Longlegs star recalls 'absolutely freaking terrifying' encounter with Nicolas Cage

Of course, a huge part of what chilled so many viewers was Nicolas Cage's uncanny turn as the mysterious – and deeply evil – serial killer at the film's centre, and it turns out it wasn't only audiences who found his performance difficult to stomach.

"I felt terrified seeing him for the first time," recalled star Alicia Witt in an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com to mark the film's home entertainment release. "He was so much scarier than I imagined he was going to be."

She added: "What we'd been apprised of before his arrival on set that morning was that, because he was going to be so deep into character, he wasn't going to be doing a lot of small talk.

"So within that, he was lovely, he was very concerned, like in the scene where I was bound up and I'm on the floor, he wanted to make sure I was OK and wasn't hurting myself and he wasn't hurting me.

"So it wasn't like he was speaking in that voice the whole time on set, but he was also very quiet and focused and keeping his energy."

Witt – who played Lee Harker's religious mother Ruth in the film – also explained that Cage displayed the same intensity in the role even when the camera wasn't pointed at him, and said she especially appreciated this commitment.

"There was no discernible difference, it was at 110 at all times," she said. "And that's the mark of the finest and most generous kind of actor.

"But yeah, I hadn't seen him in makeup. I hadn't seen any of the makeup tests, and I certainly hadn't heard that voice.

"So the first time I heard that voice, the cameras were rolling – and very little acting was required on my part to be absolutely freaking terrified of him!"

This wasn't the only aspect of making Longlegs that Witt found to be a little scary, and indeed she is yet to watch the film to see how it ended up.

"The reason is because what came out of me felt so dark, and I don't really want to see it," she said.

"I feel like I left that on screen, and it was deeply cathartic for me, and such an out-of-body experience. I just don't want to see what it looked like from the outside. But I want to see the rest of the movie, all the parts that I'm not in!"

But regardless of having seen the film, it certainly seems like starring in it was an extremely valuable and rewarding experience for Witt.

And she even went so far as to reveal that the film has had a profound impact on how she now feels in her day-to-day life.

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"I feel as though I'm lighter as a person," she said. "I do feel strongly that there was ancestral genetic material in me from generations ago – relatives, perhaps, whose names I will never know that were a part of me, some heavy stuff in my long, long lineage generations past, that was exorcised and came out and forever was released.

"And I was carrying that around with me a little bit. So I feel as though Ruth was such a blessing to my whole lineage, because that was released and something beautiful got to become preserved on screen forever because of whatever that pain had been.

"So yes, I feel much freer having played Ruth!"

Longlegs is now available on digital, Blu-ray and DVD.

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