One of the main reasons people will watch The Uninvited, which lands in UK cinemas on 9 May 2025, is undoubtedly its cast. Starring Walton Goggins – who has been squarely in the spotlight (and on the world’s biggest red carpets, see Met Gala) thanks to his role in The White Lotus – alongside Game of Thrones and Mandalorian actor Pedro Pascal, and American actress Elizabeth Reaser, one can only imagine how much fun this set must have been. But when I sit down with Reaser, she soon corrects me: “It was very challenging because we only had 15 shooting days, which is an insanely short period of time. We were working nights so everyone was falling apart.” That’s that, then. 

The brainchild of Goggins and his wife, writer-director Nadia Conners, the comedic drama follows “ageing former actress” Rose (played by Reaser) who, after a career in Hollywood, is now a stay-at-home mum. When an elderly woman arrives at her home, claiming it as her own, a night of chaos ensues. 

Conners explains the film is inspired by true events – a disoriented woman did actually turn up at her and Goggins’ home – but is also a work of fiction. “This is not my marriage,” says Conners. “I am not this woman. The character that Walt plays is not what he’s like as my husband. But making this film allowed me to explore certain resentments I had felt as a wife and a mother. It became an expensive sort of therapy.”

Reaser also found playing Rose therapeutic, but for different reasons. “This character is experiencing a whole lot of things I’ve been experiencing so it was so interesting and it felt very meta,” she explains. With Rose confronting her insecurities and reflecting on her journey as a woman – while the film humorously critiques Hollywood’s beauty standards – what does Reaser hope the audience takes away from it? “I hope they have a good time and laugh because I think it’s hysterical. I like how tragic, devastating and funny it is all at the same time. 

“I really hope they care and they get a sense of what it is to be in Rose’s shoes and experience what it’s like to be disappeared by the world around you – and the injustice of that. That was important to me.” 

Elizabeth Reaser as Rose in The Uninvited. Images: Foton Pictures

No stranger to the film set, Reaser has been a regular on screens big and small for more than two decades – when I ask her if it was always her ambition to become an actor, she quips “sadly yes” – and she takes her roles seriously. Early on, she landed a role in medical drama Saved (2006) and, in order to prepare, spent time in a hospital emergency room to observe the doctors and nurses. Her dedication was soon recognised, landing her a spot in the Twilight saga, as Esme Cullen, as wella s recurring roles in Gray’s Anatomy and The Good Wife. 

“From a business standpoint, I would say Gray’s Anatomy, Twilight and Sweet Land [were turning points] – even though not that many people saw [Sweet Land] it was a big deal for me professionally as I got nominated for the Jury Award [at the Newport Beach Film Festival] and a nomination for the [Independent Spirit Award’s] Best Female Lead,” she explains. 

“Gray’s Anatomy was also huge for me but I think, as an actor, it’s such a gradual evolution. I did a show called Easy with Joe Swanberg on Netflix that I think is one of the most powerful experiences of my life. It’s interesting from the outside what someone else thinks; it all feels very non-linear.” 

“In a way, I wish I could go back and redo everything. But I loved doing Gray’s; it was such a powerful, fun thing to act. And I loved doing Easy because it was all improvised and I got to have a hand in the story and the character.” 

Despite a plethora of high-profile projects under her belt, including a starring role in Netflix smash The Haunting of Hill House, Reaser remains self-critical. “I wish I could do Puccini for Beginners all over again. It was me, Julianne Nicholson, Gretchen Mol and Justin Kirk. It’s a tiny movie – I can’t remember when we even made it [Ed’s note: 2006] – and it debuted at Sundance Film Festival. But now I feel like I know how to act, I feel like I could do it a lot better.” 

That said, what words of advice she would give her younger self, who was so keen to be an actress. “I would say don’t do it,” she laughs. “Please find some other job, and go to therapy instead. Work it out and don’t do this.” With a starry CV like hers, I’m sure she doesn’t really mean it… 

The Uninvited is in cinemas on 9 May 2025, visit theuninvited.movie

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