The hype of Longlegs starring scream queen Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage is sky-high as the eerie horror flick has received an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score, now standing at 94% percent. However, Monroe had a big hiatus from acting, thankfully she regained the spark once again to deliver a splendid performance in Longlegs.
Maika Monroe Shared How She Regained Spark For Acting
Maika Monroe. Image Credit: Neon
Maika Monroe who has cult classics The Guest and It Follows to her credit almost quit acting. Thankfully, the actor found her spark again which inspired her to appear in Oz Perkins’ Longlegs starring alongside industry veteran Nicolas Cage. Dan Berk and Robert Olsen directed Monroe in the 2019 horror comedy Villains which also stars Jeffrey Donovan, and Bill Skarsgård, earned the movie the deserved critical acclaim which, as Monroe shared, sparked the flame of acting once again. Monroe reteamed with the director duo again in the 2022 sci-fi horror, Significant Other.
The 31-year-old’s acting streak continued, she went on to appear in Watcher, God Is a Bullet, and was most recently overjoyed to find Osgood Perkins’ script for Longlegs. Monroe plays Lee Harker, an FBI agent tasked to hunt down a notorious serial killer played by Cage.
“I left the meeting feeling great, and then my team was like, ‘Actually, Oz is not sure if you’re right for this role.’ And I was like, ‘No! I have to play this role,’” Monroe told The Hollywood Reporter detailing how she got into the role. “That happens sometimes where you’re sent a script. You just get this feeling that it’s a necessity,” Monroe added.
Monroe’s career is now on a steady track, after Longlegs, she is scheduled to appear in the It Follows sequel, They Follow which is reportedly helmed by the same director, David Robert Mitchell.
Maika Monroe Explained Why She Initially Planned To Quit Acting
Maika Monroe. Image Credit: Neon
Several actors have found themselves exhausted from being an actor, or for other reasons many stars have decided to give up the limelight from showbiz and fame. Industry veteran and three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the primary examples of it who left acting for good despite his glorious career.
For Monroe, she felt the utmost need for a break from her career. “I think I overworked myself,” she told THR. “I was in this phase of wanting to take every job, and I felt like that’s what I had to do. I did about seven films back to back, and they weren’t all great experiences. Some good, some bad,” she continued.
The scream queen went on to add, “It’s a very weird job and it’s a very weird industry, and there can be a darkness around it. So I was just in a mental state where I was like, ‘This isn’t feeling good to me anymore.’ And so I just needed to disconnect for a second.”
Thanks to Berk and Olsen, she rediscovered her innate passion for acting again for which fans are blessed with her solid performances in the acclaimed flicks she has worked on.
Longlegs will hit the theaters on July 12, 2025.
