The Neon Demon
Short description
Nicolas Winding Refn directed and co-wrote The Neon Demon, a horror thriller released in 2016. The film follows Jesse, a young aspiring model who arrives in Los Angeles and quickly draws attention for her youth and beauty. As she enters the city's fashion world, she meets people who want to help her career, including a stylist and an agent. But her rise also provokes rivalry among other models, and the same qualities that make her desirable begin to put her in danger. The screenplay was written by Refn with Polly Stenham and Mary Laws, and the cast includes Elle Fanning as Jesse, Jena Malone as Ruby, Bella Heathcote as Gigi, Abbey Lee as Sarah, Karl Glusman as Dean and Desmond Harrington as Jack.
The film sits late in Refn's directing career, after features including Pusher, Bronson, Valhalla Rising, Drive and Only God Forgives, and before later projects. It was an international co-production involving Belgium, Denmark, the United States and France, made for about 7 million dollars. Its worldwide box office reached roughly 3 million dollars, well below its budget.
The Neon Demon holds a 6.1 rating on IMDb from around 111,000 votes and a 6.5 on TMDB from a much smaller base of about 4,000. A critics' rating of 6 out of 10 from 261 reviews places professional response roughly in line with audience scores rather than sharply divided.
What's left behind the scenes
- Amazon Studios acquired the distribution rights to the film in November 2015.
- The soundtrack composer, Cliff Martinez, described the film as something between Valley of the Dolls and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
- Abby Lee, the Australian supermodel and actress who played Sarah, acted as an unofficial consultant to the crew regarding the world of high fashion during filming. She explained to Nicolas Winding Refn how model selection works, and she also taught Elle Fanning how to walk the runway.
- The film was shot in chronological order. According to Elle Fanning, the ending was conceived directly on set.
- Initially, the film was titled "I'm Walking With the Dead," with a screenplay to be written by Polly Stenham and the lead role intended for Carey Mulligan.
- Originally, it was planned that someone from the crew would break the mirror in the bathroom. A person hit the mirror with a heavy vase, but nothing happened. Nicolas Winding Refn asked Abby Lee, who played Sarah, to throw an ashtray at the mirror in one of the takes. The mirror shattered into many pieces on the first try, and that take was used in the film.
- During filming, Nicolas Winding Refn would shout "Violence, bitches!" instead of "Action!" before turning on the camera.
- Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks, and Alessandro Nivola also starred together in the film «Bomb» (2012).
- Christina Hendricks and Nicolas Winding Refn last worked together on the set of Drive (2011).
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