Carla Gugino Answered All Of Our Burning “Haunting Of Hill House” Questions

Carla Gugino: Well actually, the set of Hill House was the most extraordinary set I have ever been on. They built an actual two story house in which we could walk everywhere in the house. And in fact, we did it all in one take in Episode 6, which you should see. So, in fact, the Red Room is always in the same location in Hill House. It’s just that it manifests differently based on each person’s psyche. So, basically it provides a space of solace for each person, which is different.

Obviously for Olivia it’s the reading room, you know, for Theo it’s a dance room, for Steve it’s the game room etc, etc. So, the Red Room is actually where it is all the time, it’s just that you can get in literally only [points to mind] in there.

CG: Absolutely. She’s been watching the whole time. I would say that the scenes that you see evidence of that are Shirley, when she’s grown up, and she has the model of the forever house in her office and you see as she goes up the stairs, the lights blink, as in come home. That’s Olivia doing that. And then also, when Olivia crawls out from behind the desk when Theo and Hugh come in and you see that she’s destroyed the forever house. So, she’s there with them, the whole time.

CG: Very interesting question. Definitely Mike Flanagan, our creator, [said] the more mold there is, the more mental disintegration is happening for sure. The further we get from reality and the more we start losing our minds definitely, metaphorically, the mold is growing, so it’s sort of seeping in and taking over. And it’s inescapable as black mold is. I have to say, for anyone, like, afraid of germs it was the most terrifying part of the house shooting, just seeing black mold oozing up the walls.

CG: So, yeah, Luke dies for a moment. You know how people do sometimes; their heart will stop and then they’ll come back. Olivia’s pull is so strong and her love for her son is so strong and of course she thinks that she’s saving him and finally he’s home and out of this life of misery that he’s been living but, Nell is very strong now too. And so, this is really a battle of wills between the two of them, both of them, fighting for what they perceive to be Luke’s life and ultimately, Nell is able to pull him back to the real world.

CG: So, this is really interesting. This is something that I talked to Mike [Flanagan] about a lot from the very beginning because in the script I wasn’t even quite sure. Do I really jump? Do I not? Do I push Nell? Do I not? I, being Olivia. I think we ultimately came to place where I think there’s no question that neither of them would’ve fallen to their deaths on their own volition. There had to be that tap from Olivia in Nell’s case or Poppy in Olivia’s case. That tap of someone who had already crossed over to the other side that actually does push them. So, no, it’s not of their own volition.

CG: Again, these are all really interesting questions and nuances that we talked about a lot. Ultimately, for sure, Olivia feels that she’s saving her children. So, initially, when Abigail is going when you see her frothing at the mouth, when she’s actually going to cross over, I think Olivia is dead set on the fact that on the other side, she will be at peace. But, as you notice, if you watch it carefully, or perhaps again, when Olivia comes back up to the Red Room again later and is truly devastated because at that point she’s in and out of being taken over by the house and trying to wake up, just trying to be there for her family.

At that moment when she sees Abigail, she is truly devastated and I think has no recollection of what she’s done. But then, she sees Abigail walking off with one of the house ghosts and I think that is very key [because] then she’s confused again. I think that’s the thing with Olivia at the end, she’s so uncertain about what is real and what’s not real and what is truly saving her children and what isn’t.

CG: So, for sure, the vanity that might have once been Poppy’s is part of it, but I think also, this is a more subjective answer, but since I played Olivia I will answer it, which is that I think Poppy really allowed Olivia in a moment where she’s so unsure of what to do and she’s getting so confused by the house and by being effected so much by the house and because of her migraines and all these things, she’s just much more susceptible than anyone else and she’s a mother bear at heart.

Poppy really gives her the assurance of a way in which she can save, especially the twins, from this horrible fate that she has foreseen because she has gone ahead and she has seen that one of them is having problems with mental heath and one of them is an addict. So, she has seen this horrible fate and she really is trying to save them from it.

So, the horror genre is a beautiful kind of way to allow us to talk about a lot of very real things in a heightened way. So in that sense, I think Poppy seems so assured that if she does this thing, the kids will be okay and at that point, she really believes her.

CG: That is actually specifically Olivia. So, he comes to find his mom, in a lot of ways, and she puts out the fire. So, because you know, he’s finally home. For her, it’s the happiest moment of her life. So yeah, that’s Olivia’s doing.

CG: That also is Olivia because Olivia knows how much Nell loved her buttons and it’s her way of sort of making Nell at peace.