Charlie Graham | |
---|---|
Charlie Graham | |
Notability: | Supporting character |
Type: | Child |
Gender: | Female |
Location: | Utah |
Relations: | Annie Graham Steve Graham Peter Graham |
Status: | Deceased |
Died: | 2018 |
Introduction: | Hereditary |
Actor: | Milly Shapiro |
Charlie Graham is a fictional child and a supporting character featured in the 2018 supernatural thriller Hereditary. She was played by actress Milly Shapiro.
Biography[]
Charlie Graham was the youngest child of Steve Graham and Annie Graham of Utah. When she was a baby, her grandmother Ellen insisted on feeding her, but also made note of the fact that she had wished she was a boy. This was because Ellen was a member of a cult trying to bring about an evil spirit known as Paimon. Paimon's essence resided within Charlie from birth, but the spirit preferred a male host, so it had to bide its time until it was able to take possession of Charlie's older brother, Peter.
Charlie grew up with some apparent emotional and behavioral issues, as well as a severe nut allergy. To comfort herself in times of stress, she liked to eat chocolate. When Charlie's grandmother passed away, Charlie seemed emotionally unreachable. She attended the funeral, but sat quietly, occasionally making a clicking sound with her mouth.
At school, Charlie was tinkering with a homemade toy when she was supposed to be taking a quiz. A bird flew into the window of the classroom and died on impact, alarming several of the students. After class let out, Charlie found the dead bird and cut its head off with a pair of scissors. She put the head into the pocket of her hoodie.
A few days later, Charlie believed that she had seen her grandmother standing in a ring of fire in a field. She went to chase after her, but Annie took note, and ran after her, citing that it was too cold to be running about barefoot. Annie did not see the same vision that Charlie saw.
That night, brother Peter wanted to attend a party and asked to use his mom's car. When Annie asked if there would be drinking taking place, he told her that it was just a barbecue. Annie insisted that Peter should take Charlie along with him. At the party, Peter wanted to get high and hit on a girl named Bridget, so he had to find someone way to occupy Charlie. Taking note of someone cutting up slices of chocolate cake, he told Charlie to go have some. Charlie ate some of the cake, but didn't realize that it had nuts in it. She began going into anaphylactic shock and Peter had to rush her out of the house.
Peter was speeding the car down a dark road desperately trying to reach a hospital. Charlie was in the back seat gasping for air. She opened a window and leaned her head out for air, just as Peter swerved to avoid an obstruction in the road. Charlie's head smashed into a telephone pole and she was killed. Peter, in a state of shock, drove home and went to bed. He left Charlie's headless body in the car for her mother to find the following morning.
Members of the Paimon cult collected Charlie's head, which had been rotting on the side of the road and brought it back to the Graham house where they posted it on a manikin body.
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Charlie Graham was created by writer and director Ari Aster.
- Charlie was likely named after her uncle Charles, who was Annie's brother. When Charles was sixteen, he developed schizophrenia, and hung himself because his mother was trying to "put people in him".
- Charlie had a sketchbook that was tied to her spirit, as well as that of the cult. Annie tried destroying the sketchbook by casting it into the fireplace, but this resulted in Charlie's father, Steve Graham, spontaneously bursting into flames.
- Actors Milly Shapiro and Alex Wolff, who plays brother Peter, already knew each other from attending Professional Children's School before coming together to work on Hereditary.
- Charlie is the first of three main cast members from the Graham family to die in this film, followed by Steve, and then Annie.