Longlegs, a horror-thriller film featuring Nicolas Cage, was released last week. In a recent interview with Variety, the director of the film, Osgood Perkins, spoke about the inspiration for the title villain and the film’s ending.
According to Perkins, Longlegs’ total on-screen time was inspired by the villain of Se7en, John Doe, who appeared in a limited number of scenes. The abrupt departure of Cage’s Longlegs was inspired by the same character. Perkins and his team consciously borrowed and referenced other popular serial killer movies when creating the film.
The ending of Longlegs was intended to be tragic, with the devil succeeding in wrecking a family and tormenting its members. Perkins explains that using the devil as the villain allowed the focus to be on a small-scale destruction rather than world domination, and it offered a playful vibe.
In the film, Longlegs gives dolls to the intended victims’ families, which are infused with Satanic magic, inducing an entire family into a trance. Perkins says that revealing more about these dolls would take away from the playfulness created by the devil.
Perkins also revealed that the villain’s name was chosen because it had a vintage feel to it. When writing and generating ideas for years, he accumulated a universe of concepts that he could use, he said.
The film received a four-star rating from NME, with praise for Maika Monroe’s performance as Harker and Nicolas Cage’s performance as Longlegs, which was said to be one of his most bonkers roles yet
Read the full article on NME here: Read More