When codirectors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods started thinking about who could play the antagonist in their new horror flick Heretic, they knew he had to have a few specific characteristics. The film is about a man who lures missionaries into his home, eventually turning a pleasant chat about religion into a nightmare scenario. So he had to be able to disarm with charm and humor, before switching gears to become intense and terrifying. “He had to have these moments of feeling dangerous, of feeling safe, contradictory traits that had to coalesce into something,” says Beck.
Early on in the casting process, the pair landed on a surprising name — and they couldn’t let it go. “As soon as we thought about him we were like: ‘This has to be Hugh…