If you watch movies and are subscribed to Netflix, there’s a decent chance you watched the thriller “Carry-On” at some point in the last few months. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, known for his Liam Neeson action joints such as “Non-Stop” and “The Commuter,” it quickly rocketed up the streamer’s charts, becoming a smash hit. It also, somewhat indirectly, paved the way for his new film.
After directing horror films like “Orphan” and “House of Wax” earlier in his career, Collet-Serra is returning to the genre with Blumhouse’s “The Woman in the Yard.” The film, which has largely been shrouded in mystery, represents the director’s first horror effort since 2016’s “The Shallows.” Taking that journey with him is Danielle Deadwyler, whom he collaborated with on “Carry-On” as Elena Cole, the agent trying to get to the bottom of the plot hatched by Jason Bateman’s mysterious traveler.
“That’s my guy,” Deadwyler said of Collet-Serra during a set visit I attended last year for “The Woman in the Yard.” I spoke with Deadwyler and other members of the crew on the very last day of filming in Athens, Georgia, which is about an hour outside of Atlanta. Deadwyler, whose credits also include films like “The Harder They Fall” and “I Saw the TV Glow,” spoke very highly of the director, explaining that she’s come to deeply trust him as a collaborator:
“I think it’s just truly about trust. And I know his history — all the more present things that he’s done, ‘Jungle Cruise,’ ‘Black Adam’ and stuff are much more action-oriented. ‘Carry-On’ is obviously action-oriented. But to know that he had this history of horror and thriller, for that matter, and being like, ‘Okay, let’s go play in this world together.’ I trust him. He knows what I can do. I know what he can do, and we just, pow, you know what I mean?”
“I call him the master of the dark. He gets happy and joyous about the most difficult things,” Deadwyler added. “We’ve got a rapport at this point.”
Danielle Deadwyler and Jaume Collet-Serra developed that relationship on Carry-On
Universal Pictures
During our set visit, the producers were hesitant to reveal much of anything about “The Woman in the Yard.” What we do know is that the film centers on Ramona (Deadwyler), a woman crippled by grief after her husband (Russell Hornsby) is killed in a car accident. Injured and alone, she’s left to care for their two children at their remote farmhouse. One day, a mysterious woman dressed in black suddenly appears in their yard, and it quickly becomes clear that her intentions are nefarious.
As Deadwyler alluded to, Collet-Serra was coming off of some major studio productions before taking on this relatively low-budget horror affair. He most recently directed The Rock’s long-awaited DC movie “Black Adam” for Warner Bros. right after working with the wrestler-turned actor on Disney’s “Jungle Cruise.”
“I think that when someone is expressing those multitudes and can return, that makes it that much more full,” Deadwyler added. “He has this history of doing horror, this history of doing thriller, he has been doing this action. You can take all of that and put that into the pot that we’re working in now.”
The two of them gelled on “Carry-On,” with producer Stephanie Allain saying that sometimes actors and directors have “that thing,” a collaboration that can’t always be easily defined. And Collet-Serra wasn’t just going back to horror because it was easy, either. As Allain also explained, the filmmaker was busting his ass to be able to make this movie happen:
“He took it really seriously. He was still finishing ‘Carry-On’ while he was here. He would drive himself to the airport after wrap on Friday, get on that plane, which is two hours. You guys know. It’s so far out. It made it really hard to leave. Get on that plane, fly back to L.A., have dinner with his family, work on the movie, come back. He paid for that all himself.”
Blumhouse could use that level of dedication, as the studio had a rough year in 2024. Can Collet-Serra work his magic once again and deliver a hit for the studio, just as he did for Netflix last year? Maybe we’re seeing the beginnings of the next great actor/director combination. Here’s hoping.
“The Woman in the Yard” hits theaters on March 28, 2025.
