Samara Weaving is having a moment. Actually, make that a series of moments. In just the last three months, the actress has headlined three major films—Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, Over Your Dead Body, and now Carolina Caroline—and each one has been met with critical acclaim. But according to Weaving, this hot streak isn't luck. It's the result of a new personal rule she's adopted: "If it's not a f*** yes, it's a f*** no."
Weaving recently sat down with Collider Ladies Night to discuss her latest project, Carolina Caroline, and opened up about how she's approaching her career differently now. "These three that came out this year, I stuck to my guns, and I said no to other things," she explained. "I'm really trying to live by, 'If it's not a f*** yes, it's a f*** no.'"
That philosophy is clearly paying off. Ready or Not 2 holds a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, Over Your Dead Body sits at 69%, and Carolina Caroline boasts an impressive 93%. For Weaving, this phase of her career is all about trusting her gut—something she admits wasn't always easy. "I think before I could talk myself into a role or I could get convinced by other people, or I'd try and tell myself, 'This is good for me,' instead of sticking with my gut," she said. "Whereas now, really choosing characters that I want to play, and with people that I want to [work with]."
Weaving acknowledges that this kind of selectivity is a luxury earned over time. "When you're starting out, you're going, 'Anyone who wants to hire me, I'll do whatever,'" she noted. "Getting used to that freedom is interesting. I think I'm starting to be like, 'Okay, let's just try and trust that something will happen. You will work again,' which is hard to convince myself of, but it does pay off."
In Carolina Caroline, Weaving plays the title character, a gas station attendant in a small Texas town who teams up with a charming con artist (Kyle Gallner) to pull off increasingly daring scams. The film, directed by Adam Carter Rehmeier, is a steamy summer crime thriller that has critics raving. Weaving credits Rehmeier with creating a safe space for her to explore her character's quirks. "He let Kyle and I kind of be. He just created a really safe space for us and let us do our thing," she said. "He didn't give a lot of notes. He just said, 'Yep, you're on the right track. Go where your instincts go.'"
That trust extended to embracing Weaving's natural weirdness—something she says the directors of Ready or Not 2, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, also encouraged. "I think there are some people who kind of want me to be a bit more, I don't know, normal," she laughed. "But Radio Silence and him, they both were like, 'You're a weird gal. Lean into the weirdness.'"
With Carolina Caroline now in select theaters, Weaving is proving that saying no can be just as powerful as saying yes. For more on her conversation, including a hidden detail in the film, check out the full interview on Collider Ladies Night.
