Movies
‘Death Note’ Adds the Talents of Jason Eisener!
Canadian filmmaker Jason Eisener is a special talent.
After breaking onto the scene with his legendary holiday short, “Treevenge,” he became a horror name with his indie Hobo With a Shotgun.
While he’s not directing on the reg (he did helm the fantastic V/H/S/2 segment, “Alien Abduction Slumber Party/Abduction”), he’s all over the place in the horror genre. Not only is he one of the editors on Southbound, but he’s also executive producer on Turbo Kid.
He’s a favorite among the horror crowd and will be popping up all over the place – most notably, he’s the second unit director on Netflix’s Death Note, which reteams him with director Adam Wingard.
Filming is to take place in Vancouver from June 29th – August 30th (source).
Actress-singer Margaret Qualley is starring opposite male lead Nat Wolff.
“The story follows a student who discovers a mysterious notebook that kills whomever’s name is written in it. When the student meets the notebook’s previous owner, a demon bent on ridding the world of anyone it deems evil or useless, he ends up tracked by an Interpol officer investigating the unexplainable deaths of several criminals.“
Wingard is directing with a script by Jeremy Slater (Fantastic Four). Roy Lee, Dan Lin, Jason Hoffs and Masi Oka are producing, with Doug Davison and Brian Witten executive producing.
In a recent interview, filmmaker Christopher Nolan explained that he’s always been interested in directing a bona fide horror movie, with the award-winning director going so far as to praise genre creators for their continued risk-taking on the big screen.
If you’ve seen Nolan’s recently released The Odyssey, you’re likely aware that a scary movie helmed by the legendary director could be a very good idea.
After all, Nolan insisted on making use of old-fashioned movie magic and in-camera practical effects when shooting his adaptation of Homer’s epic. This retro approach made Odysseus’ encounters with mythological beings such as the giant cyclops that much more terrifying. By now, fans are undoubtedly aware that the massive creature was partially brought to life by an enormous puppet enhanced with near-invisible CGI, but there were also plenty of forced perspective shots where actor Bill Irwin actually chomped on disturbingly realistic replicas of Ithican soldiers.
As you can see in the below behind-the-scenes test footage shared by the Los Angeles-based Hamer FX, Irwin was given an assortment of latex dolls filled with fake blood and breakable skeletons that he could tear apart on camera. The darkness of Polyphemus’ cave covers up most of the gore in the finished film, but the moment remains a terrifying highlight in a movie that has a lot to say about the horrors of war.
Nolan actually requested these tiny edible soldiers for the flick because his vision for the iconic cyclops encounter was partially inspired by Francisco Goya’s disturbing mural of Saturn Devouring His Son. This mysterious piece is actually one of the artist’s infamous “Black Paintings,” which were found painted directly onto the walls of his old house near Madrid before a French baron ordered that the collection be transferred to canvas and assigned names for public viewing.
Details like these are what make me think that Nolan could pull off a genuinely scary horror picture if he came across the right idea. That being said, between the Fear Gas sequences in Batman Begins and Circe using body horror magic to transform men into pigs in The Odyssey, one might argue that he’s been preparing for such a task throughout his entire career.
The Odyssey is currently playing in theaters everywhere, though it’s definitely worth seeking out an IMAX screening if you can find one near you.
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