‘Thanksgiving’ Star Nell Verlaque Says Sequel Will Film This Year, Has Asked Eli Roth to Be ‘Tortured’ and ‘Covered in Blood’ in Movie

“Thanksgiving” star Nell Verlaque can’t wait to shoot the sequel to the surprise box office hit.

Her character Jessica is one of the few who survived director and co-writer Eli Roth’s first Turkey-time holiday slasher.

Verlaque tells me she’s read parts of the follow-up script and Roth has shared some more ideas with her.

“I would like to get covered in blood,” she told me at the premiere of Benito Skinner’s new Prime Video comedy series, “Overcompensating.”

That’s the least gruesome of her ideas. “I told him I really wanted to be tortured,” Verlaque said. “Like fully pained [and] tortured.”

She said of Roth’s boundary-pushing work, “I think it’s more fun as an actor. The crazier, the better for me.”

The first film revolved around a serial killer who dresses like a 17th-century pilgrim and terrorizes residents of Plymouth, Mass., during the holiday season. It was inspired by a fake movie trailer Roth directed for 2007’s “Grindhouse.”

The film, which grossed $46 million worldwide against a $15 million budget, also starred Patrick Dempsey, Milo Manheim, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Rick Hoffman and Gina Gershon.

In addition to Verlaque’s Jessica character, other survivors include Gaby (Addison Rae), Scuba (Gabriel Davenport), Ryan (Manheim) and Bobby (Brooks).

Roth confirmed in August that the sequel will also take place during Thanksgiving. At the time, I asked him if he’s looking to expand the franchises with other holidays. “Let’s get the sequel done first,” he said.

Verlaque says the “goal” is to shoot “Thanksgiving 2” sometime this year.

“Overcompensating” stars Skinner as a former high school football star who begins exploring coming out of the closet as gay during his freshman year at college. Verlaque plays an old classmate of Skinner’s new college bestie (Wally Baram).

“I did a crazy audition where I crawled on the floor and purred and I got the job,” Verlaque recalled. “I think the scene was pretty intimate and I was referring to a kitty a lot and I thought, why not go for it? And now we’re here so I feel like – dare I say it? – it worked.”