Interview with Najarra Townsend, star of FrightFest's THE STYLIST

Ahead of the UK premiere of Jill Gevarguzian’s THE STYLIST, lead actress Najarra Townsend talks about being drawn to dark characters, loving film festivals and swapping LA for the English countryside In THE STYLIST, you play Claire, a murderous hairstylist who doesn’t just cut hair! It’s a very restrained yet chillingly emotive performance. What research did you do in order to understand the mind of someone who is, essentially, a serial killer? The majority of my research for Claire was actually building her backstory. I started with our Writer/Director Jill Gervargizian’s backstory notes on the character and then filled in all the blanks. I always approach a role by creating a life history for them. Memories are vital for me to have for every character. Jill also suggested I read “House of Psychotic Women” by Kier-La Janisse, which is about the exploration of female neurosis in horror and exploitation films. I actually did only a small bit of research on real female seria...