Henry Thomas has become well known for his work on the many projects of filmmaker Mike Flanagan, such as The Haunting of Hill House and The Fall of the House of Usher. Most recently, Thomas stars in Pet Sematary: Bloodlines — a prequel to Stephen King’s iconic 1983 novel — which is written and directed by Lindsey Anderson Beer. In the film, Thomas portrays Dan Crandall, the father of a young Judd Crandall who is played by Jackson White in a role originated by late actor Fred Gwynne in the 1989 film adaptation.
PopCulture.com had a chance to speak with Thomas about the new movie, and he offered some insight into how this fatherly role compares to similar roles in Flanagan’s Netflix series,’ which also includes Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher and The Haunting of Bly Manor. “It’s interesting because with the work that I did with Mike, a lot of those dads are his dad,” Thomas clarified. “It was written as his dad, but when I played it sort of became a merge between my idea of that and the real thing. A little of that happens no matter what, but the characters, mainly I find one thing to latch onto as kind of the anchor for the character.”
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“Like for Dan in this film, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines,” he continued, “it’s about keeping his son out of the draft lottery and getting him out of that town because he’s carrying a secret, and he’s been carrying it, and it’s a generational secret. It’s a big deal for him. Beyond the text, that’s all I really had to hold onto in my few scenes with Jackson and everybody else. If you can find something like that as an actor that is kind of the character’s semaphore, then it makes your job a lot easier and it tends to resonate with people.”
Taking the exploration of parenthood, grief, and loss even deeper, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines also stars David Duchovny as Bill Baterman, a father who would do anything to bring his son back home, and does so at the plight of their little town of Ludlow, Maine.
“It is an interesting predicament to put yourself in,” Thomas said. “Things like that made Dan Crandall real for me, and that’s the hardest thing. King is great about it because he writes characters, but also in the horror genre it’s sometimes overlooked. So, as an actor, I think when you can find things like that to kind of anchor the character into something, then it becomes more resonant with people.”
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is now available to buy on Digital, and will be released Dec. 19 on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD, from Paramount Home Entertainment.
