Maika Monroe and Jake Lacy on Significant Other, chemistry, and wild filming locations

Maika Monroe and Jake Lacy didn’t rough it when they filmed Significant Other, but the two actors were impressed with the wild filming locations.

Set in a remote forest in the Pacific Northwest, Monroe and Lacy star as Ruth and Harry, a couple on their first truly wild backpacking trip together, and she is uneasy from the start. From there, things only get worse when they realize that they’re not alone in the forest.

Released at the perfect time for Halloween, Significant Other is suspenseful, grim, and a bit quirky, with Lacy’s wry delivery breaking the tension in between bloody good horror.

The locations are incredible, and that’s what made me wonder if they did in fact rough it on location.

“God, no, no; we didn’t. We’re actors,” she said with a laugh before adding how much she loved it there.

“It was absolutely delightful, beautiful. Every day we would show up, our trailer was in like a forest area, and I really enjoyed it.”

Lacy called the locations truly “prehistoric” looking.

“We shot out by the beach and stayed at this… sort of a seventies two-level coastal hotel, and then the next spot we were at for a few days, just north of that, was 10 minutes from Cannon Beach where they shot Goonies. I’ve never seen the topography, flora, and fauna on that scale.”

“[It was] insane,” he said. “I am still enamoured with the Pacific Northwest.”

Significant Other works so well because of the spark, and the chemistry between the two stars, and Lacy broke down a bit of how he looks at it, and what it takes to make it work before the “movie magic” happens.

“It helps to have even two afternoons to hammer out what each of these things mean to these people, and then for me, I go back home and try to connect that into something I’ve experienced or related to or failed at or, you know, something to tether it to me a little bit, or something organic, and hope that between sharing something with the other person, and their kind of bouncing it back to you.”

Monroe has a great role in the film, and that was a draw for her to make the film, but she also decided to work on Significant Other because of the team.

“I had obviously worked with the directors before and had just the most incredible time. [Writers and directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen] have become really important in my life and to have the opportunity to work with them again… I think it’s very interesting to work with [these] directors twice.”

“And then I really loved the script. I loved the character and the arc and where we start and where we end. And even reading the script, obviously I can’t give anything away, but there’s some twists and I had no idea what was coming next, and that’s so fun when reading a script.”

Significant Other is streaming now on Paramount+. Watch the full interview above.