The Monkey star has a personal connection to one of the best deaths in new movie

One of the best kills in The Monkey has been hyped up from the beginning, and it turns out, star Tatiana Maslany has a personal connection to someone in the scene. (Warning: spoilers ahead!)

Among many of the most shocking moments in the new Stephen King adaptation, there’s one scene everyone will likely remember from the trailer.

When Hal returns to his childhood home in hopes of finding the mean-spirited monkey toy, he’s escorted around by a realtor named Barbara. As she fiddles with one of the cupboards, the door finally opens and reveals a shotgun that falls from the wall and shoots her.

Hal is left standing in shock, covered in blood. This moment is one of cast member Tatiana Maslany’s favourite kills in the horror movie, but not for the reason you think.

Tatiana Maslany’s best friend played the realtor in The Monkey

When Dexerto asked what her favourite death was, Maslany said, “I love the sequence with the realtor in the house. Her name is Tess, and she is my oldest friend from when we were seven.

“So first off, it was so exciting to just see her be so funny in that role. And I think it’s such an iconic death because it’s the kind of thing you see in movies where you’re drawing out the inevitable.”

Black Bear

The scene itself stretches out endlessly, as the audience (and Theo James’ Hal) await the surely violent encounter that’s coming.

As Maslany explained, “Theo’s character is sort of waiting, everybody’s waiting for it to come from a different thing. And then when she has 900 keys to open this one lock. It’s just that classic horror movie slash comedy tension.”

But Maslany isn’t the only star behind The Monkey to have a personal connection to the on-screen world. She also explained that Osgood Perkins, director, writer, and star, was inspired by his own experiences and musings on death.

“Oz I think really respected and respects Stephen King’s writing and has his own take on it that is very reverent, but also irreverent,” she said. “There’s some echo there to the way that Oz writes too that felt simpatico or something.

“I like that. He took it and then jumped off with his own personal connection to the material. Like his own experiences of death and his own feelings about it, and his own contending with it as a kid and all of that.”

The Monkey is playing in theaters now. For more, check out our guide to Stephen King’s original short story. You can also see what other adaptations made our list of the best Stephen King movies of all time.