Actress Andra Day, who is set to play a demon-possessed mother in *The Deliverance*, got three temporary tattoos of her on-screen children’s names for her role. Although she was told the tattoos would fade within 9 to 13 months, they have not disappeared.
“They told me, ‘It’ll be over within nine to 13 months.’ But it happened in April or May of 2022,” she shared with PEOPLE magazine. Day has now embraced her “fake mom” role, laughing at the confusion when people ask if she has three kids. “Oh, you have three kids?” she says. “I say, ‘No, girl. Those aren’t even kids! I’m a fake mom to fake kids now.’”
This isn’t the first time Andra Day has shown her dedication to a role. For The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021), she started smoking, drinking, and losing weight to play the jazz singer and activist.
In The Deliverance, Day plays Ebony, a mother struggling with alcohol addiction who faces even bigger challenges when her children become possessed by a supernatural spirit. The film, inspired by true events in Indiana, where a woman claimed her children needed an exorcism, also stars Rob Morgan, Caleb McLaughlin and Aungenewe Ellis-Taylor.
Though Day was initially hesitant about the film’s satanic themes, she found peace through prayer and felt the need to tell the story of a “flawed woman” trying to make the best of her situation. Working again with director Lee Daniels, who had previously directed her in Billie Holiday, gave her a sense of kinship.
The Deliverance premieres in theaters on August 16 and will be available on Netflix at the end of the month.
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