Michaela McManus on Her Redux Redux Family Affair
McManus talks about the good (and bad) parts about working with her brothers and what it was like to play such a different role.
Michaela McManus has been a working actor in Hollywood for the better part of two decades and has an incredible, stellar career in television and film. She first gained prominence after appearing on One Tree Hill, then joined Law & Order: SVU in its 10th season. Since then, she’s appeared in notable series including The Vampire Diaries, SEAL Team, You, Ted, and The Orville. However, when she stepped into the number one spot on the call sheet spot for this Redux Redux, it was alongside her equally talented brothers, Kevin McManus and Matthew McManus, who serve as writers, directors, and producers.
In Redux Redux, Michaela plays Irene Kelly, a woman who travels through parallel universes over and over again, killing her daughter’s murderer as she becomes consumed by vengeance and her hope to find some of the humanity she’s lost along the way. An impressive sci-fi thriller, it also enlists some talented names from the indie space, including filmmaker and actor Jim Cummings, actress Taylor Misiak, American Vandal creator and actor Dan Perrault, and newcomer Stella Marcus.
This film is a true testament to what can happen when you enlist your friends and family to make your dreams come true. We recently sat down with McManus, who explained why this was the perfect project to create with her creative family, why making films together is something she has essentially been doing her entire life, and how she approached the high-stakes action demands of Redux Redux. Read on for our chat with Michaela McManus, and be sure to check out Redux Redux, which is now available to watch at home.
Jacqueline Coley for Rotten Tomatoes: So your brothers are on this journey with you as co-writers, directors, and producers. Talk about how you and the rest of your family got this done.
McManus: I’ve been rounding up my family for several years. My brothers and I grew up in Rhode Island with two sisters. Our mom is an actress who’s done theater throughout Rhode Island since we were kids. She’d go off to rehearsal at night, and when the show would go on, we’d all get dressed up and show up for opening night. We’d be in the front row, cheering her on. And she’d take us backstage into her dressing room after. I think that set the path for us in pursuing this career. We would make movies when we were kids. So it’s really been a long time coming to do something on this scale. But this one was definitely exciting because Kevin and Matt, my brothers, have been writing this one for almost a decade. They’ve had this one in their pocket. Getting to see it through and make this movie was just a huge win.
RT: What was that lightning moment that made you say, “Yeah, I can get this done?“
McManus: When they signed on as producers, they gained more choice, especially with casting. Before I was attached, they considered bigger names, because indie movies need star power. But once my brothers had producer roles, they made the call and put me in the starring role. That was a huge leap of faith. I appreciated it on many levels. It’s hard to get a movie made, but they did it by taking control and making the movie they wanted.
RT: This is a different role for you. How did you prepare for it, and are there any new and exciting things that you got to do?
McManus: It’s definitely a different kind of role than people are used to seeing me in. My brothers brought this to me in April of 2024, and we were shooting it at the start of June 2024, so I had about a month to prepare. I read the script a gazillion times and created my little Bible, which I make whenever I’m working on a project. I go scene by scene and create this little workbook that I can go back to while I’m shooting, because everything’s gonna be out of order, and it’s gonna be a really intense shoot.
It was an 18-day shoot for this movie, and it was very ambitious. After reading the script for the first time, I was like, “Okay, this is like Linda Hamilton vibes. Do I need to get into the gym and start pounding pavement and really building up muscle?” And my brothers were like, “No, we want you just as you are.” Then I was talking about the wardrobe. They were like, “You know those Reeboks you wear all the time to your kids’ soccer games? That’s what we’re gonna put you in.” My brothers wanted her to feel like a true mom who’s figured it all out on her own, not so much like an assassin, but more like a mother scorned.
RT: You have to keep battling the same person over and over again. How did you approach the episodic nature of the revenge plot?
McManus: It is really interesting because this movie is about a woman who’s seeking revenge. Her daughter is kidnapped and murdered, and when she gets her hands on that multiverse machine, she’s trying to find a world where her daughter lives. When she can’t find that, she sets her sights on the killer, and she goes after him. At the beginning of the movie, you really kind of start to see the routine of it all — from one kill to another, from one universe to another. There’s that repetitive nature, but all the kills are sort of different. There are some where she’s kind of numb to it, and then there are some where the grief just gets ratcheted right up. I think that tells a story about grief in general and how grief is not linear. You may have lost someone 20 years ago, and a certain image or a certain sound can just kick up that memory in such a way that it just feels so close to you.
RT: What struck you most when you first read the script?
McManus: When I first read the script, I knew it was just going to ask so much of me, and it was going to be a really intense project. To add on to that, these are my brothers, whom I always wanna show up for every project in the best way that I can. But there’s this added pressure of “I cannot let my brothers down.” I know how much they’ve invested in this. I know how intense and hard it is to get a movie made these days. That was sort of my first reaction — not wanting to let them down and just knowing I needed to show up every day, lock in, and do whatever it took to give them everything that I had.
RT: One of my favorite additions was Jim Cummings; he is kind of an indie ambassador. What was it like working with him?
McManus: I’ve known Jim for a long time because he went to Emerson with my brothers. The last time I’d worked with him was when we were in college, and we did this little short film together called Blackout Drunk. I played chasing down Jim Cummings in this little short film we did forever ago. I’ve obviously seen him a ton over the years, but I hadn’t worked with him at this level before. He was great. Those are some really intimate scenes where you see a different side of my character, and he was a really great scene partner. We shot all of those scenes on the last day of filming.
RT: And you work with veterans and newcomers. Tell us about Stella, who plays Mia.
McManus: I think I knew this was Stella’s first film. I felt a little protective of Stella. I kind of easily slide into that mom mode with three kids of my own. A lot of that’s my brothers and their casting and being able to see the chemistry. We did a Zoom audition with Stella. There were five actresses it was narrowed down to that did chemistry reads. She was the only one on Zoom. She was in New York at the time, and my brothers were like, “It’s Stella, it’s Stella all the way.”
She showed up on set, and it was just easy, which is a gift for any actor when you’re working with a scene partner and you’re like, “Oh, it’s like I’ve known you forever.” We just click, and you don’t have to do all the work of getting to know you. We shot a lot in Pomona, so it’d be these long drives, and Stella didn’t drive, so her mom would take her to my house, and I would drive together, so that we bonded during that time. I do think that relationship is really important, and if that doesn’t work, the movie kind of falls apart.
RT: I am a fan of your work on TV, especially the procedurals. Which character from there would you want to live as?
McManus: I actually did a pilot a few years ago that I’m so bummed the pilot didn’t go. It was for ABC. It was called Criminal Nature, and it was about a detective who investigates murders that happen within national parks. So it combined my favorite things of nature, but I was playing this really tough character. It was such a cool, cool show that never got to see the light of day, sadly. I would happily jump back into her shoes and actually get to share it this time.
RT: What are the best and worst parts of working with your brothers?
McManus: The best part is that the trust is just there instantaneously. We share a language, we know how each other works. They could come over to me and just say one word, and I’d be like, “Got it.” That shorthand felt amazing. The downside of working with your brothers is that they will ask you to do things they would not ask other actors. We had a great stunt performer, but it’s not really working. So can we get you face down on this splintery dock, and just pull you out of a harness? I’m like, they know I’m gonna say yes, of course I’m gonna say yes, because I want them to get the best movie that they can make. But that’s kind of the downside.
RT: You really got to stretch for this one. What was your favorite thing you got to do in this role?
McManus: I really loved getting my hands dirty with this one. She has no focus whatsoever on her image. It’s all coming from this deep desire to get revenge and find relief through it. I got to get rough and do the stunt work and the firearms and just kind of play in a way that I don’t usually get to play.
Redux Redux is available now on VOD.
