Oz Perkins is no stranger to the public eye. His parents, model Berry Berenson and “Psycho” star Anthony Perkins, were both famous. He’s no stranger to darkness, either: His father was forced to live in a closet, and his mother died on one of the hijacked planes during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. That’s a lot for one person’s family history.
Perhaps that’s why horror movies have always been a part of Oz Perkins’ life. His fourth film, “Long Legs,” is his scariest. It follows FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) as she tracks down an Oregon serial killer (Nicolas Cage). It’s poised to be a breakthrough for the director, thanks in part to a Herculean marketing campaign from distributor Neon. It’s also downright creepy and creates an atmosphere of dread.
One of Perkins’ formative experiences was watching Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. He remembers the first time he saw it. “We used to take our summer vacations to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and we would watch it in a house with glass walls and you could see the forest,” the 50-year-old director said via Zoom call from his home in Los Angeles. “I remember trying to sleep with this environment. It was a tough night.”
When it comes to writing a script, Perkins always draws on his experience. “I decided early on that the characters fit me in one way or another,” he says. The description of the glass-walled house in which he watched The Shining is not unlike the house Harker Monroe lives in in Long Legs, and his ability to see only a certain distance into the woods is a key aspect of the sequence.
A scene from the movie “Long Legs.”
(neon)
Her second film, the slow-burning 2016 ghost story I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, was dedicated to her father and even featured a clip from Perkins’ Oscar-nominated performance in William Wyler’s Faith “Friendly.”
“It was about how we want to know who our parents are, and sometimes we don’t get that wish until they’re gone,” she says. “It’s impossible to know who someone is when they’re gone.”
“Longlegs,” written and directed by Perkins, is about how our parents can create stories. It could be an old story that’s been part of family lore for generations, but it could also be generational karma that’s passed down, something you have to deal with and explain. A secret or problem that can be hidden.”
This established secrecy, especially with his father, had an incalculable influence on Perkins that would inform his work. “I think when someone lives in that environment where there is complete and total truth, the hidden truth, and the version that you are given,” says Perkins, “that creates layers of mystery, intrigue and curiosity… And that’s what I tried to convey in my photographs.”
Perkins has fond memories of her father. She has seen all of his films, though they have not watched them together. (“If your dad is a dentist, they don’t bring you in to look at people’s mouths.”) Rather than bonding over movies, father and son bonded over a shared sense of dark humor. “My dad was known in his circles as being very funny, and he treated things with an abstract, surreal sense of humor,” Perkins recalls. “And I’m proud to be able to express that, especially in the movies I make, which I sometimes find very funny.”
Maika Monroe in “Long Legs.”
(neon)
Horror unfolds in unexpected events. “Long Legs” draws you in with familiarity before leading you into something more relentless. Set in the 1990s and centered on a reluctant but untested female lead, its closest comparison is Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs, a resonance Perkins uses to her advantage.
“The idea was to take the wings of ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ and use them to do something radically different,” says Perkins. The idea of using a film as dark as Demme’s crime thriller as a pam-cleaner for “Long Legs” shows just how bad Perkins’ film is.
While the thriller builds an impressive atmosphere as time goes on, there is fear from the start. This is a deliberate move on Perkins’ part. “You want to make sure the audience is with you as soon as possible,” he says.
He learned this from the great director Mike Nichols, who took Perkins under his wing after his father died in 1992, when Oz was 18. “You have to put your point of view into everything you do, and if you want to give your film texture and depth, that’s important.”
Looking beyond the horror genre established the film’s unique visual style and pushed cinematographer Andrés Arochi to work with director Gus Van Sant. “If you plant the seed of the unexpected,” says Perkins, “it automatically moves artists into a different channel. ‘My Own Ida’ will be a much bigger reference than ‘Rosemary’s Baby.’”
Even though Perkins’ films are terrible, actors love working with him. “Oz’s filmmaking style is a quiet, humble confidence with a hint of humor,” Blair Underwood writes via email. “His sense of humor is just the icing on the cake to create a creative, confident and courageous working environment.”
“He lets his work breathe through others and doesn’t try so hard that he suffocates it,” Monroe adds.
This sense of freedom is exactly what led Cage to do some truly inspired work as the titular Longlegs – a very edgy performance (even for him). He lives in a dark nest with a T. Rex poster on it. His hair is long, thin and grey, his makeup is cadaveric and his prosthetics turn his face into something mask-like and practically inhuman. Longlegs suddenly burst forth to the sound of songs. Cage is unfamiliar with a loud voice; you’d be forgiven for not knowing he was in on it.
It’s the kind of role that demands total commitment, and that’s exactly what Cage delivers. “It was clear that he’s a deliberate, careful, attentive and focused actor – and person,” Perkins recalls of their first meeting.
They found everyone brainstorming for hours, and Cage sent voice notes to Perkins about possible options for Longlegs. “It’s always been the two of us together,” the filmmaker says. “Nick has nothing to do with this on his own. He’s more collaborative than anyone I’ve ever met.”
During the filming of Long Legs, Cage didn’t want to mingle with the cast or crew after each day of shooting and remained completely focused on his role. Perkins assures me it wasn’t because of method acting, but because the separation served up one of the scariest scenes in the film: Longlegs and Harker meeting for the first time. This was also the first time Monroe met Cage. She had no idea what he looked, sounded or acted like.
“I felt like I was really carrying my rig so I could have real emotion and stage presence,” says Perkins. Thanks to Cage’s commitment, they were able to capture a moment of genuine, spontaneous shock that is sure to leave audiences stunned.
Perkins is already filming his next movie, Monkey, based on Stephen King’s 1980 short story. But preparing for another terrifying excursion would be a mistake, he insists.
“Monkey” is nothing like “Limplegs,” Perkins assures me. He describes it as a comedy “with a lot of extreme cartoon ideas,” “An American Werewolf in London,” “Gremlins” and “Gremlins.” “Death to Her” counts as a reference.
Perkins will also be back in action in The Monkey, something he hasn’t done since the film No. His first appearance was as Norman Bates in Psycho II in 1983. He is usually seen with a lack of control over the workings of his nerves, so he spends most of his time behind the scenes.
For Perkins, though, you get the sense that challenging yourself is as much a part of the fun as challenging the audience. “That’s the whole game, isn’t it?” he says. “Give them what they’ve got.” do not do it “they think they want.”
