Hokum: Adam Scott & Damian McCarthy Dive Into Terrifying New Horror Movie | Interview
ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to director Damian McCarthy and actor Adam Scott about the new supernatural horror film Hokum. McCarthy and Scott discussed why this was the next story McCarthy wanted to tell after Oddity, how Scott portrays a “prickly” but complicated character, and more.
“When novelist Ohm Bauman (Scott) retreats to a remote inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, he is consumed by tales of a witch haunting the honeymoon suite,” the official synopsis reads. “Disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance forces him to confront dark corners of his past.”
Hokum will be released in United States theaters on May 1, 2026, by NEON.
Brandon Schreur: Adam, I have such a fan of your work for such a long time. I’ll forever kick myself if I don’t mention that Torque is an absolute masterpiece.
Adam Scott: (Laughs) Yes! A fellow Torque head!
Such a great movie. I watch it all the time. As far as Hokum goes, I’d love to hear what it was that drew you to this project. What’s the story of how you got cast in here, and what made you most excited to join Hokum?
Adam Scott: Yeah, it was Damian McCarthy. I mean, I really wanted to work with him. I was a huge fan of Oddity — I just thought it was a really exciting, new way of expressing horror, if that makes sense? I had never been so frightened of someone just setting a camera by an inanimate object and staying there. I thought it was a magic trick that I couldn’t figure out the answer to. So that was part of it. But also, the script for Hokum, I thought it was really exciting. The character was someone new for me. And new structure-wise for the protagonist of a horror movie. I thought it was super interesting. It was a combination of all those things.
Yeah, definitely. Damian, I’m a big fan of your first two movies, too. Caveat and Oddity. I mean, if I have one complaint with Caveat, it’s that I didn’t get the chance to see it in a theater, which I would have loved to. But I didn’t miss that chance with Oddity, and I can’t wait to see Hokum on the big screen in the coming weeks, too. I’d love to know how you landed on this being your next movie after Oddity. How long have you been working on Hokum, developing the idea, and why did you feel like this was the next story you wanted to tell?
Damian McCarthy: I always have a stack of scripts that I’m working through and am writing on all the time. I think it was during the pandemic, we were all stuck inside for so long. I used to work in construction, so most of the time I just wrote and wrote and wrote. Even just early rough drafts of stuff.
After Oddity worked out — it found a bit of an audience. People saw it, and I knew I’d get to make another movie. It was straight to Hokum. Hokum was the film that I felt like I was waiting to make. It’s that first movie that gives me the chance to work with an American cast to come to Ireland. It bridges those two things that I love, making films and Ireland. But, also, to make the type of movie that I grew up watching and loving with America cinema. This felt like I could finally bring those two things together.
Sure. I have to say, in a couple of weeks I’m going to Ireland for the first time, just purely coincidental. So, thank you, guys, for the nightmare fuel. I’ll be thinking about this movie the whole time.
Adam Scott: Oh, great!
Damian McCarthy: Head for Cork! Go to Galway, Cork, and on toKerry.
Adam Scott: Yeah, it’s beautiful.
I definitely will. Adam, I want to ask specifically about the character that you’re playing in here, too. Because your performance is incredible, and I love the way we learn about him throughout the course of the movie. We get a strong sense of who he is based on how he interacts with other people who recognize him, but we learn more about him. And there’s the big thing that happens in the hotel room that first night. What stood out to you the most about Ohm when you were reading the script for the first time, and what aspect of him were you really excited to explore in your performance?
Adam Scott: I thought it was really interesting and exciting that this character starts out as a pretty prickly, unpleasant person. He isn’t nice to people. He’s arrogant and kind of uninteresting in connecting with anyone — except, as it turns out, the Fiona character. As the story goes on, you learn more and more about him, and learn more and more about the reason he is this way. Not to necessarily let him off the hook, but just sort of as an explanation. It becomes a matter of whether he’s going to let himself off the hook or not. And will he survive if he doesn’t?
Thanks to Adam Scott and Damian McCarthy for taking the time to discuss Hokum.
Source: Comingsoon.net