Sissy Spacek says getting doused in fake pig’s blood was ‘terrible’

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — For many fans, the scene in which blood gets dumped over Sissy Spacek in “Carrie” is legendary. For the star, it’s a reminder of how “terrible” it was to film.

Ahead of next year’s 50th anniversary of the 1976 film, which is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, Spacek talked to “Entertainment Tonight” about the now famous scene. She also expressed shock that the film was almost a half a century old.

Spacek starred as the bullied high schooler who has telekinetic abilities which become unleashed over the course of the film, culminating in a fit of murderous rage over some very aggressive bullying: being doused with pig’s blood.

One thing stuck out to her: “How sticky movie blood is,” Spacek said. “It was terrible, terrible, terrible.”

She enjoyed, however, working with her costars, including Nancy Allen, Betty Buckley, Amy Irving and John Travolta, as well as director Brian De Palma.

“It’s so wonderful to get to work with people who are really into what they are doing,” Spacek said.

The actress is currently appearing in the well-reviewed new film “Die My Love,” directed by Lynne Ramsay, and starring Jennifer Lawrence. Spacek has some thoughts as to why the horror film still resonates to this day: “That time, middle school to high school, you’re going through so many changes and we all have, no matter what, we’ve got Carrie inside of us.”

“We’ve got a wounded teenager. It’s a hard, hard time,” she said. “Growing up is hard. And it’s kind of heartbreaking. It really hit a nerve, that film.”

Amazon MGM Studios is preparing a “Carrie” series made from the material, to be made by Mike Flanagan, who created “Midnight Mass” for Netflix and directed “Doctor Sleep,” essentially a sequel to “The Shining.” Spacek said she’ll be watching.

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