Interview: ‘The Vast of Night’ co-stars Jake Horowitz & Sierra McCormick
In Maker’s Dozen, we ask folks in and around the film industry 12 questions and have them ask one of us.
Jake Horowitz and Sierra McCormick are the stars of the 2020 Amazon original thriller The Vast of Night. Jake’s other credits include Bones and All, Agnes, and the off-Broadway production of Our Town, while Sierra has appeared in the TV shows A.N.T. Farm, American Horror Stories, and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? along with the films Ramona and Beezus, We Need to Do Something, and Some Kind of Hate.
For Summer Movie Month, we spoke with Jake and Sierra in a joint interview about their experience working on The Vast of Night, doing long takes, acting advice, and more!
This interview has been edited for clarity.
1. What are the Jake Horowitz and Sierra McCormick origin stories?
Jake: I grew up in Brooklyn and a huge fan of theater. On the same weekend when I was 15, I was arrested and cast in an off-Broadway play. My parents said I could do the play if it kept me out of trouble, so I did and I’ve been acting ever since!
Sierra: I’m from Palm Springs and I started acting when I was 8 or 9. I was always a chatty, smartass kid so the teachers were like, “Put her in drama club and see if that gets her energy out!” My drama teacher suggested I go to L.A. and give it a shot for real, so I did and all this time later, here I am!
2. The Vast of Night absolutely rocked us. The movie is just a series of “Who was that?” moments. Most notably both of you, but also Andrew Patterson. What is some of the most valuable directing advice he gave?
Sierra: He gave us two weeks of rehearsal time, which was invaluable to us. We ran the lines like a play over and over again, talked about the characters at length, and got a strong sense of how the film was going to look and feel. It’s important for me to understand how I function in the ecosystem of a film and Andrew was very hands-on in letting us know.
Jake: Yeah, I couldn’t agree more. He was so generous with time. And because of that, we trusted each other and trusted that everyone was working towards the same goal. This made the whole process really fun and it freed me up to focus on my performance.
3. How much of yourselves are in the characters of Fay and Everett? If not much, where did you pull inspiration from?
Jake: There are definitely some similarities between Everett and who I was when I was a teenager. But because I didn’t grow up in the ‘50s, I naturally had to look elsewhere for inspiration as well. Thankfully, there’s so much available research online. I watched a lot of YouTube clips of old radio shows—those DJs had so much swagger and style. There’s one photo in particular that Andrew sent me of this guy in a cardigan sitting at his station that really informed my character.
Sierra: Andrew thinks there’s not a lot of me in Fay, but I disagree! I think she’s an amalgamation of my younger sister and Andrew’s reference for the role—Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now. I mean, I get it, she’s this adorable, sweet little soul, and I’m this jaded cynical bitch. But I relate to her geekiness, excitability, and love of information!
4. I remember sweating having to give a 5-minute presentation in college without notes. Did your experience as actors prepare you for such long takes, or was it as difficult as I’m assuming it was?
Jake: It was definitely difficult, but I felt prepared because of how much prep time we were given. He wrote it envisioning it like a play and, having done some plays, I was able to adapt to that approach. But there were certainly a few longer takes where you get halfway through and you’re thinking “I cannot fuck this up, we’ve been rolling for 6 minutes!”
Sierra: Yeah, for me it was like, “Oh by the way, the person you’re gonna be acting with has been doing plays for his whole life.” “Shit,” I thought, “I need to step the fuck up!” I did have a sitcom background, which comes with a lot of monologues to say and remember, so that aided me. I’m a pretty good memorizer, but there were a couple long scenes in this film that were very daunting—particularly the takes at the switchboard. I remember writing them out in cursive, print, and then with my left hand just to solidify them in my memory a bit.
5. It was refreshing to watch a story wherein the characters’ only clue was through a radio signal. Are you nostalgic for simpler times or do you like our easy access to technology?
Sierra: I’m a tech idiot. I was literally shaking and crying trying to login into Zoom for this interview, so I do love all things analog. So while I’m not exactly a tech junkie, I am obsessed with the past, which is why this project was my dream. It gave me so much to research! The collecting of information for a role is my favorite part of acting. Every night during filming, I was in my hotel room researching and practicing how to operate the switchboard. There’s endless YouTube content, which gave me a sense of time, place, and context. So yeah, I’m low-key obsessed with how people used to live and how they used to be.
Jake: I completely agree. Researching is the best part of the job. It’s so satisfying to be dropped into this totally other world, that was just this world 50 years ago. It’s really an amazing thing. But I use all of the modern technology to do that, so it’s ironic! So part of me is thankful to have access to the past by way of modern technology, but also, you know…AI.
6. This month we’re celebrating summer movies. What’s your pick for the movie with the best summer vibes?
Sierra: The first one that comes to mind is To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! That’s a big comfort, warm-weather kinda movie for me.
Jake: Zola. I love that movie. Fast-paced, Florida-based, lazy heat. Strong summery vibes throughout.
7. Jake, describe Sierra in three words.
Oh my god. Wait, that was three! Nevermind. OK: Brilliant. Confident. Esoteric.
8. Sierra, describe Jake in three words.
Open. Relaxed. Pensive.
9. What’s your go-to advice for aspiring actors?
Jake: Free yourself from associating it with a job. Just dive in and give to it what you can. I seem to have a much better time when I can do that.
Sierra: Pay attention. Especially when you’re on set. I was always focused on saying my lines right, which of course is important. But by being observant and aware of the thousands of other people and jobs and things that are happening around you, you’ll be more connected to the process as a whole and make smarter choices because of it.
10. You could be best friends with any fictional character: who do you choose and why?
Jake: Timon and Pumbaa from The Lion King. A lot of good energy there, would be a blast.
Sierra: Chihiro from Spirited Away. She’s the friend I wish I had when I was a kid.
11. “Are we alone in the universe?” is one of the most pondered-over questions. What is something else you wonder about?
Sierra: I love mysteries, true crime, and unexplained events. The Dyatlov Pass incident is one I think about often.
Jake: I think about trees. I’m halfway through an amazing book called The Overstory that’s all about how trees are one big community and are in communication with one another. How they are able to send nutrients and signals by way of mushrooms! Mind-blowing stuff.
12. What is one thing you’re both deeply grateful for?
Jake: Sierra, I could not be more grateful to have met you! This movie was such a cool experience. I’m moving this weekend so I’m going through all of my stuff and I found my pass from Slamdance (where the film premiered). Seriously, throughout the process of making the film, you kept me on my toes and motivated me to always want to be better than I was the day before. It really was a really special experience, and those are few and far between.
Sierra: I couldn’t agree more! I’m just deeply grateful for the sort of artistic exhilaration that the experience of making Vast gave me. At that point in my life, I was really needing exactly what this film gave me. It reinvigorated my passion for acting and showed me that I could do something. Gave me the opportunity to flex that muscle and do that work that I always wanted to. To create a person from the ground up and to give your all to something. I’m still really grateful. So much love and nostalgia in my heart.
+1. What’s your question for us?
Sierra: What’s your favorite movie set in Chicago?
Kevin: I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, so I can’t shake the John Hughes canon from my DNA. I’ve gotta go with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It never gets old.
Jake: Is there an unwritten or unmade movie you would want to see made?
Kevin: Going off the Chicago theme, in 2016 the Chicago Cubs won the World Series and it was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life. So yeah, I need the cinematic reenactment of that moment so I can forever cry my sad dad tears.