Quiet Revolution PicturesThure Lindhardt plays a painter who finds inspiration in blood and guts in “Eddie the Sleepwalking Cannibal,” directed by Boris Rodriguez.Karl Lagerfeld had Ines de la Fressange. Stephen Sondheim turned to Oscar Hammerstein. Lars’s muse is a burly guy named Eddie who eats people in his sleep.
That’s the premise behind “Eddie the Sleepwalking Cannibal,” a grisly comedy in the Tribeca Film Festival’s Cinemania series of horror, action and other dark genre films. Directed by the Montreal-based filmmaker Boris Rodriguez, the movie is about Lars (Thure Lindhardt), a once-hotshot painter who decides to get away from the art-world limelight and teach at a rural Canadian art school. There he befriends a gentle giant named Eddie, whose nightly feeding on the bodies of local townsfolk inspires Lars to paint better than ever. So what if the snow is littered with limbs?
With the festival under way now through April 29, Mr. Rodgriguez spoke with ArtsBeat about finding inspiration in suffering, his disdain for torture porn and working with uncooperative snowflakes. Following are excerpts from the conversation.
Where did the idea for a sleepwalking cannibal-as-muse come from?
What attracted me was the idea of a suffering artist. It’s under duress that I create my best work. The idea of other people suffering offered an opportunity for some dark and twisted humor. It’s what makes me laugh the most.
Are there bits of Eddie and Lars in you?
Eddie is an incarnation of the darker side of creativity, where an artist will do anything to make their art happen, to the extent that it can be a destructive force. Relationships will suffer, their health will suffer. Anything to get that high that comes with creating something you’re proud of.
Lars is conscious of what he’s doing. Eddie is being manipulated, so he’s more innocent. Those are the two facets of an artist. Our inner child is dying to express ourselves. The more conscious side knows better, and could be more mature and responsible in how we deal with our impulses. What it’s actually about is a sleepwalking cannibal. [Laughs]
Were there other horror movies that inspired you?
Anything with dark humor informed it, things that take gore lightly. “Shaun of the Dead” was something I looked at, as was “Hobo With a Shotgun.” Torture porn is not something I’m drawn to. In order for me to enjoy a film the characters have to be interesting and engaging. “Fargo” has layered characters that are offbeat, and you can tolerate the terrible things they do because they are vulnerable and human.
You shot the film in Ottawa. It looked cold.
There were some nights that tested everybody’s limits. It was freezing. I’d never dealt with how difficult it was to keep up continuity with snow. You have to keep on top of footprints in the snow and the quantity of snow that’s falling in a certain scene.
AKA The film’s poster, art directed by Elizabeth Broes of the design company Em Dash.Click to Enlarge Image The poster for the film is very graphic, not in a gory sense but in a design sense. The red, black and white are dramatic. And that sleepwalker.
We wanted to capture something that spoke to the horror genre but was comedic and light. I looked through tons of posters, including one for a film called “With a Friend Like Harry.” But we didn’t want to go over the top. The humor in the film is not slapsticky. Another poster we looked at was “The Exorcist.” In its simplicity it spoke to how creepy the film was. It didn’t need to say more than what was in the image.
Eventually we worked with a German sales agent, and they sent me an image of a sleepwalker. There something about those outstretched arms and the head back and the legs goosestepping. I didn’t want to disappoint hard-core horror fans. The fact that the comedy is in the poster will let people know it will have shock values and scares. But it’s really about twisted fun.
“Eddie the Sleepwalking Cannibal” plays April 20, 21 and 28 at the Tribeca Film Festival. More information is at the festival Web site.
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