Samara Weaving is an extremely funny person. When we met in 2022, she had the entire dinner table—an assortment of her family and close friends (including my ex, who I was there with at the time)—yelling and laughing for the duration of our meal. This often happens when expats come home. Big dinners with everyone we love so we don't miss out on seeing anyone during the fleeting moments back in town. There, the Australian actress is just Sam, or the nickname her childhood best friend, Aleks, calls her, making her friends laugh and beaming those giant, glassy blue eyes in the direction of her loved ones.

For someone so funny, she has successfully starred in enough blockbuster horror films to earn herself the Scream Queen title. But when she's not being chased or covered in blood, her roles have always seen her humor peek through. Her new film, Carolina Caroline, sees her take on a different form in Caroline—a gas station worker from Texas who falls for a con artist and helps him pull off a string of robberies while she searches for her birth mother. We aren't usually afforded this version of Weaving on screen, but what a treat it is to see her own a new kind of presence as an all-American girl in the thriller romance.

I meet Weaving in her suite at the Bowery—she's in town town briefly for the premiere of the film—and we hug and catch up on life. The last time we saw each other in person was summer 2023 and so much has changed in both of our worlds, namely the birth of her daughter, who is eight weeks old when we see each other. Weaving is away from her for the first time for this press tour, which comes with its own set of challenges as a new mother. Nevertheless, she's is as bouncy and goofy as ever. We take a trip to the local bodega, where she stocks up on Diet Coke (which she calls a fridge cigarette), stroll to a poster promoting Carolina Caroline, and hang on the terrace of her room while we chat about motherhood, the challenges of horror, and the sexiest parts of her job.

Tell me about Carolina Caroline in your words…
"I think it feels like a classic movie, something from the '70s or the '80s, those movies that I was obsessed with. It's just a classic romance on the road thriller, and it's funny, and it's sexy and it's cool. I'm really obsessed with it and I hope that people like it as much as I do.”

You've been crowned a Scream Queen. Your character Caroline is on a different path. What was playing that role like? 
“I love horror, but this was scarier to do because I'd never really done it before. I didn't know if I could be the lead of a love story. I'd never done that before. So I was really excited but also quite nervous to do something I hadn't done before and I'm just really glad that it went well.”

Is that something that you want to move into more?
“Definitely. When I read a script and I get nervous because it's something I haven't done before or it feels challenging, I want to do it. I think because if I'm doing the things that I've done before or roles that I'd done before, it's just not as fun at work. I really like a challenge. 

I remember your role in Nine Perfect Strangers which was quite funny, and you're so funny in real life. Is comedy something you want to do?
“Totally. I'd love to. Comedy is so much harder than drama. I really do think it's easy to make people cry. It's hard to make people laugh. And the little bits of being a silly, funny gal have been really fun, so I'd like to do more of that.”

What is the hardest thing about doing horror?
“I think your body doesn't know that what you're doing is fake. Your brain can be going, 'Hey, this isn't real.' But the amount of stress you're putting your body under, being terrified for weeks on end. It's just exhausting. You're acting like you're being chased by murderers and I know that it's pretend, but my body at the end of the day is so tired because my limbic system has just been put through the ringer. So the hardest part is just keeping the energy up.”

Is it sometimes useful for the part to be tired at the end?
“Anything is useful...Being exhausted is useful for the character, but it's not useful for me.”

You said that you loved that this film was really sexy. What was the sexiest part of filming?
“Well, actual sex scenes are not that sexy. They're in front of a whole group of people and they're quite robotic and clinical. But I feel like the sexiest part for me was the outfits. Stepping out in little denim shorts and cowboy boots and a gingham red and white plaid shirt was just so fun and sitting in the cool old cars and it's the middle of summer and that we're all sweaty and Kyle's got his Canadian tuxedo on and we're both drinking iced tea in the back of some car. It's cool. That was sexy.” 

It's like that sexy American dream…
“Totally.”

What was the least sexy part?
“The least sexy part, I think, was getting trapped in the boot of a car. That wasn't very sexy. That was pretty-”

That was real?
"That was real. Yeah. I had to get in the back of a car and it was these old cars, so there was no electronic button or anything. It was all manual. And they went to reset and get me out of the back of the car. And it's the middle of summer. It's so hot and I'm dying there and they can't find the keys. So everyone's running around freaking out and I'm just in the back going, ‘Okay, well, don't freak out.’

They eventually found the keys, but I was kind of giggling because I just could hear everyone losing their minds. I knew they'd get me out sooner or later, but that was not sexy.”

You've just become a mom. People always talk about the unsexy parts of motherhood. I wondered what you think the sexiest part is?
“I think it just is the quickest perspective shift. Even when I was pregnant, there was a job I was really excited about, and everyone was all ready to go but then it fell through and I was really sad about it and annoyed. And then we went to the doctor and we heard her little heartbeat and immediately my priorities are like, ‘Who cares about this? Who gives a shit? This little baby that I'm brewing is all I care about.’ She's number one. As long as she's fine, everything's fine. So work and whatever else is the cherry on top, but I think it used to have way more of a priority in my life and now it doesn't, which it's freeing.”

What has that journey been like for you beyond that?
“I'm sure someone has put it into words better than I ever could, but all the cliches are true. What everyone says is true. It's the most magical. It's the most terrifying, most insane experience.”

I loved what you said in New York about having your heart now on the outside of your body.
“Yeah, my heart's on the outside now.”

What are your favorite spots in NYC?
“Me and my girlfriends, we love going to The Nines. It's like the only time that I ever go dancing anymore is when I go over there. It just feels a little lawless. It's fun. I love the museums. Seeing the huge water lilies at The Met are incredible. AI cannot do it. What else? I mean, my favorite thing to do in New York is to put on really good music and walk around. It feels like a spiritual experience.”

Speaking of AI, how are you feeling about AI with your work?
“Scary. I don't know. I don't know enough about it, but I don't know. It feels like people are going, ‘It'll be really good.’ And I'm like, okay, but there's so much bad as well. I think it just is like, what is the point of human endeavor? What is our purpose if AI can do literally everything including the arts? What do we do? I want to go and see a piece of art. I want to know that another human has made it. It's a way of reaching out and holding hands with humanity and being like, we are all having this shared experience. This is so moving and broken and beautiful. You can't do that with a robot.”

How do you feel about the idea of AI taking images of you and using them?
“That's why I'm not putting any photos of my baby anywhere. Even privately, I'm like, I don't want the AI to get bits of her. I've seen AI do videos of me with other people. It's so weird to see. It's spooky."

What do you do in that situation? 
“Nothing.”

You just witness it?
“I just witness it. Because I think when you're a public figure, you don't own your image anymore.”

What's your relationship with that—not owning your image?
“I don't know. It's so weird, isn't it? There was a photo of me, but because I hadn't taken the photo, the person who took the photo owned it, I wanted it taken down or something and I couldn’t because they owned it. Even though it's of me, they have the rights of the photo. It’s so bizarre.”

What are some things you're loving right now?
“I've just got a whole big box of La Puzz puzzles. I love a La Paz puzzle. I hope I have time to actually do them. Maybe while she's napping, I'll just do a cheeky puzzle. The new Love Island just dropped. And then also there's a new Taskmaster season. So I've been watching season 21. A lot of watching, a lot of being inside in the house. We're going on our first trip with the baby this week though, so I'm a bit nervous and I'm like, I don't know how to pack for a baby. So I feel like I’ll just bring everything.”

Photography: Ella O'Keeffe
Styling: Jordan Dorso
Social Strategy Lead: Kala Herh