Geena Meszaros Turns Netflix's Dark Teen Horror 'The Body' Into Comedy

By Elena Vasquez

Geena Meszaros landed her breakout role as Lisbeth in Netflix's teen horror-comedy "The Body" without knowing the character was one of the show's leads. The actress auditioned with partial scripts that hid the story's major twists. "I managed to go through the callback and chemistry reads without knowing how integral [Lisbeth] was to the story," Meszaros told Rolling Stone, speaking from her Calgary home. The more she learned, she said, "I was obsessed."

What is 'The Body' about?

The series was created by Quinn Shephard, whose credits include "Not Okay" and "Under the Bridge." It is set in a small-town all-girls Catholic high school around 2004 — a period signaled by flip phones closing with a click and characters using AIM.

The plot turns on a single open spot on the dance team, the school's social apex. Captain Anya Butler (Kristina Bogic) and her lieutenant Elise Zakaria (Sara Boustany) choose the pious "Saint" Grace Franklin (Sofia Wylie) over Meszaros' stiff-limbed outcast, Lisbeth Anderson. The initiation ceremony — a parody sacrament of Ecstasy and warm Tanqueray standing in for the body and blood of Satan — ends with Grace unresponsive.

The aftermath binds Anya and Lisbeth in a dark secret. The town slides into religious hysteria. When Grace falls into a coma, Anya lets Lisbeth take her place on the team.

How does Meszaros make horror funny?

Shephard said casting Lisbeth required an actress who could be "unnerving in a way she cannot shake." Meszaros delivered something extra: she turned the unsettling character into what Shephard calls an "adorable maniac."

"Lisbeth cannot speak the same language they speak, struggles to read social cues, is deeply traumatized by her childhood, and is sheltered enough to misunderstand most pop-culture references," Shephard said. "Watching Lisbeth is like watching someone on their first day on Earth. There was really no one else who had the level of humor that Geena brought to this. She is so absurdly funny."

Meszaros' pale face and wide-eyed expressions clash with the team's blowouts and headbands. Her character's obtuseness about shopping, flirting and texting supplies the show's dark humor against its horrific elements. The series also reveals Lisbeth's family moved to town after the mysterious death of her father — a secret she guards.

Viewers may recognize Meszaros from Mae Martin's conversion-camp horror series "Wayward," where she played Oatmeal Beth. "The Body" also features Gabby Windey of "Traitors" as the heavily pregnant Coach Miller. "Every time I came to set and saw her fake belly sitting in its little bucket in the makeup room, I was like, 'Oh, yeah, it's gonna be a good day,'" Meszaros said. "What an icon."

What drives Lisbeth?

"Lisbeth starts as an outsider. She [views] these girls' friendships as a commodity. She's a survivalist, in a way," Meszaros said. "She sees the power Anya has because of the [team's] group think. And she slowly realizes that she needs it to maintain her safety. She has to get a taste."

As the girls see visions of Grace and the town treats her as a real-life saint, the wallflower cracks open, revealing a manipulative streak and mysterious religious power. Yet her motive stays familiar: staying popular.

Meszaros framed the role in the universal terms of adolescence. "When you get to high school, you're really trying to figure out who you are, sans parents," she said. "Being a teenager is hard, man. It's hard."

The show nods to "Jennifer's Body," "The Crucible," "The Craft" and "But I'm a Cheerleader," and builds a Holy Trinity of its own: Anya as the benevolent father, Lisbeth as a rejected savior, Grace as the ever-present Holy Spirit.

Meszaros declined to spoil the central mysteries but was direct about her allegiance to her first big character: "If you have to judge her, I understand. She does some questionable things, for sure. But I'm still Team Lisbeth."

Takeaway in plain words: Meszaros took a role written to unsettle and made it the show's comic engine — and the performance now positions her as a breakout to watch.