Canadian actress Magda Apanowicz is no stranger to the sci-fi/horror genre. Having made her debut in 2002’s post-apocalyptic series “Jeremiah”, Magda has gone on to have roles in such TV series as “Hollison”, “Continuum”, and “iZombie” as well as in films such as The Butterfly Effect and The Green Inferno.

For the release of the sci-fi/horror flick VOLITION, about a man afflicted with clairvoyance who sees his own murder, I had the chance to chat with Magda one-on-one where we discussed everything from her role as Angela, reuniting with Director Tony Dean Smith, and her love of sci-fi.

Thank you so much for speaking with me today, Magda. To start things off, can you tell us a little about your character and what drew you to the role? 

Magda Apanowicz: My role of Angela… she’s the rough damsel in distress, the antithesis of the damsel in distress, which was what attracted me. She had some attitude and she had her own backbone, she wasn’t just a love interest. I felt like she had a place that she was coming from. I worked with [Director] Tony Dean Smith when I was 18 on a short film in film school and so when the opportunity came to work with him again, I was like yeah, totally!

Speaking of Tony Dean Smith, how was it reuniting with him again? 

Magda Apanowicz: I remember when I was 18 and I had worked with him and I just thought he had such wonderful energy. I never forgot that. Him and [Writer] Ryan W. Smith and [Actor] Adrian Glynn McMorran and all the cast – it’s been really a kind of inclusive thing. Everyone talks about their feelings with Ryan and Tony. They let me kind of have my own ideas and they have their own ideas but they don’t try to… it’s interesting, they don’t try to impose, necessarily, exactly what they think. They let me have my mystery and then they have their mystery. We kind of allude to where [my character] comes from and we kind of work from there. I had my backstory that I bring to the screen and then Tony had his backstory that he brings with the camera and it’s like we both have a secret. Yeah, it’s interesting.

In the movie, Angela and James, played by Adrian Glynn McMorran, form a quick bond amongst all the chaos that’s ensuing. How was your experience working so closely with him? 

Magda Apanowicz: Adrian is the biggest diva in the world and he would never come to set, it would always be a stand-in (laughs). No, that’s true, he’s like the best guy ever! He’s so fun to work with! The moment he and I met it was just this back and forth sarcasm, it was so fun. Everyone had thought we had known each other for a long time and that we had met before or worked together. I was like, “No, we just met!”. We knew we had to have a bond pretty quickly and so we were just really open to each other and spent time hanging out and talking. It was such an unbelievable joy working with Adrian – he’s so talented. Honestly, I still watch the movie and I’m really stoked that I got to work with him cause he is a great artist.

The film deals with subject matter such as time travelling and clairvoyance. What are your thoughts on that? 

Magda Apanowicz: My favorite movie growing up was Back to the Future (laughs). I love sci-fi movies. I love all that kind of stuff because movies are about having these emotions that sometimes people don’t want to experience so you do it for them. With sci-fi, I feel like you could amplify the human emotion in circumstances that are a little out of reality but really they’re metaphors for situations we go through every day. You just have to find the parallel of what the actual emotion you are feeling and you can find it in your everyday life.

Speaking of sci-fi, you’ve done a lot of work in both that and the horror genre, having had such roles in films and TV such as The Green Inferno, “Continuum”, and more. Why do you think that is?

Magda Apanowicz: Sci-Fi is very Vancouver based, a lot of shows that are sci-fi shoot here. I’m actually really stoked that I have a healthy resume of sci-fi because I think it taught me a lot of stuff. I teach students acting and they don’t understand how they’re supposed to relate to a zombie apocalypse or anything like that. You gotta strip all that away and find the human connection there: what is the story? What is relatable?

For you on a personal level, what do you think the biggest takeaway of the film is? What do you hope viewers experience?

Magda Apanowicz: I hope their takeaway is they had a fun time and they are going to sit with [the film] for a second and maybe watch [it] again (laughs). I love finishing movies where at the end I don’t want to get up out of my seat. I don’t want it to be over but I’m glad I just went through that.

VOLITION is now available on Apple TV, Prime Video and other digital platforms. For more on the film, check out our review here.

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Shannon McGrew

Founder/Co-Owner at Nightmarish Conjurings

Shannon is the Founder of Nightmarish Conjurings and a lover of all things horror and haunt related. When she's not obsessively collecting all things "Trick 'R Treat" related, or trying to convince everyone that "Hereditary" is one of the greatest horror films ever made, you can find her designing interiors for commercial restaurants. An avid haunt fan, Shannon spends the entire year visiting haunts and immersive experiences throughout the Southern California area and hopes to one day design her own haunted attraction.

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