Octavia Spencer: ‘Sam Worthington was perfectly cast as muddled dad in The Shack’

Actor Sam Worthington was in the perfect mindset to play a confused dad in new movie The Shack, because he had just become a real-life father.
Octavia Spencer, who was nominated for an Oscar for Hidden Figures, reveals he didn’t have to reach too far to find his character in the uplifting new film – he was living life as a frazzled new father.
“He was a brand new parent when we started the film,” she tells WENN. “I think his son Rocket was barely six weeks old.
“For new parents, they are sleepless, so he was exhausted and vulnerable when he needed to be for the film. It had to be the right frame of mind and he’s just a loving dad. So he was exhausted! When that baby was around and he would come to set his whole countenance changed.”
The Zootopia star plays God in the spiritual film and admits even she had problems seeing herself as the creator of mankind.
“I grew up with the conventional images of God being a man,” she says, “but I have no problems playing God because the author is not trying to say in any shape, form or fashion that God is a black woman.
“I couldn’t wrap my brain around portraying God because, as an actor, you have to have a frame of reference. I’ve only played humans; I’ve never even played a cyborg!
“The director, Stuart Hazeldine, gave me so many books that he wanted me to read about religious theory. We had that as a shorthand. Also, I lost my mom when I was 18 and my dad when I was 13, so I do know loss, so I could relate to that aspect of the film.”