ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Sleepwalker star Beverly D’Angelo about her new horror movie Sleepwalker. D’Angelo spoke about her chemistry with co-star Hayden Panettiere, living in a haunted house, and her thoughts on her on-screen Vacation husband, Chevy Chase. Sleepwalker is out today in theaters and On Demand.
“Haunted by terrifying visions, Sarah’s sleepwalking episodes begin to intensify, accelerating her descent into darkness,” reads the official synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Your character in Sleepwalker is trying to help her grieving daughter. You’re talking about spiritual alignment and giving all kinds of advice to her. What aspects of Gloria did you really want to explore in this role?
Beverly D’Angelo: I found the script very compelling because it’s a psychological thriller that explores dreams and the subconscious. So, the idea of what’s real really appealed to me. What’s that thing they say about the truth? There’s your truth, my truth, and then there’s what is, and this film is exploring that blurred line that is incomprehensible.
The thing about my character was I saw that there was an arc. That she starts out saying to her daughter, “It’s all in your head,” but ends up saying, “He’s gonna haunt you no matter what.” So, the mother accesses a kind of new-age thinking to solve the mystery of it, but does come around to there’s something bigger than all of us here.
How was it working with Hayden to develop that mother-daughter bond?
Oh my God, Tyler, I gotta tell you this, I was renovating a house in 1998, and the guy who was the contractor said, “My daughter’s an actress. I’d love for her to meet you.” And I said, “Great.” So we brought her over, and I just thought she was a bright ray of sunshine.
But, you know: child actor. You know what I mean? Every parent thinks their kid’s great, and I just said what I always say, “You can’t be a stage parent. If a kid wants to do something, if they really wanna do it, they’ll weather the storm because the industry will knock it out of you.” But that was 1998. She was 10 years old, and then in 2025, we’re sitting down together in Providence doing the read-through.
Our chemistry was instantaneous, locked in from the minute we got together, we were totally devoted to this project. We’d go to the set and shoot, then come back to the hotel and run lines, and pick everything apart, go through the script with a fine-tooth comb to really do what we know how to do as actors, to make the roles complete and to make, and she just brought so much emotion to her role. I think that’s what carries the film. I’m doing press because I want people to see her performance.
There’s a lot of talk about hauntings and ghosts in Sleepwalker as well. Are you open to the supernatural, or how do you feel about that?
Do you know that I live in a famously haunted house?
I did not know that.
I live in a famously haunted house. I live in a house, I’m in my living room right now, but I live in a house that was kind of like the headquarters of that late sixties singer songwriter movement because it was Mama Cass Elliot’s house. It had a really interesting provenance. It was built for Natalie Wood, then Cass Elliot lived here, then Ringo Starr lived here, and I bought it from Danny Aykroyd, who’s really into paranormal stuff. He was the one who said, “This house is haunted by Cass Elliot’s ghost.” So, when I moved in, I always looked for those things. My daughter was convinced that there were ghosts here. I raised my kids here. But there are [haunted tour] buses that come by.
Well, Aykroyd, if anybody, would know. So I’ll take his word for it for sure.
I’ve always found it interesting how varied your love of the arts is. You were an illustrator at Hanna Barbera, you sang with the Hawks, and had an album deal. You’re a great actress. I saw you mention that there weren’t really hybrids of actors and recording artists back in the day. So, how hard was that decision to really commit to acting and kind of leave singing on the wayside there?
Beverly D’Angelo: Well, you know what, I’m not a careerist, so I never made active decisions in my creative life. I’ve always looked, and I continue. I have four films coming out this year. This is the first one. But, you know, I always look at what’s in front of me and kind of balance the priorities of family, personal, health, career. Sometimes, one’s at the top, one’s in the middle, one’s at the bottom. But my decisions about the work that I’ve done have always been based on what’s available and how does that fit into my whole life. So, as far as discarding singing, I wouldn’t say I never did. I actually just did a charity at Rufus Wainwright’s Christmas show for 3000 people here in town, and I did the Grand Ole Opry last year.
But as far as singing as a career, it has more to do with what there was for me, and so I did record an album, but I didn’t like it. I didn’t wanna release it. I’m such a dope. It’s still better than anything… Well, anyway. But you know, it wasn’t a time to do like… You know, I sang in movies. I kind of sang my way into films really with those, the film of Hair and Coal Miner’s Daughter, and I sang on soundtracks too.
But at that time, I’m talking like 1983, I think. It wasn’t the time for… nobody could kind of get a singer-actress. ’cause Like, if you’re an actress, you don’t have a set persona. If you’re a singer, you have a set persona. Now they would call it branding, you know what I mean? But it was more just like… and also I was living in Europe, so I wasn’t really involved with Hollywood either. I was living in Europe when Vacation came out.
I love the Vacation movies. Chevy Chase has been all over the news lately with his documentary coming out. You obviously have such a great connection with him. What would you say makes him truly special as a performer? Because your two just played off each other so well, and the chemistry was unreal.
The chemistry was there from the first minute. When I stand beside Chevy, he’s Clark Griswold, and I’m Ellen Griswold. There’s just something [special], it doesn’t happen with any other actors. But I’ll tell you this, as far as I’ve done five films, three commercials, a pilot, and numerous autograph conventions with Chevy. I think arguably, I’ve worked with him more than anybody. I know that as an actor. I’ve worked with him more than any other actor. I know that as an actor, he has worked with me more than any other actor. But I still can’t tell you why he says the things he says and does the things he does, but I love him.
Thanks to Bevery D’Angelo for taking the time to speak about Sleepwalker.
