Cheryl Eddy, io9:Longlegsmade an impression months before release thanks toits unusual marketing campaign.
How much of that was your idea and how involved were you in that process?
Osgood Perkins:None of it was my idea.
Maika Monroe in Longlegs © Neon
I was involved as much as they wanted me to be.
I just trusted them inherently, and it really worked out.
io9: Whats been your impression of how people have reacted toLonglegsso far?
©Neon
Perkins:Its kind of overwhelming.
Everybody seems to like it.
I havent come across someone who doesnt think its pretty okay.
©Neon
And thats a weird thing…
I just tried to make a fun movie.
I think its mostly funny.
©
I dont say that as like a sick person who like gets off on other peoples misery.
I just think its sort of pop and, fun.
And I guess the people who are really scared are having pop fun, so its fine.
Would you agree that your movie has a particular relationship with that one?
Perkins:Its a deliberate one-for-one relationship.
What gains them admission to the world?
Whats the tip of the spear?
This is so satisfying on so many levels.
And then, of course, take a pretty hard left turn to make it not that at all.
io9: Is that why you chose to set the main story in the 1990s?
Perkins:It was very much that.
Both in terms of meeting expectations, and then deviating from expectations.
So, yeah, the idea was to make it look likeSilence of the LambsorSe7en.
And I think it does.
Perkins:Yeah, its drawing on the serial killer history.
It was filmed in Vancouver, so you kind of get what you get, you know?
Vancouver is an exquisite place to make movies.
It also felt a lot like a Gus Van Sant moment.
As opposed to saying, What about John Carpenter?
Or what about Dario Argento?
Can you source references from farther away than the horror section of the video store?
Can you reach out further?
io9: The lead actors, Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe, have such contrasting performance styles.
How did you approach directing them to get that contrast just right?
Its where what the movie really is, [where it] reveals itselfnot until the editing room.
And yes I was conscious of the fact that I had two very counterweight, counterbalancing energies.
Then when they do connect, its a very charged moment.
And so their opposite charges work even better.
io9: Cage is one of the films producers as well.
How early on did you know that you wanted him to play this role?
Perkins:When youre casting a movie, youre trying to get the best person in it.
And then from there, hes not hands-onhes not imposing notes on the process.
Hes not trying to change things.
Hes not trying to take control.
And its everybody doing their best work and trying to make the coolest thing.
A lot of it I brought to ita lot of its written in the script.
His pale face, his pale makeup was always a thing.
Thats derived fromBob Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Revue.
As far as voices go, [Cage] starts with the words as written.
Whats the cadence of this?
In Longlegs dialogue on the page, theres a lot of periods.
It was to sort of put a period in the middle of things.
And, you get lucky if theres a little bit of magic, and we got lucky.
io9: I have to ask aboutLonglegs T. rex and Marc Bolan obsession.
How did that come into play?
You got to kind of hold the thing with a loose grip, otherwise youre going to break it.
It just came to that space.
How do my kids speak?
Whats my wife worried about?
What songs are coming through?
What movie did I just watch?
And youd better write them down.
Longlegsopens in theaters July 12.
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