{allcanada} Natalie Dormer finds acting challenge in 'The Forest'

 

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Natalie Dormer saw double when she ventured into The Forest.

A supporting player in period and fantasy TV series such as The Tudors and Game of Thrones, as well as the last two Hunger Games movies, the British actress makes her horror debut as twin sisters Sara and Jess Price.

The Forest (in theaters Friday) is set in Japan's Aokigahara Forest, which is infamous in real life for its otherworldly presence and popularity as a last stop for suicidal people. Sara learns that her sibling has vanished in the locale, and fearing the worst, she hops on a plane from America to Asia to find Jess.

This is a scary movie, after all, so Sara encounters a mysterious dude (Taylor Kinney) all too keen to help her, random Japanese schoolgirls popping up with vague warnings, and lots of strange happenings in the vegetation.

"Anyone can imagine getting a phone call that someone they love is in trouble and against all reason and all better judgment and all the warnings of the locals, you go to this alien world," says Dormer, 33. "You do something kind of crazy just out of love and loyalty (for those) you care deeply about."

The Forest has a strong psychological thriller bent, so much of the movie shows Sara unraveling into madness and questioning the reality of the terrors around her. But another major attraction for Dormer was getting to play two very different people at the same time.

"Jess is the free-spirited one who goes off and does whatever she wants," says director Jason Zada. "Sara was the more stable one who got a husband and a house in the suburbs."

 

Putting the characters together proved technically tricky in a key early scene where, through dialogue, moviegoers see how opposite they are.

"That's like a life tick box as an actor, to be playing against yourself. It's certainly surreal," Dormer says, laughing. "(But) it's hard to make choices as Sara when you don't quite know how you're going to play it as Jess yet. You haven't got the other actor to react against. You have to be a bit schizophrenic."

Filming in Aokigahara isn't permitted because of its reputation as a "suicide forest" — Zada found similar surroundings in Serbia for his production — but he did visit the site at the northwest base of Mount Fuji.

Two guides bailed on him days before taking Zada into the forest; one was spooked by bad dreams, and another was forbidden to go after his mother had nightmares. When Zada finally found someone to lead him, the director veered from the designated path and felt that "there's something there and it's freaky."

Dormer also made her own pilgrimage but determined that the forest was more spiritual than scary.

"The lens with which we look at a place is informed by our knowledge of it," the actress says. "You have a different sensation when you walk into Aokigahara because you're compassionate and sad. You appreciate that people go there without the intention of coming out."

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