Texas Chainsaw Massacre star Sarah Yarkin talks 'crazy, grueling, freezing, sticky' shoot

In Netflix's new horror sequel Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Sarah Yarkin (Happy Death Day 2U) and Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade) play sisters who fall foul of the murderous Leatherface (Mark Burnham) in a remote and almost entirely abandoned, town. Director David Blue Garcia admits the shoot in Bulgaria was not always a pleasurable one for the two young actresses.

"They would just be covered in rain and filth, mud, and blood," says the filmmaker. "I remember looking at Sarah Yarkin before a take, and the make-up department was spraying water on her face to make sure that she looked like she had just come out of a rainstorm, and that happened every day, multiple times a day. She looked miserable."

Yarkin isn't about to argue.

"Elsie and I [were] doing running scenes at night under a rain machine in the cold," she says. "I think we both went a little crazy and I was so grateful that she was there. I don't know what I would have done if it was just me."

Yarkin talks more about the movie and the assorted torments of the shoot below.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Could you set up the film a little bit?

SARAH YARKIN: Me and my business partner Dante [played by Jacob Latimore] are these young hip people that come to this ghost town in Texas and try to get other people to come there and make it the next hip place to be. Our fatal flaw is that we ignore the history that came before us.

How did you get the role?

I went in to audition probably one month before lockdown. I just remember waiting in the waiting room and being quite intimidated. I really didn't think there was a world in which I would get this. Then it was silent for four months, so I kind of went crazy. I was on a rollercoaster of emotions during COVID and then found out that I did get the role.

Were you familiar with the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre film?

I'm scared of essentially everything, so not a huge horror person. I got scared watching Legally Blonde as a kid; I am scared of everything. I had seen the original before we shot this. I went into the audition and I went, "I'm not going to sit through this movie unless I get this role." [Laughs] And then I got the role and I was like, "Oh my God, I have to watch this movie." I have a little cute house in Echo Park in L.A., and it was nighttime, and I was like, "I think it's time, I have to start learning what I'm doing." I watched it, and it was dark and I was alone, and that was a mistake. It was just me and my dog and I was just covering my face with my blanket.

I think it's iconic. It set a tone that I haven't seen in a lot of other movies. It feels not studio-made. It feels like an indie. I think it's so terrifying psychologically, and It is truly so horrifying.

What was the shoot like?

It was pretty crazy. We were in Bulgaria for months. Part of it, we had to go back for pick-ups in March, so we were shooting Bulgarian winter for Texas summer, which was cold, very cold, and wet, and also in a pandemic. It was hard and I think we all really bonded as we were isolated in this different country.

It was really emotionally grueling. It was really hard, to be honest. I'm grateful for everything I learned and the opportunity, of course. [But] it was day after day of me and Elsie in pretty crazy physical [situations] in the elements. A lot of blood, rain. We're freezing, we're wet, we're sticky, over and over. [There were] days of me crawling in whatever and just being covered in more crap and then being [told], "Okay, now, cry!" You're like, "What?"

Any final thoughts?

I think we got something really cool out of it and I really hope horror fans are excited. [But] I joke that after this I'm going to do a movie where I'm staying in sweats on a couch with tea and blankets.

Watch the brutal trailer for Texas Chainsaw Massacre below.

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