Maria Vera Ratti on Horror and Faith: A Candid Talk on ''Deliver Us''

Hi Maria. Hi. How are you? I'm alright, I'm good. So, in 'Deliver Us' you play the nun that is immaculate conception with twins and we understand one's the Messiah, one's the Antichrist. So tell me what that experience was like for you because we see this big belly with twins and... Well, I've never been pregnant before, so... And lots, lots of horror films that I was watching on a loop.

And I was, I mean, I've always liked the genre, but I wasn't, I hadn't seen as many in such a short amount of time. So I was sleeping with lights on a lot. I was definitely very jumpy throughout the whole shooting process. But yeah, it was a great experience. What message do you think this film delivers to the audience? I think there are more than one layers.

For me, while I was working on Yulia, it was definitely... So it was a few years ago. She is meant to be... She's meant to be in her early 20s, which I think is a really crucial age, beautiful age. Yes. I was so happy to be able to... And obviously she's a nun. And I feel like for, I mean, for religious people, but people that age, nuns particularly, Finding your faith is sort of like falling in love in a way.

Oh, I like that. And I felt like there is a line that she says when she says she feels like she's come to that convent to die. It's I feel like she's not losing her faith, but sort of losing her purpose in a way. So what I thought was really interesting to convey as a message is just a girl looking for a purpose in life, which is sort of what brings her through all the endeavors.

And she finds her purpose raising these beautiful little babies. She does. She feels it very deeply otherwise she wouldn't go through. I mean, yeah. She must be a little conflicted though because one of them is the Antichrist. Yeah. Well, she definitely is. But, well, she's obviously, she is a complex character. She was diagnosed schizophrenic as a child.

But I do feel like she latches onto this bigger purpose that she feels and just goes with it because that's the only way she can find to save herself and hopefully in her mind the world humanity. Hopefully. What was it like working with Leroy and crew, Leroy especially as producer, director, co-writer, star? I mean, he wears every hat. - I mean, it was great.

It was such a privilege to be able to work with such young people that understand, especially Lee as an actor, understood what I was going through. And we're close in age, but I'm a bit younger, so he could see, you know, every time I had, I don't know, a question or a struggle, he was always ready to rehearse and to even guide me in a way. So that was great, 'cause I was, I felt completely free to be brave, to mess up.

And that's why I felt like it was a really huge learning experience. It's such a privilege to be able to just have-- it felt like we had all the time in the world, because we were working together. It was COVID. We were really secluded. So it was a really magical experience. Yeah. Sounds like it. Absolutely. It really was. What is your reaction to what the audience reaction was on Thursday night?

- I mean, I was expecting like for sure that the people would at least, you know, like feel that we've really, we've really like invested so much energy and passion. And I'm pretty sure like people felt that. So that was great. And it was, I mean, it was the first time that I had such a big role in a film. So seeing the react and the positive reactions was really beautiful.

- I loved it. I think it's gonna do great things. We're hoping for a sequel at least. And hopefully you'll be back. Thank you. Thanks for talking with us. Thank you. [MUSIC]