When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will use any means necessary to get what she has in The Neon Demon, the new horror thriller from Nicolas Winding Refn.
The Neon Demon stars Elle Fanning (Maleficent, Super 8), Jena Malone (Inherent Vice, The Hunger Games series), Bella Heathcote (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Dark Shadows), Abbey Lee (Gods of Egypt, Max Max: Fury Road), Karl Glusman (Love, Stonewall), Keanu Reeves (John Wick, The Matrix series), Christina Hendricks (“Mad Men,” Drive), Desmond Harrington (“Dexter,” The Dark Knight Rises), Alessandro Nivola (A Most Violent Year, American Hustle), and Charles Baker (“Breaking Bad,” Wild).
The Neon Demon is directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (Bronson, Valhalla Rising, Drive, Only God Forgives) and co-written by Nicolas Winding Refn, Mary Laws and Polly Stenham, based on a story by Nicolas Winding Refn.
It is produced by Lene Børglum (Dogville, Only God Forgives), Sidonie Dumas, and Vincent Maraval. Executive producers are Christophe Riandee, Brahim Chioua, Christopher Woodrow (Birdman, Killer Joe), Michael Bassick (Bernie, The Ten), Steven Marshall, Michel Litvak (Whiplash, Drive), Gary Michael Walters (Whiplash, Drive), Jeffrey Stott (2 Guns, Drive),Rachel Dik (Old Fashioned), Victor Ho (The World Made Straight, Fast Food Nation), Manuel Chiche, Matthew Read, and Thor Sigurjonsson . Co-Producers are K. Blaine Johnston and Elexa Ruth.
It features cinematography by Natasha Braier (The Rover, The Milk of Sorrow), editing by Mat Newman (Drive, Only God Forgives), production design by Elliott Hostetter (Spring Breakers), costume design by Erin Benach (Drive). Music is by Cliff Martinez (Drive, Spring Breakers, Only God Forgives), casting by Nicole Daniels and Courtney Bright and Sound Design by Eddie Simonsen and Anne Jensen.
A Space Rocket production in co-production with Gaumont and Wild BunchThe Neon Demon is a co-production between Denmark and France.
The Neon Demon is rated XXXXX by the MPAA for YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.
The running time is 117 minutes.
THE DEMON RISES
In 2010, director Nicolas Winding Refn dazzled viewers around the world with his Los Angeles-set crime thriller Drive. Now, NWR returns to the “city of dreams” for an incisive and unsettling look at its intense and often vicious culture of beauty in the bold new horror thriller The Neon Demon.
The second film in a two-picture deal between Space Rocket, NWR’s production company with producing partner Lene Børglum, and French film financing entities Wild Bunch and Gaumont, The Neon Demon first arose in NWR’s mind long before production commenced on the first film in their deal, 2013’s Only God Forgives.
“For a number of years, I’ve had this interest in making a film about beauty, because, [in my life], I’m surrounded by it,” NWR says, referring to his wife, filmmaker Liv Corfixen (My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn), his two young daughters, and, presumably, the myriad actresses and models he’s encountered directing both feature films and fashion advertisements for brands like Gucci, YXL, H&M and Hennessey. “And I see a lot of female empowerment with beauty.”
In addition to his desire to make a film about beauty, NWR also held a long-gestating interest in the horror genre, something he was naturally led to upon further meditation on the subject of the power of beauty, particularly its darker side.
“The currency of beauty continues to rise and never falls. And, as we evolve the lifespan of beauty becomes more limited, while our obsession with it becomes more and more extreme.” According to NWR, this obsession can often lead to a unique kind of madness.
To illustrate this, NWR references Narcissus, the subject of ancient Greek myth who became so enamored with his own beauty he drowned in its reflection. NWR describes the current digital revolution as representing “the liquid Narcissus sees himself in and falls into.” Its resulting images, often achieved though digital enhancement, are impossible to achieve and yet “people create their own insanity in the search for it.”
Fertile ground for exploring tales of madness and obsession, the horror genre emerged the perfect vehicle for NWR’s blossoming tale. But before beginning his initial foray into the genre, the director would undergo a thorough examination of it – a task he undertook with guidance from his friend, BBC executive and Only God Forgives executive producer Matthew Read. “With [Matthew], we started to really try and understand why horror films work and why they don’t work and the various sub-genres. And then to really break [the horror film] down into a mathematical equation,” says NWR.
Known for both embracing and subverting such well-worn genres as the prison drama (2008’s Bronson), the historical adventure (2010’s Valhalla Rising), the action thriller (2011’s Drive), and the revenge drama (2013’s Only God Forgives), NWR was similarly curious to see if he could both honor and defy the “horror movie” equation with his developing story. “Was there a way to hit all of the basic genre beats, but not necessarily in the right order?” And could he “make a horror film without the horror?”
Another challenge was crafting his first female-centric narrative. Although NWR’s past films have included strong supporting female characters – like Carey Mulligan’s vulnerable young mother in Drive and Kristin Scott Thomas’s manipulative one in Only God Forgives – NWR had never developed a film with a female lead, let alone four of them.
To help give voice to The Neon Demon’s quartet of young female characters, NWR sought collaboration with a young female writer – preferably one with a background in the more dialogue-intensive world of theater. After directing three films he describes as “silent,” NWR sensed The Neon Demon would be a more dialogue-driven affair and wanted someone strong in that area.
NWR found all three qualities in two female writers from opposite sides of the Atlantic: one a well-known British playwright, the other an up-and-coming American one.
His first collaborator was London-based playwright Polly Stenham, who came to international theater-world attention at the precocious age of 21, when her debut play “That Face” premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 2007 to rave reviews and earned her the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright and the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright (2008).
The second was Texas-born playwright Mary Laws, a recent graduate of the prestigious Yale Drama School already gaining traction in the industry for her bold and innovative student plays. On the recommendation of his agent, NWR read Laws’ work and, impressed, reached out to her.
Although NWR had basic story and character ideas in mind at the outset of the script’s development, Stenham and Laws helped him build a full-bodied – and full-blooded – narrative around them.
Reflecting on the experience of working with two different writers at distinct phases of their careers – and from differing parts of the world, NWR says, “Both women were absolutely wonderful to work with because of their differing approaches. And each brought a distinct perspective that helped mold the script in very interesting ways.”
Once production began on The Neon Demon, the story continued to evolve, a process common on all of NWR’s films and a unique creative benefit of shooting in chronological order.
NEON BEAUTIES
While serving on the 2014 Cannes Film Festival jury, NWR told fellow juror and filmmaker Sofia Coppola about his next project: the female-driven horror thriller The Neon Demon. She, in turn, advised him to get in touch with Los Angeles-based casting directors Nicole Daniels and Courtney Bright (Afternoon Delight, The Guest, The Bling Ring), whom she cited as having a knack for finding exciting up-and-coming young talent.
During their first meeting, Bright recalls NWR stating that the most important thing to him was getting the best actor for the job. “He really was not tied to having A-list stars for any reason. If that ended up happening, he was thrilled; but if it didn’t, he was equally as happy. So he really just wanted us to introduce him to the best actors out there.”
The first and most pivotal role to cast with Jesse, a seemingly innocent young beauty from small town Georgia whose character slowly starts to transform as her modeling career takes off. NWR immediately had Elle Fanning in mind for the part.
“To me, Elle Fanning is a blend of the greatest silent movie stars of the past and the most cutting edge actresses of today. She has this magnificent ability to transform herself.
NWR adds: “And the camera just loves her.”
Fanning was equally thrilled about the proposition of working with director NWR. “I was a huge fan of Nic’s already. I’d only seen Drive but I knew [it] very well because when I was making a film in South Africa…they didn’t have many channels and there was one movie channel and [Drive] was the only movie they played, so I can pretty much quote that movie. So I was definitely a superfan. And then when I heard that Nic wanted me to meet…I was so excited. [Whatever] he was going to do, I would have one hundred percent jumped in and definitely done it.”
When NWR told her that the film’s storyline would revolve around models and fashion, however, her enthusiasm spiked, being not only a fashion fanatic but someone inadvertently involved in that world. “I’m a huge fan of the whole fashion world,” Fanning says. “And, being an actor and a young girl in movies…in a weird way, fashion goes along with it because you go to red carpet things and you need to look good and wear certain designers.”
Fanning was also excited about playing a less innocent kind of “beauty” than she did as Princess Aurora in 2014’s blockbuster hit Maleficent. “You always want to do something very different….and, in a weird way, people could think that [Jesse’s] very princess-like and sweet – but she’s not.”
To prepare for the role in his horror thriller, NWR instructed Fanning to watch a series of films – but not just in the horror genre. “I watched Valley of the Dolls and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. They’re huge inspirations for the film, especially Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. I had never seen that movie and I was watching it on my computer. I was like, this is the craziest thing I’ve ever [seen]!”
In addition to her enthusiasm for her own role, Fanning appreciated the fact that The Neon Demon script was “all about the girls.” Fanning says: “There are guys in it, but the girls are the main characters, which is really cool. I like the ‘girl power’ element.”
Contributing to this “girl power” element is a strong female-led cast that includes Jena Malone in the role of Ruby, an L.A. makeup artist who is the first of a triumvirate of vicious beauties to fall under the spell of Fanning’s beauty.
Like Fanning, Malone began acting at a young age, and her recent credits include a mix of both big-budget studio hits like Contact and The Hunger Games series, and indie favorites like Donnie Darko and Into the Wild.
Malone brought her extensive acting experience to bear during her initial meeting with NWR, where, casting director Nicole Daniels says, “She probably gave one of the best auditions any of us have ever seen.”
According to NWR, Jena also became “very instrumental in creating the Ruby character because the Ruby character was more of an enigma at the script stage. So I needed someone that could transform and mutate into her.”
In preparation for her role, Malone consulted with a close makeup artist friend. “I played with her makeup – on her and on me – and got familiar with her kit and the setup.” In addition to practicing applying makeup on the living, Jena also volunteered at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery morgue, since her character moonlights as a mortician.
“I was working with the head mortician at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Steve Murillo, and I basically ended up getting to work on bodies with him, which was immense. [That] was a new thing for me,” Malone says.
Working on a living body, albeit her own, is a full-time occupation for model Gigi, a self-professed plastic surgery addict and the second in Demon’s trio of covetous beauties, played by up-and-coming Australian actress Bella Heathcote. Like many of her fellow Aussie actors, Heathcote began her career on the soap opera “Neighbours” before coming to international attention for her role as Victoria Winters in Tim Burton’s big-budget adaptation of the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows.
For Bella, the role of the obsessively vain and wickedly humorous Gigi marks a welcome break from playing sweet-natured characters like Victoria. “I always get cast as the girl next door or something sweet or lovable. So it’s pretty fun to play someone evil or with those tendencies”
Asked whether she could relate to the character’s extreme level of vanity, Bella says, “I’d like to think I’m not quite as obsessed with my appearance as Gigi is, but her practical approach to things – I can relate to [that]. She sees herself like a hotrod or a really great car – and she’s beautiful. But why [settle] for a beautiful car when you can soup it up and add things to it and make it even more extraordinary?”
According to Bright, “[Bella] also brought a certain intelligence to the role. Same with Abbey. When Abbey auditioned, we were like: ‘This is a no-brainer. This girl has to be in the movie. She has to play Sarah.’
Following her breakout performance in the international box office smash Mad Max: Fury Road, Abbey Lee continues her bold and successful transition from the world of modeling to acting with her new role as Sarah, whom she describes as the most “primal” of the three vicious beauties seeking to devour Jesse’s beauty.
The still new nature of her transition from modeling to acting did, however, give Lee initial pause about taking the part. “There was… a concern about playing a role like this, coming from the background that I have [in modeling] and trying to break away from it,” she says. Nevertheless, Nicolas’s past work and high regard in the industry “made me want to be a part of it.”
Despite shooting commercials in the high-end fashion world, NWR was not as familiar with Lee’s extensive modeling background as his family and leading actress. “It wasn’t until my wife told me that she was a big supermodel that I [learned about] her past. I just saw her at a cold reading and she was very good – and very beautiful. But very fragile. And that’s what the character needed.”
Elle Fanning recalls being star-struck upon first meeting Lee. “When I was little, I would go on Style.com and I knew all the models – and Abbey Lee was giant. She did all the campaigns and walked in all of the shows. So when I heard she was doing it, I was freaking out. To me, it was like meeting Beyoncé. She’s like, mega.”
During the making of the film, Abbey’s modeling experience would prove an asset to the film’s talent, both in front of and behind the camera.
“I kept asking her for advice because she obviously knows the modeling world,” Fanning says. “Like, what do [models] wear to the castings? And she had to teach me how to do the [runway] walk. She showed me how to place the hands and how to do the model walk.” Her enthusiasm still fresh, Fanning exclaims: “I went to modeling school with Abbey Lee!”
On a darker note, Abbey helped costar Bella Heathcote understand that the sometimes-savage nature of the modeling industry they were bringing to life was in fact grounded in reality. “I don’t come from that background but from what Abbey has told me, it seems pretty accurate. It’s pretty ruthless,” says Heathcote.
Costume designer Erin Benach also credits Abbey’s with being “really great at helping me with the whole modeling world because she is an established model. So she [would] look at my boards and say, ‘I totally wore that when I was first staring out,’ or ‘I don’t think it’s chic enough for her.’”
SUPPORTING THE DEMON
Like the film’s lead quartet, The Neon Demon’s supporting cast includes an intriguing mix of industry veterans and newcomers – plus a returning NWR player.
Among the film’s more seasoned cast members is actor Keanu Reeves. Praised for the unexpected casting of nice guy comic actor Albert Brooks as a murderous L.A. gangster in Drive, NWR goes for a similar bit of against-type casting in The Neon Demon, hiring internationally known movie star Reeves as failed actor-turned-seedy motel manager Hank.
For NWR, the chance to work with Reeves was both exciting and long overdue. “The minute [his] name came up, I was like, that would be the best. And [it was] a way for me to complete a full circle because Keanu and I had met about ten years ago [on] my first big job in Hollywood. That film never materialized…but I always wanted to revisit the [chance] to work with him. And it’s just been really great. Very few actors have the pop icon status that he has and the ability he has as an actor, combined with [a] bona fide movie star aura.”
An avowed fan of NWR’s films, Reeves savored the opportunity to work for the director and play a character he humorously refers to as “the menacing motel manager.” Further elaborating on his character, Reeves calls him “kind of like a guy with bark but no bite. But then he ends up having a little bit of bite. And I like the humor of the character as well. I don’t know if that will come across but hopefully people will enjoy Hank.”
For Elle Fanning, who calls Keanu “the sweetest guy…so unlike his character,” the actor’s presence made for a particularly memorable 17th birthday on set. “My birthday’s April 9th and on April 8th we filmed until midnight. So at midnight they brought out two cakes and they all sang happy birthday. [And] Keanu Reeves sang happy birthday to me. It was so nice,” she recalls, giggling like the teenage girl she is.
Bringing intensity to another mysterious and potentially menacing male figure in Jesse’s life is actor Desmond Harrington, who portrays the fashionable fashion photographer Jack. Best known for his work on TV’s “Dexter” and “Gossip Girl,” and the cult horror film Wrong Turn, Harrington impressed NWR with his appropriately “mysterious” quality.
“The Jack character was probably the hardest to cast because he was more or less a blank canvas in my mind,” NWR recalls. “And then Desmond came in – I think two days before we were to start shooting that role – and when I saw him, it was more like, now there’s a mystery to [Jack] because Desmond is a very enigmatic personality.”
Although Harrington has gotten to know a lot of well-known fashion photographers during his time in the business and living in New York, he chose not to base his performance on any particular one. “We’re not playing into the idea of what a fashion photographer should look like and how he should be dressed. I’m from New York and I have a New York accent and we leave it that way. And I think that works. And you can credit Nicolas’s casting me for that.”
Less a threat to Jesse and more of a colorful mentor is fashion designer Robert Sarno, played by Alessandro Nivola (A Most Violent Year, American Hustle), who shot his role in between appearances on Broadway and, later, on London’s West End, in the 2014 revival of Bernard Pomerance’s “The Elephant Man.”
Of Nivola’s casting, NWR says, “During the casting process, Alessandro came in to test and he was so good. But I couldn’t hire him because shooting in chronological order created a scheduling conflict. So I literally created a new character for him to play simply because I wanted him in the film.”
NWR was also intent on creating an opportunity to reunite with his Drive star Christina Hendricks (TV’s “Mad Men”), who here portrays Roberta Hoffman, head of Jesse’s modeling agency. “[My wife] Liv and I are huge fans of anything Christina Hendricks and I wanted her to be in the film so I created a cameo appearance for her,” NWR says.
Hendricks describes her characters as “a typical model agent, but she’s found herself in Los Angeles, rather than New York or Paris or London, where it sort of really counts. So she’s trying to sort of peacock herself about Los Angeles – as if she’s a bit more important than she is – even though she’s probably a joke to people in New York. But when she sees Jesse, she’s like, I’ve really got something and now people will know who I am.”
Part of the fun of the role for Hendricks was playing what she calls a “completely different character” from the quietly scheming, street clothes-wearing Blanche in Drive. Here, Hendricks utters delectable dialogue – stating the dos and don’ts of the modeling world to Jesse – and gets to wear a stylish “Stella McCartney raspberry pantsuit.”
Casting directors Nicole Daniels and Courtney Bright auditioned “every boy in town” for the role of the sweet and handsome aspiring photographer Dean. Newcomer Karl Glusman (Stonewall, Love), however, was the standout. “Karl was the one we thought was new and fresh,” says Daniels.
NWR had been tipped off to Glusman’s talent by filmmaker friend Gaspar Noé, who worked with Karl on the controversial romance Love, but he admits: “I kind of put it off a little bit. And then Karl would contact me and I didn’t really respond. And we were running out of time and there was no actor that I wanted to use – so Karl came back from France and I said, ‘Let’s get him in and see how this works out.’ And Elle was going to be there for the reading. And Karl came in and it was like, ‘Oh my God, hire him.’ Adds Courtney, “Their chemistry – from the moment he walked in the room – was so obvious.”
Rounding out the solid supporting cast is actor Charles Baker, who memorably portrayed Skinny Pete on TV’s “Breaking Bad,” and here plays Mikey, door-busting sidekick to Keanu Reeve’s motel manager.
DEMON CREW
For Nicolas Winding Refn, the decision to set his meditation on beauty and the fashion world in Los Angeles – as opposed to the more commonly regarded high-fashion centers New York or Paris – was born out of considerations both practical and creative.
“It was a combination of two things: After [shooting Only God Forgives] in Bangkok, I wanted to do a film in Tokyo, and Liv said, ‘I’m not living in Tokyo.’ Then I asked her, ‘What’s a compromise?’ And she said, ‘L.A.’”
In terms of the creative impetus for setting the story in L.A., NWR says, “I’d been doing a lot of fashion work in L.A. so I got to see the fashion side of it. And, even though you might say high-end fashion is more based in New York or Paris, every part of the entertainment industry leads back to L.A.. So you can say L.A. is the gateway between all entertainment and the rest of the world.
Shooting in Los Angeles, however, would present director NWR with a series of unique challenges; primary among them was finding a great crew on a small budget.
“One of the first challenges in L.A. is that it’s an expensive city to shoot in. So it was difficult getting a crew for the amount of money I had. But I think that forced me to…really go outside of my comfort zone and work with people who are much more new and fresh; people who were on the verge of breaking into the industry in a much bigger way, which actually added to the movie.”
NWR’s first key hire was Argentinean-born cinematographer Natasha Braier, who had previously worked with such acclaimed international directors as Lucia Puenzo, Lynne Ramsay, Shane Meadows, Cédric Klapischand, and Claudia Llosa (on 2010’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee “The Milk of Sorrow”) and had recently shot David Michôd’s “The Rover,” an official selection at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
According to Producer Lene Borglum, “All of Nicolas’ films are meticulous in their visual design, and in this one, he was obsessed with making sure every set up felt like a fashion shoot.” This became NWR’s early, pivotal creative dictate for Braier and the other key department heads.
With this in mind, Braier set out to find the perfect film lenses to enhance the natural beauty of the images she would be capturing on the Alexa digital camera.
“I spent two months finding the right set of anamorphic lenses and then fixing them because I chose a very old set that not a lot of people use anymore. [They’re] called “Crystal Express” and they were made by Joe Dunton, [who is] a legend in the anamorphic field. They’re great because they’re very soft and gentle and cosmetic on the faces. And I needed the skins to be as close to those [captured] on a fashion photo shoot – although those are always extremely corrected in Photoshop. But I knew [on our budget] we were not going to be able to treat the skins in post, so I had to do as much as I could in-camera.”
A second key hire on the film was up-and-coming production designer Elliott Hostetter, who cut his teeth working in the art department on Joel and Ethan Coen’s True Grit (2010) and Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life (2011), before segueing into production design on such films as the similarly female-centric Spring Breakers (2012).
NWR describes the hiring of both Hostetter and Braier as “absolutely crucial in designing and creating the film.”
DRESSING THE DEMON
Another key hire on the film was costume designer and past NWR collaborator Erin Benach, with whom NWR created a new kind of style icon in Ryan Gosling’s Driver character in 2011’s Drive. The two reteam on The Neon Demon, another L.A.-based project, albeit one with far more elaborate and extensive costume needs and, as a result, the chance to create a whole series of potentially iconic looks.
NWR first told Benach about the film when it was still just a small, undeveloped concept. “He started telling me about this project…and I always knew it was fun, high fashion stuff,” Benach recalls. “And knew it would be a lot of fun to do.”
When The Neon Demon finally commenced pre-production, NWR told Benach he wanted the film’s costume design to “really push the envelope and set the stage for high fashion – not fake high fashion.” This presented Benach with the dual challenge of both finding authentic pieces and then giving them an “elevated look that really feels like the high-fashion world.”
Despite a limited budget, Benach was able to achieve these high-fashion looks thanks to creative partnerships with a series of top-tier design houses, including Giles Deacon of London. “They’ve given us amazing pieces, including the key piece that Elle wears in the fashion show. And YSL [Yves Saint Laurent] is working with us. And Giorgio Armani. And Elle’s opening outfit is from Giorgio Armani.”
Benach also worked closely with The Neon Demon’s other key talent to make sure the costumes reflected the film’s overall aesthetic and tone. “I talked with our production designer Elliott Hostetter and cinematographer Natasha Braier [to figure out] the moments of realism and suspended realism,” she says, adding, “And, [once] I knew those beats, I began filling in the looks – or what I imagined to be looks – for each of those moments.”
Benach took her design cues mainly from current fashion and sought to avoid looks she felt were overly retro or referential. “I mean, we have references to The Valley of the Dolls. But, for me, it’s not about that; it’s about what is classic and now and that every girl is going to want to wear.”
Benach was also careful to make sure that the costuming reflected the lead character’s individual personalities and character journeys. “For Jesse we went ‘sweet girl from Georgia’ with the flower dress. [Sarah] has traveled the world because she’s the most established model, so she’s a bit savvier. [With] Gigi it’s more about body consciousness, so the silhouette on her is kind of the most important thing. And [for] Ruby, it’s realism. I have makeup artist friends and they’re very much in the fashion world in a way so they can be fashion forward – but not in the model way.”
The growing idea of Los Angeles as fashion center is something Benach can attest to based on her experience creating The Neon Demon’s myriad couture and streetwear looks. “Five years ago, you were like, can I hire a New York person to go to the showrooms? Now all the brands have showrooms here.”
CUTTING THE DEMON
To cut The Neon Demon, NWR enlisted longtime editing partner Matthew Newman, who helped bring such innovative editorial structure and texture to Bronson (2008), Valhalla Rising (2009), Drive (2011), and Only God Forgives (2013).
“When I first hired him [on the 2007 British TV movie ‘Agatha Christie’s Marple’], I never imagined that our paths would be so intertwined,” says NWR. “But that was a great experience. And then I hired him to do Bronson and, from then on, he’s become very instrumental in helping me alter my ways of making films.”
Newman himself credits their enduring collaboration to the fact that they’re both “…very open. I think [it’s] based on mutual trust, which I’ve learned, in this business, is pretty invaluable.”
NWR places such trust in Newman that he engages him in the entire filmmaking process, from script development to post. “Matt doesn’t just edit my films during and after production; I bring him in during the script stage as a fresh pair of eyes to look at the screenplay and, later on, to supervise large parts of the post-production process.”
He also likes to keep Newman close during production: “On Bronson, he stayed in a hotel room next to mine to do the editing; when we did Valhalla Rising, he lived in Copenhagen near my house; when we did Drive, I edited it in my house, so he stayed with me; on Only God Forgives, I gave him a hotel room to edit in next to mine; and, for The Neon Demon, I put him up in my pool house, which is where we edited the film.”
Of this proximity, NWR says, “It helps me stay close to this force of creativity between us.”
During production of The Neon Demon, NWR met with Newman each night after filming wrapped to go over the previous day’s edited footage and solicit his opinion on what was and wasn’t working.
“He’d show me the day’s editorial work and…if he had any suggestions, or critical opinions, I always took them very seriously. And, a lot of the time, he had a good point,” says NWR.
Newman says, “A big part of my job was to tell Nicolas when I thought [a scene] wasn’t working. If he agreed, he’d then have to figure out how, in the shooting schedule, he could do it again properly.”
In addition to evaluating individual scenes, NWR and Newman would also consider the overall shape the film was taking. “Because I was shooting in chronological order,” says NWR, “I could see the film unfolding in front of my eyes editorially – not just photographically – and that sometimes necessitated rewriting and/or making other logistical changes going forward.”
He adds, “So it wasn’t just about looking at stuff with Matt; it was also about asking, ‘Where are we in the story and how is it flowing and what new direction could it or should it take?’ For example, half way through the movie, I changed my mind about one character’s fate – and this was really the result of sitting with Matt and reflecting on how the film was living and breathing and transforming into whatever it was essentially going to be.”
“So Matt stays very close to the process, both literally and figuratively…and I really trust and value his feedback,” says NWR.
On the subject of editing a more dialogue-intensive film for NWR, Newman says, “There’s definitely more chat in The Neon Demon because the story is a little bit more…day-to-day at the beginning. Then it becomes less so, and the dialogue falls away. And there are very long stretches of this film that are entirely visual. And that’s always the case [with Nicolas]: there will be visual, musical sequences.”
On the challenge of editing a film more overtly in the horror genre, Newman says his approach was simply to “play it very quickly and quite lightly. And the film is quite light; It does have a lot of comedy in it. So I didn’t think too much about editing a ‘horror film,’ per se; We were just trying to make the story between the girls work.”
He adds, “And, with horror, what I’ve found is that so much of what you perceive as being ‘horror’ in a film is really sound and score – and that’s the next phase of the movie.”
NEON MUSIC
To create the perfect musical soundscape for his first horror thriller, NWR reteamed with Cliff Martinez, who previously composed the celebrated scores for his films Drive and Only God Forgives, as well as for Liv Corfixen’s My Life Directed By Nicolas Winding Refn.
“We’re very good friends, so music is something that is introduced very early in the process and we talk about how we will use music and what kind of music,” says NWR.
For Martinez, the process of collaborating with NWR is unique for the business: “On Drive, Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon, Nicolas actually sent me the script and talked about the film long before he ever shot it. That’s unusual: Usually directors call you in five weeks before the film is finished and you have to get up to speed very quickly.”
Early conversations with the director gave Martinez time to “let the idea of The Neon Demon ferment a little bit…and that long incubation period really helps the process a lot.”
Initially, NWR filled his temp score with samples from the work of Hitchcock composer Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Vertigo). Martinez recalls, “It completely threw me because it was anachronistic; it was orchestral. Honestly, I didn’t quite get it.” NWR quickly reassured him, “I don’t want the score to sound like that; I want it to feel like that.”
In terms of overt direction from NWR, Martinez says, “Nicolas often described the film as being broken in half: the first half was what he called ‘melodrama’ — and he used the word ‘romantic’; the second half was more firmly rooted in the horror genre. So those are the two flavors of the score: romance and horror.”
Martinez set about composing the music for The Neon Demon on his preferred instrument, the keyboard, which he describes as “the key to unlocking the universe of electronic sound. I play a few other instruments – I’ll pick up a guitar or mallet percussion – but most of the writing takes place on a keyboard.”
This was followed by “a lot of feedback and back-and-forth between myself and [NWR].” He adds, “It usually goes very slowly at first and then, towards the end, it starts to pick up steam as you begin to gather your themes and motifs and you’re able to recycle them to an extent.”
Martinez describes the finished score as “electronic in the sense that it’s almost all synthesizers. I did try to make it sound somewhat like the ‘70s: a vintage synthesizer sound. It’s pretty stark; it’s pretty minimalist. But the music probably has an even more prominent role than it did in Drive and Only God Forgives.”
In terms of direct sonic influence, Martinez mentions Tim Krog’s score for the 1980 cult horror film The Boogey Man. “That was one that had a big influence. It’s a purely synth score. One of my film musicophile friends recommended that I listen to that score and I liked it. So it’s one I could say was a reference point.”
Ultimately, Martinez finds common ground between his completed score and the initial Bernard Herrmann-centric temp score. “I think [Herrmann] is the original minimalist. He used very short repeating cellular musical ideas and I do too.”
On composing in and around the film’s licensed songs – another celebrated component of NWR’s films — Martinez says, “Usually, they just kind of go their separate ways…because the song choices are so eclectic that there’s no common denominator and it doesn’t really inform the score. Drive was different because four or five of the songs all sounded like they could have been created by the same artist, so I tried to compliment that retro ‘80s synth sound with the score.”
For The Neon Demon, NWR includes a handful of licensed songs, including “Waving Goodbye” by Sia (featuring Diplo), whom NWR describes as “one of the most uniquely gifted female artists,” and “Mine” and “Demon Dance” by NWR’s nephew, Julian Winding, whose music was previously featured in Liv Corfixen’s My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn.
SHOOTING IN THE NEON CITY
Principal photography on The Neon Demon commenced in Los Angeles, California, on Friday, March 27, 2015, and wrapped on Friday, May 22, 2015. A rarity in the business – but common practice for director NWR – the film was shot in chronological order.
“It’s a process I do for all of my movies because I like the fear of not being able to fully see how the film will turn out until the end, “ Refn says.
On how this creative decision effects cast and crew, Refn says, “It forces everyone to submit themselves because it’s a constant organism that needs to be handled and needs to be touched and felt. And every day [there is] possible change. And that can both be very terrifying and very exhilarating at the same time.”
For actress Elle Fanning, the experience of shooting in chronological order was an exciting first. “It’s the most incredible thing. Because what we shot yesterday is the memory of what the character has the day after. So you can really track your journey easily.”
According to the film’s producer and partner in Space Rocket, shooting in order required a unique production strategy: “Usually on “regular” projects you go to one location and shoot all of the scenes that you have there. but we’re going away and coming back to locations because we’re holding them in between.” As a result, Ho adds, “Not only is he watching the movie develop, but the actors are discovering the characters.”
“It’s one of the most cross-collaborative [experiences I’ve had],” recalls Jena Malone on how the open-ended process helped foster uniquely close collaboration between actor and director. “I don’t know where his ideas begin and my ideas are ending at this point.”
“He’s definitely engaged me in discussion more than any other director about my character,” adds Bella Heathcote. “And if you ask questions, he likes to ask, ‘Why?’ He wants you to have your own ideas about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.”
“Even if you’re wrong, which [is] most of the time, he doesn’t tell you you’re wrong,” says Abbey Lee. “He shows you what he means and what he wants and you learn a lot going through those stages of trying to work out what you’re doing. So it’s important to get it wrong and then be guided to how it’s right.”
“He’s a great mixture of opinion and collaborative,” adds Reeves. “So you get to throw around ideas and yet there’s direction there. And the guy’s got good taste.”
For most of the film’s cast and crew, shooting in L.A. was an added bonus to the NWR experience.
“I live in L.A.. So it’s nice to get to go back home every night,” says Elle Fanning mid-production, a sentiment echoed by some of the film’s other cast members, including local resident Christina Hendricks, who called the experience “easy and comfortable. It’s nice to stay home and work.”
For actor Karl Glusman, shooting the film in Los Angeles signified a career first. “It’s the first thing I’ve ever shot in L.A.. I just moved here, actually. So that was kind of a step or milestone in my little short career.”
Working in L.A. also gave the cast and crew a chance to reflect on the city as both aesthetic subject and cultural symbol.
“I think it’s visually pretty extraordinary. It can look hideous but even the hideousness of L.A. is pretty fantastic, “says Bella Heathcote. “We shot in downtown the first week and it’s like being in New York City in the 1940s.”
“Each of the locations have a very powerful aesthetic,” adds Producer Lene Borglum, referring to the various historic locations shot in the film, which include Downtown L.A.’s Orpheum Theater, the American Cement Building on Wilshire Blvd., and the Paramour Mansion in Silver Lake.
Even though Los Angeles has been the subject of films since the early 1900’s, Børglum is confident NWR will make even its more familiar icons seem fresh. “I’m sure Nicolas will find a very exciting way to show Los Angeles in a different way from how others portray it.”
The pleasure of shooting in L.A. has also made some cast lament the fact that the city isn’t filmed enough – or in the right way. “Honestly, a lot of films don’t get shot in L.A. anymore, which is kind of sad; it’s like that Hollywood thing is kind of dying out,” says Fanning. Harrington adds, “It’s odd because there’s so much that isn’t made about Los Angeles – and it does have a really interesting history to it.”
Actress Jena Malone describes the city in more literary terms, stating: “Los Angeles doesn’t have as fleshed out an icon or myth built yet. So you get to build the myth a little bit.”
When asked if he is ultimately making a movie about the reality of Los Angeles or some heightened version of it, NWR says, “I think that L.A. has two realities: the so-called ‘real’ reality and there’s the ‘artificial’ reality. The artificial reality is the illusion of Los Angeles and that’s something I find really exciting because it’s about mythology.”
Behold the myth of The Neon Demon…
WHAT IS ‘THE NEON DEMON’?
“L.A., because of all the lights.”
– Elle Fanning (Jesse)
“Otherworldly beauty, but [also] the dark underbelly of that.”
– Jena Malone (Ruby)
“The industry and the city. It’s glossy and shiny but it will eat you alive.”
– Bella Heathcote (Gigi)
“A demonic force…camouflaged in glitter and stilettos.”
– Abbey Lee (Sarah)
“That kind of empty, shallow notoriety or celebrity that doesn’t really mean anything in the end and…eats people up and spits them out.”
– Karl Glusman (Dean)
“There’s something about the light – you can call it artificial light, but I guess all light is artificial besides the sun – and the neon quality of it. [There’s] something about those colors that attracts and repulses at the same time. And then there’s the demon part. What is the demon within; what is the demon on the outside? Is it ego? It may be a fear of death. Or desire. It’s all sorts of fun stuff.”
– Keanu Reeves (Hank)
“It makes me think of speed and a bunch of lights on Sunset. And the devil.”
– Desmond Harrington (Jack)
“The dark underbelly of beauty and the things we would do for beauty.”
– – Christina Hendricks (Roberta)
“You have to talk to Nic about the title.”
– Mary Laws, co-writer
“A great cover for a fetish magazine.”
– Nicolas Winding Refn, Director, Screenwriter
“Heading for the flashing light and the glamour but also that there’s something twisted and a darker side to it.”
– Lene Børglum, Producer
“The word neon is a reflection of the location;
the word demon is a reflection of the obsession.”
– Rachel Dik, Executive Producer
“It feels a little bit banal to try and explain it because it’s kind of the essence of the movie and whatever I say in English
is going to sound very cheesy.”
– Natasha Braier, Cinematographer
“When you see neon lights, you think something is super glamorous. And I think that’s probably very misleading in most cases.”
– Nicole Daniels, Casting Director
“The demon within is highlighted? I don’t know.”
– Courtney Bright, Casting Director
“It’s going to be a title of one of the musical pieces.”
– Cliff Martinez, Composer
“It means it’s scary, you know? And I think it’s exciting, you know?”
– Alex Uceda, Caterer (Alex in the Kitchen)
ABOUT THE CAST
(FINAL CREDITS/CREDIT ORDER TBD)
ELLE FANNING (Jesse) 17-year-old Elle Fanning was seen starring in four movies in 2014. She starred alongside Angelina Jolie as Princess Aurora in the blockbuster fantasy Maleficent, directed by Robert Stromberg. She was also seen in Jake Paltrow’s sci-fi thriller Young Ones, with Nicholas Hoult, Michael Shannon, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. In Jeff Preiss’ Low Down, for which Ms. Fanning won the Best Actress award at the 2014 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival as well as the Spotlight Award at the 2014 Mill Valley Film Festival, she starred opposite John Hawkes and Glenn Close. In the autobiographical
Story, she portrays real-life writer and memoirist Amy Albany, opposite John Hawkes as Amy’s father, celebrated jazz pianist Joe Albany. She also voiced the role of “Winnie” in Laika Entertainment and Focus Features animated film The Boxtrolls.
Elle began her acting career at the age of two, playing the younger version of her sister, opposite Sean Penn in Jessie Nelson’s I Am Sam. Her first lead role was as the title character of Daniel Barnz’s independent feature Phoebe in Wonderland, in which she starred opposite Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, and Bill Pullman.
Ms. Fanning’s other films include Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Academy Award- nominated Babel, opposite Academy Award nominee Adriana Barraza; Tod Williams’ The Door in the Floor, opposite Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, and Jon Foster; Terry George’s Reservation Road, with Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connelly; Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, which won the Golden Lion Award for Best Picture at the 2010 Venice International Film Festival; Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo; J. J. Abrams’ Super 8; Francis Ford Coppola’s Twixt; and David Fincher’s multi-Oscar-winning The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in which she portrayed the younger incarnation of Cate Blanchett’s character, opposite Brad Pitt.
She received British Independent Film Award and Critics’ Choice Movie Award nominations for her performance in Sally Potter’s Ginger & Rosa, with Alice Englert, Christina Hendricks, Alessandro Nivola, and Annette Bening.
She will next be seen this September in The Weinstein Company’s Three Generations, in which she stars as a transgender teen opposite Naomi Watts and Susan Sarandon. She will also be seen this year in Trumbo for director Jay Roach and opposite Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane and Helen Mirren. The film will be released this November.
This fall Ms. Fanning begins production on Mike Mills’ film 20th Century Women opposite Annette Bening and Greta Gerwig, followed by Ben Affleck’s Live By Night.
When she is not working, Ms. Fanning attends a regular high school in Los Angeles. She also takes regular ballet lessons and loves to sing.
JENA MALONE (Ruby) As a rising actress distinguished by her versatility and multidimensional roles, Jena Malone continues to evolve with each new project.
Later this year, Malone can be seen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, the fourth and final installment of the hugely popular Hunger Games franchise. She reprises her role as Johanna Mason, the tribute from District 7, who is proficient with an axe. The film will be released by Lionsgate on November 20, 2015. Malone can previously be seen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, which was released by Lionsgate in November 2014 and grossed over $750 million worldwide as well as the second installment of the franchise, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire which has grossed over $850 million dollars worldwide and is the highest grossing film released in 2013 in the United States.
Malone can next be seen in Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind starring alongside Richard Gere. The film is about a New Yorker (Gere) who enters a shelter when he runs out of housing options, then struggles to put the pieces of his life back together and fix a troubled relationship with his estranged daughter (Malone). The film premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and will be released by IFC in September 11, 2015
She was last seen in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice. Warner Brothers released the film on December 12, 2014. The film co-stars Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin. The film premiered at the New York Film Festival.
Additionally, Malone recently wrapped production on Mitchell Lichtenstein’s Angelica, a psychological thriller set in 1880s London based on the novel of the same name by bestselling author Arthur Phillips (Prague,The Egyptologist). Malone will play Constance, a young shop girl who falls for and marries Dr. Joseph Barton. After the difficult childbirth of their daughter Angelica, doctor-ordered celibacy creates a rift in the Bartons’ marriage and a ghostly force enters their home.
Malone was cast to play the lead role in Dori Oskowitz’s Claire. The American remake of Eric Rohmer’s 1982 French pic Le Beau Mariage, follows an eccentric young woman in her twenties living in Long Island with her aunt and teenage cousin. Fed up with her married painter lover, Claire sets her sights on a man she barely knows with aims to get herself married.
Malone starred opposite Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton in the History Channel’s mini-series “Hatfields & McCoys” which is based on a true story, and chronicles the bloody hostilities between two clans that escalated to the point of near war between two states. The mini-series broke cable records and became the new most-watched entertainment telecast of all time on cable and also earned an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Mini-Series and a Golden Globe Nomination for Best Mini-Series.
Previously, Malone starred in Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, Ami Mann’s Dakota, Oren Moverman’s The Messenger, Sean Penn’s Into the Wild, Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain, Brian Dannelly’s Saved!, Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice, M. Blash’s The Wait, and Brian Savelson’s In Our Nature. As a young actress, Malone starred opposite Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon in Stepmom, the cult classic, Donnie Darko, and her very first role in the independent film Bastard Out of Carolina, which earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for “Best Debut Performance.”
Malone has guest starred on several television series including Law & Order and Chicago Hope, and her performance in the TV film Hope earned Malone a Golden Globe® nomination for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV.”
In Spring 2013, Malone directed her first music video for the band Lavender Diamond. The video for “The Incorruptible Heart” was released exclusively on MTV Buzzworthy.
Malone recently toured with her band, The Shoe. Jena and her bandmate, Lem Jay Ignacio, met in 2008 and shortly after started recording together. Jena built an instrument she plays called “The Shoe” which includes an old steamer trunk with a plethora of electronic instruments inside. Their first EP “At Lem Jay’s Garage” came out in 2009 under Jena’s label There Was An Old Woman Records. Their full-length album “I’m Okay” was released in Spring 2014.
Malone currently resides in Los Angeles
BELLA HEATHCOTE (Gigi) Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, Bella Heathcote is emerging as one of Hollywood’s most sought after talents. In 2010, after being honored with the Heath Ledger Scholarship Award for her performance in the Australian war epic, Beneath Hill 60, Heathcote moved to Los Angeles to further pursue her acting career, working with an impressive roster of award winning directors. Heathcote was named one of Variety’s “10 Actors to Watch” 2012.
Heathcote recently wrapped production on the horror thriller The Neon Demon, about an aspiring model in Los Angeles having her youth and vitality devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has. Heathcote will co-star alongside Elle Fanning, Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks and Jena Malone in the Nicolas Winding Refn directed film.
Heathcote will next be seen in the re-envisioned masterpiece Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen’s classic tale of the tangled relationships between lovers from different social classes in 19th century England now faced with a new challenge – an army of zombies. Heathcote will co-star alongside Lily James, Sam Riley, Lena Heady and Jack Huston in the film set to release in early 2016 by Screen Gems.
Heathcote’s past credits include The Re-Write where she co-starred alongside Hugh Grant and Marissa Tomei; David Chase’s feature film Not Fade Away, about a group of friends that form rock band in Suburban New Jersey, trying to make it big in the 1960’s. Heathcote was prior seen in Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, as the romantic lead opposite Johnny Depp. Bella was hand selected by Burton to play Victoria Winters and Josette du Pres in his film adaptation, released in 2012. In 2011 she was seen in Andrew Niccol’s sci-fi thriller, In Time, starring Amanda Seyfried and Justin Timberlake.
Heathcote made her feature film debut in the 2008 film Acolytes and is well known for her starring role on the Australian drama series “Neighbors.” Heathcote currently resides in Los Angeles.
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