Interview: Madeleine & Violet McGraw on EPing, Playing Sisters in The Curse of the Necklace

ComingSoon Senior Movie News Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Madeleine McGraw and Violet McGraw about The Curse of the Necklace. The sisters discussed getting to play siblings in a horror movie, getting to work as executive producers on the project, and more.

“The Curse of the Necklace follows the Davis family who navigate through tough times in 1960. Laura Davis has separated from her husband Frank due to his unpredictable temper, fueled by alcohol,” the description of the film reads. “As Laura returns to work as a nurse, her daughters, 11-year-old Ellen (Violet McGraw) and 16-year-old Judy (Madeleine McGraw), grapple with the changes in their family dynamics. The plot thickens when Frank attempts to win Laura back with a beautiful antique necklace, which turns out to be a conduit for the tormented soul of an evil boy from long ago, putting Laura and her daughters in grave danger.”

The Curse of the Necklace is currently playing in select United States theaters. It will be available on digital platforms on October 1, 2024.

Brandon Schreur: You’re obviously sisters in real life. I’m just kind of curious what it’s actually like starring as sisters in a movie like this. Is it challenging, at all, to recreate that dynamic on film or did that make it easier?

Madeleine McGraw: You know what? Honestly, I feel like because we’re such — we actually don’t fight. Like, at all, in real life. So that was really fun getting to throw each other around a little and not get in trouble for it, I guess. But, no, it was so much fun getting to work with her, and I had the best time ever. I feel like because we already have so much chemistry, it was just so easy to get into the zone of arguing but not taking it personally. Afterward, we’re literally just best friends.

Violet McGraw: One of my favorite parts of getting to work with Maddy — obviously, it was one of our dreams come true, ever. It was literally our 2024 goal of this year. What I liked is that, when we had scenes together, we could practice all the time off and on set.

Madeleine: That was definitely my favorite part, too, because I love to be prepared. Getting to just be like, ‘Oh, Violet, can we run lines real quick?’ I probably annoyed her a little bit with that but that’s okay because I always felt so prepared. Especially because Violet always makes me feel so comfortable. Whenever I’m with her, I’m not nervous, like, ever. So, definitely getting to be on set with her made me feel a lot better.

Sure. And you guys are so believable, too. Especially some of the scenes you have in the beginning when you guys are fighting and are at each other’s throats, it’s like, ‘Oh, man.’ It’s intense, but it totally works.

Madeleine: Thank you! Thank you so much.

So, another question for both of you. Neither of you are strangers to the horror genre. Obviously, Madeline with The Black Phone, which I love that movie. And Violet with M3GAN and Separation, which is a movie that I really liked and think more people should talk about. What was it about The Curse of the Necklace that stood out to you and made you want to get involved with this project?

Violet: I think, one, that we got to work together, for sure. And we got to be executive producers, which is also amazing. We had so much respect for producers, already.

Madeleine: And just everyone on set, in general.

Violet: Yeah. Getting to be on that side of things, we’re like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ Our respect for them is just — even more respect.

Madeleine: I don’t think my mind actually processed how much work it is just to be a producer, in general, and also all the time it takes to make things happen on set. Even little things. Like, how the necklace should look. That was actually a three-hour call. I’m not sure if that was the longest call we had because there were so many calls and they were very, very long, too. That’s the part I didn’t know about, I didn’t know how many calls there actually were. But that was very fun to be a part of, to actually sit in on those calls and have an opinion. It’s funny because adults would actually listen to what we had to say. Especially [director Juan Pablo Arias Munoz], I feel like he was so receptive to us and he always asked for our opinions and always made sure we were very safe and comfortable. All around, it was such an amazing experience.

I was going to ask you about that, too. I know you were executive producers here. I’m sure it was challenging. Is it something you’d want to do again?

Violet: Yes!

Madeleine: Oh, yeah, one hundred percent. I wish I could be a producer on everything that I worked on.

Violet: It was really, really fun.

I’m sure it’s super rewarding. Violet, you and Henry Thomas were both in The Haunting of Hill House. You brought him back here. What was it like working with him again? The project is kind of similar in that they’re both horror-related and there’s a lot of family drama, but the character dynamic is totally different in here.

Violet: Oh my gosh, I love Henry so much. He’s so sweet. He’s sweet to me and Maddy. I remember working with him when I was like six years old. He had so much patience with me and gave me advice, which was amazing. Henry, getting to see him after such a long time, it was really lovely getting to work with him. He is a very talented actor.

Madeleine: I feel like — maybe this is just because I watched them both in The Haunting of Hill House — but because their love in Hill House was so strong, I don’t know, I feel like it carried on into the Necklace. You could see it so vividly on screen. Them on screen together is one of my favorite things ever. You can just see their genuine connection with each other.

You totally can, I think it totally comes across and it’s fun to watch. Maddy, you’ve got a couple of different scenes, big scenes, I’m really curious to talk to you about. One of them happens pretty early on in the movie. I don’t want to say too much for the sake of spoilers, but it involves a ghost vomiting blood right into your mouth. I’m so curious how you went about filming that.

Madeleine: Okay, that was the scene that I was looking forward to the most, from day one. The first day that we started filming, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I get to be covered in blood on this day and I cannot wait for it.’ The day before I could not sleep because I was so excited. I’ve never got to do anything like that! I don’t know, I was just looking forward to it so much. It was definitely a lot more than I expected, the feeling of being covered in blood and the taste. But, you know what? I’d do it all over again a million times because it was, all around, just so much fun to film.

It looked like it was fun. It grossed me out a little bit, but it looked like it was fun.

Madeleine: And, also, it was awesome because they had a shower upstairs and it was all blocked off for me. They had towels, they had a change of clothes for me and everything. It was very nice, everyone made sure I was very comfortable and felt warm afterward. Because the blood was actually very cold.

Violet: It was very sticky, too.

Was it really? How many times did you have to do that scene?

Madeleine: For me, I think we were able to do it twice. But, really, only once because we had to do a continuation once I was already covered in the blood. They wanted it to be more on my face and I definitely agreed with that because I felt like it should have been all over instead of just down here. We did it again and it all got in my mouth. Again, all I can say is that it was so much fun. That’s what I love about horror movies in general and getting to be a part of the horror genre. You get to do so many different things. I feel like you get to do more things that are a little more out of the box, I guess? Just things that you would definitely not be able to do in your everyday life.

Sure. That leads right into what I was going to ask you about next because the ending, the whole third act of this movie, some big stuff goes down. You kind of are in a situation where you’re almost playing two different characters at the same time. Was that hard to do?

Madeleine: It was more fun. It was good that I knew when I was a certain character and when I was a different character. I don’t know if I can say the names of the characters I was. But I loved getting to be possessed so much. It was much easier to go into that character than to go back to just being Judith. I had already gotten a chance to really get into the character of Judith earlier on in the earlier days of filming. I had just prayed that my second character part, the possession part, really played across on screen well. I had hoped, at the premiere — I had gotten to see it beforehand, but I didn’t know how other people were going to take it because I never played a possessed character before. Everyone told me I did a good job so I hope they’re not lying to me and I hope it actually plays well on screen.

Oh, they’re not. It’s totally believable and it’s so much fun to watch.

Madeleine: Okay, good. Thank you so much.

My last question for you two, just real quick. Now you have The Curse of the Necklace out and you worked on it together. Have you guys started talking, do you have any plans to work together on any other projects?

Violet: For sure.

Madeleine: That would be a blessing.

Violet: We definitely want to work with each other again, especially since the first one was so fun.

Madeleine: I would love to get to work with my sister, no matter what. Or any of my siblings. I’ve gotten to work with my brothers before, but never on a movie. I don’t know, maybe I’ll get to work with them next.

Brandon Schreur

Brandon Schreur has been writing about comics, movies, television shows, and all things pop culture for roughly five years. He's a lifelong cinephile who spends way, way too much money buying Blu-rays and trade paperbacks. You can find him on twitter at @brandonschreur.