Read This: Cast and crew reflect on experience of making Shelley Duvall's final film

Before her death in July, Shelley Duvall filmed what would be her final movie, Scott Goldberg’s indie horror The Forest Hills. It was her first role in 20 years, and elicited some concern for the Hollywood legend who experienced some exploitation at the hands of the media during her retirement. But in a new piece from The Guardian, cast and crew describe Duvall as warm, welcoming, and excited to be making a movie.  “Her face and smile just read ‘happy,'” her co-star Chiko Mendez tells the outlet. “One of my mottoes has always been to ‘surrender to the camera’ and Shelley nurtured that. We talked about every scene in detail, she made suggestions. I witnessed her plough through long hours and still stay on point. She kept me on my toes. We both loved every second of it.”

Duvall plays Mendez’s mother in the film, who appears to her son in “nightmare visions.” Her scenes were filmed in Duvall’s own home to accommodate her needs; Mendez says they worked her “discomfort and pains” into the movie to make the character authentic. “Shelley was in awe of how far it has come,” he says of the movie-making process. “After being told the director was in New York, she was surprised to see him pop up on a mobile phone to direct her from afar. She was so amazed as to how easy it has become to film a movie these days. With almost with a kid-like demeanor she uttered: ‘Boy, how things have changed!'”

“Playing Mama, the matriarch who goads our antihero, was a challenge for her as she’d not previously taken on such a menacing character. … She really dug deep and turned in a powerful, nuanced performance that’s unlike anything I’ve seen her do before,” the film’s director Scott Goldberg shares. “Mentally, she was in good shape: sharp as a tack and highly engaged with the filming process. Communication and conversation were easy, she was sweet and kind and upbeat. She even spoke about what a great time she’d had making The Shining! We kept in touch after the shoot—touching base on the progress of the movie, or talking about the weather, or sometimes she’d just call to ask when I’d be back to see her.”

“I felt like we were old friends—that was her gift,” co-star Felissa Rose recalls. “She seemed very happy where she was. She no longer wanted that Hollywood life. She and her husband showed me around a few nests with animals. She was surrounded by love.” The Forest Hills premieres in limited theaters on October 4 and on digital October 8; you can read the full account here.