'I Feel Good Enough To Be Here': Julia Fox Opens Up About Her Exciting Next Step

From her early years as a peripheral presence in the New York nightlife and art scene to her breakthrough moment in the Safdie brothers’ acclaimed Uncut Gems, Julia Fox’s ascent to becoming one of the most talked-about enigmatic and talked-about new pop culture figures of the 2020s.

Now arguably as well-known as a confessional author, daring fashionista, incomparable muse, entertaining tabloid fixture and thought-provoking interviewee as she is for her acting career, Julia is now returning to the big screen in Him, the latest horror offering from Monkeypaw, the production company helmed by Jordan Peele.

Part psychological thriller, part sports drama, part body horror and part all-American hero story, the film tells the story of a young American footballer on the verge of greatness, who trains with a decorated veteran of the game to help push his career to the next level after a mysterious injury almost takes him out of the game, with Tyriq Withers and Marlon Wayans taking the lead.

Julia plays Elsie White, the influencer and wellness guru wife of Marlon’s character, who we slowly learn is harbouring some rather sinister secrets of her own.

In this new interview with HuffPost UK, Julia opens up about what she’s learned about fame in the last few years, her hopes for the future, the joy of playing against type and some of the harsher criticism that has been levelled at Him upon its release in the US last month…

Since your breakout role in Uncut Gems, I’m guessing there’ve been a lot of offers coming in for you. What was it about Him that made you say yes?

Jordan Peele’s involvement, for sure. And Marlon Wayans, bviously, that piqued my interest.

I’d always wanted to do more of a horror, psychological thriller type of thing. I’d never done that before, so I’d been kind of putting that into the universe. So when it happened I was like, ‘oh! My prayers were answered!’. And then meeting Justin, and Tyriq is adorable, and the rest of the team… it was just kind of like a no-brainer.

Presumably you get offered a lot of roles that are either similar to yourself, or are similar to what people perceive you to be…

Definitely.

…when we first meet Elsie, it feels like, ‘oh, there’s Julia Fox’, but as she starts to unravel, we see more of her and we see this darker side of her, and there’s a lot more to her. Was that something that attracted you to the part as well, because it must get tiring being offered parts based on what people think you are…

Yeah – I think Elsie and I couldn’t be more different. There might be some similarities, but they’re very superficial. In some ways, I wish was a little more like her. She’s really aggressive and a go-getter, and I think I’m a little more laidback and nonchalant about things. But you know… she’s evil!

That must have been a lot of fun to get your teeth into, though

Definitely.

At first glance, Him is a mix of a horror movie and a sports drama, but there’s actually a lot more going on under the surface, and it has a lot about fame and celebrity, which is something you know a lot about. What does Him have to say about celebrity and success?

I think my main takeaway from Him is that things aren’t always as they seem. People have this idea of celebrity, and this idea of fame, and it’s not really accurate. I think fame – as we see with Isaiah – can be a very isolating thing. There’s a lot of pressure, you know, and also [a] feeling like you have to constantly outdo yourself and push yourself to the limit, and that can be detrimental to your mental health and your emotional well-being.

You once said to Charli XCX that fame is something that “always just felt like it was going to happen” for you. You were obviously right, but how is that compared to what you expected, and how does what Him have to say about fame, compare to your experiences?

I think [fame] is what you make it. You know? And it’s how much you want to interact with it, and how much you want to feed it. You can’t get lost in it. You can’t measure your self-worth in it. You just have to be really grounded. That’s kind of how I feel, personally, about it. It’s just a thing, you know? I don’t think about it.

You can definitely have fun with it, you can definitely use your powers for good. But you know, it’s like an insatiable thing. You kind of have to draw the line on how much you want to give of yourself, and keep some stuff for yourself [or]it will consume you.

Something I’m curious about – Marlon Wayans posted something on Instagram recently in response to some of the criticism that the film has had. He said that he respects film critics, but that a critic’s opinion “does not always mean it’s everyone’s opinion”. What did you make of that, and are reviews something that you pay attention to?

I completely agree, and no reviews are not something that I pay attention to. I just kind of like listen to… if a movie comes up two or three times in my orb, I’m like, ‘OK, I need to go and see this’. I’ll look at the reviews after, you know? Just to see if other people felt the same way I did, but no I don’t.

My favourite movie in the world, Running With Scissors, also has a horrible Rotten Tomatoes score. All the movies that I love have horrible ratings, so I don’t know if I have bad taste or what it is, or if they just don’t get it. But yeah… you know, critics are just people. They’re just people. I’m not going to base everything on what a critic is saying.

So, you’re not someone who’s necessarily looking at the reviews of the films that you’re in –

Oh no, if I’m in them, I’m looking. Yeah. But if I’m not, no.

In terms of Marlon Wayans’ post, what do you think of the reviews of Him?

You know, everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but, you know, I think they’re wrong, respectfully [laughs].

What’s your relationship like with the horror genre in general? You said that it was something that you’d always wanted to try, is it something that you spend a lot of time watching?

You know, the gore and all that, a lot of blood and all that stuff, is not really for me. Like, sometimes I just find myself laughing in those moments because it’s so [unrealistic]... it needs to be done very tastefully for me to really believe it.

I’m more of like a psychological thriller kind of girl. But I feel like Him did it so well. Like, in those moments where there was blood, it felt real.

In terms of horror, do you have any favourites?

I just watched Smile on the airplane on the way here, and I was terrified. That movie was really, really scary, and they did it really well. But you know, horror, I would say probably number one, The Ring. So good. Like, incredible. Um… it’s hard. It’s hard to choose. The Hills Have Eyes, I guess that’s horror, right? Love that one.

They both have a very 2000s vibe, as well…

Yeah, I love old movies. Movies from the 90s and early 2000s, I feel like that was such a beautiful time in cinema. The Blair Witch Project [is] amazing. Those are the ones that I really remember. I remember where I was when I watched it, and who I was with.

You describe yourself as a muliti-disciplinary artist, but did it feel good to be back in a mainstream film, which is where so many of us got to meet you the first time around in Uncut Gems, with Him?

Yeah. Well, this is my first studio film. Uncut Gems was a big movie, but it was an indie movie. So, this was definitely a new arena for me to be in, so that was really exciting.

I felt, like, worthy or something, like, ‘oh my god, I’m good enough to be here’. So that was cool.

It must feel good to be like, ‘this is what I do, I am an actor’...

Yeah, definitely. I think people forget that I am an actress.

On that note, what is next for you, you’ve tried so many things and succeeded in them, are there any avenues that you’ve not pursued yet that you’re interested in?

I definitely want to write a film, maybe one day direct a film, produce a film, that’s really something that interests me a lot. And definitely write more books.

And maybe go back to college – and learn a thing or two. I just never finished! I dropped out, so maybe things that interest me, I’d love to do that. It’s something that’s in the back of my mind, of something I left unfinished that I want to go back and tie up loose ends.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Him is in cinemas now.