[Warning: Spoilers for “Cat and Mouse.”]
And then there were two. Going into this week’s Hell Motel Season 1 finale, Andy and Paige are the last two left after Paige took out both Shirley and Floyd. But questions remain, of course. We’ll see how that plays out on Tuesday!
In the next part of my conversation with Paula Brancati, she breaks down that epic fight scene with Shirley (Yanna McIntosh), which begins with Paige in the bath and Shirley seemingly trying to comfort her, although the audience knows differently.
“Shooting the back stuff before the big fight … when Shirley’s drawing on her back and Paige figured it out when her phone pings, who Shirley and Floyd are … that panic. Her being in the bathtub like that is a very vulnerable thing. And I really wanted it to to be that she almost feels like a little kid in there. There’s something about it that feels very scary,” she explains.
“It’s almost like a boiling pot of water, this pressure cooker, and then the lid comes off. “
Brancati says they worked through the choreography of how the scene would play out, which was hugely helpful for her and scene partner McIntosh. “Yanna is so, so great. She’s currently starring in the Stratford season here, and she’s one of our great theater actors and so amazing on camera. We had time rehearsing the fight and the kill with our incredible stunt doubles. We had a couple of sessions, which was really informative because then you’re kind of treating that part like a dance,” she shares.
“I come from music theater, so I like thinking about it like that. And that was very fun for us and creative, too. These stunt doubles who are so skilled and wonderful. Anita Nittoli, who was mine was spectacular. We’ve worked together before and were building it out together.”
“I really wanted it to feel like this is something Paige has done only in movies before, and much like me and Slasher. And so it’s almost out of body. She’s doing a thing that she’s probably done in the Doomed Service scenes.”
“She’s done fight rehearsals. She’s an old pro at that. So now she’s kind of testing her own strength and really going for it. I think Paige’s power, physical strength, and ability to go there really surprises her. It’s almost superhuman.
“So I don’t know that she thinks she’s gonna make it, but I think both of these women know someone’s not coming out alive. And it’s so exciting. It’s one of my favorite fights because it’s two people we wouldn’t have necessarily paired against each other out of the gate.”
The pivot of the seemingly warm relationship among Paige, Shirley, and Floyd is turned on its head in that moment, too. ‘[Before that scene], Paige had really started to lean on Shirley. The first scene I shot on my first day was the scene where we tie up Andy in episode seven, and Shirley is trying to make Paige feel better,” she recalls.
“I’m crying, so I was nervous, and I just remember, she was so comforting and I leaned into her hand. I felt like there was something going on out of the gate with Shirley and Paige, where she sort of feels comforted by these two. They’re kind of her lifelines when she feels she can’t trust Andy and I really think she’s just looking for somebody to trust.”
“I lovingly called us a throuple. I kept saying that, but no one really knew. That was my subtext, and there’s colors of that. And then when this switch goes off in her, [something primal kicks in].”
The season finale of Hell Motel airs Tuesday at 9 pm ET on Hollywood Suite in Canada and will be available to stream on Hollywood Suite On Demand, where you can also find the first seven episodes. In the US, the season finale will drop Tuesday on Shudder and AMC+.
As a reminder, you can catch Slasher: Ripper and Slasher: Flesh and Blood on Hollywood Suite and Shudder. The first three seasons of Slasher are still on Netflix. And all our coverage of previous seasons is here. Check back this week for our season finale conversations with Brancati, Martin, and Carpenter.
Photos courtesy of Anthony Fascione for Shaftesbury TV/Shudder.
