Egoyan talks Devil’s Knot
Atom Egoyan directs the Devil’s Knot. @Photo provided by Remstar Films.
Three young boys were found murdered and hogtied by a pipe bridge in a forest creek. Three young men were arrested and sentenced to life with death for the leader of the group who happened to be a Goth with an interest in Satanism. They were released from prison in 2007 based on new DNA evidence but still legally held partly responsible.
Egoyan consulted with some of the real life principals and created a fictional look at the horrific case and its lingering effects on the community.
He spoke with Monsters and Critics in Toronto.
Devil’s Knot opens January 24th in Canada, and in spring in the USA. @Photo provided by Remstar Films.
Egoyan: There was talk of doing it in West Memphis but there was a possibility of many feelings aroused in the town. We scouted there but it felt like we were asking for trouble, the case is closed and they would prefer to move on and I felt that it’s an odd place. A lot of the locations where this happened transformed.
The forest where the attacks happened is now leveled to a field, and I don’t know if that was done in response to the horrors that went on, or whether it was for development.It’s very nondescript and that becomes eerie. I went to meet the current police chief who was a junior officer back than and he was strange. He agreed with everything the police did, and that the only mistake was they lost key blood evidence and that was inexcusable.
M&C: What was your starting point?
Egoyan: I’m very interested in how we form perceptions of reality, how we understand trauma and how we pick up pieces and those are themes that keep coming back in my films. It’s in The Captive with Ryan Reynolds (Egoyan’s film in post-production) as well, so when I read this script, it was such a unique opportunity to use a real story which felt surreal, so unimaginable you can’t write this as fiction and to have this incredible abundance an event that has been so mediated and talked and at its core so unknown, we will not know ever.
We will never have the answer. You see the youngsters crossing the pipe, it’s almost this mythological moment when innocence transforms into something dark and horrific and there is no explanation.
James Hamrick in Devil’s Knot. The film opens January 24th in Canada, and in spring in the USA. @Photo provided by Remstar Films.
Egoyan: The thing that’s most disturbing is this kind of thing happens all the time because of the media the books or documentaries and now this fiction film enters the canon of things that make us look at the events differently. This was an extraordinary piece of mythology and I can’t conceive of a more mysterious supernatural crime scene. How did it happen with no evidence, no branches were disturbed, no footprints, three boys naked, ankles tied with their own shoelaces? That feels supernatural.
One can’t help in a religion invoke demons and devils and unhuman. How do you actually deal with that especially in a place so steeped in a Draconian sense of good and evil? When we talk about the south, race is a huge issue but what I felt more was this presence of the church. There’s one on every corner. That’s what it’s about, religion, so for this to happen in this community with that code huge in effect… Who are the demons? They couldn’t have found a better person to blame than these boys who wear black and makeup.
There are many theories about tangible things that were not explored. Each documentary has an agenda and says “this is the person we should look at” and we would have an answer. But there isn’t an answer and that becomes so much more interesting, what do you do when religion accepts something that is beyond us?
M&C: How did Colin Firth who plays a private investigator fit in?
Egoyan: One thing you learn is the idea of the “southern gentlemen” comes with the obsession there with Sir Walter Scott. He was a huge influence on the meaning of the term “southern gentleman” so the image of Colin as I see it now, he was perfect for the role.
The southern accent is closer to the English accent. We were at the wrap party in Atlanta and Colin was being cornered by a woman who happened to be in the restaurant. I went to save him and she nearly growled at me as if to say “How dare you intrude on this moment I’m having, this dream come true?”
I reminded her it was a wrap party; he and Reese were here in this part of the country shooting a film about something that happened here so it was real and not an accident or a cliché.
Colin Firth and James Hamrick in Devil’s Knot. The film opens January 24th in Canada, and in spring in the USA. @Photo provided by Remstar Films.
Egoyan: It’s crazy, a very strange moment. Its great wonderful to have these two worlds collide and certainly the opera is a nice diversion from the darkness of the film. I’ll do Die Walkure next year. Three operas back to back keep me in the world and I just love working with the voice and the singers. It’s a privilege and I pinch myself that I get to do this, it got me through this incredibly horrible winter!
No comments:
Post a Comment