'The Hunt' Star Betty Gilpin Says Film's Meaning Has Been 'Wildly Lost In Translation'

A lot of assumptions have been made about “The Hunt.”

So much so, that the film’s star Betty Gilpin is saying the narrative has come to life. Gilpin spoke with Variety about the political and premature comments that have been made ahead of the thriller’s release.

“We’re living in the world we satirized, about information getting wildly lost in translation. That happened to this movie,” Gilpin says.“Yes, my eyebrows were at the top of my forehead, and I was laughing really hard reading the script. I thought this is exactly the movie that everybody should watch. It was frustrating to hear people speak on behalf of the movie who had never seen it.”

The 33-year-old actress plays the role of Crystal in the film. Her character wakes up among several “deplorables”, who are hogtied in a forest where they will be hunted by a group of elites. In the movie, the whole event of hunting humans for sport centers from an online conspiracy theory. Gilpin pointed out how people have prematurely deemed that her character, Crystal, is 100 percent a “deplorable" based on superficial things.

“I think it’s so indicative of what the movie talks about, the fact that if you look at someone’s zip code and dress code, you think you know where they stand politically,” she explained. “While Crystal may look and sound like someone at a certain kind of rally, my feeling is that she’s not at any rally. She’s exhausted by both sides and rolls her eyes at this.”

The word “deplorables,” which is used by a character in the film, has been notably tied to a comment made by Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. As a result, many have summed the film up as a battle between the Democratic and Republican parties. Trump even chimed in on the controversy surrounding the film’s release in 2019.

Despite opinions, Gilpin considers her character a breakthrough in her career and for women in Hollywood, who don’t often get roles such as this one.

“I feel very altered by this experience in a positive way,” "The Grudge” actress said.“Playing this part, it opened up chambers in me that I thought were closed forever. I thought I had a realistic sense of what I was going to be allowed to do as an actor. I never thought that I would get this opportunity.”

Damon Lindelof, co-writer and co-producer, described Crystal as, “Someone who says, ‘I don’t want to be in this movie.’”

“No matter what bucket as a viewer you find yourself in, let Crystal be your way into the movie,” Gilpin added. However, Lindelof corrected her usage of the word bucket.

“The basket is where we keep our deplorables, darling,” he said with a wink to Gilpin.

“The Hunt” hits theaters Friday.