In the last four years, Justin P. Lange has directed three horror films: Darka zombie tale of abuse and trauma; The seventh day, an exorcism saga in which a veteran priest teams up with a novice priest to fight demons; and his latest film, A visitor, a psychological thriller about a man searching for answers about a strange doppelganger. You’d think Lange would be comfortable watching horror movies. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Lange is terrified of horror movies.
In my conversation with Lange, the director talks about his introduction to horror, why he’s afraid of almost everything, his collaboration with Finn Jones for A visitorand how his high school class changed his life.
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Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Digital Trends: I read that you weren’t allowed to watch horror movies growing up because you grew up in a strict household. When you were finally able to watch horror movies, what did these movies tell you?
Justin P. Lange: I think I saw one at a friend’s house Friday 13. At another friend’s house, I saw it Predator. It’s really limited to those two. I didn’t expose myself much. I think I saw at some point Jaws.
Those are great movies to watch if you’re going to pick three.
[Laughs] I was so afraid of everything. My brother scared the crap out of me once and told me this story about an alien ship that came down and attacked this family, and of course the younger brother got the worst of it. I went home that night and couldn’t sleep, so I had to make up a story where I was completely covered in blankets, from head to toe, and then I thought they couldn’t see me. It was the only way to sleep, to come up with that story. I slept like that for years until my brother walked by my bedroom one night, saw me like that, woke me up and said, “You know you’re going to suffocate like that, right?”
So then I had to come up with a new story where I was like an alien and I would sleep with this little hole. [Signals hole in front of face] Sometimes I think, “Oh, I’m not cut out for horror movies because I’m scared of everything, and every five seconds I think I’m going to die.” But then I say, “Maybe I’m perfect for horror movies because I’m afraid of everything.” [Laughs] I do not know
My entry into it was when I went to film school. I’m very late, late bloomer in horror. Even then, when I started film school, I thought there was no place for me there. I don’t watch those movies that much and I’m too afraid of them. Like I said, I don’t think I’m up for it.
A friend from film school recommended me to see it Let the right one in, and it really spoke to my aesthetic. It was beautiful, but terrifying. It sort of opened the door and said, “You’re allowed in here.” Seeing Pan’s Labyrinth, the lyrical and fairy-tale aspect, is very serious, but also very scary and really subjective. That said a lot to me. So I ended up opening my mind a bit more to it.
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I then enrolled in my final directing class at Columbia Graduate Film School. At that time I considered myself very, very seriously. I was trying to do a European aesthetic, a static camera, people just walking around and talking. I came to that class, and my teacher asked to look at all our stuff, and he said, “You know, whatever you’re doing, blow it up. Do the farthest thing for this next exercise. Do something the furthest thing from what you would do.”
It was a horror for me then. So I made this little horror piece, as a three-minute exercise, and brought it to class. They just exploded. It was the most amazing reaction from the audience watching something I did.
Something clicked and I thought, “Oh, maybe there’s something here.” It was very intense during that hour. We would watch movies and break them down, frame by frame. We would work for hours and hours on one film. During that hour, we broke up Jaws and Poltergeist and Rosemary’s baby. It was kind of Wizard of Oz, “to see the wizard behind the curtain,” about how these films are made.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m still terrified of horror movies. But, at the same time, I love doing them. He is so active as a director, playful and manipulative. It’s just the most fun. I kind of found my way in this genre and I’m really grateful for it because, for some reason, it allows me to express myself in a way. I think I’m serious and very honest in a way, but it balances me out a bit and gives me the ability to express some darker things that maybe were harder for me to express before I found them.
What stood out about Finn in choosing Robert?
What I really wanted from Robert was someone who was down-to-earth, accessible to the audience, someone we could root for and get behind. His [Finn’s] the character actually starts out as, for lack of a better term, nice guy, you know? He wants the best for his partner and wants to be a good partner. He has his demons and things he struggles with, but in the end, what he really cares about is his family. He wants to start a family. He is also kind of serious and sincere at first.
Then slowly, as he started to go down this rabbit hole, Finn and I started talking about how those elements of toxicity are starting to come out. In fact, this idea of his past pulls him back and takes control of him. It was important that there are moments throughout the film where he can make a different decision. He can change things, but he doesn’t. This is what makes him as tragic as Maya. And she is tragic.
Visitor | Official trailer | Paramount films
Unlike your previous two features, this script was not written by you. Did it present new challenges?
Yes for sure. It was something that I really was, really interested in working. I was for a while. I really consider myself more of a director than a writer. But I’m a writer. I enjoy writing. When I look at projects as a director, what I find exciting is when I read the script and thought, “I would never write this.” I don’t want to be limited to just the things that exist in my brain. I mean, that’s not what’s fun about the movie. What’s fun about film is collaborating and seeing what other people come up with. It was a really interesting and useful experience.
But certainly, it presents its own challenges. You kind of put your own stamp on something, while trying to respect the ideas the writers had in the first place. I think that transition and kind of going from their version to my version, which is still the same thing but with some changes and putting my stamp on it and kind of treading that line, is an interesting process.
Luckily, I worked with two writers who were just generous artists and excited about my vision and really open to change. I think what could have been a more arduous process or one with more conflict really wasn’t in this one. They were very generous in their work and really open to ideas.
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I saw you used the quote “Art imitates life” and I think that fits A visitor. How did you apply that quote to the film?
I didn’t even know I was using that. [Laughs]
I saw it on your Instagram.
I probably did. What I like is that if I’m making a film, I like it to acknowledge that it exists within a context. It is not necessary. It’s certainly not a message film per se or anything, but it was saying something, at least to me, in terms of exploring ideas and trying to be provocative in a way that says think about this. We are all born into a context. We are all born into a world where there are systems that were in place before we got there, and once we enter the world, it’s not like we aren’t affected. We must be conscious and aware.
If we want to make changes, it’s not all about today or the bubble we live in. There are bigger things at stake. We have to dig a little deeper into our past to figure out how to make these changes. And usually these changes are difficult. Throughout the movie, the choices that play out differently in this movie are the hard choices, and that’s what makes our characters tragic because they don’t make those hard choices. They continue to follow these paths that have been mapped out for them.
A visitor it is now available digitally and on demand. It will also be on EPIX in December 2022.
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Source: newstars.edu.vn