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For better or worse, the past 25 years of horror movies have been massively affected by the work of M. Night Shyamalan. Films like The Sixth Sense and Signs led many to hail the director as a modern-day Alfred Hitchcock. But Shyamalan’s 2023 film, Knock at the Cabin, features something rarely seen in a mainstream horror film: a married gay couple.

Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge have led wildly varied careers

Ben Aldridge, Kristen Cui and Jonathan Groff pose in front of the "Knock at the Cabin" logo
Ben Aldridge, Kristen Cui and Jonathan Groff attend Universal Pictures’ “Knock At The Cabin” Premiere I Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge play Eric and Andrew, respectively, parents to the young Wen (Kristen Cui). The story centers on this family’s encounter with four mysterious strangers (Dave Bautista, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint). But though they co-star in Knock at the Cabin, Groff and Aldridge have taken very different roads in their careers thus far.

Groff is perhaps best known for his work both on stage (Spring Awakening, Hamilton) and on television (Glee, Mindhunter). But he’s also provided the voice of Kristoff in 2013’s Frozen and its 2019 sequel. As for Aldridge, his previous credits include TV’s Fleabag and Pennyworth. However, he’s steadily gaining attention on the big screen with major roles in 2022’s Spoiler Alert and now Knock at the Cabin.

The two actors play a married couple in ‘Knock at the Cabin’

No matter what projects they’d worked on before, Groff and Aldridge followed a similar process to work with Shyamalan. That involved sending in audition tapes, jumping on a Zoom chat with the directors, and then eventually getting a brief 24-hour window to read the script. Once they did, the two actors — who are both gay in real life — were enthusiastic about the movie’s LGBTQ representation.

“It feels like such a gift and such a privilege, honestly…,” Groff told JoBlo.com. “I came out 15 years ago, and I was doing theater at the time. And this is before gay marriage even was legal in 2009. So to be playing a married gay couple as an out actor in an M. Night Shyamalan movie is something I could have never even dreamt of or ever anticipated. It’s truly an honor to be riding that wave of progress.”

How Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge bonded with their on-screen daughter

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Although Groff and Aldridge didn’t get to do a chemistry read before they signed on, the two actors received a luxury many stars don’t normally get before filming began. Prior to making Knock at the Cabin, the actors were able to take a two-week rehearsal period to get to know each other and bond with Cui, their on-screen daughter.

“I think that family-friendly dynamic that we were creating really helped us to get to know each other really quickly. And also Night just really cast it really well,” Aldridge told JoBlo.com.

“We never met before day one of the job, which is a testament to him and his knowledge of people and going ‘these guys are going to match well together’ and we really did. We started chatting when Jonathan got in the car, and it was just a never-ending conversation. You couldn’t shut us up. We were like a couple of schoolgirls.”

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