Teresa Palmer and Miranda Otto chat all things The Clearing

Hulu’s latest psychological thriller, The Clearing, will surely put you on edge, especially thanks to the excellent performances from series leads Teresa Palmer and Miranda Otto. Otto plays a particularly formidable cult leader named Adrienne, while Palmer’s character Freya is trying to live her life as best she can in the aftermath of years of trauma at the hands of Adrienne and the other cult members.

Told in eight installments, Hulu released the first few episodes of the series on May 24, with new episodes planned for each Wednesday until all eight are available to stream. Hidden Remote had the opportunity to chat with Palmer and Otto about their characters and the challenges of entering such a dark, and often depressing, headspace.

Of course, neither actress is a stranger to horror or thriller content. Palmer is coming off the successful romantic fantasy series A Discovery of Witches, which she starred in for all three seasons, and Otto is well known for playing Zelda Spellman in the Netflix horror series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. But this new show presents new and exciting challenges for these veteran actresses.

Interview with Teresa Palmer and Miranda Otto from The Clearing

Hidden Remote: Miranda, what was it like to get into the mindset of a character like Adrienne? It seems like it would be an intense process.

Miranda Otto: It’s a funny process because, in some ways, you know, you see it on the page, and you know what’s important for you bring to the story, what your job is in the story, to create that kind of fear and manipulation and all those things. Then on another level, you have to put judgment aside and delve into it and feel it through yourself.

You could use a clinical term and say that she is a sociopathic kind of character. I was talking to a friend about it, and I was like, “Oh, it’s tricky because you know she’s like sociopathic, and so it sort of feels like I can’t emotionally invest in things.” And she said, “No, no, don’t make that mistake. The thing with sociopathy is it can be that you are invested in something when it suits your narrative, so it’s a matter of being invested at that moment and then putting it aside.”

I found that a really useful tool in this is to be right there in the moment with someone and then completely cut them off. That’s very much Adrienne’s kind of style.

HR: It’s always interesting with characters that are the antagonist, so to speak, since that character does not think of themselves that way.

Miranda Otto: No, not at all. I mean Adrienne thinks she has all the answers because you could play this character two ways. You could play there is one face for the group and another face of who she really is. I didn’t see her like that. I think she believes a lot of her own mantra, her own dialogue. She believes that [this person] would be better if they weren’t in that relationship anymore, this person needs to do this, you know, she really thinks that she can make people’s lives better.

HR: Something that really drew me into the show is the interesting relationships involving motherhood that play out in both the cult storyline and Freya’s. Teresa, how did being a mom in real life inform your approach to the show?

Teresa Palmer: Whenever I play a mom now that I am a mom, my own experiences and my own dynamic with my kids end up bleeding through with what I’m doing with my onscreen child. I think Freya is so well-meaning with her son Billy and tries the hardest she can with the tools that she has, but she has not been afforded a secure attachment with her caregiver herself, so what she has with her son is little bits and bobs and shes sort of smashed it all together.

It’s this imperfect relationship that’s pretty co-dependent. She isolates them from the rest of the community because she’s in a place of fear, and I so empathize with her. She just wants the best for her child, but she’s not able to have the perspective, to see that what would actually serve him is for her to continue working on herself and loosen the reigns a little bit. But you see all of this evolve, including the relationship with her son, and it gets to a healthier place.

HR: Miranda, did you want to add anything to that?

Miranda Otto: I have to say that working on this reminded me of how unconditional love is the basis of all parenting. If you don’t have that as a child, it’s so hard to recover from, and it’s so hard to build that and to know how to be a parent if you haven’t received unconditional love.

HR: Teresa, you have a younger counterpart on the show played by Julia Savage. Did you guys talk about your character at all or share specific mannerisms?

Teresa Palmer: I think that Julia Savage’s performance really had to impact me in terms of how I was playing things because it’s all still there. I mean, she’s living my childhood, so she is having to experience all the things that end up becoming a part of the fabric of who I am. She’s in the trauma, she’s actively in it.

So the way that she has the relationships around her, informs how I have relationships in my older years, including my romantic relationships, my relationship with my child, and friends, and how disconnected I am. Freya is so socially inept, but now you understand because of what my younger self went through.

I watched Julia’s performance quite intently. I really wanted to see how she moved her body, how she interacted, how her voice was when she was in fear because I wanted that to be shown again when we meet [Freya] as an adult.

HR: With such a heavy and dramatic role, what do you do after you’re done to shake it all off?

Teresa Palmer: I’ve got kids, so… [Laughs]

Miranda Otto: Teresa just seems to seamlessly shake it off. I mean it’s amazing watching Teresa onscreen, how effortlessly she carries that trauma, how clear it is on her face without having to overplay it, it’s just absolutely present, you feel it. But on set, she’s such a source of light. She completely goes into it, and then as soon as it cuts, it’s all gone. She doesn’t carry it, her kids come on set, and it’s like a superpower.

Teresa Palmer: I didn’t have a choice. I can’t bring that home with me for bedtime for the kids, I had to be in it for work and then just switch it off because it is such a dark headspace, for both of us, and it’s intense. You figure out your tools and your way with it and try to find that healthy balance of being present in it and then letting it go.

Miranda Otto: For me, it was such a different look on camera as well, like the whole hair and the makeup and everything, that once I took all that off, I could leave it behind. She very much existed in the hair, makeup, and wardrobe.

The Clearing is now streaming on Hulu, new episodes premiere on Wednesdays.