Longlegs
Short description
Longlegs follows Lee Harker, a young FBI agent with an unusual intuition who is assigned to a long-unsolved case in Oregon. The killings stretch back decades: in each one, a father murders his family and then himself, and nine-year-old daughters are always among the victims. Cryptic notes left behind have never been decoded. As Harker examines the occult traces surrounding the crimes, she finds a personal link to the killer she is pursuing, and the investigation becomes a race to prevent another family from being destroyed.
The film was directed by Oz Perkins, who also wrote the screenplay, and it sits fourth among the features he has directed, after I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, The Blackcoat's Daughter and Gretel & Hansel. Maika Monroe plays Agent Lee Harker, with Nicolas Cage as Longlegs, Blair Underwood as Agent Carter and Alicia Witt as Ruth Harker. Cage also produced alongside Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Chris Ferguson.
Made for about 10 million dollars, Longlegs took roughly 128 million dollars worldwide, a return far beyond its modest production cost. On TMDB it holds 6.5/10 from 2,871 votes, indicating a generally positive but divided audience response.
What's left behind the scenes
- At the 31st minute of the film, Lee Harker smudges the letter 's' in the Longlegs signature. In the next shot, when Lee turns toward a sound, the letter is no longer smudged.
- At the 32nd minute of the film, while Lee Harker is examining the killer's message at night, she receives a phone call informing her that Carter is looking for her. Lee replies that she will come right away, but in the next shot, she arrives at the crime scene in the morning.
- Maika Monroe had no idea what Nicolas Cage would look like as the maniac and had not seen him in character until the filming of the interrogation scene. During the filming of this scene, a microphone was attached to the actress's shirt to record her heartbeat. At the beginning, Monroe's heart was beating at 76 beats per minute, and by the end of the scene, the rate jumped to 170 beats per minute. The sound of the accelerated heartbeat was used in the final trailer.
- The film's advertising campaign went viral. It included billboards with the phone number 458-666-4355. Anyone calling this number would hear Nicolas Cage's voice saying "I'll be waiting" if they called before the film's release, and a "Happy Birthday" greeting if they called after the premiere.
- Nicolas Cage's portrayal of the maniac earned praise from film critics and the public, but the actor stated that this was the first and last time he would play a serial killer. According to Cage, he understood that he would now be offered similar roles, but he declared that he would refuse them because he does not like violence.
- Many of the serial killer's encrypted messages contain spelling and grammatical errors. This detail is a reference to the Zodiac Killer, who also left encrypted messages with errors that significantly complicated the decryption process.
- The movie's title translates as "The Long-Legged One".
- The serial killer's nickname, Longlegs, is a reference to the nursery rhyme 'Goosey Goosey Gander,' first published in London in 1784. An alternative version is titled 'Old Father Long-Legs.'
- According to Osgood Perkins, only Nicolas Cage and Brad Pitt could have convincingly played the lead character.
- Nicolas Cage and director-screenwriter Osgood Perkins dedicated this film to their mothers.
- In one message, the maniac references the poem "Satan's Word" by American poet Sharon Olds.
- In an interview, director and screenwriter Osgood Perkins stated that the JonBenét Ramsey murder case served as one of the inspirations for the film's plot.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
