Season 6, Episode 47: Interview with Dakota Gorman (Lena) from “Hellcat” (2025)

Imagine waking up severely wounded, locked inside the back of a moving camper trailer, with no memory of how you got there. Your only connection to the outside world is the disembodied voice of the driver coming through a crackling intercom—a man who claims he’s trying to save your life, even as his stories become increasingly unhinged. Today, I’m thrilled to be sitting down with the film's incredible and very talented lead, Dakota Gorman. Dakota plays Lena, a woman trapped in a moving Airstream who is forced into a deadly psychological chess match with her unseen driver.

What an absolute phenomenal interview! Sitting down with Dakota was an amazing experience and to hear what she had to say about her role and the movie. We spoke about the psychological aspect of misguiding the audience and provoking the thoughts of conspiracy theories, the festival runs, her experiencing the movie for the first time on the big screen, and how the stakes completely shifted by feeling relieved after the production of the sequences.

A massive thank you to Dakota Gorman for pulling back the curtain on such an intense shoot. It takes a very special kind of talent to hold an audience’s attention when you are confined to a single room for 90 minutes, and Dakota absolutely nailed the physical and emotional exhaustion of Lena’s nightmare. If you haven't experienced this incredible, white-knuckle ride yet, Hellcat is currently available on Shudder.