Sara Klimoska Interview: You Won't Be Alone | Screen Rant
You Won't Be Alone, the feature film debut of writer and director Goran Stolevski, is an eerie folktale that combines supernatural fears with very human desires in the vein of recent films such as Midsommar and The Witch. Taking place in a small and isolated village in 19th century Macedonia, the story begins when a newborn babe is cursed by a witch. Doomed to a life of violence and loneliness, she tries to break free from her predestined path and pursue humanity instead.
Unlike the ideas that come to mind when one first hears the word 'witch,' there are no traditional spells, cauldrons or brooms in You Won't Be Alone. Instead, the so-called Old Maid Maria (Anamaria Marinca, The Old Guard) and her unwilling protégé Nevena (played in her first iteration by Sara Klimoska) have the ability to transform themselves into others through a particularly gruesome method. As Nevena becomes other people, she discovers more about herself and what she wants, all while trying to relate to humans in a way Maria no longer can.
Klimoska spoke to Screen Rant about collaborating with Goran and her fellow castmates (including Black Crab's Noomi Rapace) in order to build a through line for Nevena as she jumped between different bodies and lives.
I was really fascinated by this film. What was it that first attracted you to it and what made you want to play the role of Nevena?
Sara Klimoska: When Goran sent me the script, he wasn't sure what role should I play, because he was constantly changing costs and thinking about it.
But the first time I read the script, it was fascinating for me how you can combine something [like] mystery and horror with a very intimate story that is very powerful and touching. So, really, that made me love the script. I just couldn't stop reading it.
Silence is such an important part of the story. Though we have the character's narration, you really have to act with your whole body and your expression separate from your voice. How did you prepare for that?
Sara Klimoska: With Goran, we did the voiceover before we started filming, which was in the beginning very weird. I thought, "How can I then follow the story while filming?" But at the end, it worked perfectly.
Everything that we did before with the storyline and the emotion during the movie in the voiceover, we tried to follow it during the filming, and it actually made it easier. But [it was] super challenging and super amazing to play a character without having to say anything. It's just trying to use your body, your expression, your emotion - everything you have - through your eyes.
There's so much duality in Nevena's relationships to the people in her life, starting off with when you're trapped with your mother who is at once your protector and your captor.
Sara Klimoska: The thing about all the characters of the movie is that you can justify their actions when you see that they're doing bad and evil stuff. And it's everyday life, we can see how society creates people, so that's amazing.
Also, you cannot even judge someone, because you can understand their path and their pain. This is one of the amazing things that Goran's written in the characters.
How do you prepare to film in Nevena's harsh surroundings, and what was the experience like for you?
Sara Klimoska: The main inspiration in creating the character was a report of a girl called Genie. It's an American story of a girl who's been kept isolated for 13 years by her parents. It's a not a very good story, but there is a report of her going outside for the first time.
How she looked at stuff, her posture, how afraid she was and how excited and curious she was at the same time - for me, it was like unlocking the character, and this was the starting point. Because it was a character that is shared by many actors and actresses, this was a basic [place] from where we start, which was super helpful.
And then also, of course, the character transforms and develops with the leadership of Goran.
Speaking of those transformations, you as an actor physically disappear from the role at some point, but the character and what you brought to that role remains. What is it like to follow her through that journey offscreen?
Sara Klimoska: When I was thinking of creating a character, I was not thinking of just the first part of the same character. I was thinking of the whole character, and I think that all the actors did that. We had to go through all of their transformations, so we can understand which part we play.
On the set, we first started to film, and then the others were just adding the layers to create the whole. Of course, I was not in control of it. Goran was leading us to do it as [best] as we possibly can. But it's super challenging to play one character that also has a transformation.
How much of the more gruesome or magical elements were practical? Did you guys make them happen on set or did any happen after the fact?
Sara Klimoska: There's not a lot of CGI. There are some obvious ones, of course - you cannot open anybody's body. But all of the animals were created with prosthetics, and there was an amazing Italian-Australian makeup or prosthetic artist that did a great job.
Also, the nails were already done on set. Sometimes they fall, but they're made afterwards in CGI. But generally, most of the stuff was made on set.
Nevena and Old Maid Maria is the central relationship, and it's fraught with tension. But everything that you have learned also comes from her. What is it like to balance that dynamic?
Sara Klimoska: The basic relationship of the character - I mean, my part of the character - was with her. I had the beginnings of developing a person. "Who am I? Who is this person that is leading me?" and so on. The whole script is based on these two characters, so that was my main goal: setting the relationship between those characters.
I really love the title, You Won't Be Alone - at least in English. What does it mean to you?
Sara Klimoska: The title of the film really tells me it could be interesting, because it's a genre film. It's a film that could also be a dramatic film, and "you won't be alone" can be a very scary title. But in the same way, "you won't be alone" can tell you that you cannot be lonely, and we can find ourselves in the world.
This is the best title that you can pick for this combination of genre and drama.
The mythology of this story feels so specific. You mentioned the life of Genie, but are there any myths or tropes that it derives from other than that?
Sara Klimoska: Basically, the stories about witches are more culturally Eastern European; not Balkan. But the everyday [rituals] that people did were Macedonian, like, "You have to do this in order to have children. It's a combination of Eastern European and Macedonian mythology that was amazingly combined.
Of course, there was a lot of research for the 19th century and not only what the people did anthropologically, but their clothes, their way of acting and exposing the way of relationships between people. There was a huge process of research.
Finally, what are you working on right now? What are your next career steps?
Sara Klimoska: In two days, I'm starting with a new movie. This year, I think I'm going to be, based on how the projects go, in the Balkans. I'm preparing several movies and a series.