Carl Andersson talks playing 'The Visitor' in The House of Violent Desire

THE HOUSE OF VIOLENT DESIRE is my 2nd horror feature film, it was completed last year and is currently being prepped by its distributors for a release later this year. In the film, actor Carl Andersson plays a seductive, mysterious character known only as 'The Visitor'. Here, Carl shares the details on his experience working on the film...

Charlie Steeds: I saw a LOT of actors for this role, some of whom did a really great audition right in front of me, yet it was your self tape that peaked my interest. Do you remember how you got this part?

Carl Andersson: I applied and submitted a few self-tapes initially, then we met up and chatted about the project. I wasn’t sure I would get the part at first but a few days later I got the email and a few months later we were off to France!

CS: What was your reaction to my script and to your character 'The Visitor'?

CA: I loved it! I thought it was a completely original take on a haunted house story with fully fledged characters (you often don’t get that in horror) and a well developed, well thought through storyline. Reading the script for the first time was what made me truly excited to work on the project.

CS: Thanks! I think the character's sinister edge comes naturally for you, you'd do a scene and I'd say "Nice, really creepy!" and you'd be like "Erm, creepy??" perhaps you're not entirely aware of how menacing you can be! But you were perfect for this role. Did you enjoy playing a seductive, manipulating villain?

CA: It’s honestly my favourite role to date. It was a lot of fun to play a character who truly only cares about the games he’s playing. I don’t necessarily think he’s evil - he just only cares about satisfying his own needs and doesn’t really mind hurting people in the process... Yeah, maybe that does make him evil after all.

CS: Well he's certainly devilish, he brings lust and temptation into the sheltered world of the characters, but without giving the film away there's more than a few nasty characters in there, with cruel agendas. I think it was a challenging role and I was asking a lot from some of the scenes in this film, especially as it was the first time we'd worked together. How was it acting the sexual stuff, specifically performing gay love scenes which you rarely see in horror films?

CA: It was a very supportive environment on set and it was completely closed when we shot those scenes. You always made sure we were comfortable and happy with what was going on and at the end of the day it really wasn’t THAT extreme.

CS: No, I think its all in good taste (my go-to phrase on set while we filmed these parts...), there's no nudity for example, but its enough to have gotten some disapproving looks from my grandparents during the preview screenings...

CA: In regards to the gay love scenes and relationships, one of my favourite things about the script was how they weren’t commented on. All the romantic relationships were treated the same in the script regardless of the genders of the characters and that was really refreshing to see. It made it less about the stereotypes surrounding gender and sexuality that we often see in film and TV and more about the attraction between two people.

CS: I loved shooting this film, we had a great time. It was half holiday, half hard work! The location was just so impressive, I think that helped us all get right into it.

CA: The location was absolutely fantastic and it was so much fun to stay with the entire cast in France for the duration of the shoot. The only downside was that the bloody chateau was the coldest building I have ever encountered.

CS: It was outrageously cold, that castle was genuinely like walking into a freezer. When we left the location at night, the outside air would feel warm!

CA: And most of my scenes required me to be topless...

CS: Sorry about that, it had to be done.

CA: Overall it was one of the best experiences of my career so far!

The House of Violent Desire comes out on VOD and DVD later this year!