Mar 24, 2026 1:48pm IST
Patricia Arquette Shares Why Her New Film, ‘They Will Kill You,’ Hooked Her With Its Creativity, Fun and Bizarre Elements (EXCLUSIVE)
One of the big releases of the week is the Hollywood movie, ‘They Will Kill You.’ It is coming to theatres on March 27. Oscar winner Patricia Arquette plays the role of Lily Woodhouse in the film. Excerpts from an interview….
How would you describe your new film, ‘They Will Kill You’?
I would say bonkers, creative, explosive, funny, macabre. This film is about this strange vortex, this building the Virgil, that is in New York City. And when you go in, you sort of get sucked into this other world with multiple dimensions, and you encounter this other world that has very different rules than the reality we live in.
What drew you to this movie?
I've always been a big fan of the horror genre. When I started out, one of my first films was “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Part 3: Dream Warriors,” so I always love that. I love horror movies where you can get scared, but you're safe at home or you're in a movie theater and you're watching with your friends or your boyfriend or your girlfriend. I watched Kirill's (Sokolov) first movie, and I was really blown away. It was a hybrid of a lot of things that I really loved because there's that sort of martial arts, fantastic sort of flying wildness that has come out of Chinese cinema.
Zazie Beetz plays the role of Asia in the movie
What do you like about the main character, Asia, played by Zazie Beetz?
I really like that the lead, the hero, is this young woman who is just fierce. She's a real force to be reckoned with. And instead of forging her strengths in this other world, in this other dimension or through superpowers that are not her own, she has accumulated this skillset from her own iron will. Zazie is such a great actress and so sweet and mellow, and such a hard worker. In this movie, she has got a lot to carry, and I didn't get to grow up with a lot of really badass females to watch. And she has this humble, cool, sweet presence that she carries, but then also the strength that that you know that is spectacular.
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Tell us a bit about your character, Lily Woodhouse?
Lily ended up at Virgil many years ago. She was sort of a young Irish foundling, abandoned on the streets of New York. And talking to Kirill about what kind of dialect he wanted her to have, he was like, "I just want parts of that." So, she doesn't have her full dialect anymore, but there's flavors of it. She met and fell in love with Ray in a time when biracial couples were really not just frowned upon, but attacked and pursued and penalized and tormented. I think she really, really loves Ray so much, and has this drive to have a home and a safe place. A long, long time ago, she stopped holding onto her morals, she sold them off and has normalized herself to this very strange existence.
Patricia Arquette plays the role of Lily Woodhouse
Lily’s powerful hold over those at the Virgil is one of the highlights of the film. Please elaborate on it.
Often, at times when people make choices that are destructive or evil or anything like that, they often couch it in making an excuse of why it's okay—because they love someone and they're protecting them, because they have this higher purpose that they're trying to serve. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. You can't dance with the devil, you can't play that game. You can't dabble into that world, you can’t play in that world. You can't participate in it at all. But when you do in the way that Lily has for so very, very long becomes a very slippery slope, and all of a sudden where do you end?
The film is set in New York City
How would you describe Lily and Ray’s relationship?
Lily's relationship with Ray, he's the love of her life and many lives. But they're at a moment where there's this power struggle, and oftentimes I think couples come to this, especially towards the end. One of them can’t do this anymore and the other is denying their reality, covering, trying to pretend it's okay. And it's just not okay. People do tend to change in relationships, or maybe in some ways they discover themselves. Some can't live with the burden anymore of who they are, while others are still completely willing to make up all these excuses.
How was it like working opposite Paterson Joseph as Ray?
Patterson is such an incredible actor, and immediately we had to forge this very quick bond to show this depth of relationship. I really felt it with him immediately. I could really see why Lily would love Ray, and so actors like that make your job much easier.
Paterson Joseph plays Ray
On working with director Kirill Sokolov…
I have a lot of confidence in Kirill. I get offered a lot of things and have a lot of opportunities to work with a lot of interesting or young filmmakers. But immediately when I watched his first film, and my agent and my manager watched it, we were like, "Whoa, who's this guy? This guy's a super talent." And it's really great working with him because he really shows you exactly how he feels. When you hear, "No, let's try again," you're like, "Oh, he's not into that one. We didn't get it yet guys." When he likes it, it’s just, "Cut. Yes."
On what audiences will experience when they see the film…
I think audiences like to have fun and I think audiences like to see creativity, and there's a bizarre, funny element about this film—it's scary and gory, but also silly. And I think visually it’s very strong. People in general like to go to a movie where they're transported by a whole different story, and this film pretty quickly lets you know there are no rules.
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