“It’s quite salacious and naughty.” 7 Keys star Emma McDonald on her new thriller

Directed by Joy Wilkinson and showing at this year’s FrightFest, upcoming thriller 7 Keys shows a toxic romance set in London.

In a world obsessed with dating apps and real estate, a generation is trying to make a connection and find their corner of the capital while the gap between the haves and have-nots continues to grow. Daniel (Billy Postlethwaite) has kept the keys to every place he ever lived. Lena (Emma McDonald) wants to use them – on the ultimate property porn tour of London, a lost weekend of getting to know each other intimately in other people’s homes. But as Lena unlocks her lover’s past, what began as a risky fantasy becomes a deadly threat…

We spoke to 7 Keys star Emma McDonald about working with her real-life partner, Billy Postlethwaite and getting in the right frame of mind for some intense scenes…

How does one get involved in a project like 7 Keys?

You know some really great, lovely humans that like working collaboratively, and you say yes!

I worked with Joy [Wilkinson] before. I did a play with her The Sweet Science of Bruising at Wilson’s Music Hall, and it was fantastic. It’s since traveled all over the world, but I got to know Joy really well on that. She wasn’t directing it, but she’d written it. Then she approached me about a film she wanted to make called The Everlasting Club, which is a fantastic piece of writing, again, and a great concept. We made a short of that, and it did pretty well.

Billy [Postlethwaite] was in that as well, who’s in 7 Keys. Joy also saw me and Billy do a play of Macbeth together. She’d also wanted to direct her own work for a full feature length piece, and 7 Keys was a really good piece of work for that.

We all had a window of time and we literally did it in three weeks. We thought, ‘right, let’s do it, let’s make it happen right now, or it probably won’t’. So we did just that.

What usually draws you to a new project?

The writing and the people – 100% who you’re making something with. How your voice will be listened to. Whether or not you respect them, love them, or admire them…

The people are one of the bones of it. And the writing, of course, the character, whether or not it’s something I’ve done before, what their arc is over the story, if it’s going to be a challenge, if it’s fun. Those are all of the things that make it up. And this had all of those so I was very lucky.

How would you describe 7 Keys?

It’s a very twisted, very dark romance about two lost souls getting to know each other in strangers’ homes in the city of London. You’ve got anonymity and sex and power, desire, intimacy, property, and watching it all unfold in a very sick, devastating, heart-thumping way.

It’s got people and places at the bones of it, and it’s quite salacious and naughty, but it also tells quite an interesting story about two people getting to know each other.

How would you describe your character, Lena?

It’s an interesting one. [Lena and Daniel are] two very complex characters. They’re not instantly likable, which I really enjoyed. Every so often, you’re like ‘am I on side with these people? Am I not? Should I be? I probably shouldn’t, but I kind of am…’

She’s a really interesting character. She’s incredibly vulnerable, but very strong. She’s playful, she’s provocative, she’s compelling and she tells really interesting stories. She keeps you guessing, and she’s got so much love.

For me, she was fascinating to play, especially in such a short period of time – just having to jump straight into it. And Billy, who plays Daniel, I’ve worked with a few times now, and I love him. He’s great. He’s also my partner in life and crime. It was lovely working with him again, especially with something like that where you’ve literally got three weeks and you’re just getting through however many pages in a day, and you have to be intimate and have that sort of trust right from the off. So to be able to do that with him was great fun.

How would you describe this complex bond between Daniel and Lena?

It’s instant, which I think is why she’s so eager to have him. There are a lot of questions on what she does. I think if it was reversed, you’d be like ‘hmm, this is not okay’, which it isn’t.

But there is something there in that instant spark, which makes her think ‘no I’ve got to follow my guns on this’ which is incredibly dangerous but it makes for good movies.

There’s a real role reversal in her following him and pursuing him, which I found really interesting in terms of the power plays, and you see that shift throughout the story.

But they have an instant spark. there’s the idea that Joy had, where you’ve got someone that feels everything, and someone that feels nothing at all, and them being a really good match for one another. So that was fun to play.

You have some pretty harrowing scenes in the movie, especially in the last third, how do you get hyped up to take on those scenes?

Yeah there are! There are some full-body scenes and some without any dialog. There’s also a lot of intimacy. For me, it’s the same as scenes of intimacy. It has very much to do with the breath and the body. Once you’ve got your breathing in a certain way, I think that has a real impact on your emotions.

Because there was such a tight filming schedule, we did some good groundwork at the start in terms of talking about where they were at each point in the story, especially with the keys. Seven keys, seven places, so where they were at each point in terms of their journey overall. We knew what headspace we were in, where we were in the relationship as well, because they literally go from 0 to 100 in terms of a relationship and living the wholeness of it out, all of the complexities condensed down into this one weekend.

So just knowing where we were at each point in the story as a whole, but where we were on our journey, where the relationship was and what my breath was like in my body, and then just chatting with Joy. She’s one of the most approachable, lovely people. Everything is a conversation with her. She really listens to what insight you may have. She’s very open.

Again, having a really good dynamic and working relationship with [Mary Farbrother] as well, who was shooting the film. We had an intimacy coordinator and of course, Billy. So yeah, you’re held up by everybody, which allows really good work to be made, and for there to be breath in that, and for you to be able to be vulnerable and open.

What are you most looking forward to audiences seeing in 7 Keys?

There’s a scene in a bath, which was one of my favorites to shoot. The writing in that is really beautiful and it’s been shot cleverly. That key, I think, is my favorite. There’s some great dancing in that as well. I think it’s been edited fantastically. We have a brilliant editor on the film Robbie [Roberta Bononi], and she’s cut it together in a really clever way. But that scene, in terms of storytelling, the romance of it, finding out what’s under the surface of these two people, and it being shot in this really cramped space…

I think I only did one take of my stuff in that scene. It’s a great one. I’m interested to see what they make of that.

7 Keys will have its UK Premiere at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest on 24th August. Watch the trailer here…