Lorenza IZZO

LORENZA IZZO IN NEW YORK, AUGUST 2015. SHIRT: RAQUEL ALLEGRA. BRA: ZADIG & VOLTAIRE. EARCUFF, NOSE RING, AND RING: ANA KHOURI.STYLING: MARINA MUÑOZ AT LALALAND ARTISTS. COSMETICS: DIOR, INCLUDING DIOR VERNIS IN MUGUET. HAIR: WESLEY O’MEARA FOR AG HAIR/HONEY ARTISTS. MAKEUP: CYNDLE KOMAROVSKI for Chanel/HONEY ARTISTS. MANICURE: ERI HANDA FOR DIOR VERNIS/MAM-NYC.

Five years ago, while studying journalism in her native Chile, Lorenza Izzo heard about an open casting call for 2011’s Que pena tu boda, the sequel to a romantic comedy by her favorite Chilean director, Nicolás López. She got the part and decided there was no turning back. It wasn’t until pre-shoots for the 2012 horror-disaster film Aftershock, their second film together, that López learned Izzo could speak English without an accent. She was immediately recast as the female lead-her first role in English. She introduced herself in English to one of the producers, an American, who was also playing the male lead. This past November, that man, Eli Roth, became her husband.

Now living in Los Angeles, Izzo, Roth, and their dog, Monkey, have created a quiet life that grows louder this fall. The 26-year-old actress stars in back-to-back films (both directed by Roth), demonstrating her flexibility in diametrically opposing roles. In the horror film The Green Inferno, she’s an idealistic activist taken hostage by the Amazonian tribe she’s flown across the world to protect; and in Knock, Knock, an erotic thriller starring Keanu Reeves, she plays Genesis, one in a pair of modern-day Loreleis who, in a single weekend, torment and ruin the life of a happily married family man. The deeply troubled Genesis is elevated by Izzo’s instinct to inject the character with levity and joy. “I had a blast,” she says. “She’s such a dark character, but she was just so fun to play.” Knock, Knock is a very uncomfortable film, which is precisely what drew Izzo to the script. “No matter how it’s received, it sparks an internal conversation. No one knows the answer to the central question, ‘Did these girls plan to do what they did?’ That’s why I love it.”

Izzo is drawn to discomfort and uncertainty. “Whenever I’m terrified of anything, I jump to it,” she proclaims. This is evident by her response to learning that a miracle masseuse is located in a shady part of Brooklyn. “Oooh, I wanna go,” she says, game for adventure. “I go to shady places all the time.”