Zazie Beetz filmed in ‘freezing cold water’ for 12-hour days for They Will Kill You

Zazie Beetz plays lead Asia Reaves in the high-octane horror-action film, They Will Kill You.

Zazie Beetz shot in “freezing cold water” for 12-hour days for They Will Kill You.

The 34-year-old actress found the blood splattering action and wielding weapons easier to deal with than filming in faux rain for scenes in the high-octane horror-action movie, in which she plays lead Asia Reaves.

Zazie – who made the movie during the winter in Cape Town, South Africa – recalled to People: “I would actually say the most difficult stuff was the rain scenes, which I wasn’t expecting.

“Those are bits and bobs throughout the movie, but when you’re doing it, it feels like it’s the entire shoot. They have to use cold water because there’s rain machines and because warm water steams in the camera.”

Speaking about how long it took to get the water scenes right, she continued: “Days on end because those scenes, the sequences, take like a week or whatever, and you’re outside from like 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. in freezing cold water.

“You’re cold. There’s nothing. It doesn’t matter how many heat … it doesn’t matter how many millions of dollars a movie is, whatever. You’re just cold.

“There is something so primarily just like, ‘I’m f****** cold.'”

The intense scenes in the fake rain meant Zazie had to push herself to fully commit and be present for They Will Kill You.

She said: “I had to really, deeply tap into those moments and be like, ‘I want to be here.’

“In some ways, when you’re stripped raw, you can just be like, ‘All right, I’m just in my primal self.'”

Meanwhile, Zazie said it was “very empowering” to take the lead role of Asia in the Kirill Sokolov-directed movie – which sees her alter ego “survive the night at the Virgil, a demonic cult’s mysterious and twisted death-trap of a lair, before becoming their next offering in a uniquely brazen, big screen battle of epic kills and wickedly dark humour”.

She told People: “I think leading something is an incredibly empowering experience.

“This was my first time being No. 1 in a movie. [I] really went into it [and wanted the cast and crew] to feel like I wanted to be there and I wanted to show up and show that I am grateful for this moment and opportunity.”

Being a strong leader helped Beetz feel empowered.

She said: “I felt very empowered with the idea of, like, ‘I need to set my nerves or my feelings or my stuff aside in order to show up fully every day and just do the work.’

“And it’s easy to be like, ‘Meh! I’m having my feelings!’ But I’m like, ‘No, like, be a leader.’ And so, it was a practice in that and a practice into coming more fully into my womanhood, to be honest.

“So I’m really grateful for that opportunity. I really feel like it grew my heart in that way.”