Charles Melton has become a dad, so he thoroughly understands his character in Her Private Hell The actor is in the cast of Nicolas Winding Refn's film, in theaters from October 1
The cinema never comes at random, and the coincidence between the release of Her Private Hell and the appearance of fatherhood for Charles Melton is proof of this. The American actor, born in '91 and known for his appearances in Riverdale, May December and the second season of Netflix's Beef, is in the cast of Nicolas Winding Refn's feature film, returning to the big screen ten years after his cult The Neon Demon. In Her Private Hell, however, the neons have remained, as has the aesthetic codified by the Danish director and screenwriter, who this time tells a story made of pain and trauma against the background of a dark legend about a man who kills young women.
Charles Melton, who in Her Private Hell plays a father seeking revenge
In the fog in which his protagonists move, who together with Melton also count Sophie Thatcher, Havana Rose Liu and Diego Calva, the actor is a solder-father who tries in every way to take revenge for the disappearance of his daughter, going like a ghost through streets that are so reminiscent of a video game and that also recall Blade Runner. “I was destined to do this project right now,” says Charles Melton, whose eldest daughter was born in March 2026 from a relationship with the artist Camille Summers-Valli. “Before becoming a father, I could only guess what my character, Private K, felt, and then I understood it thoroughly, both what he felt and the reasons for his actions.”
The preparation for the film, in theaters from October 1
What also became clearer was the concept of sacrifice, which is closely linked to the existence led by Private K. “It is something inherently human and primal,” explains the actor. “Private K is willing to go through hell to be able to be with the person he loves the most in the world once again and this requires sacrifice. Every day we experience them, both the sacrifices and the compromises. Now that I am a father I think: if I were in an unreal situation like that of the character, hypothetically, how would I behave? How far could I go? ”. The actions of Private K led Charles Melton to also have to physically prepare himself for one of the most muscular roles of his career: "It was the most demanding physical work he ever did, but I was not alone. I followed an intense training regime, every day I was monitored with physiotherapy sessions to make sure I didn't hurt myself and then I arrived on the set where I did everything I could and so I didn't risk running into any problems. There were those who were in charge of choreographing each fight sequence, we had numerous stunt-men and the commitment was skyrocketing since Refn didn't want to cheat with the editing, so we found ourselves shooting even three minutes of fighting in a row. You could say it was my superhero experience.” Even if its director has a clear idea about superheroes, especially today: “With Nick we met for the first time on Zoom and even before sending me the screenplay he told me two things: that the cinema does not need superheroes and that with Private K I would follow in the footsteps of the characters played by Mads Mikkelsen, Tom Hardy and Ryan Gosling.”
And just like the iconic protagonists whose colleagues were the interpreters, so too does the character of Melton have a style that distinguishes him, complete with a leather jacket that appears at a certain point in the film: “Nick wanted Private K to be a uniform. As if it were an envelope that contains deep loneliness and the immense pain she feels while searching for her daughter. The work of makeup and costumes has contributed a lot, you can work going deep starting from the external aspect and then arriving at the interior of a character. Although I believe that the element that most distinguishes Private K, as happened with the characters of Mads or Ryan, is the intensity of his eyes.”