EXCLUSIVE: Kiana Madeira teases return to Fear Street

While the subject matter of a film like Perfect Addiction wouldn’t suggest warmth, the main cast of the film certainly exudes it. ClutchPoints was lucky enough to speak with stars Kiana Madeira and Matthew Noszka this past week and both were so insightful and giving with their time. In the case of Madeira — who gained fame leading the Fear Street films and Trinkets for Netflix — she made the conversation feel like it was between two friends and not an actor and journalist who met five seconds before the interview began. 

In Perfect Addiction, she plays Sienna — a woman angry and seeking revenge after her ex-boyfriend Jax (played by Noszka) begins seeing her sister (breaking the ultimate bro code). In turn, Sienna turns to Kayden (Ross Butler), a bit of a drifter, and begins training him to beat Jax in an MMA fight.

ClutchPoints spoke with Madeira over Zoom about her latest role and the intense training required, but the conversation also took some other turns such as quickly touching on the Fear Street films and the rise in popularity she endured upon its release on Netflix in 2021. 

ClutchPoints: I wanted to start by asking you about the sort of physicality of this role in Perfect Addiction — is this the most physical role that you've had in your career thus far?

Kiana Madeira: Definitely, yeah. I've done some of my own stunts on other things like Fear Street, like a little bit of fighting, kind of scrappy energy there, but this was definitely the most physical role — doing the fight training was the most physical for sure. 

CP: So did you actually have to go through like fight training in preparation for the role? 

KM: Yes. I was training eight weeks before traveling to film in Poland and then when I got to Poland it was two weeks of like six hours a day of fight training before we started filming.

CP: I don't know how much of a fan of mixed martial arts and all that stuff you were beforehand, but once you started doing that training, was there anything that you sort of appreciated more? 

KM: Yeah, honestly, I wasn't a huge fan before [filming Perfect Addiction]. It was really hard for me to watch like UFC, I didn't like to see people getting hurt and it felt a little chaotic to me. And then when I started training, I learned the actual art of it and kind of understood the mindset too, and it really is a craft. So I definitely gained more of an appreciation for it.

CP: I know your character, Sienna, has a lot of pent-up anger and aggression, and especially in training scenes, you kind of see that. For you, as an actor, was it easy just to kind of just express it, or did you have to channel something extra in those kinds of scenes?

KM: I think I had to channel something extra. I, as Kiana, tend to not really get angry — when I have intense emotions, I think it leans more towards sadness, if anything — so to play a character who was really mad and like really wanted revenge is quite unlike myself. I think I just had to really step into her circumstances and actually really consider what it was that she was dealing with. And I don't think she was overreacting, I think what she was going through was pretty bad and pretty hard to deal with. So it wasn't too much of a stretch to step into that, but that anger doesn't come very naturally to me. 

CP: That's good to know!

KM: [laughs]

CP: But I don't know how many times you've seen the movie, but there are a couple of nice needle drops in the film — there’s one I really like — but do you have a favorite one? 

KM: There was one, I think [it was] after an argument with Kayden and Sienna and it cuts to the alarm [clock] going off and he's laying on his bed and I don't know what song it was, but it says it's the lyrics or something like “ice girl,”  I don't know. I wish I knew the song's name [laughs]. But what's yours? You probably have one [smiles]. 

CP: I loved the usage of ”ICU” by Phoebe Bridgers. I'm a fan of her music, so hearing that in the movie was interesting.

KM: What part was that? 

CP: So that was during more of an intimate scene with you and Ross Butler's character.

KM Oh, that scene! I like that song a lot. Oh yeah, I like that song a lot.

CP: Speaking of Ross, there are obviously different contexts with both these characters, but can you compare Ross and Matthew [Noszka] as scene partners? You have a lot of intense scenes with both, so can you compare their two styles or just what it was like working with them?

KM: Hmm… They're both great humans and great actors and very different to work with for sure. That's a great question. I mean, their characters are very different and they have very different energies.

I think [when]  working with Matthew, it was a lot to do with like a physical chemistry that we had really off the top, and thankfully [we did] because that doesn't happen all the time. But I think a lot of our scenes took place in the flashbacks where our relationship was at its best and at [its] height, so just relying on that physical chemistry and playfulness was our way of working together. 

Whereas with working with Ross, Kayden is a little bit more reserved and not so physically embracing, so it was interesting working with the two of them, but I think for me and Ross, it had a lot to do with slowly building that physical connection — just like mirroring our characters’ trajectory.

I think my first scene with Matthew was a physically intimate scene, whereas one of my last scenes with Ross was a physically intimate scene, so we had time to kind of build that. And with Matthew, we kind of just had to jump right into it. But both of them are so great — they made me feel really safe and they're super professional and great guys to work with. 

CP: And there is that scene that's really funny in the film with you and Ross where you guys are playfully painting and end up painting on each other — was that something you had one chance to do, or did you guys have multiple takes? I mean, I know you could just get a new change of clothes [laughs].

KM: We did different variations. So there were a lot of takes that we did where he would just be about to put the paint on me and then they would say, “cut,” so we kind of did it in segments [smiles]. 

CP: Going back to Ross and Matthew, I know this is almost like breaking the illusion for people who watch the film, almost like how in professional wrestling, you see the characters on-screen and then it’s hard to envision them hanging out off-camera, but did the three of you ever hang out when cameras weren’t rolling? 

KM: Yeah, honestly, we hung out all the time. We were filming in Poland and we were all away from home and kind of only had each other as our family while we were filming. So we were together all the time, [on] weekends, [and] a lot of times in the evenings we all hung out, but it was cool. It’s not like we really took our characters home with us, which was really nice. So it wasn't weird [laughs]. 

CP: Perfect Addiction ends with sort of a tease as to what's to come for Sienna next, you would know better than me if there's another movie coming, but I would like to see more of Sienna actually going into the fighting game, personally. Is that something you’re prepping or hoping for?

KM: It's something that I'm definitely hoping for. I would love to continue to play Sienna and see more of her fighting journey. And so I'm definitely staying ready, I'm still training with my trainer and kind of just remaining open to that because that's something I would really love to do [smiles].

CP: Something I thought was interesting was that Perfect Addiction was based on a book — did you read the book coming into this? And if so, are there any differences? 

KM: I actually didn't read the book going into filming, but I did read the book after we wrapped.

I just wanted to come into it with my own instincts and own interpretation of the character. But when I read the book after we wrapped I was like, “Oh, this is quite similar to how I think I played Sienna,” so that's always good, for me to not stray too far from it. And I'm happy that my instincts were in alignment with how she was written.

And I know Claudia Tan now personally, she's a friend of mine, and she told me that I did a really good job [smiles].

CP: And speaking of book-to-movie adaptations, I did wanna ask you about Fear Street. I was a big fan of the series — I loved the first one in particular as a big Scream fan — but I think there are supposed to be more movies coming out. Is that a series something that you would also be interested in returning to?

KM: Yes! I love Fear Street, I love the fan base that we got from that, [and] I love R.L. Stine, so definitely, I'm definitely open to returning for those, too. 

CP: What was that experience like? I feel like that really just blew up when that came out, especially with Netflix picking it up and then I think they came out one film per week, so what was it like having that many films out within a span of weeks?

KM: It was a whirlwind, honestly. With every film that you do and any project that you do, you don't really know what it's gonna look like once it comes out. But once Netflix got on board, I was told what the release strategy would be and I was like, “Wow, that's different. I've never seen that before. Kind of like a binge-watch, but with movies,” so I had a feeling that it would be the first of its kind and maybe have that effect where it would blow up. And I remember my Instagram went from like a couple hundred thousand to like over a million in maybe two weeks. So it was an adjustment for sure.

But I'm honestly so grateful to all the fans and all the people who watched Fear Street because we put a lot of our heart and soul into those movies. So it's always nice when they're seen. 

CP: You just mentioned your Instagram and that popularity that led to blowing up on it — I didn't realize it was that drastic of a jump in such a short time — but what is it like to experience that? I know some celebrities would love to be seen by so many, but do you ever feel like you’re overexposed? 

KM: Yeah, I think Instagram's interesting because as humans we could say [that] we have a handle on it, but in my personal experience, I don't think humans are really designed to handle something like that. Like on this small little device, we are now exposed to millions of people's opinions and thoughts, and perspectives, and it's just a lot for us as humans to intake.

So for me, I learned really quickly [that] I have to get off of it often. I go on Instagram and I check my stuff and I engage, and then I delete the app off my phone because it's just really highly addicting. And it can be good for a lot of things, but I don't think it's healthy to spend so much time on it. I learned really quickly [and] I'm like, “Okay, this could be a lot,” so I try to have a really good balance between being on it and being off of it. 

Perfect Addiction is available on demand now. For more information, click here.