Halsey has been making the transition from musician to movie star in recent years — including with a breakout role in 2024’s MaXXXine — but the first major project she shot is just now making its way to theaters.
Americana — a modern western from writer-director Tony Tost which follows several people as their lives violently intertwine while fighting over an expensive Native American ghost shirt— was shot in 2022, premiered at SXSW in 2023 and is finally heading to this big screen this month.
“I’d been waiting a really long time, I’d been really cautiously picky about what I was going to do for my first project for getting into this world, into this space,” Halsey told The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s Los Angeles premiere on Sunday. “Tony reached out and he was so personable and so talented and I just really connected with the script and the character. Little did I know we were going to be making it during COVID, which was a crazy experience. And from the moment I read the script until we started shooting, I got pregnant, had a whole pregnancy, gave birth to my son, had my son on set with me, and without giving anything away, it’s really serendipitous to [her character] Mandy’s arc in the film.”
The film also stars Sydney Sweeney — who walked the carpet in her first public appearance following her American Eagle controversy — Paul Walter Hauser, Simon Rex, Eric Dane and Zahn McClarnon. It marks a reunion for Halsey and Sweeney, after the Euphoria star appeared in Halsey’s 2019 music video for her song “Graveyard.”
“We were actually hanging out a bunch during COVID, so when I got the call she was doing the movie we had like just gone hiking a few days before, so it was like, ‘Oh cool, I’ll see you there,’” Halsey recalled. “It was just really great to have someone to learn from, to ask questions to — the stupid questions you don’t think of. It was my first time on a movie set in a real way; just being like ‘Who do I look at? Who do I listen to? What’s the cool code words I don’t know, the actor lingo?’ So having someone to ask the stupid questions to was great.”
Next up, Halsey is making another pivot and developing series Bloodlust for Amazon, serving as creator, writer and EP. The dark comedy series has also enlisted MaXXXine filmmaker Ti West to direct and executive produce.
“I started the pilot a few years ago and Amazon wanted it and they took it and now we’re getting it on the road. There’s not so much that I can say but it’s really cool to be a part of a project that I don’t face. It’s quite relieving,” Halsey explained, confirming that she will not appear on screen in the show. “Just behind the scenes, just the puppet master,” she noted, celebrating, “I don’t have to do my makeup.”
Americana hits theaters Aug. 15.
