Chase Sui Wonders doesn’t fit neatly in a box. The actress, who starred in Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies and Apple TV+’s satire The Studio and will be seen next in the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot-slash-sequel, has established herself as a horror-comedy darling for this generation. She’s also a big American-history buff (she just wants to ask Richard Nixon, “What happened?”) and a state hockey champ, and she has some really open-minded takes on where people should wear their jeans.
Sitting on a tiny couch at a Levi’s x Sacai dinner party in a very tall downtown-Manhattan building, Wonders told the Cut all about her late-night Wikipedia spirals, her favorite decadent foods, and getting over her fear of horror films (even though she stars in them).
I recently found out you were an ice-hockey state champion. Tell me more about this. Are you a hockey fan? Do you have a team? How did that happen?
I mean, I’m from Detroit, which is Hockey Town, USA. So, basically, I learned how to skate at the same time I learned how to walk. Winters were spent finding frozen lakes that we could skate on during recess or our lunch period.
How did you test the frozen lakes? How did you know they were thick enough?
The structural integrity of the lakes was usually shoddy at best. My best friend growing up was Chris Chelios’s daughter, so he actually taught me how to skate.
Outside of hockey, where do you get your culture recommendations?
I despise the doomscroll, so I’m usually in some sort of Wikipedia chain reaction to get to something that I deem interesting. I like to use movies as an entry point for fashion, as an entry point for actors I didn’t know about. I really think that is my way into the culture. I’m on a weird Rick Moranis deep cut right now. He was in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and the Spaceballs movie.
How did that happen?
I rewatched Spaceballs recently. Why is Rick Moranis not getting more love? Where is he now? I’m ready for the renaissance. I also really like history. I just watched a Jimmy Carter documentary.
What’s your favorite era in history?
I really like Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency. I think he was a really interesting man, and he was the type of president who didn’t want to be president. They asked him time and time again. I feel like we associate the American presidency with a lot of narcissism. He was someone who wasn’t in it for the recognition or for the power. He really was in it for the love of the game and trying to help the American people. He was always going to the countryside and retreating.
[History] is just a way to make sense of the times we’re living in. It turns out presidents were always doing crazy stuff. We just didn’t have Twitter.
Who would you invite to a dinner party, dead or alive?
I’ve actually been thinking about this recently. I would invite Bret Easton Ellis and Donna Tartt to find out what happened. I just want to know what’s going on with them. They feel like people from a bygone era of culture. They seem like they would be really mean to me, and I would want to get to the bottom of that. I’m fascinated by really mean people.
Also, maybe John Waters is there. It’d be really cool. Probably Richard Nixon, just because I want to know what happened. If it was off the record and Richard Nixon was allowed to speak freely, I would like to have him tell me what his thought process was during the Watergate scandal.
Why are mean people interesting to you?
I feel like human beings, our natural form is niceness and connection, and to get to be mean, there are so many steps that have to take place. My grandpa was mean sometimes, but he also lived through the Chinese Cultural Revolution and had some awesome stories.
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You think human beings are inherently good?
Yeah, I’d like to think so. I’m an optimist.
On the flip side, you’re a horror-film darling. I’m terrified of horror movies. What’s a good movie for me to get started with that’s not going to scare the shit out of me?
Dude, same! They’re so scary. Blood is so scary. I’ve done two at this point, and it does help you to see how the sausage is made. Because you’re like, Oh yeah, that blood tastes more sugary. But I feel like you should watch ’80s B-movie horror. Sisters is a really good horror film, or American Werewolf in London. Then you can graduate to Rosemary’s Baby.
Let’s say you actually are your character in a horror movie, and you’re running away from the bad guy. What’s something that would stop you in your tracks?
I think if I saw a beautiful view, like a gorgeous, gorgeous view: golden hour, mountains, water, sunset, frost-covered peaks, valleys. I think that’s something that me and the perpetrator could kind of stop and reflect upon. I would absorb the view, be in the moment, but also thwart the bad guy and allow the perp to reflect on his or her decision-making.
You would turn it into a humanizing moment for you both?
Yes, like, What are we doing here? Put down your weapons. It’s like a Pepsi-ad moment.
How do you get in the zone for these roles where you’re screaming and running around?
I love a playlist. I have a playlist for basically every single one of my characters. I also have a few books that I like to read depending on the character. For The Studio, I read the Bob Evans book. I read a lot of books on filmmaking, a lot of pretentious cinema books; and watching movies that remind me of the tone always helps. But I’m winging it until I start working. I don’t really have a process.
We’re at a Levi’s event, and I have a question about denim. I’m terrified of denim because the waist-to-thigh ratio sometimes is so off. What kind of denim should I be looking for if I’m scared of wearing jeans?
Texturally, I find jeans difficult. If it’s not feeling good on the body, then I won’t wanna wear it. I feel like finding the right place the waistband sits on your hips is key. And I think more people can pull off low-rise than they think. I thought I couldn’t pull off low-rise. Lo and behold, there are certain low-rise cuts that do work for my body. I was so avoiding her. And I would say play with the boot cut; play with the skinny jean.
Where should I take my denim? Where does denim thrive?
Take it to the beach.
The beach?!
The beach! Denim to the beach! Heels to the beach! I feel like we can wear a lot of things at the beach and sand is not as annoying as we think. Take denim to horseback-riding.
Do you go horseback-riding a lot?
No, but I rode a horse once, and I felt like such a cowgirl wearing jeans.
Also, wear jeans on a date, because I feel like people are dressing up too much on dates. Like, I don’t know you well enough to pull out the full Grand Prix.
Since Ghetto Gastro is designing the menu for this event we’re at right now, my last question is, What would be your last meal?
A perfectly cooked steak, medium rare, with a lemon-caper-butter dressing on top. A pulled-pork sandwich from a high-end establishment doused in barbecue sauce. Decadent baked mac and cheese. I’m going peas: straight-up peas. I love a microwave bag; it really doesn’t matter if it’s fresh. Peas are just so good. Obsessed with peas. Vanilla milkshake, whipped cream on top, maraschino cherry for decoration. I’m not gonna eat the cherry. And then a tuna-melt sandwich and coconut-cream pie.
