Excuse the Intermission
Alex and Max take you on a journey through film with this discussion podcast about movies.
Excuse the Intermission
Unraveling 'Longlegs' + Derek Nunn LIVE at Edison Square
What if the sinister forces lurking in the shadows of your favorite horror films were more real than you ever imagined? Join us as we dissect "Longlegs," the chilling new horror thriller by Osgood Perkins.
Stick around after our ‘Longlegs’ discussion to hear from Tacoma-based filmmaker Derek Nunn. Derek shares his journey from Los Angeles to Tacoma and his mission to boost the Pacific Northwest's filmmaking community.
How's it?
Speaker 1:I'm Alex McCauley and I'm Max Fosberg and this is excuse the intermission a discussion show surrounding serial killers, satanic forces, the FBI and mommy and daddy. We are talking long legs on this episode, the highly anticipated, greatly marketed horror thriller from filmmaker Osgood Perkins. We will start with a light, spoiler-free overview of the film and then take a deep dive into the movie, discussing all of the twists and turns. After that we have a conversation with Derek Nunn that was recorded during our live show at Edison Square. Derek talks about his new short film that'll be making the rounds on the upcoming festival circuit, so we hope you stick around for that.
Speaker 2:Derek is a great guy and good friend of VTI, so if you enjoy that interview, we will let you know how to get more content from our live show, where we also spoke to organizing, cultivating and celebrating the region's filmmaking community Through screenings, educational opportunities and community initiatives. Seattle Film Society strives to be a centralizing force for Seattle-area filmmakers.
Speaker 1:Their monthly screening event, locals Only is held at 18th and Union in Seattle's district and spotlights local voices and independent filmmaking tickets start at $10 and are available at Seattle film societycom.
Speaker 2:To keep up with the Seattle film society, Be sure to check them out on Instagram or letterbox at Seattle film society or on their website Seattle film societycom.
Speaker 1:Come be a part of the next generation of Seattle filmmaking. Today. All right Max, how are you doing? Today? It's Tuesday, it's Tuesday.
Speaker 2:Tuesday morning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, our newly chosen summer recording day. The past few weeks we've been catching the breakfast matinee down at the Ruston Cinemark. That was not necessary, as we both saw long legs over the film's opening weekend. So how are you doing today? I know you've been busy. It might be time for a Max's School Corner update.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just you know I'm swimming in it, swimming in the projects, what I've got two different documentaries going on at the same time. I just finished a final project for my intro to motion graphics. Uh, last night, um, which was like a short little silly short yeah, what have we learned?
Speaker 1:what have we been doing?
Speaker 2:uh, lots, lots of green screen, lots of um superimposing graphics. Uh, over video. How to blend stuff, make it look, you know, like it's better in the scene. I'll tell you what. You know, what the the best way to make something look real in the scene is like shoot the backdrop first.
Speaker 1:I don't know what sound sound sound goes so far.
Speaker 2:If you have good sound design, people are more than likely like able to dispend their their disbelief and and really hone in and be like, oh yeah, he can shoot lasers out of his hands because it sounds like what lasers would sound like.
Speaker 1:That's the sound of a laser. Yeah, Interesting, so has that process been more difficult, or have you found it once? You kind of get into it? I don't want to say easy, nothing's probably easy.
Speaker 2:It's the most toxic relationship you've ever been in, Because while you're doing it, you're just like I hate everything about this. It's tedious, it's hard to understand, it's lots of different. You know assets and clicking and little buttons and whatnot, but then as soon as you get something done, you just watch it 50 times over and you're just like I love you. You're the best thing I've ever made. Um, uh, so yeah, uh, it's, it's, it's an interesting process, but um, but yeah.
Speaker 1:So school's been really busy, but then the doc, one of the documentaries, at least one of the projects you're working on, I I was with you as you were filming some material for that. The other night it was like a live venue, yeah, um, a very a static environment as, as one might label it, a lot of moving parts. How is that?
Speaker 2:uh, my biggest concern while shooting that was just, I didn't want to take away from the performance on the stage, right. So I was shooting during an improv show and, like, the big thing about improv is that you're very locked in because a lot, of a lot of you know, there's a lot of moving parts and jokes that people are pulling back from. From the beginning of the show to the end of the show. They're jumping in and out of time, they're making things up as they go. They don't have any props or anything, so they're miming everything. You have to really pay attention to improv to really enjoy it, or anything. So they're miming everything. You have to really pay attention to improv to really enjoy it. Um, so my biggest concern was like getting in front of you know the audience and you know taking someone out of it, even though, like, the most important thing to shoot that night was audience reaction shots, cause that's going to be like just golden B roll, to use um in this documentary.
Speaker 2:So, kind of like you know, uh, and I've I'm starting to go through that footage and look at it and I think it did an okay job of like no one's really ever looking down the barrel, which is good, opposed from you and some of our friends who were there. Yeah, but uh, so I think I I stayed kind of incognito enough, uh, at least with with the rest of the audience, um, but yeah, really, really interesting to shoot something like that. You know, because also like you're not in control of the lighting yeah, yeah, you just kind of have to.
Speaker 2:You have to kind of, you know, go with what you get right. It's very dark, except for the stage, which actually isn't bad lighting. It's a little tough when you're shooting stuff on the stage because it can be a little overexposed, but when you're shooting the audience, it's just light reflecting off off their faces, which is nice, um, but yeah, it was interesting.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, live, live stuff is always hard to shoot it's always it's always tough and and people and also you know I I thought I was going to they were going to announce like hey, there's a camera, we are shooting.
Speaker 1:I know from talking to the guys on stage that was their plan yeah and and that didn't happen.
Speaker 2:So then I felt extra kind of awkward, but that's okay, it all worked out.
Speaker 1:I love it. That's awesome. All right, so long legs. The fourth feature film from Osgood Perkins, the son of famed actor Anthony Perkins in case that sounded familiar aka Norman Bates, of course. Actor Anthony Perkins in case that sounded familiar, aka Norman Bates, of course opened this past weekend to mostly positive reviews but really good financial success. The movie earned $22 million domestically its opening weekend, against a production budget of about $10 million, which is a huge win for everyone involved, especially Neon. Neon is, of course, the emerging distributor that has released the last five palm dior winning films, so this movie made more than its opening weekend. At least. It made more than parasite, titan triangle of sadness, anatomy of a fall and then, most recently, uh, neon will be distributing sean baker's new film, an, which won the Palm Dior as well this year, and we got to see if you chose to watch it. There was the first theatrical trailer of Anora before. Long legs.
Speaker 2:They also have a deal with Osgood for his next two films that are, I believe, in the can right now, or I know one one is the Stephen.
Speaker 3:King.
Speaker 1:Adaptation of the monkey the monkey shines monkey, which is really exciting. That's based off of neon's belief in in long legs and what they got from that, and so at least they're one for three, so far, at least on the financial side of things. Um, so let's, let's just kind of pause right there and first talk about the, the long legs marketing, because, say what you will about the overall film, but for an independent movie, this is like one of the most impressive, impressive marketing schemes that I can kind of remember seeing in years and now horror has a history of being able to market this way. Really well, you think about cloverfield, you think about the blair witch project, paranormal activity, right? Um, so how, how effective do you think that the long legs scheme was?
Speaker 2:I mean, they should get an oscar for for how, how well they did the the marketing team over there at neon. Um, it killed it. Whether it was like a weird phone number on a billboard, uh, a website.
Speaker 1:Dude, I looked up this website because I had no idea about it.
Speaker 1:I and of course listeners of the show know I stay away from everything. Yeah, you tell me osgood perkins is making a film that's distributed by neon. That's about a serial killer and stars michael monroe, like I'm in. I don't. That's. That's enough for me. But yeah, for those who don't know, because I did not know until I went back and researched this the seattle times put in an advertisement for the Friday June 14th edition of their paper that released a Zodiac-like coded message, which then led people to a website that was called thebirthdaymurdersnet, which then that website detailed a number of murder suicides from throughout the Pacific Northwest area, believed to have been committed by a serial killer who calls themselves long legs.
Speaker 2:Just brilliant. I mean, we haven't seen that kind of marketing for a film in a very long time.
Speaker 1:The last I can remember is Cloverfield, where they kind of had this in universe.
Speaker 2:There was a website like a weird website.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, it showed pictures of like slushies and different things and you're like, how is this going to tie in and everything else, a lot of stuff having to do with like Japan, different countries and nuclear kind of like, not like nuclear holocaust, but just a lot of stuff that really wet your appetite going into it. Same with this too, even just like the the eyes, the red banner with the black eyes that you saw people like you could print out your own like kind of mask, not even really knowing what that was. So so you're right, I almost wish you know. I don't think there probably ever will be, that's a real pipe dream, but we're getting things like casting directors recognized in the academy awards some somehow.
Speaker 1:Maybe that is like at the um. You know, there's like the the science, the arts of science, um academy awards. That happened before again maybe, maybe, maybe not, but I don't know.
Speaker 2:The marketing team over at neon just kudos to you guys also I think like just brilliant trailer cutting yeah, you never see long legs and those trailers, went back and watched those as well.
Speaker 2:A pose from like a maybe a blacked out shadow, you know silhouette of him and so you have no idea what Nicolas Cage looks like as this character going in and and you know, listen, I think, think, as, as you pointed out, something like paranormal activity or blair witch, you know when it it gets that stamp like the scariest movie ever and they run with it. You know that's going to get people out to the theaters, it doesn't. It doesn't really matter if it's clickbait or not. You, you are right, like you want to see the scariest thing ever.
Speaker 1:Right, there were a lot of folks who I talked to this past week that were anticipating this film, that I didn't know were movie people. There were a lot of people that asked my you know like we were with some friends the other night and someone says, just can you sum up long legs in one word for me.
Speaker 1:Because they they wanted to go. They wanted to know what I thought of it, but they still wanted to go. They wanted to know what I thought of it, but they still wanted to go and go in as spoiler free as possible.
Speaker 1:So it's, it's really exciting one word I said sinister, sinister yeah I was, yeah, I would have said dread, yeah, that's a good one as well. And so there's. There's really something to be said about when a horror film can come out in the middle of summer like this, drum up this much excitement, and now we'll kind of talk about where this falls, maybe in the 2024 canon of horror films. But it was sort of I don't want to call it like the linchpin. It's not like the success of this genre, genre, was riding on this or not, but I think people did think that this was going to be like the pillar. That kind of held up the genre and was maybe the apex. And now I still have a. I still have another horror film rated above this one going into the year and I mean that's the first omen. The first omen is just like it's undefeated.
Speaker 2:It's it's undefeated will it be defeated?
Speaker 1:maybe, maybe, nosferatu yeah I don't know if you're gonna, if we're gonna, count alien romulus as straight up horror we'll see we'll see how terrifying it ends up being right, I guess, um, but but for for a horror film to come along and like not even one that has, you know, like a quiet place much more financially successful than this film but that's part of a franchise, it's pg-13, a wider appeal but for this movie to still do as much business as it did and make as much noise as it did, I think that like that's the first win, right there before you, even like, get into the theater, really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I went on a Friday night. Theater was packed seven, 45 show Like one of the biggest lines at concessions I've seen in a long time.
Speaker 3:That's really cool.
Speaker 2:So it was. It was exciting to be in a theater like that, yeah.
Speaker 1:I saw it on a Thursday night, so it was exciting to be in a theater like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I saw it on a Thursday night, so a little bit of like an early release screening, seven o'clock, a lot of other sickos in there, and I'm very appreciative of the crowd I got, because I've heard from other folks you included that, and now whether you chalk this up and I don't want to again, let's try not to get into too many spoilers yet but like whether or not you're just made uncomfortable by the absurdity of films like this or of certain images or the way that certain characters are dressed or behave, like it can create nervous laughter. It can maybe just create a genuine like comedic, you know, like a response from somebody where they're just kind of laughing because they feel like it's comedic, and so I I've also told some folks that have asked me about this movie that like as much fun as it is to see a movie like this with a Friday night or Saturday night crowd in primetime, maybe wait until you can almost guarantee a quieter, smaller crowd in your theater.
Speaker 2:It's so crazy because I'm such a hypocrite, because I actually, yeah, I thought about that like, wow, you know what, this movie would fucking be awesome at home, even though, like you do need some really good sound, because there's a really good sound design in this film, uh, and so, like, having that in that sound system in the theater is really nice. But I was thinking about that like, I wonder, I wonder if I had watched this at home at night, in the dark alone. Yeah, how do my feelings change?
Speaker 1:I don't know, I don't know yeah, where then, all of a sudden, you go, you walk down the hall to the bathroom or you look out the dark kitchen window and you're, you're feeling things that you wouldn't be feeling in a theater. I get that.
Speaker 2:I get that it's so weird, that's so weird. I, I feel like I I find that with horror movies more than anything too. Yeah, that's the genre it can also be this the other way, extremely, the other way, right like I don't know, it's really strange.
Speaker 1:No, I get it, you know. I don't really know why this movie's been. I've been thinking about this movie, but I've been thinking about the 2018 David Gordon Green Halloween a lot recently. And I feel like that's a movie where, like I've been, I've been kind of circling a rewatch of that one.
Speaker 1:Again, I don't really know why, um for no particular reason, but it's a really good movie that's one that I seen in the theaters was awesome, was incredible, whereas like watching it at home, I don't know if I watched that movie at home yet Um, so I hope that it still holds up and I don't start to feel like Halloween kills and Halloween ends. You know cause those films I did watch at home a little goofy, totally like really goofy by the time we get to the end of that trilogy.
Speaker 1:But I think that's a good example of what you're talking about, where, just like, some play really well in the theater because they're big and they're loud and the kills are awesome and they're on this 80 foot screen, whereas like long legs that's small, contained, um, you know you're really playing with like blank space we can get to that, the aspects of it here in a little bit.
Speaker 1:But like that stuff works, works really well on like a nice tv at home with a good bar, almost just as well as it does in the theater. Interesting thoughts there. So okay, let's do kind of some overall thoughts on the film. I want to start first with the setting, because, having stayed away from all the trailers and not that this is really given away in any of the previews, but once you've seen the movie, the previews but it once you've seen the movie and if you're listening to this podcast as a local listener, it will come as a little bit of a surprise to you maybe it did to me that this is set in the late 20th century in the pacific northwest I had no idea.
Speaker 1:you had no idea, I had no clue either loved it.
Speaker 1:Living in this area, growing up in the 1990s, where a majority of this film is set, I really responded to the atmosphere that was created by telling the story in this way, which kind of has, just like it, reinforced this morbid curiosity that I've always had when going on road trips or driving around with my parents growing up and and being in these different counties that you're not really familiar with and you drive by these like farmhouses and these different neighborhoods and even these towns that just feel so isolated and a little desolate.
Speaker 1:The film that really reminded me of this altar that I worship at that is Twin Peaks, where I just I really felt like we're tapping into something here where, like small town America, small town Pacific Northwest, where you're surrounded by the woods, where communities are not connected, there's, there's that room there. It's the kind of that idle hands or the devil's playground like these, these disenfranchised, just kind of that idle hands or the devil's playground, like these disenfranchised, just kind of like underdeveloped communities that are out there. And if you don't live in this part of the United States, like I know, on the East Coast, west Virginia, there's lots of deep wooded areas as well and stuff, but like Washington State, oregon, where this film takes place, these are rural, rural places for the most part. Yes, we have our portlands and our seattles, but like when you get out there into to the back country, well it's, it's scary so I love that about this movie, yeah, when blair underwood says I need someone to talk to about my beautiful mariners and then you realize you're in the 90s.
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh, this is the refuse to lose era.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, uh, I heard a couple, a couple whoo in the theater, yeah, um, but yeah, I I think the setting is is really great and I mean we'll, we'll get there when we get the spoilers. But definitely one of my scenes is like my favorite scenes in the film is is like in northwest woods, right like that, and and I think that's that plays into why I love it so much, because it is familiar and, at the same time, you know, familiar in a scary way, especially someone who, like you know, spent, had a cabin out in the woods right, growing up like spending a lot of time out in the dark, quiet woods, that especially really, really got to me.
Speaker 1:I mean, we just drove through the entire state of Oregon last summer and I'm telling you, once you get outside of your big cities, like you, you're going through these towns where you blink and you miss them, type of deal, and so I really really like that about the film. So that's kind of the where and the when of the film, did you think? Well, I guess, before we get off of the when part of it, our movie starts in the 1970s and then we don't really spend too much time in the 80s but we primarily focus on the 1990s, so as, like a period piece, how do you feel that worked? Like this was obviously paying homage to a lot of 90s thrillers, so I did like that aspect of it. Um, because it it honestly as an independent feature.
Speaker 1:maybe part of this was the budget, but like it didn't have the movie doesn't really have that glitz of like a 2024 production the way that other movies really do and you kind of like almost can't believe that it's a period piece, because either, like people look too pretty or the cars are, you know, they just like come manufactured a different way, or the way that the homes are dressed, like the art direction and everything. Do you feel like you were immersed in like a 1990s world? You know, I didn't really.
Speaker 2:While experiencing the film, I wasn't really aware of the 90s, I suppose, of it being in the 90s. I felt like it could have been at any time, even though the lack of technology is is kind of glaring. But also I, I guess, maybe I just kind of like, was like well, this is, this is a police procedural, like that's how that goes, like we don't really use, you know, technology in those stories we have our manila folders and our case cards and we're doing stuff on the floor yeah, and maybe that's because all the best ones are set before you know the internet so um, so yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I guess I kind of thought it was timeless, like it could have been.
Speaker 1:It could have been now, it could have been then, but uh, kind of in a way that something like seven sort of feels timeless, totally Right.
Speaker 2:Seven could take place tomorrow. Um, but you know, obviously it's, it's set in the nineties and I think, you know, I don't know, I never really have a problem, even if it was set in today, like I'm okay with, like you know, no one ever pulls out a cell phone.
Speaker 1:Let's just take it out, you know, and like we're just telling a story, Right, you know, and we don't need to worry about a cell phone or a computer or anything and like this movie did a good job of never going back to whatever the fbi headquarters in portland or wherever it would have been at, like there's no, there's no scene where you would have really like a big, like we, we are at a police station a few different times, but there's not really the need for, um, like a control room type of scene right, where there would be like where you would notice, oh, here's a bunch of computers right.
Speaker 1:Or, in this case, like here's a bunch of typewriters, like I think we're michael monroe's house and she does have a typewriter, I believe, when she's like putting up some case notes, or maybe it's like a very early computer, um, but yeah, there's. There's really not one moment where you feel like, oh, this is honestly aside from like the manners line, honestly they really don't do too much else to ground the story in that time period as this, as I mean, apart from just setting the movie in the 90s, which I think you get from kind of the opening sequence, to then knowing how old Michael Monroe's character is you know, someone who's in their late 20s, early 30s, so that starts to make sense.
Speaker 1:Okay, so then, so, so that's really the where and the when. So how about, like the how, how the movie was shot? What did you respond to in that sense? What did you find interesting about the filmmaking? Did anything really like stand out as a particular strength, or do you think there were some weaknesses?
Speaker 2:oz is, uh, he is so good at composition, his shots, his, you know they're flat but have lots of depth. It's slow, it's lingering, it makes you search the screen. One scene like where they go into the. They're like searching a barn and they walk, you know you're with them going into the barn, and then they leave camera and you're you're sitting there looking out this barn door where they had just come from, and again it's voyeuristic. It makes you feel like someone is watching you from those woods over there. And so you're sitting up straight and you're looking, you're, you're searching that, that screen for for somebody or a clue or something. Um, so I really loved the way he makes you feel with his, with his cinematography, the way he composes shots. There's also another shot where Micah's character is on a payphone. I guess that's another technology that were in the 90s.
Speaker 1:Correct, yeah.
Speaker 2:She does use a payphone at one time and she's in some sort of public building I think it might be the police station, yeah, or like City Morgue.
Speaker 1:Something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, using a payphone, and it's a wide shot and it's interesting because she, like you, can barely see micah she's very small in in the in the shot and there's this huge staircase in the middle, um, and at the top of the staircase there's like this golden light that coming out of this doorway at the top of the staircase and then at the bottom of the staircase where Micah is, there's like a really dark hallway and then a exit that's lit up with like a red exit sign, so like dark and with red tones, and that right there, I mean that's heaven and hell right, and we're just we're showing you on the screen and yes, she's on the phone with, with a certain someone and like having a meaningful conference conversation, but also, but like I mean right there, I mean that's that's the movie. Right there we're showing you know that, that that is such good art direction, such good visual storytelling. Um, I love. I love when directors do that.
Speaker 1:It that scene? Fans of Osgood and of the black coat's daughter, immediately, I recognize that scene.
Speaker 1:There's a scene where kieran shipka's character in the black coat's daughter, is in a hallway at her boarding school and she goes to the payphone and the payphone plays a pivotal role in some conversations in that film shot very much the same, and so I saw that as like a little Easter egg, a little throwback, because there's a very simple. A lot of the visual storytelling is very similar in what's trying to be communicated right there. So I love that. But I totally agree with you with the composition and the way that certain characters are lit amongst, like dark backdrops.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's so many dark corners in this film. And again, and, and where, where Oz puts the camera right, like in a voyeuristic way, like it. It makes you search the screen so subconsciously really. Cause cause. It's not like you ever really find anything when you're doing that.
Speaker 1:But there'll be a lot of. There'll be a lot of clutter on screen that you're trying to search through. Maybe you're in the woods and you're trying to search through it. A part of me was reminded of the way that, um, that I think, and who knows if we're really going to get this again, or maybe we're getting it, but just in a more grandiose way and we don't really notice it unless we really stop to think about it. But the way that, like denny villeneuve shot prisoners, I was reminded a lot of um, some of the some of the scenes in this film and long legs, because, same same sense of like there's something more there's, there's a puzzle on screen that I need to try and figure out. There's a clue in here somewhere that I need to try to find a lot, especially during, like, the david del smolchin part of Prisoners, where that really becomes like a police procedural right there. So, again, just like a little parallel that I was like this is it's not trying to be prisoners in any sense of the way, really, but like, just really really good visual storytelling, I thought throughout most of the film.
Speaker 1:Okay, so now we're going to start to tread a little bit lightly into spoilers because we want to start talking about some of the performances. I think we save Nick Cage until the very end because then we're going to be squarely into spoiler zone, obviously him not being shown in the trailer. They kept it a secret for a reason. We want to do that justice and kind of honor that in our discussion, if you're still listening, having not seen the film. So let's kind of start with like Micah Monroe, she carries the film as this Claire Clarice Starling-esque young FBI agent. Micah is that she's on the Mount Rushmore for me, as far as scream queens go here in the 21st century, what'd you make of her performance?
Speaker 2:yeah, I thought I thought she was great. I mean to be to able to able to carry a film but then also be like extremely alienated and and isolated from everyone else in the film, but then also make you root for her at the same time. She's great. I thought she had some amazing line readings.
Speaker 1:Even some great comedic timing, as well as this character. Yeah, this movie has the same sort of warped sense of humor that something like a twin peaks does with the special agent dale cooper character where it's not completely outrageous, like how twin peaks almost becomes like a soap opera sitcom at times and that's super intentional.
Speaker 1:But like the comedy in long legs is also intentional, like the first scene with her and blair underwood's daughter in her bedroom, like that. That moment is supposed to make you laugh a little bit and show that this person, whether they're neurodivergent or, um, you know, they just have some they. They just don't have the social skills that that the rest of us have. I thought that was communicated very well and in an entertaining, funny way, like in that scene.
Speaker 2:She pulled that off brilliantly yeah, and micah micah does so, so much with her eyes too, that, like you know, without even speaking, you know she very much like, uh, you know, jodie foster, in silence of the lambs, like the way she moves and the way what she, how she looks at things and and I mean she's, she's just really, she seemed really really locked into the role and knew exactly what to do, which is crazy, because I read that like she was like on the verge of quitting acting Uh and, and then Oz like came to her with this project and she decided to do it, um, she's probably the she's one of the biggest stars of 2024 because of this film now, yeah, so, thank God, please keep acting, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Speaking of keep acting, someone who's just been plugging away for a long time, blair Underwood I think kind of the unsung hero of this film. So he plays like the older kind of veteran partner to Monroe's FBI character. I mean I haven't seen him in a ton of things but like he's pretty iconic and set it off the f gary gray film from the 90s. He kind of plays a jada pinkett love um, love interest in that film. He's awesome in this movie like good comedic timing plays the. He plays the fbi agent in a rural town. So well we're like probably got a little bit of a drinking problem but like a stable enough home life. He's a good dad Um just like hits a lot of the nineties federal bureau of investigation tropes um for me and I thought played that archetype really well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think he, you know he uh, he's like the best poor man Denzel we've ever seen. Right, I mean, you know, I think he's just. Yeah, I think he's wonderful in this role and like he's got a great voice. Yeah, he's got a great. You know he commands the screen when he's on there, but then again also like like his dry humor throughout is pretty good and and he's a good he.
Speaker 1:he swears he. I liked the way he swears. It's a good cursor yeah.
Speaker 2:He's a great cursor and, like you can, he's just so believable as, like a, a chief.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then I think this is where we're going to kind of put the spoiler warning out, because got to talk about alicia witt. Um, she's unrecognizable in this role as micah's mother. Um, now alicia's like in her late 40s I looked it up um but you know, a kind of a scream queen of um in her own right. She was obviously in urban legend and kind of got a big break there in the 90s with that. But like she's again in one of my favorites, the episode of anger lynch yep, she got a big break there in the nineties with that, but like she's again in one of my, favorites the upside of anger.
Speaker 1:Yep, she's in, yep she's in the return, uh Dune.
Speaker 2:Oh, and in Dune she's the child and that's, that's awesome Um and so I mean her character.
Speaker 1:When you first, when you first meet her, you feel like there's something off about her, her.
Speaker 1:You feel like there's something off about her, um, but but I feel like that's really just like that's more of the way that alicia's understanding the character and the way that she's portraying someone who like um, you know, not like an, an elderly woman, but it reminds me a little bit of like jennifer ely and saint maude, somebody who, like you're, like I know this person isn't as old as the person who they are playing, but they're doing such a good job and making me feel uncomfortable, like something else is going on here and so, whether it's like early on she said dementia, like we're not really sure what is happening with her character, but you have, you, you know that her and her daughter have this like not quite estranged relationship, but that like there's some tension between them and the fact that micah needs to keep making these phone calls and when she's calling her mom and her mom doesn't answer right away, and she's asking her what's taking you so long to answer the phone?
Speaker 1:And just like a lot of little subtle things happen at the beginning of this film, when introduced to her character that I think then make a lot of sense in the third act. So I thought she was like a standout for me in this movie. The more and more I think about it, I'm like she really I mean as as someone who is as integral to the plot as she is, they do a really good job of just like kind of slowly turning up the heat on on the importance of her character.
Speaker 2:I thought that was well paced yeah, when she enters the story, I'm immediately suspicious of her. I thought she I. I didn't care for her, her performance or her role in this interesting this film I I, I, really I.
Speaker 2:I lose some luster with this movie when this character comes into the story, because I don't know. I just feel like what happens is so telegraphed from, because as soon as, as soon as we have that first phone call, the first thing I'm thinking is like she's long legs or something, something that we're getting into spoilers now, of course.
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, she's long legs or something something that we're getting into spoilers now, of course, yeah, uh, she's long legs or you know something's wrong with this person and you know she doesn't sound right. Obviously you were talking about that. But like, yeah, I thought, I just kind of thought she was in, which is interesting, because you know we'll talk about Nick cage and how much. But I think Alicia Witt is kind of in a different movie. She just doesn't feel right for the world that Micah and Blair Underwood are performing in. But then also, again, I just think the whole thing is telegraphed because there are a total of four characters in this movie, pretty much that you're spending time with and like it's I don't know I, when it came down to like well, somebody's helping long legs, I mean, who else could it be? It's not Blair, it's not Blair Underwood. That would be very cheesy and I don't think the right choice either. But yeah, I don't know, alicia Witt is kind of where it loses a little luster for me.
Speaker 1:So we'll start to talk about the pairing now, I guess, between Alicia Witt and Nick Cage. But I do just want to give one more quick shout-out to kind of like the I guess she's like batting. Fifth in the lineup, um is Kiernan Shipka, a return collaborator of Osgood Perkins. She's the other detective. No, she. She comes in as someone who has um survived a long legs attack and she's in a mental hospital and she delivers just like such a good monologue.
Speaker 2:She was great. Yeah, uh, such a good monologue. She was great. Yeah, uh, I would have loved to see like more, more time spent there or with her, like when we were going, and I was like, okay, yeah, we're gonna talk to maybe there's more survivors, you know that, that was very interesting. Yeah, yeah, she was, she was really good her, her part's awesome.
Speaker 1:So, okay, when, when it comes to the way, the way that I really see this and again now I'm I'm just going back to what I know and what I grew up on, and that is like Twin Peaks and the way to tell a detective story, when you're going to introduce some supernatural, religious context to it and begin to take the story outside of our world, introduce otherworldly forces, and so the more I'm thinking about it and I've been dying to re-watch this film, like I'm, either tonight or tomorrow well, not tomorrow, because we're going to get to what's happening tomorrow night but, I'm definitely going to find time to watch this for a second time in the theater, because I do.
Speaker 1:I do want to go back and see maybe how clear it is and how many clues and like is there some intentionality behind painting the alicia witt character and maybe the way you saw it? Because when I think about twin peaks and I think about the character of leland palmer and now we've already said spoiler warnings, now I'm going to spoil twin peaks for you guys, but guess what? It's been out since the 90s um, you've had your time.
Speaker 1:when I think about leland palmer in the way that he is so obviously the one who is being possessed by bob, and now david lynch does a great job over the first season of of giving you little red herrings and making you think it could be some other people. But it is sort of that trope of like. It's always the evil that you can't see that it's the closest to you and that like will hurt the most to the main protagonist if it comes true. So I think about that a lot when it comes to Long Legs, because the way that Nick Cage as the titular character of Long Legs is really just kind of like the conduit for this unnamed evil force and we see glimpses of this evil personified a little bit and some terrifying imagery of this black hooded figure with these red eyes, and Cage refers to it as the man downstairs. So I love that parallel line of like that's that's basically the Bob, that's that's the evil entity that is that is presenting these, these forces, these evil forces into the world. And so whether it's twin peaks and it's the black lodge, or it's this film and it's the man downstairs, and you're able to then really like kind of take over another person's psyche in the way that they're behaving. And now, like I've never heard because I've never heard somebody talk about twin peaks in in a negative, when referring to leland, laura palmer's father being the, the, the bad guy, the essentially where, like you would never watch twin peaks and say, like, well, how could laura never know that it's her father that is sexually assaulting her every night, like she would like what it's? Because, whether it's through her trauma, the way that she's processing it in these external forces that are making her see it as bob, I get that in this story where, like, even if maybe we as an audience member can see it happen, I can put myself in michael monroe's character's shoes and be like she she is.
Speaker 1:She doesn't want to see it this way, as much as she might think it is, and there's like a little itch in the back of her brain and that's why she's making these phone calls home and that's why she's checking up on her mom and that's why she's asking her things like how come you didn't answer the phone right away when I called? There's something in the back of her mind that tells her something's wrong and that she has this like lost childhood and I think that's conveyed really well, with her mom being a hoarder. She's hanging on to these empty things, these spoiled things, because she can't get over the fact that, like she spoiled her own daughter's childhood growing up basically. So I can, I see that and I respond again really well to it, just being a student of twin peaks and of these crime thrillers from the 90s, and not that like seven or silence of the lambs brings in any supernatural forces, but like when you can pull off a marriage of that and in my opinion I think they pulled this off pretty well.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna respond to it in the way that I did in longlegs case and think that like that's pretty great, like that's that's, and for me that was like that made a lot of sense to me and also too, cause, like we find out that there has been this doll of the Michael Monroe's character this entire time. So even if she has certain psychic ability, she's very like counterintuitive, like she's's, she's able to see things in a way that other people can't, kind of like how the dale cooper character can, can see things that people can't. There's still this force where, like dale cooper at one point is in the black lodge. Half of his spirit is there and it's clouding his judgment. Micah munro's character has this doll with this black metal core that, like long legs, and her mother are using to also kind of like influence some of her behavior or at least block her ability to just like know exactly what's happening. So I I thought it was all the more and more I've thought about it.
Speaker 2:I think that, like I think it was played really well yeah, I mean, I I think it's clever to dress this up as silence of the lambs, but then really it's about parents, how far your parents will go to protect you, how far they'll lie to you, which really comes back to osgood and his upbringing. I'm sure, uh, with anthony perkins being his father, um, and actually I've I've I've heard and read oz talk about that and that was kind of he was like how do I get people into the theater to tell that side of the story you know, okay, well, I'll dress it up as a horror serial killer movie, but then really, it's, it's, it's a family it's about.
Speaker 2:It's a family drama, right, it's about family trauma, uh, and, and I respect that and that's, and I I do think it's a great, great bait, and I don't want to say bait and switch.
Speaker 1:I don't want to say bait and switch but there is a little bit, because a lot of people go to this movie because they think they're going to see Nick cage, in a ridiculous outfit with a kitchen knife, committing a bunch of satanic murders, totally, totally.
Speaker 2:And that would have fucking rocked too. That would have been cool, um, but yeah, I so I do I do like that he was going for something much more on a on a deeper level, right, uh, a deeper personal level. Um, and I don't know, maybe I'm maybe cause we just kind of saw this in Maxine, but I just did not respond. I did not respond the way you did where I was, I was just like why I don't?
Speaker 2:know, I just felt like the stakes become yes, they become personal to Micah's character, which is important in the movie, but then it becomes lowered as well.
Speaker 2:And not that you know, we don't need the supernatural in there, we don't need. You know, long legs ends up, you know, exiting the film. Uh, that's fine, that's, that's all good, and I'll, I'll even go with these dolls and this metal ball with the black evil in it, um, but like I, I just don't know why we have to make it that long legs is playing this whole time, since the 70s was all revolving all around this one character, Micah. I just have a hard time going along with that, yeah.
Speaker 1:I feel like, so I feel like long legs his, his character, at least the nick cage character. I don't know if that ever was like his plan, like on but he's living in their basement right, but that isn't until alicia witt's character, the mother, makes this deal.
Speaker 1:She says this in this great monologue. I love it. The aspect ratio comes back to this like rounded box, this four, three aspect, and we get this really cool, um, like bridge between the second and third act. That really establishes, like, why we are where we are and I I really am of the belief that like long legs himself didn't really know what he was getting into.
Speaker 1:He's not like great at his job as as this like child murderer or as this like maybe just person who's gonna abduct some kids, like I don't really think he knows what his plan is. And then he gets to this farmhouse in the 1970s and he's confronted by this parents, by by this child's parent, and she makes this deal, she's able to have the conviction to make this deal with him. Basically, that is like I will do your dirty work if you let my daughter live, which we've seen that in horror films before. I was thinking most recently of you Won't Be Alone, the really cool Mastodonian witch film. Basically that follows the same kind of um, uh plot line where this, this, um, this wolf eater, this, this witch of sorts, has come into this village and she's gonna take a child and the mother makes a deal with her that like just let me have my kid until their 18th birthday or whatever, and let me have my childhood with them, but then, once they turn 18 or maybe it's 16, that phone, but then like they're yours and you can have them or whatever. Very, very interesting concept there, so something similar here, and so that's.
Speaker 1:That's kind of where I'm at, where I'm thinking like I don't really think long legs plan all along was for this to like end up circling back, because then, yeah, sooner or later that's's gonna kind of like bite him in the ass.
Speaker 1:But then that's just where this story gets interesting, because what happens then, uh, is he is able to lean further and further into his like satanic obsession. The mother um becomes more and more complicit, and yet, all the while, the child that's being raised turns out to be like an fbi agent. And now you can say, like what are the, what are the odds, you know kind of deal. But that's just, that's being raised turns out to be like an FBI agent. And now you can say, like what are the, what are the odds, you know kind of deal. But that's just, that's. That's movies. Like you have to tell sort of an interesting story that way, because I, I I do think that long legs is is this guy who, like you know, I was thinking. Another thing I was thinking a lot about was when watching the show criminal minds, when watching this movie, because I've heard that that people describe this as like the greatest criminal minds episode ever.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting, okay, yeah um, because I think and I think a lot of like um, even though there's a lot of characters I like, more than the shamar more character on that show, but like shamar more, who I believe his name is like honcho or something like that, um, um, in the in the show he's always somebody that can come in and just kind of tell these serial killers, um, or these predators, whoever the bad guy of the week is, that like you're just kind of like a piece of shit You're, you're a weak guy and like you're pathetic, and the fact that you're doing this and we caught you, like yeah, it serves you, right that's. I don't think that. That's like I don't need the blair underwood character to have had a scene with nick cage, like that or whatever, but like that, that's just kind of like the vibes that I'm getting from from nick cage in this movie, where like he is terrifying but also like you know, he's just a gross guy.
Speaker 2:Like when he goes to that that shop or whatever that camera shop and the girl behind the counter is like dad, creepy guys gross guys back again yeah like he and and I think I think that is part of the part of the thinking that, like, listen, any serial killer out there, any person like this is, is really just a gross person.
Speaker 1:Just a gross person who gets off and who's never been killed and who's never really been like told or confronted by anybody that like your shit's weak man like what you know and they just kind of get to go unchecked.
Speaker 1:So I don't know that's. That's just the dynamic that I see between between the alicia wood character and nick's cage character, where, like, she enabled him to just continue to tap into these evil forces, to strengthen his relationship with the man downstairs, to to get better at doing these evil deeds, and then, of course, it comes back to bite him in the end. Um, but it's I, it's just really it's I. I love when this happens. I was talking to somebody the other day and I was like max and I are gonna have a great conversation about this because we saw the movie differently, yeah, um, but, but we saw the same.
Speaker 1:We saw the same thing but kind of differently because this is totally one of those movies and you did a really good job explaining it earlier where I feel like what, what happens in the movie, is not what the movie's about. Yeah, totally where, like it has these deeper meanings to family and family trauma and how we protect our children and the paths we create for ourselves. Kind of how everything is cyclical but like on the surface, it is Nick Cage being outrageously terrifying. He's really good. What did you make of our guy going full send in this movie.
Speaker 2:I mean, I, I, the way the first off, the cold open to this film is some of the best like cold open shit I've ever seen, like that was so good and how you're you're shooting him Cause, cause again. The whole marketing thing is we're not showing Nick cage at all. And they don't show Nick cage in this in the film for at least the first hour and a half and it is brilliant and it is so scary and what's he? What he's doing with his voice, how he looks, the fact that, uh, you know, like he's wearing all white as opposed to all black, uh is is really like upsetting.
Speaker 1:well, and I think it was introduced so great in that cold open because it's a snowy, isolated situation, and so the fact that he's wearing all white up against this white backdrop and just kind of again, is this person that can blend in. He can be the person next door, he can be the person who's down in the basement. He's this like unseen face. He's this unseen presence that could be right next door.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and yeah. I thought nicholas cage was brilliant. Now is there a little bit of like once you show the shark. How scary is the shark going on when we finally do see him when he's brought in? Uh, for the interrogation scene which is, you know, in any sort of grand finale though?
Speaker 1:yeah, so I thought that was gotta it's and it's gotta happen yeah he does look a little.
Speaker 2:He does look a little funny you know, but, but like, but. At the same time he's. It also gives his character more, more depth than you know that he's gotten these plastic surgeries that obviously have been very botched, yeah, um you know that puffy cheeks the puffy lips the the curly long, long curly hair.
Speaker 1:It looks like freaking Dee Snider Speaking of Maxine again. I think it's so funny that, like Dee Snider totally is in the beginning of Maxine and then I'm like he's definitely got some, some Dee Snider to him.
Speaker 2:And you know, and you get that too, when he's, you know he sings throughout the movie. He does a couple different musical numbers where he sings some sort of, you know, glam, rock, metal, heavy metal song where he's just doing yeah, he's doing the loud voices in the car.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mommy daddy, like and I can. And now that's again where, like, if you, if you can get yourself to the point where you are immersed and caught up in this world to the point where, like you understand, just kind of like maybe, yeah, it's, it's pathetic, um, but it's also like terrifying and it's sad. It's all these other things that aren't funny in a way that, like you, would laugh in the theater, because that's where I know a lot like. I've read a lot of my friends reviews on letterbox and they're like my theater, sucked, sucked. They were all laughing at Nick cage.
Speaker 2:I had a couple of laughers in my, in my theater, yeah, so like it does, suck Cause, yeah, yeah, cause there's there's moments for it.
Speaker 1:There's definitely moments for it. And again, if you're made uncomfortable, like I'm not going to sit here, like I was straight faced throughout, like I had a shit eating grin on my face the whole time because I was enjoying myself, but like I was not going to laugh. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Anytime Cage was on screen, I was genuinely creeped out. Well, and there's really good.
Speaker 1:Dude back to the cold open Right before the title card hits. That's one of the best, and I don't even know if it's really a jump scare. I guess it is.
Speaker 2:But just like the reveal and the sound of when he like, he lowers well it's, it's so quick, it's so good. That is what nightmares is made of. Right like it reminds you know what it tapped into me.
Speaker 2:I have a huge fear of the child napper from chitty chitty sure like yeah, I was scarred as a kid watching that movie and there's some similarities going on with like the pale white skin, now you know, and like the weird nose and shit. So that's what was tapping into me while I was watching. I was freaked out by Cage and I loved it and I hate. I've also read that he has come out and said you know, I'm never going to play a serial killer again.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting.
Speaker 2:I don't like violence and I did not like this process. Interesting Proud of the movie yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, he's a producer on the film. He certainly believed in it, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I was like no, I want more the film. Yeah, certainly believed in it. Yeah, and I was like no, I want more. Because cage is someone who, like, good or bad, whatever he does, he commits right and he and swings, uh, you know, it's like one pitch. He swings like four times, um, and I, I just really appreciate that. Uh, and listen, he's made, he's done that really shitty shit and he's done really amazing shit.
Speaker 1:Well, this is going to be something. Whether he, I guess, likes it or not, there's going to be, I mean, still photos and screen grabs of long legs for for the next decade the, the iconography of this film will probably become iconic. Oh, the composition that you're talking about.
Speaker 2:It's gonna make for a ton of really good screen grabs for sure like once this hits on demand and everything, people can get high resolution, and you know, you know I think I said this in my letterbox like long legs, the character should, should be a up there with, like, with with the villains of horror, right, like what an iconic, like, like singular image of a villain. Yeah, um, so yeah, I, I thought he was great. It's so funny, kaylee. I went and saw this with kaylee. She had no idea nicholas cage was in the movie.
Speaker 2:She didn't recognize him I mean that, that yeah that's how, that's how you know, and I think maybe if you didn't know, yeah, you would have trouble recognizing him, um, but I mean, that's that's how integrated he was into the role I think the other thing too, that about this is that I think production on the film was only a little, a little longer than a month and now cage is probably on screen for 20 minutes out of a 140 minute runtime.
Speaker 1:But I can only imagine, like I can only wait to see the behind the scenes features of him in the makeup chair and just having to see the process of him getting into character, because I don't think he's one of these guys that goes like full method, but it would be. I'd be hard pressed to believe that like that. You know, I think the one, the the really cool behind the scenes thing that I have heard, and I think this is going to start to kind of go down as like some lore, some like horror legend type of stuff or like the number one imdb trivia fact for the movie or whatever. But micah monroe's character was not shown, nick Cage, in full makeup until their interrogation scene together, brilliant, and one of the sound techs who had Micah mic'd up for the film could measure her heart rate.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, did you hear about this? I have heard about this. Yeah, this is going gonna become the newest trend.
Speaker 1:oh, to say something like this right this, but like apparently her heart rate spiked to like 140 or something the first time she saw him her herself, like obviously she's in character and she plays out the scene that way, but like she's genuinely terrified of what she's looking at during the movie and so I love, just like I eat stuff up.
Speaker 3:Like tell me all the little anecdotes like that that are just going to make me again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just like. Build up this movie as kind of this, this piece of iconography, whether or not like and now I will say like, it's not just long legs, like this. This the visual representation of the man downstairs, this black hooded figure with the red eyes, you see it.
Speaker 3:a couple of times.
Speaker 1:There's a few other scenes where you get to see Micah Monroe's character when she's really young, and again it's a dimly lit room and there's this really imposing shadow behind her. That is a figure. Reminds me a lot of the Black Hood's Daughter and some of the imagery in that film you get a couple. You know my mom really wanted to see this film. When I said, ma, as someone who is, I know you are deathly afraid of snakes, can't see this movie. Like there's snakes, there's a lot of really, and again something that just kind of like randomly reminded me of prisoners but like, just like the snakes, a lot of the, the smash cuts, the quick imagery that you get, um, really just like create an unsettling atmosphere for a lot of this film. The dolls themselves I'm coming around on the dolls I usually like when something like you know, kind of there's an uncanny valley aspect to like, oh, I just don't like looking at that because it doesn't look quite human. So I'm not quite sure where I sit with that yet, with that yet.
Speaker 1:But no, for the most part I thought that like the delivery of the story it was at a good pace and I love the third act, bait and switch and kind of this, like return to once. You take out long legs it's a lot like almost taking out Janet Lee's character in psycho, and then you're like what's this movie going to become? You know, and now again need to go back and see exactly how telegraphed that is and and feel like and and to really wrap my head around like how much intention is there behind making um Mike Monroe's care, her, her mother's character have so much to do with it? Um, as far as like, should we be able to see that coming? Like. Well, once you know that, does it make a second viewing more effective or less effective? Like I've just who's to say yet Um, once you know that, does it make a second viewing more effective or less effective?
Speaker 1:Like I've just who's to say yet Um, but is there anything else, just kind of like, about the story, any other sort of like gripes that you maybe had? Um or something else that you enjoyed that we haven't given a shout out to?
Speaker 1:Excuse me Um would you make it the final like five minutes of the movie, cause I had a really unique experience in my theater where I think that montage that bridges the second and the third act it does a good job of just like telling you very explicitly what's going to happen If one of these dolls is presented into this world in real time and Micah has to like quote unquote solve the case and then that ends up happening with Blair Underwood and his family and I had through through my peripheral vision, I could see a few other people in the same row as me in my theater. We all just kind of lean forward and we had like a little posture check moment and we sort of just locked in, which I thought was really effective, because then once you know you see one of these dolls and when you can tell that blair underwood's character's acting very differently, you know he's almost got that. He's gone full james brolin in amityville, where you're like we've lost the dad um, which is another really good whore trope.
Speaker 2:Didn't she shoot the doll earlier? And that's kind of what sets her free.
Speaker 1:The mother shoots the doll, okay, and Micah Monroe then blacks out Because again it's taking away some of her mental capacity in the moment, because that moment knocked her out. And so then she knows that if she shoots the doll in this situation it's going to do something similar to blair underwood's daughter, um, but yes, she does end up doing it. But I just that there was a lot of tension in in my theater and for me personally watching that scene, so I thought the movie again, because it's really hard to end a horror movie right. I thought this movie ended pretty well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought, I thought it was okay. I again I think at that point of the story, because I'm not bought in with the mother being the big bad, um, and being the one who is doing these murders. Um, I'm, I'm, I'm a little like what's the right word, I guess I'm, I'm, I'm, probably, I'm. In the moment I'm a little confused of like. So, because we, like, we shoot the doll micah passes out, wakes up in Longlegs' dungeon, yeah, which happens to be below her mother's house. So then she, and somehow, if I'm not remembering this right, somehow we know that her mom has gone to the Underwoods.
Speaker 1:Is it the birthday party, the birthday party, and the daughter has a birthday on the 14th. Birthday on the 14th birthday on the 14th, okay, and so yeah, so micah has to go and get there, and I think she's also going there anyways, just because she now knows that's been her first opportunity to go. Tell her partner, right, right in a world with no cell phones.
Speaker 2:Yeah, who? Who's behind this? Right, right, uh, yeah, and then we get in there and it is a little bit of like a, you know, a standoff or whatever. But like and I guess I guess because of Micah's character and the way she is portrayed, and like socially inept, I guess would be a good word is why she doesn't just run in there and be like this is what is happening, you know. Uh, she is like kind of frozen.
Speaker 1:Well, she's also realizing that, like in this moment, I probably have to shoot my mom. Yeah, I have to kill my mom.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, which which then she does, which was, which was great.
Speaker 1:I was happy that happened, um, but yeah, yeah she doesn't just like put one in her leg either. No, right through the head.
Speaker 2:Go for it, yeah um, so yeah, I, I don't know, I, I, I that that ending, I think, is fine, but then how do you feel about then? We cut back to long legs in the interrogation room and he's like hail satan and he winks at the camera. Do you think that's just like some extra candy that happens, or do you think, uh, it's almost like a.
Speaker 1:That is how the movie ends, right, you thought I was dead, but no, I'm not. He's definitely dead. I feel like, yeah, I guess I haven't really thought about that very, very last, because those are the last words you hear right before the credits roll. Is the Hail Satan? Yeah, no, no, I guess it's a little bit. That kind of reminded me of Rosemary's Baby, baby a little bit, where everybody's at the New Year's Eve party.
Speaker 1:The year is one. The year is one. Hail Satan, hail Satan, and kind of like. Now there's, you know, we've opened up Pandora's box, like the man from downstairs is. He's up, he's amongst us. You know Bob has left the Black Lodge. He is running wild through this town, like dan is born yeah, he's just the evil's gonna hop from one person to to the next. Um, I don't really get this sense, though, that that was trying to be baby in any type of way.
Speaker 1:Um, probably just me. And now, whether that's a studio thing or that was osgood saying like I want the lasting image of this film, even though we've been away from Nick Cage in Long Legs for like 30 minutes or whatever I want.
Speaker 2:Long Legs to live.
Speaker 1:I want Long Legs to be the thing that people remember, the lasting image. So yeah, I guess, as that being like the true end of the movie, I guess I can see if there's some intentionality behind it and I can kind of understand what that might be. But at the same time, like I, just I'm I'm left thinking about that showdown at at the house, at the, at the birthday party, and and I thought that was really like I was, I was all in on that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess maybe I just wasn't feeling that much tension from it due to, you know, unfortunately, I think I just I kind of checked out a little bit when, when I maybe I guess when long legs leaves the movie, even though, like again, I think that's an okay move. I think that's a good move.
Speaker 1:Because to see, to see one of these killings play out in real time is what's been happening for decades and decades and decades, and that's another part of the story that I think is so scary. Is that like and this movie does a really good job of really not actually like showing too much of the violence that happens in the films and like even in that scene where, like blair, underwood's wife says she's going to go into the kitchen and then he just looks at her and he's like, oh, you won't be coming back.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then you hear her being stabbed in the kitchen. You don't see it, but you hear it happening. There's a really smart and effective moment where the next, the one family that is found in real time while the killings are happening at the beginning of the movie, and Micah's character maybe it's Blair Underwood's character, but they ask how long they've been dead, they peel back the sheets and there's maggots everywhere and they're like they've been like this for at least a month. That's another part of the film that I think is really effective and really unsettling is that just like these things can happen and no one knows about them, and so I really I really liked that Part of like that end scene.
Speaker 1:I think really showed us if the case hadn't been cracked, this would be another one of those. Now, this guy being a high-profile FBI agent, somebody would have checked on him and it wouldn't have taken a month for someone to go looking for him. But it just would have been one of these things that happens in a house that you might be driving by, that you might be walking by, that you might live next door to, and you're never going to know about it. So I just I don't know. I've yet to give this movie a rating on Letterboxd because I want to watch it for a second time. I'm not sure if it's a. It's a weird one to label for me because I just, I really, really, really liked it. Like I put it, it's number five right now on my list for the year, but I also don't think it's like a five-star film.
Speaker 1:You know, and we talked about this at our live show, where we we recorded the live show on the afternoon that I was going to go see this movie, and I talked about just the excitement that comes with something like this, where, like in my top 20, and we were doing a mountain rush more down the episode down there, and so I was kind of talking about how, in my top 20, there, there we go on a run of contemporary quote-unquote horror films that are goes, midsommar, raw and then climax. None of those movies are as scary as long legs. Long legs is scarier than all three of those movies, but I just think, like the cohesiveness of those three movies and how impressed I am with like the building of the cult out in Switzerland and the emotional attachment that I have to something like Raw, the technical, like just incredible ability to pull off something like Climax, like all of those set it apart and like made those like instant classics for me. I still think that this is going to go down as like kind of an, an Alex McCauley classic um from the 21st century, but again, I'm just like I don't know.
Speaker 1:What does that mean, though, like does that mean it's a a four and a half star movie. Maybe it's like it's another one of these good kind of gateway movies for folks that are willing to take a deep dive into, like the serial killer genre, because I think it has a lot going for it in terms of like the bait and switch aspect that that you brought up earlier, where it starts as a procedural, it maintains that nature, but then also, too, it creates this like otherworldly supernatural. Yeah, vibe, that like I. I understand that if, like, that's just not really your cup of tea and you haven't watched something like twin peaks or you're just used and you're just used to like open shut, this takes place in you know, some town in oregon and like the rules of some town, oregon are the same rules as the town that I live in.
Speaker 1:That's not really the case with this movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think I think I would have responded a little better if, if there is no supernatural right, like if she's not, if Micah's character isn't made to be a psychic or clairvoyant or whatever. If long legs isn't, he can worship Satan, please. I love a good Satanist.
Speaker 1:What a year for religious horror, man.
Speaker 2:But it's like there's no, like magic, evil magic, yeah, and I think that's kind of where I lose a little footing, where I prefer something more like you know, something like Seven that does have religion and like A weird ideology, yeah, weird ideology but is still very like in the real world. But you know, hey, that's's all good. There's plenty of those movies zodiac I got, zodiac I got, I got every fincher movie. Yeah, memories of murder like they're out there. I just a dragon tattoo.
Speaker 1:I just started watching cure on the criterion channel it's available to stream right there. I got like 40 minutes into it pretty good. Another one of these like thrillers that is really scary. Um, I definitely recommend it and again, I haven't finished it, um, but really enjoying that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's been on my list for a long time. I will say that it definitely deserves a second watch, long legs, and even I will be giving a second watch. But, man, you were so right about this year in horror and how I think it will be a really important year going forward. Because, thinking about this, thinking about I Saw the TV Glow thinking about In a Violent Nature, thinking about Late, saw the tv glow. Thinking about in a violent nature, thinking about late night with the devil, all of these movies are coming out and they're trying to do stuff that we haven't seen in the genre really before. They're trying new things, um, they're taking swings and like, and even the first omen, really, and you just love to see it. It's just, it's so exciting and, and you know, not that who, who knows if any of those will end up being like all timers. I mean, I think the first omen is listen, we, we, we are building the hall of fame for the first omen. Yes, right now, uh, as we speak, speak comes out on physical July 30th.
Speaker 2:Um, but yeah, who knows how these other movies will age? But, man, it's going to be so interesting to see how they, how they, how you watch them, or how how they watch, you know, in five years, 10 years.
Speaker 1:I didn't see this with you, but I did tell you going in um as you were going into your screening, that like I had to look away from six or seven trailers because, yes, we've already gotten all those films that you're talking about, but before, this is a trailer for trapped, yeah, there's a trailer for alien romulus. There's a trailer for the substance yeah, like cuckoo, all these movies still to come, um, I saw the cuckoo one.
Speaker 2:I did not see those first three. Uh, I was still out in the line. But cuckoo looks dope. I know cuckoo looks dope, fucking uh. What was it? Anora looks great. I don't know if that's really horror. That's more kind of thriller yeah, drama thriller, drama, thriller. Um, what was, oh heretic? Yeah, I've seen that. Now that looks. I've seen that trailer. Now, uh afraid. Have you seen the trailer for afraid? Yeah, we saw that, uh, before maxine together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, uh, yeah, sign me up like scary, ai. Yeah, come on.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, okay, so that's, that's good. Any last words on I like just see it again, see it twice.
Speaker 2:See it again. See it again.
Speaker 1:See it again.
Speaker 2:we're saying yeah definitely yeah uh and and listen, know that it's not the scariest thing you've ever seen in the world it's creepy it's unsettling, it's full of dread, but like don't go in you know, especially, I would say, if you're a student of the game yeah right if you're a student of the game and you go in thinking that you're about to feel the same way that you felt when you saw the exorcist when you were 14, like it's not going to be the case.
Speaker 1:Not, not, not the deal, nope, okay, so that'll do it for us in this week's episode. Summer 2024 keeps bringing the noise, of course, so, as we just mentioned in the horror genre, however, we will be back next podcast to talk about the future best picture winner, put it in the library of congress. Now we finally get to ride our fears and not chase them. Twisters hits theaters this weekend, and it's a good thing because, frankly, I couldn't have waited much longer. I feel like I was just talking to somebody else about this. It's coming at the perfect time right now, where summer has been mostly inundated with horror films and family films, so we've gotten a lot of animated stuff that has done really, really well at the box office inside out.
Speaker 1:Two is, I think, over like 1.3 or 1.4 billion worldwide right now, which is like so awesome. You've also gotten despicable me 4, I believe, which has made over 100 million dollars. You have all these horror movies, but now, smack dab in the middle, is this just like traditional action summer blockbuster? I have my tickets. Are you joining me tomorrow night for the early access? I'm at screening. I hope so. Okay, I cannot wait for twisters.
Speaker 1:I don't know what else we're going to do Like this episode. You know you're about to hear our conversation with our good buddy derek nunn, but like this episode was just a long legs deep dive. Who knows, maybe we will just have an embezzlement of riches coming out of twisters and we can just do a full episode on how much? We loved it.
Speaker 2:I don't know I can't believe lee isaac chun made a fucking twisters movie.
Speaker 1:Let's go glenn powell coming out of Minari. I didn't know what we were going to get next from Lee. I knew it was going to be great, had no idea it was going to be Twisters.
Speaker 1:And here we are. What a time, oh my gosh. So yeah, that'll be awesome. We're now going to go to our conversation with Derek Nunn. This was recorded at our Edison Square live show, which was last Thursday. We also want to mention that if you want to hear more of our conversation with Derek in the entire episode that we recorded down there during our live event where we did a Mount Rushmore conversation about Max and I's four favorite films, then please go over to our Patreon page Patreon backslash excuse the intermission where the entire episode will be uploaded for a low monthly fee. You can access that and also, too, probably on Patreon is a good place to start teasing it.
Speaker 1:We'll give a little bit of a teaser right here, but we will be back at Edison Square on August 22nd for something that we're really excited about as well, for something that we're really excited about as well. Okay, before we get into some audience submissions, we're going to have one specific member of our audience come on up. We have our friend, derek Nunn in the house. Can we get a round of applause for Derek Nunn? Yeah, go ahead, have a seat, derek.
Speaker 1:Derek's a good friend of ours. He's a board member down at the Grand Cinema, somebody who we've sat on jury panels with at the Tacoma Film Festival before a returning guest to Excuse the Intermission and just like an all-around good guy. Ever since we met Derek, we vibe on the same things. He looks forward to the same kind of movies that we look forward to, so we really wanted to bring him on not only to talk about maybe his favorite films. But you have a new project yourself that has taken a minute to get there. I know that we don't probably have the time to go through your whole journey of Los Angeles to back to Tacoma, to everything like that, but as far as making a name for Tacoma in the world of cinema and Pacific Northwest filmmaking, that's really what he set out to do with this new project. So do you want to start with talking a little bit about that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'll just start by saying thank you for having me on. It's awesome to be here. Anytime I get the chance to talk movies with you guys, it feels like a privilege. So and I just want to say I'm really happy to be here and talk movies. Yeah, but doing movies just a little bit of the journey I guess, just like growing up here in Tacoma and then leaving the Los Angeles working in the film industry for about 15 years and then coming back and then starting this project it's really been like a fairy tale. It's kind of hard to describe. I have aunties and family members that are like you should write a book, you should. It's kind of hard to describe. I have aunties and family members that are like you should write a book, but they think everything we do is awesome. So it's like you're always going to root for me, mom, so this probably won't be a good book. That kind of advice is what kind of gets you on American Idol sometimes.
Speaker 1:We would be nowhere without our mothers and I'm not just saying that because mine's in attendance.
Speaker 3:Exactly and I would not have made it through LA without her. But, uh, no, yeah. So we just started this project, um, and it just kind of just it came together really, really quickly and it just really speaks to the camaraderie and it's just the real sense of community that Tacoma has and it brings um to any like really good idea. We, tacoma, has a really good uh, a really great ability to just kind of getting around nurturing a good idea. Uh, it may not grow as quickly as it does in bigger cities or other cities, but they have a really special way of flourishing.
Speaker 3:And this one I sat down with an investor. I just went through all these projects that we had ready to go from LA and they were like great, but this person must have been really good with their money, because before I write a check, I just love to see something, something, just write something and do something and then we can like revisit. So I was like, okay, you know what can I do really quickly? So I came up together with a story. I reached out to Kwabi from the peace bus and I was like, hey, I really want to tell the story. I think you'd be really great in it as an actor, as our lead actor, and, uh, he jumped on the idea and we just kind of developed a story and I used as I put my producer hat on and I thought, you know Kwame has a lot of goodwill with the city because of a lot of the great work he does and that really helped us and allowed us to get a lot of stuff that we needed like locations and like the gear everywhere that we filmed was completely for free, which was I don't know if you know much about. That's huge.
Speaker 3:The film industry is like you don't get places for free, you don't really get help, you don't really get anything for free. And we kind of got everything for, you know, free. We did pay out of our own pockets, but it came together and, um, uh, people that wanted to get involved or that were involved, like the actors and like some of the crew and, like I said, the locations, uh, it just really kind of came together really quickly. I think it was within the span of like a month or so, like between script to us shooting it and completing it. It was about a month, which is kind of unheard of. Uh, at least from my perspective, I I've never worked that fast. Uh, I don't recommend it. But this is a feature film. No, this is a short film, short film.
Speaker 3:Good God, I can't imagine a feature. No, I probably have a. Yeah, I would have lost some years of my life if I did a feature in a month. But, yeah, it came together really quickly and I think the city really responded. We did a cast and crew screening at the Grand Cinema Shout out to the Grand, and it was very well received. So we have, uh, more screenings coming up. We have one in september, uh, excuse me. Uh, august in seattle, uh, the 17th for aces, a shun pike event, um, uh, and that's our next screening. But uh, yeah, it, it's. It's really exciting and it's really it feels really good to get the the ball rolling here in tacoma, because we know it's not the first. Nor, uh, it's not just the first, it's, it's far from the last and it's like the first domino to really kind of fall over and get the ball rolling.
Speaker 1:I find myself I don't know if you're feeling this right now, max, but sort of in a precarious position, because I know we're going to see Derek at some of these film festivals that he's submitted this to and we're going to be doing a Q&A with him, I'm sure, in the months to come, and so I don't want to like spoil anything that I want to ask right now without having seen the film yet. I guess that there still will be, like new questions to come, but and we hope to have Kwabi here he unfortunately couldn't make it last minute, but I guess I'll just ask you then, as somebody who approached him. Of course, he's done so much nonfiction work and been on camera and very comfortable with public speaking and everything like that. But when it comes to acting in in a film, that is, that you know there's a script for it and there's all these different kind of aspects of of the process of being on camera how did you help him and how have you helped you know actors in the past maybe navigate being a newcomer?
Speaker 3:Well, if you know Kwabi, you love Kwabi. So it was very easy to work with him. He was very enthusiastic. I remember maybe about a week or two before we started shooting I remember I had to because Quabi and I go way back from like childhood, so there's a shorthand and like a way we can communicate I realized I had to communicate with him differently and really get him in the headspace of the character. Now the character parallels a lot of his. Who he is is a Ghanaian-American character and there was a lot of overlap to who he is as a person, just a really great, hardworking, generous person.
Speaker 3:But working with him for the first time was incredible. I think hearing it from him would be far more interesting because just the way that he describes it, but just getting what I needed from him as an actor not just like a friend and a community leader, but as an actor I was really surprised how quickly and how easily he was able just to lock in. But really, and like I said, as you said, I don't want to spoil too much beforehand because it's a short film and it's, you know, it's a short film. There's only so much conversation you can have around a short film or about a short film, I guess, especially before or without seeing it. But what the subject matter has to deal with, he was so it. But, um, what the subject matter has to deal with, he was so uh, uh, it was. It was so easy for him to tap in and just kind of lock in and, uh, it really kind of set the tone for a lot of the other actors.
Speaker 3:I mean, because there's not a ton of dialogue, a lot of it is just, you know, the character being in the moment and really being in the scene and really being in this place, in this character's life, and the weight of that and what came before this place in this character's life and the weight of that and what came before and what he, this character, is doing to. You know, it's a little bit about legacy. I at least can say that, like the fact that someone paved the way for us to be here we all have ancestors or people that came before and the steps and the things that were done for us to get here and what we're doing for the next generation, and just how he weighed that and carried that, and I guess it speaks to a lot of what he's doing, what he does in his community work today. So he kind of wore it really well and I think we got a really great performance, and seeing his reaction to himself on screen was really gratifying for me. It's like, bro, I've been looking at this for hours, man, I've been seeing you do these same things in the edit for hours. So just seeing it all come to fruition was really good and I look forward to just working with more amazing talent here in Tacoma. But Kwabi was a great person to be able to work with.
Speaker 3:Can we open these?
Speaker 2:Yeah, go for it.
Speaker 3:Liquid Death. Shout out to Liquid Death.
Speaker 2:Shout out Liquid Death. Please sponsor our podcast yes, please do. Or our podcast yes, please do, derek. What were some of you know you were talking about locations and how you know, because of Quabi's status in the city, you were able to get some free locations, which is always really, really helpful for an indie film. What were some of the maybe challenges that you faced or maybe some other wins that you got here in Tacoma by shooting in Tacoma?
Speaker 3:It's part Tacoma and part just like overall shooting a film. Like trying to translate a vision. Uh, I can talk a movie all day long. I mean, this is a podcast about movies. We can talk movies all day but until you see a film, it's not really going to translate for you. Um, so I was like trying to tell people what this thing was and what we're trying to do. It's kind of like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I always go back to Will Smith talking about how he was pitching the matrix and like him just not getting it.
Speaker 3:It's like, yeah, we're going to slow it down and you're going to pause, and he's like I don't get it. And then when he saw it he was like, oh yeah, I'm an idiot, I should have definitely taken it. Uh, it's kind of feels like that. It's like, man, they just don't see, they just don't understand what I'm trying to do. And then, uh, part of it, part of that, part of like I say, and part of that, it just comes with the nature of filmmaking. Like most people are not going to see your vision unless you're already a successful filmmaker and they're like I don't care what it is, just here, here's money, make your thing, but a lot of it, some of it being the Tacoma side of it is just there's not really an industry built on that Like Los Angeles. They've been doing it for over 100 years. So it's just, you know, there's a whole economy and a whole ecosystem and a whole pipeline where one step, this step, next step, next step, moving. You know, here I realize it's not so much we came here with a bit more ambition to do larger projects. It's like, oh wait, there aren't any, uh, prop rental houses, there's not places we can rent props. And oh wait, there's not really any camera rental houses. They're all in seattle or portland, like, oh gosh. And it's like, you know, these, these small things that became things uh, not really big things. You know you can get around that, especially with today with technology, how small cameras are, with the quality that you can shoot in I mean, they shot the creator on a camera you can go buy at best, buy right now, like it's, it's just nuts and uh, but um, yeah, those were some of the barriers, those, those were the major ones. I guess, with like looking for casting, it's like going out to like the theater companies and the places that you know performers are rather being like a database of like casting, like backstage, backstage or LA casting. It's like, oh, I need to, oh, just here we go, and just kind of those portals, I guess. But it's growing. It's all happening slowly but very surely. It's. It's happening here in Tacoma.
Speaker 3:But those were some of the, some of the, and we didn't really have a budget for this, especially with how quickly we we moved. We didn't have a budget, so we kind of shot this. I know we spent money, I spent money on this, so, if anything, I lost money. But it all happened. It all happened in spite of our lack of resources or lack of the portals or lack of these things. That's what I mean. We fell short. The community kind of came together. Tacoma showed up. We shot part of it at.
Speaker 3:The opening scene is at the Washington History Museum, in their boardroom. It's like, yeah, they just gave us. Oh, just let us know what day you need it, what? What are you talking about? Usually there's paperwork and there's money involved and we have to book it for so long. No, they just let us film there. And we shot another portion of it at POU and they just kind of walked me through and gave me a tour and I was like just let us know what room you like.
Speaker 3:It's like this doesn't happen. This is not how things normally happen, but because it's Tacoma and it's just this I don't know what it is, man, I don't know what you call it, I don, it's lost on me at this moment, but there's just this. You know this camaraderie that everyone was like well, we want to get this done, we believe in it. I don't even know. I would tell the story. Like you know, they say, when you pitch your film or when you make a film, you have to tell what it's about. Like maybe 100 times You're going to be retelling it. It's like so what's your movie about?
Speaker 3:It's like this is about the 50th time I've told someone, but you know. And then people jump on. They're like, yeah, okay, that sounds great. Well, just let me know what day. And it's like wait, what Is that easy? I was expecting a little bit more. So there were with every, to answer your question. I guess in this way, with every like hurdle or trial, it turned into like a victory or like a success, like, and it like in a way that I didn't really expect or really predict, because I learned it the quote unquote traditional way and things were happening non-traditionally and everything was getting done and it was like okay, I'm doing a lot more work than I would typically do, because there's departments dedicated to these things, but it all happened, I feel like you're helping set the precedent, you're helping set the standard, and when people don't know what that looks like yet, then they're more inclined to give you their space, to give you time, and so I think that's really cool, that's really exciting.
Speaker 1:Real quick, we haven't said the name of the film, just so people can keep an eye out for it. What's the short entitled? Yes, the short film is called Wild Dreams.
Speaker 3:Entitled Wild Dreams Awesome, Okay.
Speaker 1:And then you've brought some other films here. All right, we hope you enjoyed that conversation with Derek Nunn and our conversation about long legs. Until next time, follow Excuse the Intermission on Instagram and the two of us on Letterboxd to track what we're watching between shows, and we will talk to you next time on ETI, where movies still matter.
