Clarke Wolfe is a multi-talented actor, director, and pop culture aficionado, hailing from Atlanta, Georgia. Known for her versatility on and off the screen, she was most recently seen in Malum, a reimagining of Anthony DiBlasi’s horror cult classic The Last Shift. Clarke's next notable role is in the anthology film Tenants, where her performance earned her the Best Supporting Actress award at the Hollywood Blood Horror Film Festival. She is also featured in the upcoming documentary Trailblazer: The Debra Hill Story, which chronicles the life and legacy of the trailblazing film producer Debra Hill.
Expanding her creative reach, Clarke made her directorial debut with A Shining Example, a short film that premiered at the prestigious Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. The darkly comedic project garnered critical praise and won the Best Dark Comedy award at the 2024 Women’s Comedy Festival in Atlanta, showcasing Clarke's sharp wit and directorial talent.
As a prominent voice in the pop culture space, Clarke has worked as a correspondent and contributor for high-profile brands such as AMC Networks, DC Comics, Nerdist, FANDOM, and IMDb, establishing herself as one of the leading female figures in the industry. When she’s not on set or behind the camera, Clarke enjoys indulging in her passions for golf, movie trivia, and karaoke.
Jessie Hobson: How did you get involved with the project?
Clarke Wolfe: I am friends in real life with the director and writers of Need Anything, Buz Wallick and Mary O’Neil. I have worked with both Buz and Mary as an actor in the past and when the time came for them to reimagine their award-winning short film Need Anything for a segment in Tenants, they had both myself and my co-star Fayna Sanchez in mind for the roles of Belinda and Gracie. It was a very easy sell for both of us! Fayna and I had been wanting to work together for a long time and I was really excited about the dark comedy and the physicality required to play Belinda.
JH: In the scene with the plastic bag, how did you pull something like that off? Did you have to cut and regroup to make it look as realistic as possible?
CW: The plastic is actually a shower curtain that my character Belinda lays down before she, in theory, is going to dismember Gracie's dead body. Morbid, I know! So with the suffocation, it was not a bag tightly pulled over Fayna’s head but a sheet of plastic pulled over her face.
That said, as with most stage combat Fayna was in complete control. It's my job to sell the struggle but really she was the one applying the pressure and dictating how severe the pulling was. If she ever felt like she was uncomfortable or unsafe we would stop immediately or use a word so that we knew that it was time to stop all of the action. Fortunately, that never happened.
JH: With all the blood in certain scenes, did you have to shoot multiple takes? What’s the process like when dealing with so much fake blood and resetting between takes?
CW: Tenants is a true independent horror film so our budget was limited. As a result Buz was very smart in the way that he scheduled the Need Anything shoot. The first day was essentially everything leading up to the fight, including the oner where Belinda frantically looks for Gracie inside the apartment. Then on day two it was the fight, the blood, the special effects, and so on.
This really helped us to work more efficiently and preserve our hair and makeup and our wardrobe so that we didn't have to go back and forth between no blood and blood: once we were in the blood we were in the blood.
It's a really smart way to shoot the scene, however that did mean that Fayna and I were wearing fake blood for 12 hours which is very uncomfortable, especially when you have to move or fight. In between takes Fayna and I were pretty quiet and in almost a meditative state in order to preserve our energy (and our sanity!)
JH: What was your reaction when you first read the script, especially knowing it was for a horror project?
CW: I was thrilled, I love working in the horror space and I desperately want to do more comedy as an actor. In my mind Need Anything is a perfect blend of comedy and horror and I love using my physicality as an actor so this project was very exciting.
I also really love playing unhinged women or women who are trying to keep it together and then something breaks, the mask slips and their true feelings come out. Belinda is truly one of my favorite parts I’ve ever played.
JH: Are you a horror fan, or did it just happen that your career led you to this genre?
CW: Am I a horror fan?! I'm absolutely a horror fan, I'm a huge horror fan. I created and hosted a show called Collider Nightmares a few years back which was a weekly round table discussion about genre news. And for two years I hosted a show on AMC's Twitch Channel called Wolfe’s Call where we did a deep dive into a horror movie every week.
Genre storytelling has always been my passion, not only as an actor but as a writer and now a new director. I am just now wrapping up a festival tour with my short film A Shining Example which essentially reimagines The Shining with a mom.
I absolutely hope to continue to find bigger opportunities in the horror world not only as an actor but as a writer and director as well.
JH: How was your experience working with your castmates?
CW: Fayna Sanchez who plays Gracie is one of my closest friends in real life and putting us together in these roles was intentional on the part of Buz and Mary. I think they wrote to us as people and friends and so, in some ways we are playing exaggerated versions of ourselves. But I also think that they knew that in order for the physicality to really work, they would have preferred to cast actors who are physically comfortable with one another.
Being friends in real life we travel together quite often so we are usually sharing rooms or beds or whatever when we go on group trips, so Fayna and I have a lot of experience in each other's space, which I think made the fight that much more fun. I hope that closeness shows up on screen.
JH: While filming, were you aware that this was an anthology project or were you led to believe it was a short film?
CW: No, we always knew that we were a segment in a bigger anthology. In fact, my character Belinda shows up in other places throughout the film: she is in a YouTube video in the first segment Acting Rash and she pops out in the hallway right before the segment Hoarder.
JH: What do you hope viewers take away from your segment in the film?
CW: One of my favorite things thematically about Tenants, and I spoke to Mary O'Neil about this a lot, is the idea that sometimes you reach a point in your adult life where you look around and realize “oh, I didn't think my life was going to go this way.” I think it's a realization that most adults can relate to and I think that throughline is present throughout every single segment in the film.
I hope that people take away, not only from Need Anything but from the movie as a whole, that just because we're exploring these ideas with horror or comedy or outrageous special effects, there is something deeper going on here. In a lot of ways I think horror is the most authentic and human genre and Tenants is a great example of that.
JH: Your delivery seemed so natural—was there any improvisation, or did you stick strictly to the script?
CW: Then I did my job! No, there really wasn't a ton of improvisation, almost all of the words that we said were on the page. I think there was some light improvisation during the oner where Belinda frantically searches the apartment for Gracie but aside from a few words here or there, we stuck to the script.
JH: How did the choreography work for your fight scenes? Could you talk us through how those sequences were filmed?
CW: Buz was really smart as both a director and a producer to schedule a private rehearsal with Fayna and I well in advance of our shoot day so we could make sure to save time when we were on the set and we could feel safe with all of the physicality.
And, as I mentioned earlier, the first day was essentially everything leading up to the fight and the second day was all of the special effects. We shot that more or less chronologically so that the gore and the applications could build as opposed to having to clean up and reset. Frankly, we didn’t have those resources anyway but I don’t think we needed them! I think Buz and Mary were really happy with the way the segment came out and didn’t feel like they had to sacrifice much.
JH: Anything else you'd like to mention?
CW: I hope that people enjoy Tenants because I know how hard all of the directors and writers worked to make this film a reality. This is a true indie horror movie coming out during a time when the entertainment industry as a whole is going through a major shift right now. The fact that Buz, Mary, and Sean Mesler were able to secure financing and make something look as good as it did with the limited resources that they had is so impressive, especially considering the state of the industry now. I'm really proud of our work and I am really proud of all of the filmmakers behind Tenants.
As for what's next for me, my short film A Shining Example is wrapping up its festival run and I am hopeful that it will be available to stream in 2025 alongside Stanley Kubrick's The Shining which will be celebrating its 45th anniversary.
And for my fellow horror fans out there, I will be making an announcement soon about my next project. What I can tell you now is that I am teaming up with my dear friend Samm Levine (Freaks & Geeks, Inglourious Basterds) for a really fun slasher project. I will be directing, he will be starring and we will be co-producing together. We'll be making an announcement in late November and I'm very excited! We're going to need your help to get it off the ground so stay tuned and please follow me on Instagram and X @clarkewolfe and @clarkewolfetiktok on TikTok.
In an industry that thrives on innovation and passion, Clarke Wolfe continues to carve out her own unique path. Whether she’s captivating audiences on screen, breaking new ground behind the camera, or championing the intersection of pop culture and film, Clarke embodies the spirit of creativity and determination. Her evolving career is a testament to her talent, hard work, and deep love for storytelling. As she continues to take on new challenges and projects, there’s no doubt that Clarke Wolfe’s star will only shine brighter in the years to come, inspiring fans and fellow creators alike.