Netflix's 'The Haunting of Hill House' cast shared how they prepared for their roles, including watching 'a lot of embalming videos'
- The cast of Netflix's horror hit series "The Haunting of Hill House" explained how they prepared for their roles in an interview with Spot.
- "I watched a lot of embalming videos and looked at pictures of dead bodies," said Elizabeth Reaser, who plays Shirley.
- "I think in the pre-production phase, we all spent a lot of time together, got to know each other," said Henry Thomas, who plays the young Hugh Crain.
Netflix's new horror series, "The Haunting of Hill House," is a massive hit for the streaming service, and the cast went to great lengths to bring it to life.
In an interview with Spot, Elizabeth Reaser, who plays the adult Shirley Crain, explained the unsettling ways she prepared for her role.
"I play a mortician and a funeral home director, so I worked with a mortician in Georgia and I watched a lot of embalming videos and looked at pictures of dead bodies," Reaser said.
Henry Thomas, who plays the father of the family in the past, Hugh Crain, had a less disturbing answer.
"A lot of it was built between the relationships between the characters," Thomas said. "So I think in the pre-production phase, we all spent a lot of time together, got to know each other. Because the story is told through two timelines with almost a separate cast for each timeline, it was important for us to all work together and be on the same page in terms of the story."
At least he didn't have to look at dead bodies.
Watch the full interview below:
Read more of Business Insider's coverage of Netflix's 'The Haunting of Hill House':
- 'The Haunting of Hill House' director explains what to expect in a potential season 2
- 'The Haunting of Hill House' director changed the show's original ending because it would have been too cruel
- The cast of 'The Haunting of Hill House' couldn't sleep and felt 'crazed' during filming
- How 'The Haunting of Hill House' pulled off its best episode, which included '18-page scenes without any cuts'
- 'The Haunting of Hill House' is surging in popularity and is the next big hit horror TV show
- 'The Haunting of Hill House' director is making a sequel to Stephen King's 'The Shining'
- Stephen King loves 'The Haunting of Hill House' and called it 'close to a work of genius'
- Netflix's new horror series is a chilling drama that digs much deeper than jump scares