Longlegs It’s considerably apt to say that Osgood Perkins owes a lot of his cinematic success to Satan. His 2015 debut as a writer-director, The Blackcoat’s Daughter, explores the sinister presence of the occult at a Catholic boarding college in Upstate New York. He leaned right into a gothic ghost story for his 2016 follow-up, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives within the House, eschewing satan worship for a transparent nod to novelist Shirley Jackson. Longlegs, his third effort as sole author and director, veers staunchly again towards Satanism, this time revolving round a sequence of murders dedicated by the eponymous killer.
Notably, The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Longlegs each share a chilling scene the place a personality declares, “Hail Satan!” After they invoke the Prince of Darkness, the codex of Perkins’s winding narratives are cracked for the viewers, leading to large reveals that elevate the veil between Earth and a molten-hot underworld. While the satan isn’t precisely a distinct segment matter of exploration within the horror style, it’s genuinely uncommon to come across movies that really feel possessed by pure evil. Longlegs, particularly, is downright accursed in its tone and imaginative and prescient.
Plot-wise, Perkins’s newest takes place circa 1993 and follows rookie FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) as she aids the seasoned Agent Carter (Blair Underwood) with a confounding sequence of murders believed to be dedicated by the self-named serial killer Longlegs (Nicolas Cage). Believed to have been lively for over 20 years, hope is dwindling to nail the elusive assassin, particularly as a result of no tangible proof of his bodily presence is ever found at crime scenes. It seems that total households are murdered with none indication of compelled entry; the one hints left are cryptid letters written in a Zodiac-esque code, the one legible aspect being Longlegs’s signature. Perplexingly, as quickly as Harker joins the crew, the case that was verging on ice-cold instantly ramps again up, as if Longlegs was ready for her engagement. Key flashbacks to the ‘70s slowly unpack why this seems to be true.
Aside from the specter of Lucifer, Perkins’s profession can be deeply entwined with that of his father’s, the display screen legend Anthony Perkins. This phantom is most deeply felt in I’m the Pretty Thing, notably within the casting of his father’s good friend and collaborator Paula Prentiss in a lead function. Indeed, The Blackcoat’s Daughter and Longlegs additionally discover the extraordinary sacrifices that folks make for his or her youngsters. Sometimes, the hyperlink between mum or dad and baby is born from extra blood than we’re ready to understand.
I spoke to Perkins by way of Zoom six weeks earlier than the well-hyped Longlegs hits theaters on July 12 by way of NEON. Our following dialog covers the inventive affect of Silence of the Lambs, T. Rex and Stephen King on the director’s present output.
Filmmaker: This is the primary movie that you simply’ve written and directed since I’m the Pretty Thing that Lives within the House. Since then, you directed Gretel & Hansel in 2020 from a Rob Hayes screenplay in addition to an episode of Jordan Peele’s The Twilight Zone TV sequence. What was it like getting again into the swing of writing and directing a characteristic movie contemplating it’s been eight years since your final hit theaters?
Perkins: In the interim, I wrote and developed issues with lots of people. Like with something, the extra you do, the extra you perceive what the fuck is happening. I feel that by the point Longlegs got here collectively and was able to go, I had a script that did plenty of the heavy lifting. The script was written in such a method that it engaged all the different artists that I needed it to. When you’ve that stepping into, it may be fairly easy crusing. If you’ve communicated the image in phrases, then the opposite departments are sort of excited. You’re constructing one thing collectively. It positively all begins with the script for me.
Filmmaker: Can you give me a timeline of once you began this script to when it lastly got here into fruition, production-wise?
Perkins: From the second I actually locked in and mentioned, “It’s going to feel like a serial killer thing” to ending the script that went to Nicholas Cage, as an example, I might say that was in all probability 4 months. That’s writing 5 days every week at a espresso store the place I’m extremely distracted. That’s the best way it needs to be for me — I can’t be in a quiet room. That doesn’t work. It’s about exhibiting up and writing. It’s not strolling round and interested by writing. It’s not questioning after I’m going to write down. It’s sitting down and placing phrases collectively.
Filmmaker: Speaking of Nic Cage, I additionally marvel how Maika Monroe got here on board. How did they each form their characters, and what was that total inventive collaboration like?
Perkins: With Nic, who got here on first, he actually liked the phrases. He liked how Longlegs got here throughout on the web page, what he sounded and felt like. We had conversations on the cellphone the place we’d speak about references and who [the character] reminds him of in his actual life, or who it jogs my memory of in my actual life. It’s like making a collage or a crossword puzzle. Then he would go away for some time and burrow into it. He needed to do an entire transformation with make-up, which we obtained to a lot later, however earlier than that he began with the voice, mannerism and cadence of speech. You know, actually working with the phrases and saying, “Well, maybe this word isn’t the right word.” It turns into as granular as that — [he] actually preferred the phrases that I wrote for him to say and actually needed to grasp their greatest use. That comes from speaking it by means of and creating a voice. He does a very nice voice on this image. Then you begin constructing it up with costume, make-up and wig folks. Everybody’s bringing their greatest self as a result of everyone desires the film to be cool. Nobody desires a dud. Everybody desires to stand up and do one thing that shines.
With Maika, I met plenty of actors to play the half, and what I all the time say is that it’s virtually like the one that is probably the most totally different in actual life than they’re on digital camera is inherently probably the most fascinating entity to try to work with, as a result of there’s one thing fascinating in regards to the alchemy of sure folks. They’re one particular person after they’re standing 5 toes from the digital camera and after they cross in entrance of the lens it’s a unique human being. It is a very highly effective factor and Maika has plenty of that.
Filmmaker: The movie spans a number of a long time, with the majority of the motion going down within the ‘90s. What made this era of American historical past particularly fascinating so that you can discover by means of a horror lens?
Perkins: I sort of invite you to be in a Silence of the Lambs film after which inform you at a sure level you’re not in a Silence of the Lambs film in any respect. Inherent in that was designing an image that felt as very like Silence of the Lambs or Seven or Zodiac as potential. You discover your references and also you say, “Well, the audience at large—both a horror audience and a mainstream audience—is going to be able to key into these cues.” Then you create an expectation, and that’s your alternative to then do what you need, which is in the end what the viewers desires. They don’t need to see what they’ve seen earlier than. They need to be taken by means of one thing new, I feel, however in a method the place they’re sort of comfy with it. That’s what we tried to do.
1993 simply turned the time that regarded like Silence of the Lambs and Seven to me. The ‘70s regarded like Zodiac, and it was additionally [the time of] my childhood.
Filmmaker: To that time, what have been some era-specific particulars that felt very important for you and your crew to get correct?
Perkins: The use of Polaroid photos within the ‘70s is a giant a part of the material of my childhood. I’ve plenty of Polaroids that my dad and mom took of one another, of me, of associates and of issues. Polaroids have been definitely a key touchstone into this world.
It’s humorous, as a result of the script is written as 1992, however in pre-production, I spotted, to my horror, that if it was set in 1992, then all the framed photos within the FBI can be of George fucking Bush. So I switched it to 1993, in order that not less than it could be Bill Clinton. Not that he’s some champ, however he’s higher than Bush.
Filmmaker: I did discover the Bill Clinton image, and was like, “Hmm, just a year would have made this a really different environment.”
Perkins: Talk about getting extra ugliness on the planet, you already know?
Filmmaker: I really like the cryptic notes left by Longlegs within the movie. How did you develop the cipher he used? Were there particular touchstones for the symbols or construction there, other than Zodiac?
Perkins: Because the film has nothing to do with Zodiac, I needed to depart a clue that it may really feel like Zodiac, or not less than the viewers may really feel oriented by their understanding of the Zodiac Killer. The code is fairly shut, I feel, to what the Zodiac code was. It’s not one thing I considered very a lot. I let the artwork division have a very good time with it. They’d present me 5 issues and I’d say, “Well, it’s not that, obviously. It’s not that, either. It’s probably one of these two.” Then they’d revise. A giant a part of the director’s job, possibly crucial half, is simply being assured with decisions. Saying, “It’s not the red coat, it’s the blue coat.”
Filmmaker: You introduced up Polaroids a pair minutes in the past. From a technical standpoint, the facet ratio change in addition to the rounded corners for sure flashback scenes are an aesthetically intriguing alternative. How did you conceive this, and the way did your DP Andres Arochi assist in executing this imaginative and prescient?
Perkins: We similar to the way it seems. It’s not meant to sound flip, however we’re simply goofy artists who’re making an attempt to make one thing cool as a result of that’s what we’ve all the time needed to do since we have been youngsters. Now we’ve got a possibility to do it with good folks. In order to make all the Polaroid crime scene stuff that NEON has used so properly within the promoting marketing campaign, we obtained a home at some point and went in with the artwork division. Everybody had disposable cameras and Polaroids. We laid folks down, put them underneath sheets, had legs [sticking out] right here and there and bloody knives and birthday muffins and stuff. We simply took photos all day, and this was earlier than manufacturing. So we had this trove of a vibe, then we simply stored doing our greatest.
Filmmaker: As an infinite fan in my very own proper, considered one of my favourite particulars within the movie is the recurring use of T. Rex lyrics and needledrops. What made you need to incorporate the band’s music into Longlegs?
Perkins: When I’m creating issues, to suppose that I’m going to give you all the pieces and I’m going to be proper is sort of far-fetched and an inflated sense of self, proper? I’m simply accumulating what’s round, what the sky is dropping. I didn’t know T. Rex earlier than a sure level. I used to be late to T. Rex. It was a band that I knew existed—it had been referenced in a Bowie tune that I preferred—and I had it on the shelf like, “Someday I’ll know what T. Rex is, just not today.” Then there was a documentary that I noticed on music in 1971 and impulsively there was a T. Rex part. I used to be like, “Okay, I guess now is the time.” And I liked it immediately, after all. It turned one thing that I used to be listening to consistently as I used to be writing the script. You don’t query it, you don’t resist, if the universe says to you, “T. Rex is in the movie,” you say, “Okay, I agree.”
In my first dialog with Nic, I felt comfy sufficient to say, “It’s T. Rex.” And he mentioned, “It’s so weird, I was just teaching my kid the backwards guitar solo from ‘Cosmic Dancer’” Then for me, it turns into like, “Okay, good, I get it.” I didn’t know that it was proper, he didn’t know that it was proper, however then it turned actually proper. We have been fortunate sufficient to collaborate with Rolan Bolin, [Marc Bolan’s] child, and we obtained his permission to make use of the music.
Filmmaker: Obviously, Marc Bolan is such an incredible determine who had a very premature loss of life. I used to be making an attempt to situate the timeline of his existence into the movie, and I wasn’t certain if his passing might have had a domino impact on Nic Cage’s character. Anyway, I need to ask about your subsequent movie, The Monkey, which you simply completed manufacturing on. It’s primarily based on the Stephen King quick story of the identical title. What made you need to sort out this adaptation in your subsequent challenge?
Perkins: What do you want, proper? One man, Stephen King, is the only most important contributor to the horror style, whether or not it’s movie or print. It’s a privilege to have the ability to tie your self to his star for a minute. The quick story is fairly temporary, and there’s not an entire film in it. The wonderful thing about that’s that I used to be capable of write a comparatively private film throughout the framework of The Monkey. I used to be sort of utilizing the foundations, however all the pieces that I did was additionally invention. It’s then particularly gratifying when King says, “I approve this.” In all honesty, I simply needed to make a film that he would love. He’s clearly value it. I really feel like plenty of film variations of his work lack the sophistication, the humor, the touching points. Kids and oldsters are actually vital to him, and generally that doesn’t actually come throughout. He’s actually humorous and nostalgic. We all really feel one thing about Stephen King, so I needed to make a film about all of these issues. It couldn’t be extra of a unique film from Longlegs. It’s extra like Robert Zemeckis on a little or no little bit of acid.
Filmmaker: You mentioned the supply materials isn’t very cinematic, however what’s fascinating is that King loosely tailored that story itself for an episode of The X-Files that I actually love. So I’m excited to see your personal interpretation.
Perkins: It’s not that, I’ll inform you that a lot. It’s a really wild film. My hope for it’s that youngsters will need to see it with their dad and mom, regardless that it’s a tough R-rated film. It’s alleged to be enjoyable, I don’t know.
Filmmaker: I grew up with dad and mom who have been fairly lax about that stuff, so it might be nice for a brand new technology of children with dad and mom who lack media discretion.
