Bruce Dern And Amanda Crew Heap Praise On Precocious ‘Freaks’ Star Lexy Kolker

Directed and penned by Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein, Freaks is a memorable and well executed sci-fi thriller about Chloe (Lexy Kolker), a 7-year-old girl who is led to believe by her father (Emile Hirsch) that the world outside their door is unsafe. Kolker delivers a knockout performance in the film, and co-stars Amanda Crew and Bruce Dern discuss what makes her a special actress!

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With a standout ensemble (Emile Hirsch, Amanda Crew, Bruce Dern) all delivering solid work in Freaks, it’s Lexy Kolker who steals the show. For the movie to work, we must be fully engaged in Chloe’s emotional and harrowing journey, and Kolker absolutely nails the role.

Here’s a transcription of my opening questions to the Freaks actors, and Kolker closes it out by discussing her performance. Video of the interview is also down below!

I have a theory that Lexy Kolker is actually an adult. Can you discuss working with Kolker on Freaks?

Amanda Crew: Same theory, I think she’s actually a 40-year-old woman in a child’s outfit. She’s wise beyond her years. Bruce has done such an incredible job at summarizing her incredible talent and I’m going to pass it to you Bruce because you speak so eloquently about her talent.

Bruce Dern: Well she’s –  in (the words of an agent and producer) – she’s it. She has got it. At a very early age, my daughter (Laura Dern) got it also. Not quite as early in age. I think the best thing about Lexy – she’ll be 10 in a week but we had her at 8. 

She sees everything and she gets everything. And that’s amazing. She’s on to it. If you’re trying to be too nice to her or are you trying to get pissed off at her, she’s on it right away. (She’ll say) ‘Well why are you mad at me?’ I saw that look in your face, you just didn’t like what I did. She sees it but she tells you. You can thank Mom and Dad for that because they obviously let her open up when she was young. So she’s a natural. She can go wherever she wants in this business.

Lexy, you’re character goes through a ton of emotions in this film. What was the challenge of taking on such a demanding role and staying in the moment?

Kolker: It was a hard role. When you see the movie, you’re like ‘Wow, that’s very intense.’ But when I was filming, they created a very safe environment for me. So it wasn’t all just screaming – when I was not filming, it would all be hugs and laughter. The crew and cast and my family – everyone had to create this environment. Not just Adam and Zach. Everyone really helped. When we said “Action,” it was that. When we said “Cut,” it was something completely different. It was a lot of emotions and it was hard to express them but I could do it with everyone supporting me.

Freaks, co-starring Grace Park, opens nationwide September 13 via Well Go USA Entertainment.

I also briefly reviewed Freaks on the latest episode of CinemAddicts (discussion starts at 49:20). Take a listen and you can also subscribe to our podcast via Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.