Caddo Lake star Eliza Scanlen on fending off alligators with Dylan O’Brien

Caddo Lake, located on the border of Texas and Louisiana, is a gigantic body of water that inspires the imagination. What supernatural secrets lie in the endless swamp? the new film, Caddo LakeDirected by Celine Held and Logan George, makes great use of the location’s natural aura of whimsical mystery to tell a genre-bending science fiction story.

Little womenS Eliza Scanlen and Tin Wolfs Dylan O’Brien stars as Eli and Paris, two young people who find their fates intertwined when a young girl goes missing in the Forest Maze of the Sad Lake. Caddo Lake, Streaming on Max starting October 10, begins as a search for the missing child, but quickly becomes a twisting sci-fi saga that evokes the best of The Twilight Zone In its palpable tension, shocking turns and bold narrative decisions that make for a memorable viewing experience.

Screen Rant interviewed Eliza Scalen about her work on Max Caddo Lake. She talked about shooting for long hours in the muddy water of the swamp and the creative freedom that comes with a certain Hollywood glamour. She discussed her appreciation of the film’s visionary directors. Finally, she admitted that despite her Australian upbringing, she was still afraid of insects.

Eliza Scalen on the mix of naturalism, sci-fi and getting down and dirty from Caddo Lake

“It was a lot of dirty, nasty, days walking through mud, which I loved.”

Screen Rant: I love a good old-fashioned brain-twisting science fiction story where at the end you’re like, “Woah, I get it now.” Tell me a little about how this came to be on your desk. Did your agent go, “Eliza, you have to read this,” or did the directors reach out to you? What was the process?

Eliza Scanlen: Well, it just landed in my inbox. I hadn’t heard of Celine and Logan as filmmakers, but I love, I love working on indie films, so I Googled them and watched their films and I thought, oh my god, these people are so talented. I have to work with them! Their films that particularly affected me were Topside and this short film they did, called Caroline. They just knew how to get really naturalistic, grounded performances from people and they had a lot of experience working with non-actors and I think it’s always really cool when that’s done well in a film, and they did it really well. Then when I read the script, I was like, wow, that’s also something I’ve never read before. It’s like this cross-section between supernatural mystery and naturalism. Working with non-actors, telling a very grounded story that’s centered around family, intergenerational trauma, all those things. I just was like, wow, these people are doing really interesting things, and I met with them and we hit it off and it all happened pretty quickly.

I love the way you described how it’s so naturalistic, so realistic, that once the supernatural or science fiction elements come into play, it feels much more palpable because of that.

Eliza Scanlen: Yes, exactly, exactly.

Okay, I’m just going to say this because I’m going to go ahead and say something else, I’m going to say that you look beautiful today.

Eliza Scanlen: Thank you.

And I say that because in this movie you are manic and wet and freaking like most of the time.

Eliza Scanlen: (laughs) Yes, yes.

You are like a high energy firecracker in this movie.

Eliza Scanlen: I can brush myself quite well. But yeah, every day the hairstylist rubbed fake mud in my hair and I had fake acne, and there were a lot of gross, nasty days walking through mud, which I loved. I just loved it. It’s nice not to care about what you look like when you’re making a film, and the rougher the better on the film!

So when you’re shooting in the water, you’re not like, “Hey, that’s gross.” Or does it make you feel earthly? Are you into it, or are you just like, I can’t wait to take a shower after this?

Eliza Scanlon: I mean, it’s a little bit of both. Well, I’m Australian, so we don’t mind a bit of that. But at the end of a long day, I definitely looked forward to a shower and getting the mud off my fingernails and my ears and all of that.

I’ve interviewed a handful of Australian actors in my time, and I think my conclusion is, I want to be Australian.

Eliza Scanlon: You can join the club!

You guys are so awesome!

Eliza Scanlon: Thank you. We know. (laughs)

Eliza Scanlen of Caddo Lake on filming with a real dead alligator

“I was afraid that the eyes would just blink and it would bite my hand!”

I talked to Dylan and he was like, “I need to know about the alligator situation before I start shooting.” And I imagine for you, you were like, “It’s okay if it’s an alligator, I’m going to wrestle it to the ground.” Oh wait, you actually have a scene with an alligator!

Eliza Scanlon: Well, I was definitely scared of the alligator. Even though it was very clearly dead, I was afraid that the eyes would just pop out when I pulled the alligator away, and it would bite my hand off! But yes, it was very difficult.

Wow, what was a real gator in that scene?

Eliza Scanlon: Yes.

oh I was like, this looks so real, but it can’t be real, can it? I guess it is! Okay. But you did not meet any live ones on the set? I imagine that they are afraid of the production.

Eliza Scanlon: No, they were apparently very afraid of boats and so they stayed away. And I think they are also quite small. And alligators are, I mean, my Australian knowledge tells me that crocodiles are much more aggressive than alligators, I think, or more deadly… I could be totally wrong.

Is this a harmful stereotype? People probably turn to you and say, “Is this animal dangerous?” Or is it a cool stereotype?

Eliza Scanlon: I feel like you can benefit from the stereotype in certain situations, but when I spend time with my mom, I still get my mom to kill the spider, not me. I’m a scaredy cat when it comes to insects, which is embarrassing as an Australian.

But your insects are the size of rabbits!

Eliza Scanlon: That’s true. I was bitten by a spider once, and I was on crutches for two weeks.

Wow. Okay. So last question, we talked a little about the excitement of your character, and once things come into motion, it just does not let up. Is there any kind of technique that you use as an actor to keep the energy up, like exercise or breathing or whatever? Or is it just, you know, acting?

Eliza Scanlon: It’s just acting, baby! (Laughs) I mean, I guess you’re jumping around a lot to kind of prep, to achieve the same kind of tempo that you’re trying to maintain throughout the film. But no, I feel like Dylan and I both, we don’t have any crazy preparation methods or anything. But I feel like Selene and Logan brought that energy, you know, like they weren’t going to let us rest on our laurels. They were like, “Let’s go!” In general, we all have to have a lot of energy, you know, the whole crew and everyone has to be down for it. So it’s definitely a group effort.

More about Caddo Lake (2024)

When an eight-year-old girl mysteriously disappears, a series of past deaths and disappearances begin to connect together, forever changing a broken family history. The inspiration for CADDO LAKE was sparked after filmmakers Celine Held and Logan George found a photograph of the real Caddo Lake online, leading to many visits to the cypress forest that rests on the border of Texas and Louisiana. The film was shot in late 2021 and 2022 in and around Karnack, Texas.

Check out our others Caddo Lake Interview here:

Caddo Lake Arrives October 10 on Max.