So Jason and I did a series of wedding photos for props to put on set, and as a birthday present, I gave Jimmy a framed wedding photo of me and Jason that\u2019s now hanging on our wall. So we technically do have a wedding photo; it\u2019s just not one with Jimmy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWeaving\u2019s third film of 2026, Carolina Caroline<\/a>, premiered at 2025\u2019s TIFF to universal praise, resulting in a theatrical distribution deal from Magnolia Pictures. She plays the title character in Adam Carter Rehmeier<\/a>\u2019s outlaw road movie, starring opposite Kyle Gallner, who is to Rehmeier what Weaving is to Radio Silence. Caroline is a sheltered West Texas woman who falls for Oliver (Gallner) after witnessing the cool conman swindle her boss at a filling station. The unlikely couple then hits the road for a romantic crime spree, beginning with small-scale con artistry that quickly evolves into armed bank robbery. Weaving and Gallner share a great deal of experiential overlap in that they\u2019re both indie and genre darlings with staunch worth ethics. Gallner was also killed by Radio Silence in the first of their two Scream movies, so they bonded over that distinction when they jokingly threatened the co-directors with payback.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCaroline is a real two-hander, and it\u2019s just so easy to go to work every day when it\u2019s with someone you love. When it\u2019s a two-hander with someone who\u2019s a bloody ding-a-ling, it makes it feel like work,\u201d Weaving admits while praising Gallner. \u201cWe both prepare and work really hard, but we remember that we\u2019re rodeo clowns, not surgeons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBelow, during a conversation with THR, Weaving also discusses how accidentally punching Andie MacDowell on the first Ready or Not came back to haunt her during the sequel. Then she discusses two particularly teary days during Carolina Caroline.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, you have a mighty big 2026 ahead. Did it just work out this way?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, if anyone says, \u201cOh, this is the grand design,\u201d I feel like they\u2019re probably lying. I don\u2019t even know how you would do that, especially in this industry, with release dates and how people see movies now. So, no, this was not planned, but I\u2019m so grateful and excited. I really love all of these flicks that are coming out.<\/p>\n

\n\tExcluding two industry shutdowns, it seems like you\u2019ve been working non-stop for a while now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I\u2019m lucky. I even got to work during COVID. I did Nine Perfect Strangers, and it was so incredible. We were in Australia where they were really strict about everything, and there was a lot of freedom over there in a sense. So being able to escape to an Australian oasis during that time was really fun.<\/p>\n

\n\tAre you able to take time off with ease? Or do you get restless?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m so good at doing absolutely nothing. It\u2019s one of my favorite things to do. I don\u2019t get to do nothing that much, but when I do, I really do it well.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSamara Weaving and Kathryn Newton in Radio Silence\u2019s Ready or Not 2: Here I Come<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPief Weyman\/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tIn March, you return as Grace in Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. The last time I spoke to Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett of Radio Silence, I asked them about a report of another director being tied to the sequel, and they said that they knew what I knew. Was there a period of time where you were going to make the sequel without them?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, there was talk of that for a minute, but I\u2019m just so glad that it all worked out how it was meant to work out. We didn\u2019t plan it. After the first one, we thought that there was no way we were going to do another one. That was just not even in the realm of probabilities. So to be able to do it again with the same people seven years later is really special.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom the trailer<\/a>, it looks like the sequel picks up seven minutes after the end of the first one.<\/p>\n

\n\tOr seconds. (Laughs.)<\/p>\n

\n\tDid they put you through the wringer even more on this one?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I don\u2019t think anyone will be disappointed by how much pain Grace is put in.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019re paired with Kathryn Newton on this go-round. She\u2019s referred to as Grace\u2019s \u201csister\u201d in the trailer, but is she really Grace\u2019s foster sister since Grace grew up in the foster system?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWow, you\u2019re really good, but I can neither confirm nor deny.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKathryn Newton and Samara Weaving in Radio Silence\u2019s Ready of Not 2: Here I Come.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPief Weyman\/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tDid you land any accidental punches like last time with Andie MacDowell?<\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) No, but Kathryn hit me in the face by accident. It wasn\u2019t that painful, but it clocked me. I then went really Australian and said the C-word. (Laughs.) The whole crew was like, \u201cUh, are you alright?\u201d I forgot where I was; they don\u2019t hear that a lot in North America.<\/p>\n

\n\tI still marvel at the prolonged guttural scream you executed at the end of the first movie. Are you able to replicate that scream when asked?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I can. That\u2019s just how it comes out. Every time they go, \u201cSam, do the scream,\u201d I\u2019ll go, \u201cAlright, I\u2019ll do it. \u201d I don\u2019t know where it comes from. I don\u2019t do any warmups or anything like that.<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you like the term \u201cscream queen\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n\tSure! It\u2019s got queen in it, which is pretty cool.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYou played one of the opening victims in Radio Silence\u2019s Scream VI, but the main character of their two Scream movies was named Sam Carpenter. Did you know she was named Sam after you?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I was meant to do it, and then I couldn\u2019t. They even named her Sam, and it was so nice. I think about that a lot. I have no regrets, but that could have been cool. Whatever, it\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

\n\tKyle Gallner was also killed by Radio Silence in the Scream movie that preceded yours. Was that one of the first points the two of you bonded over during Adam Carter Rehmeier\u2019s Carolina Caroline<\/a>?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, we plotted our revenge the whole time, but it would take a lot to get Matt and Tyler back. We\u2019d have to write a movie, and then get them to do it. We\u2019re still on a text thread about it. But we definitely sent them a pic and said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to get you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKyle Gallner and Samara Weaving in Adam Carter Rehmeier\u2019s Carolina Caroline.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of TIFF<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two of you make so much sense on paper and on screen. You\u2019ve both done plenty of studio work, but you\u2019re also these highly respected figures in the indie and genre space. And just like you, he doesn\u2019t seem to stop working. Did you also notice a lot of the similarities between yourselves?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, we have a really similar work ethic. I just adore him. We got along really well, and I could do a million movies with him. Caroline is a real two-hander, and it\u2019s just so easy to go to work every day when it\u2019s with someone you love. When it\u2019s\u00a0a two-hander with someone who\u2019s a bloody ding-a-ling, it makes it feel like work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWe work very similarly. We both prepare and work really hard, but we also don\u2019t take it so seriously, to the point where everyone\u2019s just rolling their eyes at these wanker actors. There\u2019s no sense of self-importance. We\u2019re just having fun, and we remember that we\u2019re rodeo clowns, not surgeons. So he has that same perspective, which is really nice and refreshing.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m stealing \u201cbloody ding-a-ling\u201d from you.<\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) Please do. Anytime.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI thought I was decent at math, but Carolina Caroline has this recurring cash register con that I had to calculate in my head multiple times until I had a firm handle on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI still don\u2019t know it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s why it\u2019s a good con because it\u2019s confusing enough to dupe the cashier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI had six months to figure it out, and I still have no idea. Kyle and I would be in our green room, going, \u201cWhat is happening?\u201d [Director] Adam [Carter Rehmeier] would come in and be like, \u201cGuys, it\u2019s easy. Listen.\u201d We\u2019d then be all confused again. So I just went, \u201cYou know what? That\u2019s why we call it acting. I don\u2019t need to know; I just need to pretend that I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tApparently, you made a young girl genuinely cry during one of the intense bank robbery scenes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOh God, yeah. That little girl, man, I felt so bad. And by the time I cheered up the young lass and was like, \u201cHey, look, it\u2019s just pretend!\u201d she could no longer cry when they did her closeup hours later. We should have been rolling that first take on her, not me. I don\u2019t think she\u2019d ever been on a movie set before, and it was rough to watch her go through that.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid Kyra Sedgwick avenge her and get you to cry in your scene together?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, definitely. She freaking destroyed me ten times over. There\u2019s been a few times where I knew how lucky I was in the moment to have a front row seat to an incredible performance. On Nine Perfect Strangers, Michael Shannon had this huge monologue at a table, and it was the same experience. I didn\u2019t have to do my job that day with Kyra; I just had to witness it. All they had to do was roll the camera on me watching this performance, and I was done. So she made my job so easy because she really brought it [during her day of coverage]. She just mic-dropped and left. It was rad.<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you think Caroline is a good person pretending to be bad? Or is she a bad person pretending to be good?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI think she\u2019s good. Maybe that\u2019s just me, but I think the audience will think that too. It\u2019s really heartbreaking when you know that someone has a really good heart, and they either don\u2019t think so or they\u2019re questioning it. So that\u2019s what I think Caroline is going through, but the beauty of this art is that it\u2019s up for interpretation.<\/p>\n

\n\tOver Your Dead Body is a remake of Tommy Wirkola\u2019s The Trip. Were you attached when he was going to remake his own movie?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNo, I came on quite late. It was a surprise. It was like, \u201cHey, you free?\u201d And I was like, \u201cFor this? Hell yeah! This is awesome. These are my heroes. [Director] Jorma Taccone, Jason Segel, Juliette Lewis and Timothy Olyphant? Are you kidding me?\u201d So it was all ready to go, and it was one of those weird, unplanned opportunities that comes along every now and again where you just go, \u201cYep, I\u2019m all-in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYou play an actor named Lisa who\u2019s married to Jason Segel\u2019s writer-director character, Dan, and they\u2019re both trying to kill each other during a weekend getaway at his family\u2019s remote cabin. Given that you\u2019re an actor who\u2019s also married to a writer-director (Jimmy Warden), has the plot of Over Your Dead Body inspired a lot of jokes at home?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) No, not at all, but we really should take advantage of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI definitely thought one of you would\u2019ve joked about going to a cabin in Finland by now.<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, what have I been doing? I need to take advantage of all the jokes that are available. Actually, there is a really funny tidbit. My husband and I never had a wedding. COVID happened, and so we put a pool in instead. We were like, \u201cWhatever.\u201d We might do it later on. So we don\u2019t have any wedding photos, and growing up, Jimmy always got told that he\u2019s similar to Jason Segel. And he is very Jason Segel-esque. They could be related. So Jason and I did a series of wedding photos for props to put on set, and as a birthday present, I gave Jimmy a framed wedding photo of me and Jason that\u2019s now hanging on our wall. So we technically do have a wedding photo; it\u2019s just not one with Jimmy.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s an amazing gag gift.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) Yeah, it really was.<\/p>\n

\n\tOver Your Dead Body is a gory and darkly comedic film that mostly takes place in one location. You\u2019ve really mastered contained thrillers like this, but was this still a difficult tone to get right?<\/p>\n

\n\tComedy is always the hardest thing. It\u2019s easy to make people cry, but it\u2019s really hard to make them laugh. Luckily, the writers [Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney] are geniuses and so funny. Besides all my heroes being involved, the script was really the biggest reason why I came on. It made me laugh so much, especially all of the scenes with Jason and I bantering and bickering before it gets insane.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI particularly enjoyed Jason\u2019s character saying your character\u2019s accent is \u201cBritish crossed with the devil.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t(Laughs.) That was a Jason burn. That was an ad lib insulting my Australian accent, and I loved it so much. But when something is so well-written, all I have to do is play against the comedy, and it\u2019ll be hilarious. I also just trusted that I was working with Jason Segel, who\u2019s the funniest man alive. He and I also work the same. We come to work knowing every single line backwards and forwards so we can play. So I just followed Jason and Jorma\u2019s lead, because they know what they\u2019re doing with comedy. I fully trusted whatever they suggested, and it was so great. I learned so much from everyone. I was intimidated, but I wasn\u2019t afraid because I knew that I had such great support from some of the funniest people on the planet.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavid Leitch and Kelly McCormick\u2019s 87North is behind the movie, but the action is not highly stylized like most of their films. It\u2019s messy by design. Is purposefully messy just as difficult to pull off as highly stylized?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I think so. It really depends on the stunt crew, and these stunt guys were so great. I love messy fights. My favorite ever is at the end of Bridget Jones\u2019s Diary when Hugh Grant and Colin Firth fight. I think they told the stunt guys to sit down because these two gentlemen shouldn\u2019t know how to fight. At one point, Hugh Grant has Colin\u2019s leg, and they\u2019re hopping around. So I reference that a lot when I\u2019m playing someone who doesn\u2019t know how to fight because it shouldn\u2019t seem choreographed at all. And the stunt crew were so great at figuring that out and making it funny and weird and scattered and sporadic and messy.<\/p>\n

\n\tSouth by Southwest is going to be a raucous venue for the world premieres of Ready or Not 2 and Over Your Dead Body.<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I love South by. I\u2019ve only been once, but it was so fun. I love Austin and how everyone gets all riled up. The streets are all full and everyone\u2019s open. It\u2019s going to be a really good time.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n