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For Nicolas Cage, Making A Serial Killer Horror Movie Was A Healing Experience
Los Angeles — When Nicolas Cage initially read the script for “Longlegs” and pondered playing the titular serial killer, he knew where he’d find inspiration: his mother.
“Not that she was Satanic,” Cage stressed in a recent interview, but he admitted that observing her battle with mental illness throughout his life was something he had to handle. “In my approach to try and get more personal with my film performances, I’ve been trying to find a constructive place to put my memories of my mother.”
Cage claimed his connection to his mother was so strong — particularly how he imagined the character’s body language and speaking style — that he recalls hearing her voice early one Christmas morning while rehearsing lines to himself. “Everybody else is getting ready to open presents and whatnot, and I’m doing this very dark character and trying to infuse it with love,” he told me.
For Nicolas Cage, Making A Serial Killer Horror Movie Was A Healing Experience
The process of making “Longlegs,” a Neon release that hits theaters Friday, was ultimately cathartic for the Oscar winner. “Gosh, I channeled my father for Dracula and my mother for Long Legs. “What does that say about my childhood?” he asked, laughing.
When Cage first met with Osgood Perkins to discuss the picture, he was surprised to hear that the filmmaker had his mother in mind while creating the script.
It follows FBI Agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), who, shortly after being assigned to investigate a string of heinous murders, discovers her own link to the perpetrator (Cage). Although Perkins admitted to being inspired by “Silence of the Lambs” and similar films, “Longlegs” differs from many serial killer films in that the horrors carried out by humans are eerily supernatural.
Perkins takes advantage of this paranormal liberty, inundating the universe of “Longlegs” with biblical references and occult mysteries for his protagonist to uncover. However, unlike some directors who want to conceal their approach or leave it to the viewer to discern its significance, Perkins is clear about his source material, or lack thereof.
“I made it up,” the director bluntly acknowledged some of the symbolism used and messages delivered throughout the film, comparing developing a picture like “Longlegs” to putting together a crossword puzzle. “The fun of putting things together and finding little parts of things you like is what makes a movie. It’s just piecing things together.”
As the son of Anthony Perkins, who played Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” the “Longlegs” filmmaker has long struggled with his connection to Hollywood, particularly horror.
“It’s kind of been foisted on me a little bit,” he remarked, admitting that he loves the freedom the genre provides. “You’re free to do whatever you want in a Gothic or Baroque style that’s packed with personality. It’s like preparing a large, lovely sauce.”
Cage has appeared in several horror films, including Mandy and the 2006 adaptation of The Wicker Man, but says this is his scariest. As an actor famed for his variety, he, too, expressed his enjoyment of the genre’s freedom to be unconventional.
For Nicolas Cage, Making A Serial Killer Horror Movie Was A Healing Experience
“I’ve always believed that horror, when done well, is truly surreal.” It is dream logic. It does not have to be based on science or reality. It can allow actors to express themselves in ways different than what is considered the arbiter of great acting, 1970s naturalism,” he lamented. “That is good, but we’ve done it repeatedly, ad infinitum, ad nauseum.”
Though they had never met before working on this project, Cage and Perkins instantly became friends because of their love of filmmaking and rich familial origins in the industry. Perkins does not allow Cage and Monroe to meet until their first scene, one of the most horrific and violent in the picture, to make the most organic first contact possible.
However, the actors already had mutual regard for one another, and Cage, still dressed in makeup, made it a point to tell Monroe that he admired her work in David Robert Mitchell’s “It Follows” as soon as the cameras stopped rolling.
“I just thought, ‘God, I wish we had this on camera.'” It was really funny. “It was the first time I heard his voice,” she stated about their first meeting. “I grew up admiring his films and his current choices are wonderful. I have so much respect for him.
SOURCE | AP