With Went Up the Hill rolling into theaters, we caught up with Dacre Montgomery to talk about stepping into a grief-soaked ghost story, sharing a “third character” with Vicky Krieps, and weathering a brutal New Zealand shoot that bled into the film’s mood.
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ROHAN: Jack is such a deeply haunted character—emotionally and literally. What initially drew you to this role, and how did you mentally prepare to step into his shoes?
DACRE: Yeah, I think honestly, the fact that it was a three hander told by two people, so that Vicky and I play the same third character together, I'd never heard of that before. I also just thought that it was important to tell a story about domestic violence and violence against children as well, like I think that's a there's a very important message at the end of the film, which is about breaking free of this toxic cycle of abuse, right? It sort of exceeds the whole supernatural sort of concept of the movie. So, those were two things, and then the third thing was the director's vision was just so clear and specific, right? Like he's definitely an auto filmmaker, and he had everything laid out long before we started shooting the movie, in terms of his vision for the film, and, you know, because it's kind of a Gothic, brutalist kind of style of movie, he had that all planned out, the location, everything. So, I was like, in every way, shape and form, this is the kind of movie I want to make.
ROHAN: You’re essentially sharing a role with Vicky Krieps—each of you channeling Elizabeth in different ways. What were those conversations like as you shaped her presence together?
DACRE: Yeah, I think, our thing was, like I said before, we didn't perceive the movie as a supernatural film. We perceived it as a movie where two people create their abuser in order to deal with their trauma, and because of that, our versions of Elizabeth didn't need to be the same, because there's no hair, makeup, prosthetic element, right? It's not about like, I'll do my performance the same as Vicky does her performance. It's about embodying the trauma that that person had left on you, so that the person watching the movie believes it, that the abuser is inside all of us, if we have been through that kind of process, or, you know, moment in our life, so because of that, we had rehearsed Jack and Jill individually a lot, but hadn't rehearsed Elizabeth a lot, if that makes sense.
ROHAN: You and Vicky have such eerie on-screen energy. How did you build that complicated Jack–Jill connection?
DACRE: Yeah, well, actually it was in contrast to chemistry, I guess as a word, we actually didn't really speak much. We saved all of the energy and intensity for when we were shooting the scenes. So as soon as we would stop a scene, we would go our separate ways, and we wouldn't talk for the whole duration of the project, which made the time when we are on screen together, really intense, because we're savoring that energy, right? That chemistry, as you call it.
ROHAN: Elizabeth’s ghost is possessive and manipulative. What do you think the film is saying about the long shadow of toxic relationships—especially within family?
DACRE: Yes, I mean, I just hope that it showed people that you can break free of the cycle, like I said. That's what I hope people get out of it. That's why I'm so excited for it to come out in cinemas next week, to be seen by a broader audience, beyond just a film festival audience is so exciting to me, you know, and it's a divisive film. Not everyone's going to like it, but the people that do connect with it, I think, I hope, they find some solace in a future beyond just being crippled by trauma.
ROHAN: The film plays with silence and stillness. Was it tough to communicate so much when Jack often says so little?
DACRE: Not really because we'd done so much rehearsal, and the house itself where we were shooting was in the middle of nowhere. It was kind of creepy and intense anyway, like there was a lot of intensity in the space. So, it helped to kind of get you into the headspace, I guess, straight away, because you never left that headspace. It was just, you're in the middle of nowhere, shooting - It’s like The Shining, right, like shooting in this house in the middle of nowhere. It's super intense.
ROHAN: Filming in freezing New Zealand temps—how did that brutal weather hit your performance?
DACRE: It was blowing a gale, smashing against the house, rain, lightning, thunder, the whole thing. It's terrifying, you’re in this house, and, like, you're not on a soundstage in a film studio, you're literally living the thing in the house. All of it's in the house. There's no build, there's no set build. And because of that, it added to the intensity of it all.
ROHAN: Samuel Van Grinsven sets such a specific tone. How did his direction push you in new ways?
DACRE: I mean, he just puts all of himself in it, like if we're crying in front of camera, he's crying behind camera. If we're laughing, he's laughing. He's living the thing. I've never seen a director put so much of their own self, because not every director does that, right? They're behind the camera. They've written a thing, or maybe they haven't written a thing, and they're kind of not - let's just put it this way, they could be less involved, right? Whereas Samuel was front and center, living what we were living, experiencing what we were experiencing every day, which is special and unique for a direct, active relationship.
ROHAN: What was the most emotionally taxing day on set—and how did you come down from it after?
DACRE: It was all 150% the most intense thing I've ever done in my life, but at the same time, I felt like the intensity of shooting outside added to it, because it was so cold in New Zealand that it just felt - we were already emotionally taxed, so it felt like we were physically taxed as well more out in the cold, in the elements, because it was the middle of winter in New Zealand. It was freezing.
ROHAN: After making a film this intense and internal—what did you take away from the experience, professionally and personally?
DACRE: I think roles that kind of push me, push me beyond what I thought I was capable of in terms of characterization, performance, prep, all that sort of stuff, and this went up the hill, and I knew it would push me more than anything, because I've never played a second role with another actor before. That's like nuts, and then, my next film pushed me in a different way, because I play like someone twenty-five years older than myself, someone who really existed. There's so many layers and levels to that that add a level, a level of intensity and pressure that I really want at this point in my career.
ROHAN: It’s been almost a decade since Jason in Power Rangers. What does that role mean to you now—and have fans kept it alive in unexpected ways?
DACRE: I think just keep pushing myself, keep pushing boundaries. Keep looking for a really genuine connection with roles and directors and characters and all that sort of stuff. That's all I've intended to do over the last eight, nine years, is push myself further than what I did before, and to discover more about myself and the evolution of my process, and that's what I want to continue to do over the next eight, nine years.
ROHAN: What’s your biggest personal takeaway from making Went Up the Hill?
DACRE: Totally, yeah, well, so I'm directing my first film in a couple of months, and this film probably showed me that I am driven and ambitious enough to tackle that, because after it went up the hill, I feel like anything's possible, because that was the hardest and best shoot and the most taxing and all these sorts of things. So, I think more than anything, it just showed me that I can push myself more.
ROHAN: Can you tease anything about your directorial debut, The Engagement Party?
DACRE: There's a little bit online, just in terms of the logline, four people go away to celebrate the engagement party for one of the couples, and a secret comes out, something that happened between the other husband and the other wife ten years prior when they were at college together. That's kind of the public sort of statement logline that we've released. But it's a chamber piece. It's similar to Went Up The Hill. It's like a play. It's all set in one location over two story days, and it's similarly intense. It's actually by the same screenwriter, Jory Anast, who wrote Went Up The Hill. It's called The Engagement Party.
ROHAN: Fans are still hoping Billy might return in some way for Stranger Things season 5. Without giving anything away, is there anything you can tease—or anything you’d personally love to explore if Billy showed up again?
DACRE: Yeah, totally, I've been saying, well, the role of Billy means a huge amount to me. I loved it. It was an extremely formative period of my life, my career, but I think more than anything, I've been saying to people like, I'm really excited for the creators, the Duffer Brothers, for Stranger Things, to be over, so that they can do all these other amazing ideas that I know that they have for shows and movies that they haven't had the bandwidth to do. So, more than anything, I'm really excited for that. I'm excited to see their next progression beyond Stranger Things. That's really exciting, because there's so many things they've been wanting to do for the past ten, twelve, thirteen years that they haven't had the time to. So, I'm really excited to see that come to life.
Abandoned as a child, Jack (Dacre Montgomery, Stranger Things) travels to remote New Zealand for the funeral of his estranged mother, Elizabeth. There, he meets her widow, Jill (Vicky Krieps, Phantom Thread, Corsage), and over the nights that follow, Elizabeth's spirit begins to possess them in turn. What starts as a search for closure soon unearths deeper wounds. Bound by grief and haunted by what remains, Jack and Jill must break free from Elizabeth’s grasp before she pushes them to the edge. Set against the deeply atmospheric backdrop of New Zealand’s South Island, Went Up the Hill is an intimate, modern ghost story from Samuel Van Grinsven that explores the legacy of loss and the struggle to let go.