Photos © La Petite Reine - Daniel McFadden - Lacey Terrell THOMAS LANGMANN & ALEXANDRE AJA present A film by FRANCK KHALFOUN Written by AlEXANDRE AJA & GREGORY LEVASSEUR Based on the movie MANIAC by WIllIAM LUSTIG with ElIJAH WOOD & NORA ARNEZEDER 2012 • France • english • 1h29M • color © 2012 - La Petite Reine - Studio 37 INTERNATIONAL SALES: Download press kit and photos from WWW.WILDBUNCH.BIZ/FILMS/MANIAC Synopsis Just when the streets seemed safe, a serial killer with a fetish for scalps is back and on the hunt. Frank is the withdrawn owner of a mannequin a 21st century Jack the ripper set in present- store, but his life changes when young artist day L.A. MANIAC is a re-boot of the cult Anna appears asking for his help with her film considered by many to be the most new exhibition. As their friendship develops suspenseful slasher movie ever made – and Frank’s obsession escalates, it becomes an intimate, visually daring, psychologically clear that she has unleashed a long-repressed complex and profoundly horrific trip into the compulsion to stalk and kill. downward spiralling nightmare of a killer and his victims. Q&A with FRANCK KHALFOUN Were you a big fan of the connect with and feel compassion for, as well original MANIAC? as, obviously, the violence and the gore. The original SFX were created by the legendary I was 12 when it came out so obviously I wasn’t Tom Savini so who better to do this version allowed to see it in a theatre and I had to wait than maestro greg nicotero who started off a while until it was released on VHS. But working with Savini? beyond the memorable gore of the original, I thought it was one of those very rare How did you first get involved in the captivating slasher movies mainly because remake of MANIAC? of Joe Spinell’s performance. You felt a lot of empathy for this crazy guy. Although he did Alexandre Aja and I have had a creative horrible things, I felt heartbroken for him by the relationship for more than ten years. He’s end of the movie, which is the main reason why very insightful and very visual, and you can I remember MANIAC so vividly. So when I was be certain that you will be involved in many approached about the project, I knew it was interesting and creative discussions when something I really wanted to focus on in this working with him. When alex and grégory movie. That and the violence. It was important Levasseur had written the script and came to for the movie to have a character we could see if I’d be interested in directing it, my first reaction was, “Does the world need another Can you tell me more about the serial killer movie?” And obviously the answer shooting tactics? to that was yes! So it was important to have a Having decided to make a film completely fresh take and to attempt going places where from the character’s PoV, the challenge was very few movies have dared to go – and so how to do it in a manner that remained realistic we decided to tell the story entirely from the and scary. For a start, coverage in the classic killer’s point of view, which no horror film had sense was gone and we were left with a single done before. Conceptually, I think this was a perspective for each scene. Using Frank’s daring decisions and it was helpful to have hands became very important to the concept. producers like Aja and Thomas Langmann How to shoot his hands without it seeming who were not afraid of having me take the comedic was a challenge onto itself. Now focal movie in this direction. length, depth of field, and the actual rigs we used became dominant factors in telling the How challenging was this? story. For some scenes, we had three actors First i had to rewrite the script into a PoV film playing Frank’s hands because of camera which is a lot different than a straight narrative. In movements, and they had to be coordinated. PoV since you are always with the killer and no Many days were trial and error and sometimes longer with the victims you lose a considerable it took building three or four different rigs until amount of tension. Usually not knowing where we figured out a shot. even though it seemed the killer is hiding is what scares audiences. very simple and very low-tech at first, it was So I was excited by the idea but also a incredibly challenging. bit apprehensive because it was such an unorthodox way of making a film. To start How important was the with, we had to figure out ways of seeing our cinematographer in the POV process? character. Looking at himself in the mirror Maxime Alexandre played a huge part in the seemed a natural and obvious way to see him PoV because he became the character. so that we’d be able to get the emotions we Just as our hand double and elijah had to needed from him. But it did not seem like it coordinate their hands, so did Maxime who was enough, so I came up with other ways many times, because of certain restrictions of getting to see him as well. one of them had to play the hands himself. The three of was through out-of-body experiences when them, Frank, Maxime and elijah, were tied at he kills for instance. He steps out of himself the hip quite literally, with Maxime doing the and watches what he’s actually doing. It’s camera work guided by elijah’s interpretation subtle and the audience won’t even know it’s of the character. Whether the camera was happening, turning the event into something on a body mount or Maxime was moving on powerful and almost spiritual. Another way and off a segway, elijah was there every step of seeing our main character was through of the way guiding him in this elaborate and dreams or flash-backs. Since most of us see very technical dance. It was really interesting ourselves in our dreams that interpretation choreography to watch. seemed entirely justified. Does the POV shooting affect our What about Frank’s mother? perception of the female characters? She had total disregard for her son and very in past PoV movies, actors would stare at little respect for herself, which affected him the camera and keep talking. It was weird and profoundly. She engaged in reckless behaviour very unnatural. So the first thing I asked the and didn’t really care that her son witnessed actors was to talk to the camera as if it were it. Young Frank loved and needed her but a character – and you don’t always stare at she was never around. He’d wait all night somebody in the eye when you’re talking. As for her to come home and she rarely did so a result, it allows the women to seem more alone. In her absence his friends became the natural and the audience to fall for them – just mannequins, allowing him to disconnect from like Frank. You become engaged, especially humanity. He began releasing his anger onto in sensual scenes. When the woman tries the mannequins, until hurting the them turned to seduce Frank, she is trying to seduce the into hurting people. Although well intentioned, audience as well. it was a self imposed therapy which ended up producing a deranged human being. Is it also a love story? Why does he bring women’s Yes, absolutely, as was the original, although scalps home? our film is probably a little more believable because it’s easier to imagine our protagonists The scalps became important because he being together than those in the original. spent hours and hours brushing his mother’s What’s interesting about the love story is hair. It was one of the very few moments when how it makes things more complicated for he could connect with his mother. She hardly the killer, for whom these feelings are totally ever hugged him and the hair was all that he foreign. our Frank is taken completely off- could feel and touch. So it became a fetish guard by this woman who enters his life. and a way for him to have his mother back. For And so his whole world changes. Frank, when you spend time with a woman and you want to keep her, you take what makes Can you describe Frank? you feel good. In his case – hair. Frank is a lonely guy who has taken a lot of Does he have killing patterns? abuse in his life. During the writing of the script, it was important to convey the idea of Frank has a couple of weapons of choice. what being lonely means in 2012 for today’s one is a big hunting knife, and the other is audiences to identify with him. It was important his straight razor. He spends a lot of time for us to be more realistic and not to fall into the sharpening and cleaning them. Both are very stereotype of the abused guy that becomes a sharp – and very efficient at taking scalps. His killer. It’s all about connecting to the character victims are either strangled or stabbed. so that his choices really affect us in some way and we get an insight into his world. What do his victims have in common? It was important to create a very normal environment to slowly introduce the idea that Some remind him of his mother, some are just he’s not normal but actually a maniac.