Annabeth Gish has been on our screens for nearly four decades, navigating Hollywood with a quiet resilience that’s rare in an industry built on reinvention. From Mystic Pizza to The X-Files to Mike Flanagan’s horror universe, she’s played everything from small-town dreamers to voices of authority, always bringing an authenticity that makes even the most outlandish plots feel grounded.
Her latest film, Ride, is a departure from the supernatural thrillers she’s recently been associated with. It’s a gritty, raw portrait of an American family in crisis, set against the backdrop of bull riding and economic hardship. Gish stars alongside ‘80s legend C. Thomas Howell, playing a couple burdened by financial strain, addiction, and a child battling cancer.
“This is an American story,” Gish says. “It’s about the struggles that so many families face—the ones that don’t get a Hollywood ending.”
Shot in just 18 days in Nashville and parts of Kentucky, Ride leans into its unvarnished aesthetic. It’s not a movie about solutions; it’s a window into lives unraveling. Gish was drawn to that realism, as well as the film’s refusal to romanticize its cowboy culture backdrop.
“I love that world,” she says. “There’s something deeply ingrained in the American ethos about cowboys, and there’s nostalgia for that lifestyle. But there’s also a lot of complexity that needs to be examined.”
Gish admits she was wary of director Jake Allyn pulling triple duty as co-writer, director, and lead actor, but her concerns were quickly put to rest.
“Yes, it was a trust fall,” she says. “But from our first Zoom, I could tell he had the right balance of confidence and humility. He wanted to find the movie together, not dictate it.”
For Gish, Ride was also a welcome break from horror after her string of projects with Flanagan, which include Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher. Not that she’s distancing herself from the Flaniverse. “It’s rare to be part of a repertory company like that,” she says. “And Mike—he just tells stories that I believe in.”
That sense of longevity is something Gish thinks about often. “I started when I was 13, and I’m 53 now,” she reflects. “I don’t take any of it for granted. Hollywood isn’t built for endurance, but I’ve worked hard to have a balanced life outside of it. You have to keep regenerating yourself creatively, and I still love this work.”
As for what’s next? She’s open to surprises. “People don’t let me be funny,” she laughs. “But I’m funny! Maybe I need to do a comedy next.”
Given her track record of defying expectations, don’t be surprised if she does.
Watch the interview above and then check out the trailer below.
