Hayden Panettiere in ‘Sleepwalker’. Photograph: Brainstorm Media.
Opening in theaters and VOD on January ninth is the brand new psychological thriller ‘Sleepwalker’, which was directed by Brandon Auman (‘Star Wars: Resistance’) and stars Hayden Panettiere (‘Heroes’ and ‘Scream 4’), Beverly D’Angelo (‘Nationwide Lampoon’s Trip’), Justin Chatwin (‘Warfare of the Worlds’), and Mischa Barton (‘The Sixth Sense’).
“When night time falls, each reminiscence could be a nightmare.”
Launch Date: Jan 9, 2026
Run Time: 1 hr 29 min
Moviefone lately had the pleasure of talking with Hayden Panettiere about her work on ‘Sleepwalker’, her first response to the screenplay, her strategy to her character, working with the remainder of the solid, director Brandon Auman’s imaginative and prescient for the undertaking, her position as a producer, and if it’s enjoyable making a scary film.
Associated Article: Hayden Panettiere Talks Performing and Producing New Thriller ‘Amber Alert’
Hayden Panettiere stars in ‘Sleepwalker’.
Moviefone: To start with, are you able to discuss your first response to the screenplay, what spoke to you concerning the materials and why you wished to be a part of this undertaking?
Hayden Panettiere: It was a mix of issues. Once I learn scripts, I search for fascinating plot strains, and tales that maintain the viewers invested and on the sting of their seats. That is how movies like this work, and I search for characters which have numerous layers to them. I am actually drawn to characters which were by way of trauma. It is one thing that I relate to, I believe lots of people relate to, and simply characters that give me one thing to actually sink my tooth into as an actor. It was additionally mixed with the truth that it had a tremendous solid connected to it. Beverly D’Angelo, Justin Chatwin, Mischa Barton, Lori Tan Chinn, and our two children, Corinne Sweeney and Laird LaCoste. I like working with children. In order that was an enormous pull for me, after which attending to work with Appian Approach and Verdi Productions and attending to govt produce, too. So, it was a mix of a number of good things.
MF: Are you able to discuss your strategy to enjoying this character and the loss and guilt that she is coping with?
HP: Guilt and loss, they’re matters that I am conversant in, so I had rather a lot to tug from my actual life. I imply, we did this movie in 15 days, which was a breakneck tempo. We had rather a lot to get performed, and it was very darkish. However I used to be surrounded by such an ideal crew of those who we have been in a position to pull one another out and in of these darkish scenes and people darkish moments and have mild moments. Beverly D’Angelo and I turned very shut, and I knew her rising up. She was my neighbor down the road when she lived with Al Pacino once I was a child. So, we bought to lastly run into one another, and we glance a lot alike. It is loopy that we have now not performed mom and daughter earlier than.
Beverly D’Angelo in ‘Sleepwalker’. Photograph: Brainstorm Media.
MF: To comply with up, what was it wish to work with Beverly D’Angelo in any case these years later?
HP: I imply, you by no means know. You by no means know till you are on set and you’ve got been round anyone, however we have now such related personalities. She’s so spunky and so humorous. We saved one another laughing, and that chemistry simply got here like that. It was simply that straightforward. It made my job extremely straightforward and enjoyable. I could not have requested for anyone higher to play my mother and to play throughout from. She’s a legend. She’s a legend, and he or she’s only a character, a firecracker, and anyone that you simply simply need to hear all her tales. I hope to work together with her once more for certain.
MF: The movie additionally stars Mischa Barton and Justin Chatwin, who each started their careers across the identical time you probably did within the early 2000s. Had you met both of them over time and what was it like working with them on this undertaking?
HP: I do not know that Mischa remembered this, however I was in the identical audition rooms as her and her sister rising up in New York. So, I knew her in passing for a very long time. Justin, we had met in passing, however I wasn’t as conversant in him as I used to be with Mischa. I did not have as a lot of a private relationship with him.
(L to R) Hayden Panettiere and Beverly D’Angelo in ‘Sleepwalker’. Photograph: Brainstorm Media.
MF: You talked about working with the youngsters within the solid, and because you started your profession as a toddler actor, do you are feeling a detailed connection to children engaged on a set now that you’re an grownup?
HP: Completely. Having been one myself, I am very, very protecting of them. Particularly with a darkish material like this, I used to be attempting to be protecting of them, their feelings, and them mentally, as effectively, and with the ability to pull them out and in of those darkish, intense scenes. Understanding when to shake it off, loosen up, crack some jokes, and say, “Okay. Now, let’s get again into it.” So, we do not have to spend all day feeling this heavy, darkish weight following us round. I like them. They’re simply so pure. They’re so energetic. They’re so sincere. They’re so actual and untainted, and so they’re lovely.
MF: What was it like working with Brandon Auman, and what are you trying from a director if you’re on set?
HP: Brandon was so passionate. He additionally wrote this. This was his first time directing a live-action piece, so I wished to be as current for him as I might. I bought to govt produce on this, which is one thing that I do not at all times get to do. It was thrilling for me. I really feel like I bought to make use of extra than simply my appearing expertise. I bought to make use of all my expertise that I’ve discovered over the previous 35 years on this business, whether or not or not it’s blocking, or the best way to communicate to different actors, or the best way to make a scene transfer as rapidly as doable with out dashing and masking all of the grounds. Find out how to do blocking, and make it a dance, and make it fascinating for the digicam, all these little issues. So, I simply wished him to be as enthusiastic about it as I used to be, and he was, much more so. This was his child. So, I used to be excited to have the ability to be there and simply watch him and assist him by way of it.
Hayden Panettiere in ‘Sleepwalker’. Photograph: Brainstorm Media.
MF: Is it difficult for you splitting your time between appearing and your producing duties when you have been on set?
HP: No. I discovered it continually saved my thoughts shifting. Plenty of the occasions, I am sitting there and on this darkish emotional state, and it allowed me to leap out of these darkish moments and concentrate on one thing else so that each time I reentered into the scenes, it was recent. It wasn’t stale. It helped that.
MF: Lastly, with a movie like this that covers such darkish topic materials, is it nonetheless enjoyable making the film or is it arduous since you are leaping by way of so many emotional hoops as an actress?
HP: It’s enjoyable however in several methods. It is very rewarding if you really feel very completed. When it is darkish material like this, I really feel very completed once I know that we bought it, that we hit the nail on the top, and that I did my job to the most effective of my skill. I simply really feel it provides me deep pleasure in what I do.
‘Sleepwalker’ opens in theaters and on VOD January ninth.
What’s the plot of ‘Sleepwalker’?
An completed artist (Hayden Panettiere) is haunted by the tragic lack of her daughter in a automotive accident that left her abusive husband in a coma.
Who’s within the solid of ‘Sleepwalker’?
- Hayden Panettiere as Sarah Pangborn
- Beverly D’Angelo as Gloria Pangborn
- Justin Chatwin as Michael Anders
- Mischa Barton as Joelle Anders
- Lori Tan Chinn as Bai Zhao
- Kea Ho as Alexis
- Eric Lutes as Physician Henson
Hayden Panettiere in ‘Sleepwalker’. Photograph: Brainstorm Media.
Checklist of Hayden Panettiere Films and TV Reveals:
Purchase Tickets: ‘Sleepwalker’ Film Showtimes