One To Watch: Why Davika Hoorne Left Her 'Comfort Zone' To Play A Haunted Hoover In ‘A Useful Ghost'
'I've never been a vacuum cleaner before… it's very out of my comfort zone,' says Thai model and actress Davika Hoorne on her role in Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke's Cannes Critics' Week title A Useful Ghost. She plays a woman who dies of dust pollution and then returns as a ghost in the form of a vacuum cleaner, determined to save her family from a similar fate.
'I had to get to know the vacuum cleaner, my partner,' says Hoorne, adding she put herself in the hands of the director to pull off the performance. 'His picture was very clear. There was a bit of improv but mostly it was what he wanted.'
More from Deadline
Scarlett Johansson On Why The Script For Her Directorial Debut 'Eleanor The Great' Made Her Cry: 'It's About Forgiveness' – Cannes Cover Story
'Bono: Stories Of Surrender': On Irish Fathers & Sons, Processing Family Tragedy & How A Need To Be Heard Propelled A Dublin Kid To Become One Of The World's Biggest Rock Stars
Kering & Cannes Film Festival To Honor Brazilian Filmmaker Marianna Brennand With Prestigious Women In Motion Prize Alongside Nicole Kidman At Glitzy Sunday Night Soiree
RELATED:
It is not the first time Hoorne—who is one of Thailand's best-known actresses and influencers with strong followings on Instagram and TikTok—has played a ghost. Having forged a successful career as a model, she broke through as an actress in 2013 Thai folklore-inspired horror comedy Pee Mak, playing a woman called Nak, who dies while her husband is away at war but remains in their village to welcome him back. Pee Mak remains Thailand's all-time second highest grossing feature.
RELATED:
Hoorne's performance won her the epithet of 'Thailand's most beautiful ghost' and she has since starred in a string of mainstream shows and movies, including My Ambulance, Heart Attack, Astrophile and The Empress of Ayodhaya. Lead produced by Cattleya Paosrijareon and Soros Sukhum at Bangkok-based 185 Films, the credits of which also include Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Memoria and Kristen Tan's Pop Aye, A Useful Ghost marks quite a departure for Hoorne.
'I'm incredibly thankful for this opportunity, but I admit it's crazy that I accepted it. It's not something you usually see in Thailand,' she says. 'I normally do stories that are predictable, that make money, but this one is fulfilling my actress energy. The team working on it is incredible and so many people were rooting for it to get made. The first time I read the script, I said yes right away. I felt the movie had the potential to go far, and even if it doesn't, I'm still very proud of this project.'
As well as introducing Hoorne to audiences outside of Asia, traveling to Cannes with A Useful Ghost also fulfils a long-held ambition for the actress, who says she has turned down offers to walk the festival's red carpet as a model in the past. 'A lot of people go there for the fame, for the fashion, but I told myself that I'm not going to walk the red carpet without a movie. I've been waiting for 10 years, and now this is like a dream come true.'
Best of Deadline
Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds
'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Everything We Know About Ari Aster's 'Eddington' So Far
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Étoile Cancelled After One Season at Amazon, Despite Two-Season Order
Étoile is taking its final bow, a little earlier than expected. Amazon's Prime Video has cancelled the Amy Sherman-Palladino ballet comedy after just one season, our sister site Deadline reports, despite Amazon giving the series a two-season order initially. The decision to cancel 'came down largely to performance vs. cost,' Deadline says. More from TVLine The Cleaning Lady, Alert: Missing Persons Unit Both Cancelled at Fox Daniel Dae Kim's Butterfly Spy Thriller Sets Amazon Release Date Casting News: Nicole Kidman Lands Yet Another Series, Power Reunion at Netflix and More Hailing from Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Sherman-Palladino, Étoile starred Luke Kirby (who played Lenny Bruce on Mrs. Maisel) as Jack McMillan, the artistic director of a prestigious New York ballet company. To drum up interest (and give flagging ticket sales a boost), Jack agrees to swap dancers with an equally renowned ballet company in Paris. (FYI: Étoile, pronounced āˈtwäl, is defined as a principal dancer in a ballet company.) Along with Kirby, the cast included Charlotte Gainsbourg (Call My Agent!), Gideon Glick (The Other Two), Simon Callow (Outlander), Lou de Laâge (The Innocents) and David Alvarez (West Side Story). Additionally, Gilmore Girls veterans Yanic Truesdale (aka Michel) and Kelly Bishop (aka Emily Gilmore) appeared in recurring roles. Debuting in April with all eight episodes dropping at once, Étoile earned mostly positive reviews but failed to make a dent in the Nielsen streaming charts. Were you hoping to take another spin with ? Let us know your thoughts on the cancellation news in a comment below. When Is Your Favorite TV Show Back? An A-to-Z List of 300+ Scripted Series View List Best of TVLine 'Missing' Shows, Found! Get the Latest on Ahsoka, Monarch, P-Valley, Sugar, Anansi Boys and 25+ Others Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Casting News: GH Brings Back Kelly Thiebaud, Love Story Adds 3 and More
Kelly Thiebaud, a Daytime Emmy winner for her original run as General Hospital's Dr. Britt Westbourne, is heading back to the ABC sudser — two years after her character died at the hands of a serial killer. According to our sister site Deadline, which first reported on the encore, it is unclear if Thiebaud will in fact be playing Britt again, or a new character. More from TVLine Samuel L. Jackson to Star in Tulsa King Spinoff NOLA King at Paramount+ Casting News: Jonathan Jackson's GH Exit, Paige Quits Summer House and More Prison Break Reboot Casts Emmy Winner Margo Martindale as Warden 'I am thrilled to have Kelly back on our show,' GH executive producer Frank Valentini said in a statement. 'We have some great twists and turns planned for her character.' Thiebaud's first episode back will air in July. In other recent casting news… * Ryan Murphy and FX's new American Love Story anthology has cast Grace Gummer (American Horror Story), Sydney Lemmon (Helstom) and Alessandro Nivola (The Big Cigar) as, respectively, Caroline Kennedy, Lauren Bessette and Calvin Klein, sources tell Deadline. They join a cast that reportedly already includes Naomi Watts as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Paul Kelly as JFK Jr. and Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette. * Regina Hall (Black Monday) has joined Jennifer Garner in the upcoming Peacock series The Five-Star Weekend, according to Variety. Based on the Elin Hilderbrand novel, the show stars Garner as a famous food influencer who hosts a weekend getaway for her friends at her posh Nantucket home. * Lexi Wood's time in Bravo's Summer House has come to an end after barely one season. 'Well, that wasn't the summer I signed up for, but it definitely taught me a lot,' Wood shared on Instagram. 'I stood up for women and for what's right, even when it wasn't easy — and I'd do that again in a heartbeat.' * The cast for Noah's Arc: The Movie — which reunites the Logo series' Darryl Stephens, Rodney Chester, Doug Spearman, Christian Vincent, Jensen Atwood and Wilson Cruz — will also include Michael M. Jones, Tory Devon Smith, Cocoa Brown, Novi Brown, Angela Beyince, Josca, Evari Pickett, Tjay Williams and Robb Sherman. The movie premieres Friday, June 20 for Paramount+ With Showtime subscribers, and airs that night at 9/8c on Showtime. Watch a new trailer: Hit the comments with your thoughts on the castings above! Best of TVLine Stars Who Almost Played Other TV Roles — on Grey's Anatomy, NCIS, Lost, Gilmore Girls, Friends and Other Shows TV Stars Almost Cast in Other Roles Fall TV Preview: Who's In? Who's Out? Your Guide to Every Casting Move!
Forbes
5 hours ago
- Forbes
‘The Phoenician Scheme' Reviews: Do Critics Buy Into Wes Anderson's Comedy?
Michael Cera, Benicio Del Toro and Mia Threapleton in "The Phoenician Scheme." Director Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme — starring Benicio Del Toro, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson and Bryan Cranston — is now in theaters. How are critics receiving the film? Rated PG-13, The Phoenician Scheme opened in limited release on May 31 before expanding to a wide release on Friday. Also starring Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend and Hope Davis, The Phoenician Scheme held its world premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in May. The logline for The Phoenician Scheme reads, "The story of a family and a family business." Featuring a screenplay by Anderson and Roman Coppola, the offbeat comedy follows the story of European businessman Zsa-zsa Korda (Del Toro) and his only daughter and sole heir, a nun named Sister Liesel (Threapleton), who are each being targeted by assassins and schemers. As of Friday, Rotten Tomatoes critics have collectively given The Phoenician Scheme a 78% 'fresh' rating based on 185 reviews. The RT Critics Consensus for the film reads, 'A caper made with all the intricacy of a Rube Goldberg machine, The Phoenician Scheme doesn't deviate from Wes Anderson's increasingly ornate style but delivers the formula with mannered delicacy.' Audiences on RT gave the film a 73% 'fresh' score on the critic aggregation site's Popcornmeter based on 100-plus verified user ratings. Kyle Smith of The Wall Street Journal is among the top critics on RT who gives The Phoenician Scheme a 'fresh' rating on RT, writing, 'Given that The Phoenician Scheme essentially concludes by saying, as some of the director's other movies did, 'Forgive your ridiculous dad for his failings,' its major attraction is the whimsy with which it is decorated, or suffused, or infested.' Also giving The Phoenician Scheme a 'fresh' take on RT is Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post, who writes, "At its fleeting best — in its meditation on the transactional and the transcendent — this one feels like it's reaching for something more than surface charm." In addition, Justin Chang of The New Yorker gives the film a 'fresh' rating on RT, albeit with some minor reservations, writing, 'The result is more digestible, though also less moving, than Anderson's recent Asteroid City, but it does have a stealth emotional weapon in [Mia] Threapleton's Liesl, who exudes the intelligence and self-possession of a young Anna Karina.' Coleman Spilde of Salon is among the top critics on RT who gives The Phoenician Scheme a 'rotten' rating, writing in his summary, 'The resulting product is just that: a product, with all of the matte pastel appeal of Anderson's oeuvre, yet little of its memorable charm.' Dana Stevens of Slate also gives The Phoenician Scheme a 'rotten' rating on RT, writing, 'For all its exquisite boxes-within-boxes compositions and cleverly designed sets, this whole movie unfolded for me as if behind a thick pane of emotion-proof glass.' Nicholas Barber of the BBC wasn't impressed by the film, either, writing in his 'rotten' take on RT, 'Some directors boast that they make the films that they want to see, and they don't care about pleasing anyone else. In the case of The Phoenician Scheme, it feels as if Anderson and his team were enjoying it more than audiences ever will.' The Phoenician Scheme is now playing in theaters in wide release.
