I used to be a professional kiteboarder. People were like, 'Oh, my God, are you scared of sharks? Are you scared of injuries?' You can't be scared. If you're scared, then you can't do it. You can't train to be the best.
— Maika Monroe
My grandma passed away from cancer, and actually, when I was 18, I had an experience with melanoma - it's in the family. I had that experience where everything comes into perspective. It's the weirdest thing, 'cause you're like, 'It will never happen to me,' and when it does, it's like, 'OK, wow.'
When you look at the roles I've done and the roles coming up, they're all strong. I guess I'm more drawn to that than that kind of submissive role females can be categorised as.
I grew up in the indie world, and that's what I'm used to, but there's something really incredible about having money behind a film and having the time to do as many takes as you want.
For me, I grew up doing kiteboarding where no girls are doing it, and you had to prove yourself. You just had to know that you could do it, too. It's the mentality you had to have to make it. I work hard like anyone else.
It goes without saying that it's important to vote.
There's some freedom that you get with indie films that you don't get with the big-budget ones. There's just a different style. I hope I can switch back and forth for the rest of my career, but I've kind of grown up on indies, and there's nothing better than working with these directors so closely and and being such a huge part of the process.
A lot of times, I'll get roles where it's the dumb blonde or the cheerleader, and I just have no interest - and it can be a great movie, it really can - or the mean girl; those things don't intrigue me much.
It's awesome when people respond to your movie and love it.
Cheerleader roles are really not my thing. I want things that are weird or not typical.
If you've got people around you that are like, 'Oh, you're so good,' this and that, it becomes unhealthy. My friends are like, 'You look like a doofus.' I'm like, 'Thank you. Thank you for that.' It keeps me grounded.
I went from living in the Dominican Republic - every day, my mom and I would cook, or we'd go hang out with the kids - to flying a private jet to Chicago with Zac Efron and Dennis Quaid. People had champagne, and they were going to these amazing restaurants. It was a culture shock. It's important, I think, to have that. To see both sides.
What I love about my job is challenging myself and finding weird, different roles.
Cape Town, South Africa, was pretty incredible. That's probably the coolest place I have ever been, and the kiteboarding is insane there. It's so windy, so you can get massive air.
I'm lucky because I remember my dad showing me 'Independence Day,' and I loved it.
Signing up for 'It Follows,' I didn't have any idea it was going to turn out the way it did, but seeing it, the music and the feel of it definitely was pretty amazing, getting that kind of throwback feel to classic horror movies.
I grew up such a horror fan, it's kinda cool being named 'Scream Queen.' I like that.
Knowing that anything can happen at any time, I made sure the people that I love know that.
There's a lot of comedy in 'The Guest,' so it was a bit more fun in a sense - it wasn't so heavy like 'It Follows.'
You can learn more from a person just from their observations and how they see the world. More so than just talking.
You learn so much on set; I don't know if you learn as much anywhere else as you do when you're on set, working.
I would really love to play a superhero. That is definitely up there on my list. Captain Marvel especially. That would be so cool.
I think, specifically with the horror genre, you have to make it very believable because it can come across ridiculous.
For me, it's first about the characters. I look for a character who is intriguing and challenging and different from what I've done before.
There's a lot of garbage, and then there are those ones that just stand out so incredibly. You fight for those roles; you do everything in your power to get it.
I'd never thought of horror as being so challenging, but it is.
I have a weird thing with knives. I don't like knives very much. Like when my parents are cooking in the kitchen and using knives to chop vegetables, I can't be in the same room. For whatever reason, knives just terrify me.
I'm a huge fan of the first 'Independence Day.' It is amazing. When it came out in 1995, just how explosive and big it was... I loved it.
All my Dominican friends live in an area called Los Venaga. Their houses are shacks. They'd invite us over to dinner, and we'd sit in plastic chairs on the dirt inside a house.
I think 'The Shining' is one of the first horror movies I remember seeing.
There is something so fun about scaring yourself.
At about 17, I decided I wanted to take kiteboarding seriously and compete, so my agents were like, 'Just keep sending in a few audition tapes anyway, just for good stuff.'
There are a lot of times where, filming 'It Follows,' I'm fighting against a guy dressed in a green suit for special effects, and I'm just like, 'No. There's no way this is going to be pulled off.'
I think it's good to conquer the fears.
I'm an only child, and we're a close family.
I wasn't thinking that I was two horrors back to back; I was thinking these were characters that I want to play.
With a project like 'The 5th Wave,' you do something you would never do in your normal life; I would never have had S.W.A.T. training or boot camp, and there's something really cool about learning stuff like that that's really fun about our job.
Surprisingly, I am great at kiteboarding, but I'm not great at surfing.
Stick up for what you believe in and never, ever feel that you can't say something or speak your mind. I think that would be the best advice. Be strong. Be confident. That's really all you need.
They have so many great horror movies made in the '80s. I mean, the old-school horror is so good.
I like challenges. I think that's important.
There are definitely scripts I start reading, where it doesn't interest me. Maybe it'll be a good movie, but the character doesn't intrigue me.
I think a superhero would be awesome to play.
You go to see movies to feel something, and being terrified - there's something so fun about that.
I'd love, love, love to do a comedy. I can't imagine being on set and being happy and cheerful. That seems so foreign.
In the Dominican Republic, my mom and I lived in this little tiny town called Cabarete, which is very poor.
It would be incredible to work with Stanley Kubrick and go back in time.
I grew up really loving old-school horror such as 'Halloween' and 'The Birds.'
My dad taught me to kiteboard when I was 13, and around the same time, I happened to just fall into being an extra on a set and fell in love with acting and making movies.
I've never experienced complete terror, knock on wood, or running for my life or any of that.
