The Housemaid director Paul Feig borrowed some tricks from Alfred Hitchcock [Exclusive Interview]

I got really big “Get Out” vibes from this movie. Was that in mind when you were developing the adaptation, and what were some of your other cinematic influences?

I love “Get Out.” I love Jordan Peele. I think he’s brilliant. Actually, there’s a scene where the PTA ladies and a woman are stirring her tea and I said, “Put on that sound effect. I want to hear that.” So definitely that vibe.

But I’m probably more inspired by Hitchcock, I think. Just because I like the tone of Hitchcock’s films, because they’re tense and scary and exciting and all that, but they’re also kind of funny at the same time. Because he finds these side characters funny, and he was really good at releasing the tension with a laugh. So I think that’s definitely a big influence for me.

Amanda Seyfried is so perfectly unhinged in this movie. What were your discussions with her about the character like, especially when it came to tapping into that intensity and the wide-eyed rage that she has?

Yeah. I mean, she was really up for anything. And it was fun for us to figure out how far we can push Nina in each scene, because the big thing was if she’s just crazy and mean all the time, she becomes a cartoon, and Millie would just be crazy to stay in that job, even if she needed it for the reasons we find out she needs that job.

But it had to be that push and pull of what we think of as a crazy person, which is a flash of anger and then like, “Oh my God, I’m so glad you’re here.” What would I do without you? And then it turns into another [thing]so you’re still off your game.

I heard Freida McFadden, who wrote the book, say that one of her inspirations for it was just some of the female bosses she had who were so unpredictable. So it’s really fun for Amanda and I to find that balance.

Yeah, and I like that it wasn’t a slow progression to get there. Literally the first morning after getting the job, it’s just a blast.

Exactly. After being completely on board. We were able, very fortunately, except for the attic scenes, which we had to shoot later because it was on a set, we were able to proceed in chronological order of shooting that one.

Oh okay.

So during those first two days of touring the house and doing the first interview, my only direction to Amanda was like, “Just crazier, crazier, and softer.” So the next morning, it’s like you see it on Millie’s face, like, “What just happened? Who is this person?”