Barbarella chats with Lonnie Chavis about friendship and the boy behind the door

Hi guys, this is Barbarella. THE BOY BEHIND THE DOOR is currently available on VOD, Digital HD, DVD and Blu-Ray. In the film, 12-year-old Bobby and his best friend, Kevin, are kidnapped on their way home from school. When an opportunity to escape is seen, he instead chooses to embark on a rescue mission in an attempt to save his friend.

Written and directed by David Charbonier, the cat-and-mouse thriller stars Ezra Dewey ("Criminal Minds") and Lonnie Chavis ("This is Us", THE WATER MAN). I had the pleasure of speaking with Lonnie recently. Check it out.

You are a very talented young man, and you have already done some great work in some impressive projects in several different genres. This is your first step into horror. What do you like about working in this genre?

"Well, I've always wanted to do horror, actually, because I'm a horror fan and horror movies are just... They're just interesting to film so yeah. Yeah. "

Is horror your favorite genre?

"I don't know my favorite genre, but it's definitely one of my good genres that I like to watch."

What do you love most about your character, Bobby? And what do you like the most about the movie THE BOY BEHIND THE DOOR?

"Bobby is one of the best friends I've ever seen. He had a choice to leave and come back for help, but instead he went inside to save his best friend, knowing they were both going to be hurt. It's amazing. I loved playing Bobby. Being in Bobby's mindset is amazing. Being in that ensemble, in those clothes, having to scream and kicking for your life is fun. Honestly, I would do it again."

What do you find more challenging, emotionally or physically demanding scenes?

“Definitely physically demanding. The trunk scene, oh my god, that scene was crazy. it was a real chest. We had to kick it. We had duct tape over our mouths and zip ties over our hands, and it was hot. We were tired; we needed water, but we We had to keep re-doing the scene because we had to get different shots, different takes. Man, that was hard."

I read that you foiled a kidnapping attempt when you were a child. Is it true? And if so, how did this experience affect you while working on this film?

"Yes ma'am, it was true. I would say it might have helped a bit because of the way I act. The way I get into the mindset I'm in, when I have to shoot these type of movies, I just pull emotions from the pain or loss or trauma that I've had, so I can use it in the moment and in the now I'm definitely saying that helped a bit."

I imagine your mother was probably on set for the shoot. How did she react to seeing you play out some of these situations?

"How all moms would go about it. She was crying all the time. She wasn't happy."

What kind of conversations did you have after a day of filming?

"Most of the time it was just a lot of 'I'm fine' and a lot of 'I love you.' always wanted to make sure I was comfortable. I always wanted to make sure everything was okay, so was my mom. It was a team effort."

Do you want to talk a bit about your relationship with your co-star, Ezra? Had you met him before that?

"Yeah, I met him at the audition I had. I thought I wasn't going to get it, actually, then they called me back, and I got it , and then they brought different people to the audition for Kevin. I remember when Ezra came in, [he and I] just connected a little bit more than everybody that came in. We could make jokes, and then we could get right into character as soon as it was time to go. We had a lot of fun."

Is it easy for you to go from being happy, to being stupid, and suddenly being serious?

"I don't know how that sounds to me, but yeah, it's pretty easy for me."

You are natural.

"Thank you."

What would you have done differently with your character, Bobby, if you found yourself...