Havana Rose Liu is a modern-day indie darling, living out a plot line that few can say is their reality. Plucked from obscurity by a casting director on the streets of New York City close to a decade ago while attending NYU, she has gone on to star in some of this generation’s most compelling cinematic gems. This summer, she’s entering the abstract world of Her Private Hell, a surrealist sci-fi thriller masterminded by Nicolas Winding Refn – a movie which reignited her love for acting. Starring opposite Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton, Liu navigates the futuristic, neon-lit underbelly of a hyper-stylised metropolis as Thatcher’s step-mother, former best friend and ex-lover, Dominique.

Coming directly off a Broadway run, Her Private Hell was a total shift from the rigidity of learned lines and on-stage cues, as Refn sat down with the cast each morning to rewrite the scenes they would perform just hours later. Sitting in the same realm of on-screen it-girl is Hunter Schafer, who’s set to star opposite Liu in Arkasha Stevenson’s upcoming A24 psychological horror about a bachelor party gone haywire. While the plot remains tightly under wraps, the experience only intensified their bond, with the pair seeing each other ‘lock in’ and shift into something entirely new.

Hunter Schafer: Yay, Havana!
Havana Rose Liu: Hi Hunter! This is so funny – I love this. [both laugh] 

HS: How was Cannes? [Havana premiered Her Private Hell at Cannes a week before the interview] 
HRL: Cannes was crazy. Have you ever been? 

HS: I have. Had you?
HRL: I’d gone for a fashion thing before, but this was my first time with a movie – it’s a whole other ballgame, it’s next level. [Havana Googles images of Hunter at Cannes] You look so cute! My god, you look adorable. 

HS: I really liked Cannes because it reminded me of, like, Florida or Vegas or something, but French. Did you feel that? 
HRL: Yes, 100 percent agree. It had all the pizzazz and personality of Florida, but with all of the shishi, gorgeous romance of France. 

HS: Exactly, there’s a sort of romantic sleaziness. What did you wear? 
HRL: I wore this custom Balenciaga red dress. I feel like it was one of the bravest things I’ve ever worn – I just loved it. 

HS: What do you mean by brave? 
HRL: It was just such a dress. The train felt so long and everything was like a choreography of how to wear it. Yet it was very effortless. 

HS: And it’s proper black tie too, which I remember being scared about. You can kind of do whatever you want, but there are rules. 
HSL: I kind of love a rule like that. 

HS: Me too. I like a challenge. 
HRL: A creative prompt is always helpful. [laughs] 

HS: We first met in Budapest… 
HRL: Did we? 

HS: No, we didn’t! [both laugh] We met in New York at another premiere of yours.
HRL: Actually, we met even before that.

HS: We met on the sidewalk! Three tries! [both laugh] We met on a sidewalk at, I think, one of my favourite coffee shops now too, which I won’t name because…
HRL: Because you don’t want to blow up my spot. [both laugh]

HS: It’s really fab. Then by chance we saw each other later that day at your premiere, which I just happened to be invited to.
HRL: And this was when we already knew we were going to work together, so we were squealy the whole time. It’s very magical.

HS: It was very magical. And then we got to spend two months together in Budapest. I can’t remember if you said that was your first time in Budapest?
HRL: I had been before, just for a couple days of travel fun. It was your first time, wasn’t it?

HS: That was my first time there.
HRL: Oh my god, it’s funny that we get to reflect on our little Budapest time.

HS: I know! We haven’t even had the chance to do that. It’s kind of weird. I don’t know how you feel – and I guess this happens a lot with projects and the way our lives are structured – but you don’t even get a chance t look back. I’m sure you feel this way even more because you really hit the ground running. Projects feel like a fever dream.
HRL: Totally a fever dream. Also because I don’t see those people anymore. Those people who I fell in love with, who are my family – where are they? It’s such a funny, weird feeling.

HS: It’s so strange. Where did you film Her Private Hell?
HRL: We filmed that in Denmark.

HS: Wow.
HRL: We were in Copenhagen and it was really nice because we’d shoot these really dark, steamy, foggy, sparkly scenes in the studio. Then we’d go outside and jump in the water, because it was summer in Copenhagen and gorgeous.

HS: Did you jump in the water at Cannes?
HRL: I didn’t! I really wanted to. Did you?

HS: I think we just got our feet in. But I really wanted to. Every time I’m by a body of water I feel ambitious, and I’m like…
HRL: “I’m going to get in that.” That’s me too. I have a family friend who, anytime they pass a body of water, makes a point to jump in. I remember her whole thing was: “I’ve gone on so many special spontaneous swims in my life – don’t you want to live a life full of special spontaneous swims?”

HS: When I jump in and then come up, it’s such a cinematic moment that gets burned into my brain.
HRL: Totally. It’s the most romantic thing ever.

HS: OK, let me get back on track. When did Her Private Hell come into your life?
HRL: [laughs] I love Hunter in professional mode. Her Private Hell came into my life when I was doing my play last year in New York [All Nighter]. It was the most fun. Then it was a very strange, cool experience to shoot off and do this movie.

HS: You told me during the play that it was very revelatory for you, in terms of acting.
HRL: I think I was probably going to quit before I did that. I was on a trajectory of feeling a little like I wasn’t sure I was very good…

HS: These are normal actress thoughts!
HRL: They really are. We’ve talked about this a lot. But I was very conscious of feeling a pretty extreme amount of imposter syndrome. Then doing the play made me feel more free and capable than I’d imagined. Even just getting up there every day and doing it start to finish, holding my character’s hand throughout the whole thing, and learning so many different things. It was a real training ground for me, and it felt like it burst some of the imposter syndrome bubble in a way that was really special. This is why I told you that you need to do a play.

HS: I know, I know. I can’t tell if I’d love it or hate it.
HRL: But don’t you feel fear is a really good motivator? I think it’s usually a sign that you should walk towards the thing. You’d be so fantabulous in a play. Also, you have the brain of a director, so I feel like you’d love doing theatre because you have to modulate every night –you’re holding the whole story.

HS: That’s true. Obviously there’s a director, but in the moment you kind of have to direct yourself a little bit too, right?
HRL: Totally, and you’re very conscious of, “OK, if I respond to this in this way, then it will impact that in another way.”

HS: Was it crazy to jump straight into the movie afterwards?
HRL: Yes. I did the play on a Saturday, then left for Denmark on Sunday morning. We started rehearsals the following Monday.

HS: Oh my god. How much rehearsal time did you have?
HRL: I think we had about one or two weeks.

HS: What was rehearsal like?
HRL: We didn’t actually rehearse any scenes because Nicolas [Winding Refn] rewrote every scene every morning, basically before we got there, and the whole story changed throughout the project.

HS: Holy shit.
HRL: Yeah, so we basically just talked through where our starting point was, almost like if we were about to play a video game. You’re like, “I choose this outfit, and this sword, and this haircut, and this amount of power in this direction, and this name” – that’s all we had. Then we entered the world, and who knows what was going to happen. I remember being in fittings and thinking, “But I don’t even know where she’s going.” I play sort of an evil stepmother in a fairytale. My main character is my ex-best friend, and I married her father.

HS: Wow.
HRL: I know. Hide your dads. [both laugh]

HS: Hardcore. Was it quite improv-heavy then?
HRL: No, zero percent improv. But we would write in the morning what the scene needed to be, based on the scene from the day before.

HS: Wow, it’s such a stark difference from theatre.
HRL: Exactly. That was kind of the coolest part. I did feel like it was whiplash. Also, the play I did was the fastest thing in the world – we were speaking a mile a minute. [speaks in fast-forward gibberish]

HS: [laughs] Because [in the play] you guys are, like, on Adderall, and it’s an all-nighter, right?
HRL: Yeah. Then I went into this movie where we spoke so slowly. Almost every note he gave was, “Slower,” and, “Do less, do less.” It was all about paring everything away, whereas the play was so manic. It was a very stark contrast and a hard transition.

HS: It sounds like it was an extension of the acting boot camp that theatre was – but like a complete 180.
HRL: Yes! 100 percent. It was exactly that. That year really did feel like, “OK, so you want to be an actress?”

HS: [puts on an Old Hollywood voice] “You want to be an actress? You want to be a star?” [both laugh]
HRL: Have you ever had a year like that? Or a project that felt like the acting school we never had?

HS: In a way, I feel like every project has been its own little boot camp. And during the off-time is when I come up from underwater and think, “What am I doing? Who am I? Am I a fraud? What’s going on?” Then something comes along, I get excited about it, I dive back in, and it ends up teaching me more and making me fall in love with it again. I still toggle between: do I love acting, do I love the craft, or do I love the projects? This last movie we did together was a fucking dream and made me feel like the luckiest duck in the world.
HRL: I actually feel like on that project, everyone sharing a similar relationship to acting and film sort of quelled that whole conversation you’re talking about. We were all on the same page about having real off-days or feeling like, “I don’t know if I am this label thing,” or, “What the hell?” There was so much compassion and space for that within the group that it put the whole conversation to rest. We were just in the flow of caring about one thing at a time. All the existential stuff around it could stay in the unknown.

HS: Yeah, the main group we spent the most time with were all young actors still at the beginning of our careers. We all had days where we struggled, and then someone else would, and we’d help each other through. It was so magical in that sense.
HRL: I felt like we all really nurtured each other into being better.

HS: Did you find a similar kinship on Her Private Hell? Because the three of you [Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton] are around the same age, right?
HRL: Yeah, totally. We all have very different experiences with acting and very different amounts of time doing it, but for all of us this felt like one of our first major swings within a much more abstract world. I’ve done a few abstract, arthouse films before, but this felt like the wildest process swing. We were all thrown into the deep end together, so there was a lot of trust. Like, “Can you help me run this bit?” or, “Can we meet and talk through this so that tomorrow morning, when he’s rewriting the scene, we have thoughts to contribute?” It was always helpful being together and figuring out what we needed from each other in the scenes more than anything else. Anytime something feels that collaborative, it’s so beautiful. I feel like acting is sometimes framed in this competitive light, but once you really get into it with people who deeply care about the work itself, it becomes surprisingly uncompetitive. We’re all there for a shared goal, and it’s really beautiful. The most amazing people I’ve worked with – you very much included – are the most supportive of one another.

HS: Because we’re each other’s peers in this relatively small world of filmmaking, and we’re going for the same movies sometimes. I remember with Emma [Corrin], I’d auditioned for some of the same roles as them before, but we’d never really met or spent time together. In my head, I’d built up this image of a really serious, proper actor – which they are! But then you spend two months together on set, on tarps covered in blood and losing your minds. [both laugh] It’s a very levelling human experience. Ultimately it becomes about humanity and sisterhood, or siblinghood, or whatever – once you arrive and get to kiki.
HRL: It’s also the best thing ever to watch someone feel good about what they’re doing. I feel like that must tie into your director brain too – being able to hold space for someone to really blossom into the thing they’re making is so rewarding.

HS: I want to talk about watching you work. I remember watching you during our first few days, and we started with really intense, dialogue-heavy scenes. One of my favourite things – even though it can be intimidating – is watching fellow actors enter their zone. It used to really scare me because I’d think, “Oh my god, what do I do? They’re in it right now.” But I remember watching you go inward and stay there, maintaining your headspace throughout the day. It’s so intimate because you’re doing it in front of us.
HRL: It’s always crazy, but that was the first day, you’re right.

HS: Which is terrifying. Were there scenes like that in Her Private Hell – lock-in scenes that challenged you or brought something different out of you? It sounds like the whole thing was a revelatory experience…
HRL: Honestly, I feel like that is my answer. Every day was a lock-in. We were all firing on every cylinder trying to understand what we were doing in a symbolic, archetypal sense, what we were doing in the scene, what the tone was, how to hold ourselves still enough – because the whole film was extremely still. It’s funny watching someone so intimately in their process because even if you don’t know them very well yet, you’re seeing such a soft side of them.

HS: That’s where it feels really special. The pieces of people we get to see on set… People I’ve worked with have seen sides of me that even some of the closest people in my life haven’t seen.
HRL: That’s actually such a good point. I’ve never really thought about it like that, but it’s very true. There’s an intimacy in what people see of you. Also, the stakes are so high.

HS: It gets raw.
HRL: It gets raw. That’s the perfect word for People are at their most raw selves. Also porous – everyone’s kind of open and receptive. Everybody gets a ;ittle mushy.

HS: It’s like a big amoeba. OK, who do you admire and respect?
HRL: Oh gosh, so many people. I’ve really been appreciating hearing Chloé Zhao talk about process in her recent press interviews.

HS: I haven’t watched any of them, but I’ve been seeing her looks and she looks amazing.
HRL: First of all, her looks are phenom. But the way she’s talking about the process on Hamnet feels really twinkly to me. I’m more and more impressed by filmmakers who are finding ways to hold space in these really human, unique ways – where it doesn’t feel like they’re making something for a specific output, but instead crafting a psychologically profound directorial process. She talks about doing these free dances with music before or after the day, or maybe after a big scene. It feels like an amazing release after something difficult – almost therapeutic. It’s so beautiful and so rare. I remember thinking about how we don’t really know what it does to an actor’s body to ‘die’ so many times in one life. Does your body know it’s not real? We go through these huge, high-stakes emotional experiences all the time – what does that do physically and psychologically, and where does it live in the body? Whenever I come home from a project, I’ve definitely noticed my body carrying tension in the same way my character did. It stays with you. So the idea of a director actually working through that collectively – holding space not just for the story, but for the instruments themselves, which are us – feels incredibly sacred to me. I have so much reverence for her.

hair CHRISTOS BAIRABAS using BUMBLE AND BUMBLE; make-up JOEY CHOY at THE WALL GROUP; nails ROBBIE TOMPKINS at THE ONLY AGENCY; photography assistants OWEN SMITH, FRAYA MASELLI; fashion assistants CATHERINE LITTLE, TALIA ISSACHAROFF; production GRACE KO