In Run Hide Fight: Infidels, the new action thriller directed by Kyle Rankin, Charlotte Delaney Riggs plays Farrah, an intense and determined young woman who takes on a leadership role among the students at the center of the story. To build the character, Riggs went beyond her own scenes: she observed real-life protests, studied the behavior of people in leadership positions, and discovered during filming that reading the rest of the script also changed her understanding of how Farrah was perceived by those around her.
In the interview, Riggs discusses joining the project while initially knowing only a small part of the story, finding humanity in a character placed within polarizing circumstances, and working with Rankin to push Farrah toward a more heightened performance than she first envisioned. She also explains how she sustains emotions such as anger, sadness, and passion through long shooting days — and why, for her, a believable performance begins with one essential idea: the character first has to make sense to the actor playing her.
The material released so far reveals very little about your character. What can you tell us about who she is, how she fits into the story, and what first interested you when you read the script?
She is someone who is very passionate about what she wants and tries to stand up for what she believes is right. She’s a fun character to play, and honestly, her ability to be so bold is a little bit admirable. There are good qualities to every character, but I think that is one of her best qualities. She’s pretty cool because she was written based on a collage of real people who were seen protesting. When I first read the script, I didn’t know too much about it; I had only really seen 2 scenes that my character was in. I didn’t realize what the movie was gonna be at that point, so my first thought was pure excitement over being asked to do a movie and work with people that seemed really fun.
I think part of being an actor is trying to understand every character in the movie, but especially the one you are playing. So for this role, I wanted to find every way to believe in my character and what she was doing. If you can’t find a way to make your character make sense to yourself, then it won’t come off as real to anyone else. I think you find humanity in truly understanding a character because someone is that character in real life; this is a person per sé.
When a project deals with issues that may provoke strong reactions from audiences, do you try to completely separate your own views from the character, or do you think your personal perspective inevitably informs some of your choices as a performer?
I try not to let any of my personal beliefs reflect on a character, whether they match or not. I try to understand the character away from myself and more closely relate the characters I play to people I know or have seen. It helps to go around and observe people like your character if you can, which is what I did for this movie. If I saw a protest of any kind, I would stop and watch it for a while just to see what the people who led them were like.
Kyle Rankin both wrote and directed the film. What was it like working with a filmmaker who came to set with such a direct vision of the story, and what kind of guidance from him was most valuable in shaping your character?
Kyle was an amazing director; he came to set and knew exactly what he wanted. He let us play with our own visions and then would tweak what he wanted. It was great to get such a clear vision from his side. One of the most valuable things he did was that whenever he saw something he wanted done a different way, he would pull us one by one away to give individual feedback. He wanted the character to be more campy than I originally thought, so I had a lot of feedback about playing it up more.
The ensemble brings together actors with very different backgrounds and experiences. Was there a particular scene, collaboration, or moment on set that changed the way you understood your character during filming?
When I first read through the script, I only read through my scenes just to understand who I was in this movie. Once I started reading the other scenes, though, it really painted a different picture of who Farrah was. I think one of the scenes that was the most interesting for her was the scene where she is explaining to Ibraham that she was doing all of these things to help support the rights of everyone as a plea, but he doesn’t care. It really opened up my eyes as to how she is perceived by the people outside of her group. She isn’t necessarily seen as strong by characters outside of the school.
Stories involving danger and violence can require performers to remain emotionally immersed in very intense circumstances for long periods of time. How do you prepare yourself for that kind of material, and how do you leave it behind once the shooting day is over?
A lot of the scenes I did for this movie required me to be angry, passionate, or sad, which all take a lot of effort to do for hours on end. Personally, I have to come up with things to keep me in that mindset, especially if it’s going to be a long day. If I am supposed to be sad, I’ll think about sad things or twist things in a sad way, as well as save sad videos to watch as well. This way, most of the things I will think and consume that day will be in line with what I am supposed to be feeling on set.
Regardless of the different interpretations audiences may have of the film, what do you hope stays with viewers after the credits roll?
I hope that people take away something a bit more nuanced than the plot itself. I hope they take away the idea to stick up for who you love and what you believe in.
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