What Scares 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark's' Katie Holmes and Guillermo del Toro?

It's kind of expected to get a question like "What scares you?" when a horror film premieres. The difference this time the question remains valid when asking Guillermo del Toro, director of many horror-infused feature films, and Katie Holmes who's starring in one of del Toro's highly anticipated horror film Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.

It was said that "Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise were so afraid after screening her new film Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, they had to watch another movie before going to bed."

Holmes jokes on the film they watched after the screening of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark: "I'm not sure what he watched. Maybe The Sound of Music?" Holmes goes on to say that she likes "classic horror films. But I'm not a big slasher, gory type of horror film fan."

Speaking about her role as a "protective mother", Katie Holmes shares a personal connection with her role in the film:

"I think being a mom myself, when I read my character and I saw the journey she takes and how we see her make sacrifices for her child -- I think I didn't understand that until I became a mom," she says. "Just how much you love this person. You will do anything for that person, and you have strength you didn't know that you had, which is what I like about my character. So I think that being a mom definitely gave me much more insight to this character."

Del Toro speaks of his films and female characters as being proud:

"The movies I've tried to produce, write and direct, I'm very proud to say as far as I can remember I've never written a female victim, a scream queen or a part like that.  I always try to create very strong female characters, in many cases stronger than the guys. Certainly in Don't Be Afraid."

Before I forget to get to the article's title question, here's what scares Katie Holmes and Guillermo del Toro:

Holmes says that "People who like to take the wind out of your sail because there's a lot more they're doing. If they're doing that to your face then they're doing more. So that scares me more than, like, a monster."

Del Toro says what scares him the most are "Politicians -- a lot. They are so deranged, especially these days. And human pettiness. Oh my God that's scary. It's so horrifying. I've seen a UFO, and I've heard ghosts twice -- once in New Zealand and once in Mexico, but those are not the scariest things. The scary things are real things like every day."

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is directed by Troy Nixey and is presented by Guillermo del Toro who co-wrote the screenplay along with Matthew Robbins based on the 1973 teleplay by Nigel McKeand. The film stars Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison. The film opens in theaters August 26, 2011.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter