Movies
Tilda Swinton Was So Committed to Playing an Old Man in ‘Suspiria’ That She Commissioned Fake… Parts
And this is why Tilda Swinton is pretty much the greatest, folks.
The secret is finally out, straight from Swinton’s mouth. Yes, in addition to playing Madame Blanc in Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria, Tilda Swinton is also playing the role of male character Dr. Jozef Klemperer, credited to a fake, 82-year-old German actor named Lutz Ebersdorf. Swinton and Guadagnino had been denying the rumor, but she has come clean this week.
In a chat with New York Times, Swinton just revealed all, while Oscar-winning makeup artist Mark Coulier detailed the extensive process required to turn Swinton into an old man.
And yes, Swinton was *deeply* committed to the 4-hour transformation.
“Undeniably, I would have to say, [I did it] for the sheer sake of fun above all,” Swinton told the site, when asked why she decided to play the male character. “As my grandmother would have it — a motto to live and die by — Dull Not To.”
Coulier informed the site, “She did have us make a penis and balls. She had this nice, weighty set of genitalia so that she could feel it dangling between her legs, and she managed to get it out on set on a couple of occasions.”
As it turns out, it was Swinton who wrote “Lutz Ebersdorf’s” biography on IMDb, which really helped sell the ruse that Ebersdorf was indeed a real man making his film debut.
“Frankly, my long-held dream was that we would never have addressed this question at all,” Swinton told New York Times. “My original idea was that Lutz would die during the edit, and his ‘In Memoriam’ be the final credit in the film.”
To be clear, none of this is a spoiler for Suspiria in any way, as the fact that Swinton is playing Dr. Jozef Klemperer has no significance within the story. It’s not a twist. It’s just fun.
Paramount is heading to Sleepy Hollow with a brand new feature film take on the classic Headless Horseman tale, with Lindsey Anderson Beer (Pet Sematary: Bloodlines) announced to direct the movie back in 2022. But is that project still happening, now two years later?
The Hollywood Reporter lets us know this afternoon that Paramount Pictures has renewed its first-look deal with Lindsey Anderson Beer, and one of the projects on the upcoming slate is the aforementioned Sleepy Hollow movie that was originally announced two years ago.
THR details, “Additional projects on the development slate include… Sleepy Hollow with Anderson Beer attached to write, direct, and produce alongside Todd Garner of Broken Road.”
You can learn more about the slate over on The Hollywood Reporter. It also includes a supernatural thriller titled Here Comes the Dark from the writers of Don’t Worry Darling.
The origin of all things Sleepy Hollow is of course Washington Irving’s story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which was first published in 1819. Tim Burton adapted the tale for the big screen in 1999, that film starring Johnny Depp as main character Ichabod Crane.
More recently, the FOX series “Sleepy Hollow” was also based on Washington Irving’s tale of Crane and the Headless Horseman. The series lasted four seasons, cancelled in 2017.
Looking for New Episodes of “Chucky” on Peacock? Here’s What Changed
‘Mountain Man’ – Joe Manganiello Will Battle Zombies in Upcoming Horror Movie
‘The Blair Witch Project’ – Original Stars Release a Statement Asking Lionsgate for Residuals & Recognition
‘Trap’ – Official Trailer Previews a Wild New Horror Experience from M. Night Shyamalan
‘Halloween: Illustrated’ Review: Original Novelization of John Carpenter’s Classic Gets an Upgrade
You must be logged in to post a comment.