Barbie Ferreira Talks ‘Faces of Death’, ‘Mile End Kicks’ Double Bill

It’s a big week for Barbie Ferreira, who delivers powerful leading performances in two drastically different new movies.

With horror reimagining Faces of Death now in theaters, and music-driven romantic comedy Mile End Kicks premiering April 17, the actress spoke to Deadline about “spreading my wings” after leaving Euphoria back in 2022.

“It just felt like for me, what I wanted to do is act and be able to do different roles, and if Euphoria was going to serve that for me, I would have happily done it forever, however long it would have been,” she explained. “But It wasn’t really letting me show my range. In fact, it was kind of diminishing as time went on, and it was like, what makes me happy is acting and growing my career.”

Ferreira added, “So, it just felt like a very personal decision where I, really deep down, don’t care if what I’m doing is the biggest show of all time, as long as I’m creatively fulfilled. It’s truly all that I care about.”

After filming Faces of Death in New Orleans back in 2023, Ferreira was starting to think the Isa Mazzei and Daniel Goldhaber update of the 1978 horror mockumentary wouldn’t see the light of day, which would have been an unfortunately fitting outcome, given controversy around the original film led to it being banned in many countries.

“I thought I learned a whole big lesson in Hollywood. I’m like, ‘Oh, showbiz! You could shoot a whole movie, and it doesn’t even come out,’” she said, adding: “It felt like such a fun, good movie, that it finally is coming out and we’re all just so hyped about it. It’s been this thing where I’m just like, ‘It’s Faces of Death. Are they going to censor us? Are they not going to put us in theaters? Are they not gonna even come out with it, period?’ So, this moment is just so satisfying, because it’s been so long of me stressing over the fact that this wonderful, super cool, scary as fuck horror movie isn’t getting any attention because of things that don’t even have nothing to do with the art, has nothing to do with the film.”

In Mile End Kicks, Ferreira stars as music critic Grace, a character inspired by writer-director Chandler Levack’s days in the 2011 Montreal scene.

“Obviously, Grace is very different than Chandler in general, but having a reference point is so sick as an actor, because you really get to bounce ideas off of a real person with real motivations, with a real personality,” she noted. “It’s not an ambiguous person that you’re making up in your head, so you are the only one who understands this. I got to really bounce ideas off of her, because it is so based off her life.”

Ferreira explained that she’s a “completely different actress” and “different person” since exiting Euphoria, which is evident in her current films, as well as her performances in Unpregnant (2020), Nope (2022), Bob Trevino Likes it (2024) and House of Spoils (2024).

“So, it’s cool to show me as I grow up, grow as an actor,” added Ferreira.

Read on about Barbie Ferreira’s new movies, Faces of Death and Mile End Kicks, as well as her departure from Euphoria.

DEADLINE: Tell me what was it like updating this horror cult classic and getting to play a “final girl.” 

BARBIE FERREIRA: It’s a dream come true. I mean, since I was a little kid, I’ve been fascinated with the darker parts of life. I loved horror, I loved the “final girl.” I also separately love a revenge story. I think to me, that’s probably my favorite lane in film is revenge. I think Quentin Tarantino does a very good job of that. And like, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, all these very femme fatale movies where the girl gets their lick back. It’s always been my favorite thing in the world. So, for me to be able to have this arc in the film was so satisfying, because those are usually my favorite kinds of films, is a woman seeking revenge. 

DEADLINE: I love that. That’s actually my favorite Tarantino movie, Death Proof.

FERREIRA: Yeah, Death Proof is my favorite too. Oh my God! 

DEADLINE: One element of Faces of Death that was updated for the reboot, is the darkness of social media. Can you tell me about immersing yourself in that aspect and how you deal with it personally? 

FERREIRA: For the film, it was an incredibly immersive process where I’m playing a content moderator, so I spent a lot of time getting in that headspace of watching clips online that were very violent. And to be honest, it was too easy, and that’s the problem. I think that’s the whole thing about the movie, is that going online, it’s the easiest thing in the world to see horrible violence and horrible accidents and horrible gore at any time, and it only has gotten more relevant in the past few years since we shot it. In fact, I think throughout these few years since we filmed, I remember I see these big videos going viral of the wars and all these things. I’m like, “Oh my god, it’s only getting more relevant.” In fact, it’s so normalized now, that it’s almost like we didn’t even notice that it was normalized. The algorithm has slowly become what it is now. And for me, what I do personally is I try to really train my algorithm to be dogs and cats being silly, and funny drag queen podcasts, and my friends who are comedians. I think that’s a very conscious decision that you have to make, which sucks. I mean, the internet should just be dog and cat videos unless you are searching for violence or sex or something. That should be the baseline, not the other way around where I have to fight to go see a cat be rescued from a tree. So, I just really make sure that my algorithm—because I know I’m not going to get off my phone. There’s this dream that we’re all going to be unplugged in like a commune in in a farm in like Colorado. It’s not gonna happen for me, I guess. So, what I’ve learned is just how to have a relationship with the internet, especially as it evolves, and it always is changing because of the nature of technology. Now there’s AI, now there’s this, now there’s that, now this person owns Twitter so you can see whatever the fuck you want. It’s always constantly changing. It’s just because we’re always constantly adapting and we don’t know what the repercussions are of what’s happening in our brains. So, during the movie, I was watching a lot of more old school internet videos of accidents and deaths of that nature, just to get in the headspace and also to know what I was watching [in the movie] because on a computer, it’s green screen—just a little film tidbit. So, it was a lot of Danny [Goldhaber] and Isa [Mazzei] and Paris Peterson, shout out them, sending me tons of links to more lively videos, things that you would see on the internet. And the worst part is, is that anyone can see these videos at any time, and it’s not even something that’s behind a paywall or an age restriction wall. It’s just there. 

DEADLINE: I’ve also loved seeing like Charli XCX make her acting transition recently. What was it like working with her and duking it out? 

FERREIRA: I mean, this was her first acting role that she shot, and now she’s like a big movie star, pop star. It was before Brat. Like, you don’t understand, this was a year before Brat. We were the OG fans. I’ve known Charli for a long time and have been such a fan of hers throughout her all her albums, and been to all her shows. The Brat Summer was huge for me. I went to about 17 shows. Thank you, Charli, for the tickets. I would bring the cast of Mile End Kicks. I’m like, “Let’s go, it’s Brat, baby.” So, it was just really fun. It was her first acting job. It was so cool to be there. She’s at that point she was so in her stage element, the recording studio, that was her element. I’ve always seen her performing in her space and at the Greek Theater or whatever, and backstage. It was cool to see her come into my world, where it’s a little bit less glamorous, where we’re shooting in Louisiana, this sort of indie, sort of not, horror movie, where it’s like 15 hours a day, and the call time’s 4am. So, it’s really fun to see her in that element and outside of the the big glamorous pop star, cool girl that she is and really in character. It was really fun. 

DEADLINE: Yeah, it was fun to watch her too. And I wanna ask about Mile End Kicks. Tell me about immersing yourself in the music scene of 2011 Montreal.

FERREIRA: In 2011, I was probably 15, and I was in Jersey, but I would sneak out to New York and go to all these kind of DIY shows or raves and all these things when I was way too young. And I remember just being in a creative city, New York, and specifically in Brooklyn, navigating being a young adult in that space. And so for me, I was an American Apparel model. I was very young, but I was in the indie sleaze world towards the end, and I was very much not the cool girl at the party because I was 17. And so for me, it was really fun. I got to spend a lot of time in Montreal, which I love that city so much. Honestly, shout out Montreal. The like Quebecois people are so fucking fire. I love it. I used to go when I was a model for a day or two, but I never really had a chance to explore the city. And so, Grace was a person who didn’t speak French. Clearly, if you watch the movie, you can tell I don’t speak French. I do speak Portuguese though, so I am bilingual, just my defense in general. But Grace doesn’t know French, she’s kind of this arrogant person from Toronto that comes in and thinks the whole world revolves around her, and I’m an American walking into Montreal, realizing that any time I go to any other country that’s not America, I realize how fiercely American I am and how narcissistic I am because I think the whole world revolves around America, because we’re taught that in school. It’s really crazy how we think the whole world revolves around us, even subconsciously. It’s just the schooling system and our media and everything. So, I felt really like I was like prepped for it. I was like, “OK, I’m in the city. I’m this arrogant American that everyone hates because I don’t speak French and I’m too loud and whatever.” And it felt like I was really exploring the city with Grace and having this kind of a relationship with Montreal. As the movie was progressing, my love for it grew. Having Juliette [Gariépy] and Robert [Naylor], who are French Canadians, having them show me around the city—and Juliette is the coolest girl in Montreal, dead ass, she absolutely is the coolest girl there. She runs that shit. We’d walk around town, everyone’s saying hi to her. It was just so cool to be immersed in that world. I just think it’s such a sick city, and it’s still so creative, like going to vinyl sets in the basement of a bar. It was just so cool.

DEADLINE: That makes me want to visit. What was it like building this character with Chandler Levack, inspired by her?

FERREIRA: It was very much inspired by Chandler. I wore a lot of her t-shirts. I got a similar haircut to her. It’s always great to have a reference point. Obviously, Grace is very different than Chandler in general, but having a reference point is so sick as an actor, because you really get to bounce ideas off of a real person with real motivations, with a real personality. It’s not an ambiguous person that you’re making up in your head, so you are the only one who understands this. I got to really bounce ideas off of her, because it is so based off her life. Obviously, I’m an American woman who wasn’t 24 in 2011, so it was really cool to build it with her. I wore a lot of her old t-shirts. I made sure to always copy her accent as much as possible and really create Grace as an amalgamation of Chandler, me and a third other thing. 

DEADLINE: The whole coming-of-age love triangle aspect was great, but what was it like filming those really awkward sex scenes with Chevy? I was just cringing watching it the whole time. 

FERREIRA: Oh my God, when I read the script, I literally remember reading the sex scenes, and I was like, “This is way too real. I’ve never seen this depicted in a film.” When you’re shooting it, it’s obvious we’re in a super hot apartment. This was not on a soundstage at all. These are on location in tiny Montreal apartments, there’s like a hundred people in one room, everyone’s sweating. Me and Stanley [Simons] are trying to simulate sex the best way possible, with the intimacy coordinator and with Chandler. So, every sex scene that we did was just so, in the best way possible, nasty, that it felt actually like there wasn’t a pressure. In fact, it felt so real what we were doing, that I didn’t feel like what I guess a woman in any movie, anyone, would be like, “Do I look good? Are my boobs sitting right? Am I performing this sexily?” It actually was such a pressure not to do that ,because I’m playing this kind of femcel, a girl who is being led on by this man who doesn’t know what he wants at all. And so, it felt like I could really be awkward, and because it is awkward—it’s an awkward thing to shoot a sex scene, no matter what. So, it felt like the realness of the awkwardness was, especially with someone that I know, like Stanley and I have been talking for, we’ve been hanging out with Devin [Bostick] and everyone, it is awkward. And so, we really played into it, and it really worked with the sex scenes specifically, because it felt like I could really be as vulnerable as possible and use the awkwardness, the uncomfortableness of the muggy room, the dozen people watching all this. It just felt like it was perfect for a sex scene like that. 

DEADLINE: Well, you played it flawlessly. It definitely felt relatable. 

FERREIRA: We made love but we didn’t. There was no lovemaking in Mile End Kicks. 

DEADLINE: You have two vastly different movies out this month. What’s it like being able to see both of those come to fruition and also being an executive producer on one of them? 

FERREIRA: It’s really cool because we shot Faces of Death years ago. I thought I learned a whole big lesson in Hollywood. I’m like, “Oh, showbiz! You could shoot a whole movie, and it doesn’t even come out.” And whatever kind of Hollywood politics was happening, it was above my pay grade for sure. I didn’t know what was going on, but I kind of had lost hope for a second. I was like, “Oh, we just got lost in the studio system and all these things.” And so, for it to come out the same week as Mile End Kicks is truly bizarre to me. It’s so cool that these two things are coming out within a week. I remember when they first told me that, I was like, “Oh shit, oh damn. OK, I’m gonna be put to work in April, and March, and probably May too.” I was excited. It feels really cool, because I think both of these movies are so part of who I am as an actor, and show different sides of me that people haven’t seen before. Also, one is an indie that I’m producing, which I really had a lot of fun. I always have a lot of fun producing indie films because I get to really develop it from the start and really be part of the creative process, which I love doing whenever anyone would like to have me there. And I also have this kind of studio horror film that I didn’t have that kind of relationship with, but it felt like it was my first leading role. It was. It felt like such a fun, good movie, that it finally is coming out and we’re all just so hyped about it. It’s been this thing where I’m just like, “It’s Faces of Death. Are they going to censor us? Are they not going to put us in theaters? Are they not gonna even come out with it, period?” So, this moment is just so satisfying, because it’s been so long of me stressing over the fact that this wonderful, super cool, scary as fuck horror movie isn’t getting any attention because of things that don’t even have nothing to do with the art, has nothing to do with the film. It has to do with studios and companies and changing CEOs and changing teams and things that I don’t even know about, because I’m just over here in LA, just chilling with my dog and cats and stuff. I have no idea what’s going on. So, I just am really excited that this is all right now, and it’s just cool because it’s two extremely different movies. I’ve been really intentionally waiting for these films to come out before I take on anything else, because I think the last time people have really seen me act is either Bob Trevino Likes It, or it’s mostly Euphoria, where I was a teenager and—not really, but playing a teenager and I’m a 30-year-old woman now—I’m a completely different actress, different person. So, it’s cool to show me as I grow up, grow as an actor. And even Faces of Death, which is a few years ago, it’s like this is the beginning of my change in my actor journey. In Faces of Death and Mile End Kicks, I’m two very different actors, in my skill sets and my process. It’s just cool to see both of them out at the same time, even though they’re so drastically different. It actually helps me, because I don’t get confused. I don’t get confused at all. 

DEADLINE: Since it’s coming out around the same time, I’m curious, has leaving Euphoria given you more freedom to pursue these kinds of roles and really spread your wings? 

FERREIRA: 100%. I mean, even just logistically. When you’re on a TV show that shoots for that long, it’s actually logistically, you’re supposed to be in LA. You have to get approval to do a movie, to leave town. You can’t do that for nine months, and then in between seasons, we don’t know when it’s going to shoot, so you’re constantly kind of held down to LA. And it just felt like for me, what I wanted to do is act and be able to do different roles, and if Euphoria was going to serve that for me, I would have happily done it forever, however long it would have been. But It wasn’t really letting me show my range. In fact, it was kind of diminishing as time went on, and it was like, what makes me happy is acting and growing my career. And I don’t think that me staying on the show, even though it’s extremely popular, and I understand a lot of people watch it and everyone’s tweeting about it, everyone’s talking about it, it’s always to me as an actor, what’s most important is the fact that I get to portray different roles and characters and learn about acting and filmmaking and getting characters with depth, which I think Kat definitely had Season 1, but I don’t think that was really the tea after that. So, it just felt like a very personal decision where I, really deep down, don’t care if what I’m doing is the biggest show of all time, as long as I’m creatively fulfilled. It’s truly all that I care about, and so, I try to always think that way. And doing indie movies is so fun because these filmmakers really saw outside of anything I’ve ever done before, they took a chance on me. They’ve seen me as a goth teenager cam-girling, and they really saw something in me, and I don’t think a lot of studios or bigger directors would have done that because they’re pretty risk-adverse, or I just wasn’t on their radar at all, because of my diminishing role on Euphoria. So, it has freed up everything. When one door closes, an indie door opens, and it’s very different. Obviously, I’m not on a show that is so talked about and famous and all these things, and that was really fun to do at the time, but it just, for me, wasn’t worth it for my ambitions as an actress.

DEADLINE: Yeah, I’ve worked on a few indie movies, and I know how much more fun it can be without studios breathing down your neck and all that, so I get it.

FERREIRA: Also, these incredible filmmakers that I’ve been working with, they’re up and coming. They have fresh perspectives, on me, even. I mean, I was even getting offered a role on Broadway. I was like, “You guys see me like this, and not just as, again, a goth teenager who has a bob. That’s so cool. For me, it was just really about spreading my wings and just weighing the pros and cons about what I deeply want, and not what other people want from me.