AceShowbiz - Victoria Pedretti has become a captivating presence on screen, known for choosing roles that resonate deeply with audiences. The actress recently spoke about her latest project, the comedy horror film Forbidden Fruits, where she plays Cherry, a complex character entangled in a secret witch cult.

Over the past decade, Victoria Pedretti has solidified her reputation through intense performances in Mike Flanagan’s horror anthology series The Haunting and the popular Netflix thriller You. She also appears in the Netflix horror film Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen.

In Forbidden Fruits, directed by Meredith Alloway, Victoria Pedretti joins Lili Reinhart and Alexandra Shipp in portraying members of a secretive witch cult operating within a mall store. The story centers on Apple (Reinhart), the cult’s leader, and her followers Cherry (Victoria Pedretti) and Fig (Shipp). The arrival of a new hire, Pumpkin (Lola Tung), who begins to question the cult’s dynamics, forces the group to confront their darkest impulses or face violent consequences.

Victoria Pedretti expressed enthusiasm about the film’s ability to spark meaningful conversations. She described the movie as “a Trojan horse for a lot of larger conversations about consumerism, about grief, about friendship and abusive community dynamics,” highlighting how beneath its fun and witchy exterior lie deeper, relatable themes.

Reflecting on her journey into acting, Victoria Pedretti shared that her passion stemmed from a lifelong love of escapism through film, television, and theater. She was captivated by the immersive magic of storytelling.

Discussing Forbidden Fruits, she described the script as a rare find—fun yet tackling heavy, relatable issues with authenticity. Becoming involved in the project years before filming allowed her to watch it evolve, deepening her connection to the story and characters.

When portraying Cherry, Victoria Pedretti aimed to reveal the layers beneath the character’s initially ditsy and insecure facade. She noted how many women in real life are underestimated or misjudged based on their outward demeanor. Victoria Pedretti drew parallels to iconic sex symbols like Marilyn Monroe, touching on how sexualization often accompanies dehumanization, stripping women of their full complexity and depth.

She found it fascinating how Monroe, for example, played a role much like many people do: presenting certain aspects of themselves to the world while containing far more beneath the surface. Victoria Pedretti considered this a tragic aspect of how women are often perceived and portrayed.

Cherry is the film’s only character involved in intimate scenes, which led to important discussions with the intimacy coordinator to ensure these moments were authentic and meaningful. Victoria Pedretti emphasized that the sex scenes were deliberately devoid of emotional intimacy, highlighting Cherry’s almost performative, “sport-like” approach to sex. This was a way for the character to meet her needs while reserving true loyalty and affection exclusively for Apple.

She expressed pride in how the film handles nudity separately from sexual activity, portraying nakedness as a natural state between two comfortable women having serious conversations, rather than automatically linking it to sex.

The mall setting is almost a character in itself within Forbidden Fruits. Victoria Pedretti reminisced about her own childhood experiences at malls, describing them as places of freedom and exploration. At the same time, she acknowledged the mall as a symbol of capitalism and institutional consumer culture, which the film uses to comment on the world’s larger societal structure.

Whether the movie will revive mall culture is uncertain, but Victoria Pedretti speculated it could inspire a reinvention of how these spaces are perceived and used.

One of the film’s most shocking moments is Cherry’s gruesome death. Victoria Pedretti admitted she was both surprised and excited when she first read the script’s depiction of the scene. While there was initially talk about limiting the amount of gore shown, she felt it was crucial to portray the brutality fully. Filming the scene was a unique experience that involved stunts, which Victoria Pedretti enjoyed.

She also noted that escalator-related deaths have occurred in reality, though she chose not to research them further to avoid distraction during filming.

Victoria Pedretti continues to choose roles that challenge conventional portrayals and explore complex female experiences. With Forbidden Fruits, she offers audiences a blend of dark humor, horror, and social critique wrapped in a story about friendship, power, and identity within an eerie cult setting.