There’s something special in my heart Weirdness. Swirling around horror subgenres, this Irish gem deals with murder, revenge and folklore – but at its centre is a creepy collectible called the Wooden Man.
“It starts with an object,” writer-director Damian McCarthy told Mashable during a Zoom interview, when asked about the film’s points of inspiration. That’s strange. “I remember reading about Guillermo del Toro years ago, about his way of writing screenplays, and he said that he always starts with a really strong image and then builds the story around it.” This technique has served the Irish filmmaker well. His previous film, Extremely Creepy, was a hit. caveatIn “The Great Gatsby,” a toy rabbit with human eyes was featured, and in his next work, McCarthy focused on a “mix of things” including a cursed table bell, a discarded glass eye, and a wooden man.
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In a unique opportunity, this reporter had the opportunity to sit down with Woodenman for an interview at Mashable’s New York studios.
Wooden Man and Kristy Puchko in the Mashable studios.
Credit: Mashable
To experience the experience, check out the video, and read on for more details. WeirdnessIt is sure to become an iconic creature.
The Wooden Man was born from legend.
Jana (Caroline Mentone) and Darcy (Carolyn Bracken) are sitting with the Wooden Man.
Credit: Colm Horgan / IFC Films / Shudder
in Strange thing, The Wooden Man is a strange gift given by blind medium Darcy (Carolyn Bracken) to her widowed brother-in-law Ted (Gwilym Lee) on the first anniversary of his beloved sister’s murder. A life-sized sculpture in the shape of a naked, screaming man, the Wooden Man is an immediate attention-grabber, terrifying Ted’s new girlfriend Jana (Caroline Mentone), who can’t help but probe his open mouth with her fingers and examine the hole drilled in the back of his skull.
Weirdness Overall, the film was comprised of elements McCarthy “culled from horror tropes.” The Wooden Man was inspired by the golem from Jewish folklore, a large clay figurine that is brought to life through ritual and obeys the commands of its creator. McCarthy was also drawn to the horror medium in which figurine are brought to life, The Twilight Zone, Play house, and Annabelle. But the most influential film is The Wicker Man.
“The Wicker Man “It’s a good movie,” McCarthy said of the 1973 folk-horror classic. “If you were a witch, what would be your tool or weapon of revenge? What folklore would you use?” He was also attracted to the film’s refusal to spell out its logic for the audience. Weirdness“There are things in there that aren’t really explained. Like, what are these rituals? Or how does this work? It’s a bit like the hole in the back. [The Wooden Man’s] There’s something painted on his head.” An item is removed from the wooden golem, but its meaning remains a mystery. “It just hints that there’s something else going on, you know, that there was some kind of ritual going on off-camera last week or something… It’s folklore, it’s witchcraft. No need to explain it. [as long as you] It creates a sense that someone understands how this works.”
The Wooden Man was sculpted over Zoom.
Ivan (Steve Wall) shines a light on the Wooden Man.
Credit: Colm Horgan / IFC Films / Shudder
Referring to the video conference they were on for the interview, McCarthy mentioned his collaboration with artistic director Paul McDonnell. WeirdnessAccording to the Wooden Man designer, “this is exactly how it happened.”
“There wasn’t a lot of time,” McCarthy explained, so he sent McDonnell some drawings for reference, and from there McDonnell sculpted his wooden man dream out of clay while McCarthy took notes over the livestream.
“He was sculpting in front of the camera, and I said, ‘OK, cut his nose off, OK, put his nose back.'” McCarthy noted that because they were pressed for time, “they literally did the design in one take, which is incredible considering how well it turned out, but that’s really a credit to Paul’s talent.”
The key to the creature’s sense of terror is his expression as he freezes in a silent scream: “His screaming is always going to be a big problem. [priority]”That pose ties into the film’s eerie sound design and the possibilities that the sculpture offered,” McCarthy said. “That day we spent the most time figuring out how to get that frozen scream right, because with the way he looks, there were so many possibilities in terms of what he would sound like and how he would sound when we got to the sound design. It was a bit rushed, but it all worked out.”
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Texture is essential to Woodman’s look. “We made him smooth and [he had] “When I was first thinking about what he should look like I thought he would be a bit like the Green Knight or one of those Ents. Lord of the RingIt’s covered in ivy and bark.”
The final look was simpler and less green, which McCarthy thought reflected Darcy’s connection to the creature, whose supernatural sensitivity to cursed objects comes into contact with him. “It was all about his texture,” he said, later referring to the figure seated next to the reporter. “Look at his chest. It’s knotty, it’s like wood.”
In fact, his nipples are made from fake wood grain knots.
The Wooden Man demands respect.
In “Oddity,” Jana (Caroline Mentone) reaches into the Wooden Man’s mouth.
Credit: Colm Horgan / IFC Films / Shudder
When the day finally came to send the Wooden Man onto the set, McCarthy realized there was no need to worry. Despite the rush, his monster was here, complete and terrifying. Recalling the moment the Wooden Man arrived, he said, “This shot is going to work because he really does seem to have a presence in the room. No matter where you shoot him, he looks great.”
The cast and crew were as awed by the Wooden Man as McCarthy was, and wanted to touch him, but never violently. “He’s pretty cold to the touch,” the writer-director said.
Under studio lights, with McCarthy watching on a Zoom call, I touched the creature’s skin and found it to be cool to the touch, even in the hot room.
As the film made the festival rounds, fans also had the chance to get up close and personal with the Wooden Man, as the spooky prop was set up for photo ops. “People were really fond of him and took pictures with him, but they didn’t put him in a headlock or anything,” McCarthy said.
Will the Wooden Man return?
Do you see that rabbit? It’s from “Caveat.”
Credit: Colm Horgan / IFC Films / Shudder
fan caveat I was excited to see the creepy rabbit on the shelves of Darcy’s curiosity shop. So does that mean the Wooden Man might show up in another McCarthy movie? “There’s nothing planned right now,” McCarthy confessed. But he added: Weirdness Characters who may reappear in the future.
Darcy and her strange shop, full of intriguing knick-knacks, could be the inspiration for other horror stories. “She’s a very interesting character. If you were doing another horror movie about a guy needing something, needing to appraise some haunted object in his house, would she be in the scene? For me, [would] It might be kind of fun.”
Don’t expect a formulaic McCarthy movie universe..
Credit: Colm Horgan / IFC Films / Shudder
As mentioned above My Review WeirdnessMcCarthy often repeats the same image, cast member, or character name between her films, for example: Weirdness The film features a character named Orin (Tad Murphy) who has a glass eye, but McCarthy’s previous short film is titled “How Orin Lost His Eye.” This supposed origin story doesn’t match up with the feature film’s storyline, but it’s not called a retcon.
“That’s all something I’m interested in,” McCarthy explained.
He also expressed frustration with Hollywood’s focus on churning out one elaborate cinematic universe after another: “I’m a little tired of the whole universe and everything being connected,” he said, adding, “I think it’s been taken too far,” modeling his take on the self-references found in Quentin Tarantino’s films.
“Some of his films have very loose connections to surnames, e.g. pulp fiction To Reservoir DogBut I don’t do much. I like that kind of stuff. Are they connected in any way? Are they the same? Could they possibly be in the same world? [ambiguity] “This is definitely [something else]”‘This is setting up the next thing.’ I think that’s more interesting. It feels like they’re connected because they were written by the same person.”
I argued that these parallels are not so much a shared canon as a fingerprint of the same imagination. “That’s a really good way of putting it,” McCarthy said, later concluding, “I think it would probably take a while to make a direct sequel or a prequel or anything like that, but I think the little connection, the fingerprint of the imagination, is a nice idea.”
Weirdness It will be released in theaters on July 19th.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
