Maika Monroe Talks Being “Insanely Nervous” During Her First Interaction With Nic Cage As Longlegs

Maika Monroe attends the premiere of Neon's 'Longlegs' at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on July 8, 2024, in Los Angeles. Courtesy of MATT WINKELMEYER/GETTY IMAGES.

Director Osgood Perkins' latest horror film stars Maika Monroe as Agent Lee Harker, a talented FBI recruit who is handed the responsibility of tracking down an elusive serial killer. As the investigations unravels, the world become darker with links to the paranormal.

"I am sort of in awe of all the reactions. They are insane," said Maika Monroe in response to ‘Longlegs’ reviews. "It's all you can hope for, of course, but it's so hard for me because I've seen it. I'm watching it like, 'Oh, yeah, I remember that day. It was funny when this happened.' The reactions are incredible."

The serial killer known as Longlegs is played by Nicolas Cage, and audiences around the world have not been able to see a full reveal of the character, with the marketing team for ‘Longlegs’ keeping Cage’s nightmarish character shrouded in mystery.

Even Maika Monroe didn’t see Cage’s character in full makeup and prosthetics until the day of filming their first character interactions. In fact, her heart rate elevated and became so prominent that her mic picked it up.

"That's how freaking hard my heart was pounding out of my chest. It was such a surreal day, and I'll never forget it," the actress recalled. "There's such a build-up to this scene; it's such an important moment in the film because it's the first time that I come face to face with him, the first time we have a real conversation, and Oz loved the idea of us not meeting and me not having any idea what he looked like or any aspect of his performance."

She continued: "I showed up to set; Nic was already there; I had come to the door I would enter through. and Oz called, 'Action.' I opened the door, and three cameras were pointed at me. Most of the coverage they used for that in the final cut was from the first take of that scene, so what they did clearly worked. I was insanely nervous. You've seen the movie; you know what he looks like and his performance, so imagine walking in and seeing that for the first time and sitting across from him. It was insane."

Monroe concluded: "When I watched the film for the first time, that's when I saw this very cool, stark contrast you're talking about. I worked with Nic for just one day; we had that one big scene together, which we did on his last day of filming. I had no idea what Nic was doing until we were probably three or four weeks into filming. I always wanted to keep it very separate, so much of his performance I saw for the first time when I watched the finished film."

‘Longlegs’ released July 12 by Neon.