Photos Martin Rusch | Words Tamara Rappa

Eloise Mumford's career was off to a roaring start when she understudied Elizabeth Moss in Speed the Plow on Broadway while still in school, ultimately going on to work opposite William H. Macy and Raul Esparza in the important production. Recently, Eloise stars on Amazon's huge hit, the currently-streaming Cross, the latest take on James Patterson’s number one hero. Eloise gives a riveting performance as Shannon Witmer opposite a deeply creepy Ryan Eggold. The beloved actor is the main victim in the series that Cross (Aldis Hodge) fights to save throughout the whole show. Of course Eloise is best known as Kate Kavanagh in the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy, best friend to Dakota Johnson's Anastasia, and has also acted opposite Billy Crystal in the film Standing Up, Falling Down. With a number of roles on television, including on NBC's Chicago Fire, Fox's Lonestar, ABC's The River, and on the Nat Geo/Disney+ series, The Right Stuff, we talked to Eloise about what it's like to portray unspeakable terror, and what it takes to let it all go.

What do you think is most interesting and notable about this take on the Alex Cross story? This Alex Cross story is part of the renowned canon that James Patterson created, featuring much-loved central characters, however it presents a brand new mystery, and is electrifyingly set in the contemporary world. It’s real and raw, funny and irreverent, heart-pumping and gut wrenching. It’s a love letter to community and family—and, most of all, it’s deeply cool. It reflects real life, real relationships, and real love. I'm incredibly proud to be a part of it.

Do you recall how you first felt about Shannon as a character when you dove into the script? I felt spectacularly lucky to bring her to life. I knew it would be a challenge I’d have to rise to, and that excited me beyond words. The writers had created a real, multidimensional woman, and I was determined to go to great depths to do her story justice. Since we first meet her through her love of art, I threw myself into that world—I wanted to fall in love with art history and contemporary art through her eyes. I immediately began binging a podcast called The Lonely Palate, which I cannot recommend enough.

As an actor, how do you sustain that kind of unspeakable terror with every camera angle, with every take? ...With a lot of support and love off-screen! For every moment you see me going through hell on screen, there was a village of people keeping me safe and cared for behind the camera. From the phenomenal hair and makeup artists who not only made me look perfectly awful every single moment, but also held my emotional wellbeing in their arms, to the PA's who kept me well-snacked and who checked in between takes, I was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by so much tenderness. Sometimes there wasn’t enough time to get unstrapped or out of the zip ties between takes, and someone was always there to hold water to my mouth or give me a reassuring squeeze.  For the acting itself, I wanted to find an arc within Shannon’s terror, which I knew would help ground and sustain the emotions. I decided to layer the classic seven stages of grief over her journey, ensuring that each time she appeared on screen, she was in a slightly different stage of processing what was happening to her. That way, while terror remained the constant drumbeat, it was always mixed with something new—just as it would be for a human being who is fighting for every second.

How did Ryan Eggold’s Ramsey help keep you in character? Ryan is a generous, brilliant actor, and whenever the director called 'action', something would shift in his eyes that immediately struck terror in me—and then we were off to the races. I felt incredibly lucky to act alongside him. He brought subtlety and contradictions to Ramsey, allowing us to explore twisted and unexpected places together. For example, I loved that there was softness in his performance, which gave Shannon moments of hope and even, in a strange way, a sense of power at times. Acting with someone who makes the air feel electric and alive is always a joy, and I felt that every time we worked together.

Was there anything traumatic about playing a captive that required you to work on leaving Shannon behind, once filming wrapped? What I learned most by the end of this project, as things got really intense, is that while your mind knows it’s all fake, your body doesn’t. My body was pretty wrecked by the end of filming—bruises, sore muscles, bleached eyebrows, raw fingernails. Experiencing what Shannon’s body went through, even in a simulated way, left me feeling physically and emotionally drained.  Beyond the physical toll, I spent so much time thinking about what she would miss if she died—just as she would have spent all those hours in captivity grappling with that question. That’s a really dark tunnel to go down, and it took me a long time to find my way back into the light after we wrapped.

What does Shannon's story say about the human condition and survival? The fight to survive isn’t pretty—it’s animalistic and brutal. But it’s innate. And it’s somehow both deeply personal and universally human. When faced with the unimaginable, what do we picture in our mind’s eye, in order to get through? Who do we fight for? The answer is different for everyone—but that force, rooted in visceral love, is the same in all of us. And it is fiercely powerful.

How do you think Shannon goes on to live her life? Hopefully, with a lot of therapy! And maybe less hand sanitizer.

hair + makeup | kimberly bragalone