Nell Tiger Free on Paranormal Activities, Confessional Lyricism and the Highs and Lows of Being Honest
Words: Charlotte Amy Landrum | Photographer: Cal McIntyre | Makeup: Yolanda Dohr | Styling: Megan Howarth | Hair: Motoharu Iwaizumi | Video: Lewis Vorn
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2024 was unmistakably The Year of The Nun. Rihanna was photographed by Nadia Lee Cohen habited up on the cover of Interview, Catholicism bled into microtrends, and the word ‘Ciao’ was coyly spoken in an American accent and echoed around a rural Italian church as Sydney Sweeney uncovered horrors in Immaculate. But for me, and for those with good taste, The First Omen was the pinnacle of the trend.
It wasn’t just the gorgeous visuals, 1970s homage or perfectly ominous tone that made The First Omen stick with viewers. The performance given by Nell Tiger Free as protagonist Margaret was unmatched: a lesson on how to be a Final Girl in the modern day, with a balance of terror and vigour as the Sister is faced with a conspiracy to birth the Antichrist at the Roman Catholic orphanage she works at.
“When I read the script I was so happy. I hadn’t been attached yet and I read it kind of through the eyes of a fan. I needed to read it to make sure they’re not going to fuck around with The Omen,” Free tells me over video call. “After I read it I was hellbent. I had to be in this movie. I had to play this part. Sometimes you’re in a project where everyone involved just marries together straight away and you know you’re going to do something special. I thought [director] Arkasha Stevenson at the helm was going to be special. I would do anything for that woman.”
Having secured the role of a lifetime, Nell went to shoot the movie in Rome. And considering the hyperfixation the media had around the original 1976 movie being a cursed film – all a marketing ploy though, right? – I anticipated a few spooky stories from the set. What Free shares, however, exceeds my expectations of tales about doors slamming or footsteps in the night.
“My plane got struck by lightning on the way there and on the way back,” she reveals nonchalantly. “Ralph Ineson’s [Father Brennan in the film] daughter was coming out to shoot and she was attacked by a murder of crows. And when we were filming the scene with Ralph, where we find out the arc of the whole film, we had a break and I was fixating on the crucifix that he was wearing around his neck, and it snapped in half whilst I was staring at it. Crazy shit. And there was so much more.”
Dress: 1980s bellville sassoon | Shoes: 1990s Prada kittens | Accessories: Dyed victorian cotton ribbon 1950s lace gloves
Free’s casualness when reciting these horrors isn’t really a surprise. Her career is entwined with modern horror legends as well as the classics. She embodies the most unnerving nanny in TV history in M. Night Shyamalan’s Servant. A crow attack and telekinesis is just another day – but an affinity with the fictional, and sometimes real life, macabre is not all that Free has learnt from her movie work.
“When I read the script I was so happy. I hadn’t been attached yet and I read it kind of through the eyes of a fan. I needed to read it to make sure they’re not going to fuck around with The Omen,”
"It's such a gift to be able to work with a master of the genre,” Free reminisces on working with Night, the cult director who has claimed twist endings for his own and made 00s cinema that much better with films like The Village (2004) and Signs (2002). “He got me into a different sort of space with what I was capable of achieving as an actor. His notes are so specific and and he's always fucking right. He'll say something to you, and you're like, are you on glue? And then you do it, and you're like, ‘Nope, He's totally right.’”
Free had dreams of being an actor since age 11, and it seems that she has already, at age 25, achieved a level of work that would make some put their feet up for a few months, but that isn’t what Free is about. Parallel to her aspirations for acting was a love for music – inspired heavily by her parents CD collection consisting of classic rock staples like Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy.
Top: 1940s binder corset | Bottom: 1960s full slip worn as skirt | Accessories: Handmade bow out of 1920s silk 1930s peach chiffon shawl
His notes are so specific and and he's always fucking right. He'll say something to you, and you're like, are you on glue? And then you do it, and you're like, ‘Nope, He's totally right.’
Top: handmade organza puff sleeve top | Bottom: 1930s lace evening gown worn as skirt | Shoes: 1990s Prada | Accessories: 1980s pearl necklace 1950s lace gloves handmade bow out of 1920s silk
Her first two singles “Do I Just Keep Making Things Worse?” and “Love of my Life” that were released earlier this year are dream pop confessionals as Free shares vulnerable lyricism on love and self reflection. Her soft vocals tell us honest moments of heartbreak, with “Do I Just Keep Making Things Worse?” accompanied with a music video that features Free with pink hair and a raincoat that gradually dissolves as water pours over her. We’re left with a final image of the artist who hides behind nothing, leaving the dark studio and into daylight with smudged mascara and remnants of a disintegrated jacket.
“My music helps me organise my thoughts as to what's going on in my personal life,” she explains. “The songs are useful for me to go back to and be like, ‘Jesus Christ, thank God I'm not in the same head space that I was in on the day that I wrote that song.’”
“The songs are useful for me to go back to and be like, ‘Jesus Christ, thank God I'm not in the same head space that I was in on the day that I wrote that song.’”
Just like her music taste, Free’s ability to be publicly candid was heavily influenced by her parents. Growing up in an emotionally open household allowed Free to understand the importance of honesty from an early age. Although, things don’t become easy just because you’re emotionally in tune. “I think I'm kind of honest to a fault,” Free shares. “I have to learn to temper it sometimes, because sometimes it's not beneficial to show all the cards that you have.”
Although we have seen Free grow up on the screen, her upcoming EP is when we will really get to know her – not as an eerie nanny or a relatable Sister, but her own person. “With acting there's a sense of being a blank canvas so that you can become these characters for other people and not have yourself get in the way of them,” explains Free. “But with the music, it's just like, purely, ‘Hey, this is my soul. What do you reckon?’ So that's new for me. It's new to be myself.”
