Given his track record, Nicolas Winding Refn honestly has my money as soon as he announces a new project. With gripping character study Bronson, stylish modern classic Drive (possibly my favorite movie of all-time) and the hypnotic Only God Forgives under his belt, the filmmaker is one of the most unique voices working in cinema today. And judging by new tidbits about his upcoming horror movie The Neon Demon, that’s not about to change anytime soon.
While being interviewed by Dazed and Confused last month about her documentary My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn, the filmmaker’s wife, Liv Corfixen, let slip some fascinating details about The Neon Demon‘s inspirations – including that the film is inspired by Countess Elizabeth Báthory, a notoriously cruel 16th-century countess who was rumored to bathe in the blood of local virgins. Báthory tortured these young girls and murdered them in hopes of absorbing their youth and staying young forever.
Corfixen added that Refn was influenced by survival pic Alive and dark comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous, and The Neon Demon will fall somewhere in the middle of those two works. The filmmaker has been studying “Christian movies” as well, according to Corfixen.
“He has always wanted to do a horror movie. That was the same with ‘Valhalla Rising,’ a Viking movie. He has the idea about 10 years before he makes it, so I think it’s an idea he has had for many, many years. To do a film like that he thinks, ‘I need to do a Viking movie, or a horror movie, or this and that movie.’ He has to get it out of his system to move on to do another movie… [When asked what it’s about] I don’t know yet. Maybe it’s about spirituality but I’m not sure.”
Elsewhere, WhatCulture is reporting that The Neon Demon will focus on “a group of supermodels going to extremes in their attempts to keep looking the way they do,” including “voodoo and cannibalism.” Yikes. Though some of that is old news, hearing that The Neon Demon will explore such chilling topics is truly tantalizing.
Elle Fanning, Christina Hendricks, Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote, Keanu Reeves and Abbey Lee lead the cast for The Neon Demon, which Mary Laws co-wrote with Refn. It will likely arrive sometime in 2016.
