Malia Pyles stars as Nevaeh Valentine in 'Cape Fear.' Santiago Felipe/Getty Images Cape Fear star Malia Pyles never meant to start taking on roles that were quite so different from herself. Somewhere along the way, she’s found joy in exploring complicated, messy characters.
“I have played a couple of morally complex people at this point, and I just have so much fun with them,” the 26-year-old tells The Hollywood Reporter on a Zoom. Her most recent project, Apple TV’s take on Cape Fear, is a shining example.
Pyles played the mysterious Nevaeh Valentine. “She’s someone that’s been deeply warped by her father and is having almost this religious experience because of that,” the actress says. “It’s hard to conceptualize and it’s hard to justify a lot of the things that she does.”
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But Pyles, who starred in Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin and landed a reoccurring role in Baskets young, has found herself talking on ambiguous characters for a while now. She doesn’t think she’s seeking these roles out, but there’s a level of comfortability there. “I do feel more comfortable with somebody like that rather than somebody that’s the polished girl next door and the object of male desire. That’s really challenging to me because I don’t see myself that way necessarily,” she says.
“The adventure of working as someone that is a bit atypical or out of step is something I’ve been drawn to. But also, right now, I’m really interested in simplicity,” says Pyles. “If somebody wanted to put me in a Terrence Malick-style, leaves in the wind, sweeping slow burn — I would be all about that too. I want to look out a window. That would be amazing as well.”
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How are you feeling after the show finishing?
I feel good. Releases are always so interesting psychologically for me because I’m such a sentimental person. I really like holding things for as long as I can. The beauty of this is that I have Lily [Collias] and Joe [Anders] and other people that I can hold onto with as much strength as I held onto my role or some of the work that we did. I think it’s a celebration. It’s also a period of mourning in some ways, but we had that amazing — God bless Apple for putting it together — finale celebration.
I was in L.A. at the time doing rehearsals for something else, and I found out about it that it would be happening in New York, which is where I usually live. I had to be there. I worked with the director and got things moved around. I had two flights canceled because there was this treacherous storm. I was in and out in 24 hours. It was one of the best nights of my life. Getting to see everyone was so magical. I have mixed feelings, but ultimately just feel really great
What did it mean to you to get to do this show?
It was just such a special experience on so many different levels. I was at SXSW premiering She’s the He when I found out I was getting the callback. It was already happening at this time of great change in my professional career, but also the way that I was defining myself as a performer and as an artist and as a contributor to filmmaking in some ways.
How do you feel about the character?
Nevaeh is such a complicated character and she goes through such an insane pilgrimage throughout the run of the series. It required more work than I’d ever had to put forth before and also non-linear work. That was really such an exciting lesson in my own process, and getting to work with the people I got to work with and have all of them be really kind. I was like, oh wait, the people that are at the top of their game are super respectful and deserve to be there. It gave me almost a new lease of life in the industry. I have been very fortunate in my career. One of my first projects I ever did was Baskets, and that was with Zach Galifianakis, who was the kindest man alive. Same with Louie Anderson. I’ve been fortunate, but it was a really exciting summer.
What did the work to find Nevah look like for you?
I think about it a lot. I was just going on this pilgrimage. She’s someone that’s been deeply warped by her father and is having almost this religious experience because of that, and that’s also really apparent in the writing. Her avatar in the video game is Archangel. That’s kind of her function or what she thinks is her function to Max Cady. It’s hard to conceptualize and it’s hard to justify a lot of the things that she does as a person with a strong moral code and a lot of empathy.
I wanted to tap into the greater well of human sacrifice and art. I was looking at martyrs and examining people that have made huge sacrifices of their body and of their mind, while also not trying to be too intellectual about the whole thing too. You can’t intellectualize it too much. You just have to be in conversation with your body. That was looking at music and finding different rhythms that existed inside of myself and watching a lot of movies.
Did you do anything for yourself?
It was a six-month shoot, and a lot of those days I would have a lot of time off. I was taking myself on long walks, sitting in a park, bringing myself to the movie theater, and just sitting with something for an extended period of time and trying to be as present with whatever I was feeling in that moment as I could be.
Do you find it difficult sometimes to take on a character whose moral judgments you’re not always aligning with? Does it feel like there’s a little extra step in there?
There’s an extra step for sure, but it’s a really exciting step. It’s so fun to get underneath something like that. There’s something that’s deeply instinctual about her. I also got to tap into a part of myself that feels more animalistic. That lives within all of us. As somebody that wants to have an experience and performance, I just feel really grateful for it. It’s super exciting, and not a lot of people get to have that, to go that far. I have played a couple of morally complex people at this point, and I just have so much fun with them. I would love to continuously continue to play villainous weirdos. I love them so much.
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