Midsommar star Jack Reynor reveals the one scene that made him feel 'really vulnerable'

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Ari Aster’s new horror film, Midsommar.

As a connoisseur of horror movies, Midsommar star Jack Reynor is well aware that the genre has repeatedly exploited the female form for decades.

“You see a lot of really nasty exploitation of females in films and horrendous sexual violence,” says Reynor. “And you don’t really see that happen to the males in films very often. Midsommar was an opportunity to do something where the film exposes my character in a way that you don’t see actors in films — male actors — being exposed in films.”

In the final act of writer-director Ari Aster’s film, Reynor’s character Christian consummates his flirtatious relationship with a Swedish commune member played by Isabelle Grill — despite being in a relationship with Florence Pugh‘s Dani — and is then horribly punished for his sins. Reynor was attracted to the project by these sequences, but admits shooting the material, and in particular the sex scene, was a trying experience.

“It was difficult, but that was part of the reason that I wanted to do it,” says Reynor. “And that was kind of the challenge. It left me feeling really vulnerable, more vulnerable than I thought I was going to feel. We shot the sex scene on the last day. I basically went from [the set] to the airport and I got f—king smashed.”

Watch the trailer for Midsommar above.

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