When actor Nicolas Cage first read the script of "Longlegs" (Longlegs) and is considering the role of the serial killer, he knows exactly from whom he will draw inspiration for the role - from his mother, the Associated Press reported, cited by BTA.
"It wasn't that she was a Satanist," Cage clarified in a recent interview, but witnessing her struggle with mental illness throughout her life, he said, was something he had to make sense of.
"In my more personal approach to film roles, I tried to find a constructive place to put my memories of my mother," says Cage.
Cage says the connection with his mother was so strong - especially when he imagined the character's body language and manner of speaking - that he remembers hearing her voice early one Christmas morning while rehearsing his lines.
"Everyone else is getting ready to open presents and whatnot, and I immerse myself in the image of this very dark character and try to instill love in him,", says the 60-year-old actor.
The experience of making the horror film that opens today is ultimately cathartic for the Oscar winner.
"God, I imitated my father in Dracula and my mother in Longlegs. What does that say about my childhood?", says Nicolas Cage with a laugh.
When he first meets with Oz Perkins to discuss the film, Cage is shocked to learn that the director had his own mother in mind when writing the script.
The film tells the story of FBI agent Lee Harker (Mica Monroe), who soon after being assigned to investigate a series of gruesome murders, realizes her own connection to the killer (Nicolas Cage).
Although Perkins admits he was inspired by "The Silence of the Lambs" and other similar films, "Longlegs" differs from many serial killer films in that the horrors, although perpetrated by humans, are hauntingly supernatural.
As the son of Anthony Perkins, who played the role of Norman Bates in "Psycho" of Alfred Hitchcock, the director has long struggled with his relationship with Hollywood and horror in particular.
"It was a bit forced on me," says Oz Perkins, though he admits he appreciates the freedom the genre allows. "You're allowed to do anything and do it in a gothic or baroque way that really adds flavor," adds the director.
Nicolas Cage is no stranger to horror - by "Mandy" until the remake of "Trap", but in his words, this film is perhaps his scariest. As someone known for his versatility as an actor, he shares his delight that the genre allows him to be non-conformist.
"I've always said that horror, when done well, is really surreal. It doesn't have to be based on physics or reality. It can allow actors to express themselves in ways other than what is considered the arbiter of great acting, which is the naturalism of the 1970s," says Nicolas Cage.
Although they didn't know each other before filming this film, Cage and Perkins quickly bonded over their love of cinema and their deep family roots in it. In his desire to create the most organic first interaction possible, the director does not allow his protagonists to meet before their first scene together - one of the most chilling and brutal in the film.