Producers Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth,” “The Orphanage”) and Mark Johnson (“Chronicles of Narnia”) join forces to deliver “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” a tale of hair-raising, spine-chilling horror. Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison), a lonely, withdrawn child, has just arrived in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) at the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the sprawling estate, the young girl discovers a hidden basement, undisturbed since the strange disappearance of the mansion’s builder a century ago. When Sally unwittingly lets loose a race of ancient, dark-dwelling creatures who conspire to drag her down into the mysterious house’s bottomless depths, she must convince Alex and Kim that it’s not a fantasy—before the evil lurking in the dark consumes them all. When a little girl (Bailee Madison) is sent to live with her father (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in the old mansion they are renovating, she unwittingly unleashes malevolent creatures bent on destroying all of them. ‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’ is hitting UK cinemas August 12th, and US cinemas August 26th.

What attracted you to ‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark’?
Katie Holmes: There were many things appealing to me about doing this movie, ‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.’ It has been very exciting to get to work with Guillermo del Toro, it has been very exciting to work with Troy Nixey (Director), on his first project. This character I play, Kim, is important to me because she goes on this journey where she really becomes a Mother. I feel she really comes into her own, and she finds her strength. I think she’s quite powerful, I was really attracted to that kind of a challenge.

How was it getting the part and developing her?
Katie Holmes: I spoke to Guillermo on the telephone after I had read the script. We talked about it – he’s really lovely! I was very excited, I sat down with Mark Johnson and Troy Nixey, we discussed the characters and how it was really important to us that this movie had a really great story, outside of just being scary. You really cared about these characters, you went on that ride with them, so when it does get scary you are very much invested in them. We talked at length about that.

The family dynamic is a huge part of the film, what was it like working with Guy Pearce & Bailee Madison?
Katie Holmes: It’s been a pleasure working with Guy Pearce, he’s a wonderful actor. I’ve been a fan of his for many years. It was really exciting to meet him, to work with him, to work on the script with him. He’s very smart, we had a great time working together. It was incredible to work with Bailee. I met her about a month before we started shooting, maybe a little bit longer. She’s quite impressive as a human being and an artist. I have to say that it was very exciting to work with her everyday because she is full of great ideas, has wonderful instincts. There’s not a false beat at all with her. She’s just really wonderful and so kind, so joyful. She’s a pleasure to be with and a wonderful actress.

What was it like working in these great set pieces?
Katie Holmes: It was very exciting to be on set, to go from the day I read the script, what I envisioned, being scared just reading it on the page, to then coming on set and seeing these beautiful sets, the wardrobe, everything coming together. I felt so lucky on this film, the people were so talented, I got to be apart of all this. The sets they created were amazing. It’s very inspiring to work with such wonderful people, you think, ‘Ok, you’ve gotta give it your all (laughs).’

How was it walking into the basement for the first time?
Katie Holmes: Walking into the basement for the first time was appropriately creepy (laughs). It’s meant to be an uncomfortable space, I feel like they more than achieved that in the production design. Yet it’s not to creepy where you think immediately there’s monsters, you could just think, ‘wow, nobody’s been in here for a long time, it needs a good cleaning.’ It was very well done.

What films did you watch when preparing for the film?
Katie Holmes: When I was preparing for this I looked at a lot of the classic movies of this genre. I looked at Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist. I looked at Kramer vs. Kramer as well because of the performances and the family dynamic that takes place in that movie is as well in this movie. I looked at their performances, that was very inspiring to me.

http://www.flicksandbits.com/2011/08/14 … %99/14794/
thanks to TomFrance for the link