Much of the buzz surrounding the upcoming horror film Strange Darling revolves around the secrets it swirls, and a key tool the film uses to pull off those surprises is a non-linear narrative. The plot unfolds over six chapters, but they’re not in order, and each presents a new progression that adjusts the way you think about everything that comes before. It is an intelligent narrative that has earned the love of the legendary Stephen King and the writer and director J. T. Mollner never needs you to watch the cut-through chronological order of the film.
Late last month, I had the chance to delve deeper into Strange Darling in an interview with Mollner, and while I was going in and out of spoilers, one of the topics we discussed was the design of the movieArray. I asked him if he’d ever had a bit of a laugh in the editing room at how the film would look in chronological order, and he surprised me by explaining that such a cut had been made, but it actually went against his will and the issue of some conflicts behind the scenes. . The filmmaker said,
I didn’t do it because I had a feeling it wouldn’t be great. But there was a moment during the editing when one of the film’s directors at the time said, “This movie will never be understood by the public. “And that’s when I had just shot a director’s film. And they said, “We brought in a publisher, not your editor, but another editor, to put things in order. I hope you don’t mind. And I thought, “Wow! Of course. , this bothers me. What?
Without giving away too much about the film, Strange Darling centers on two characters – The Lady (Willa Fitzgerald) and The Fiend (Kyle Gallner) – who are locked in a fatal battle. When we meet them, the first runs away from the second. to save his life, but as facts about their dates, flashbacks and flashfowards are revealed, the context of what is happening ends up causing fundamental changes.
J. T. Mollner told me that he conceived of Strange Darling as a non-linear story, believing that otherwise it would be “conventional and a little boring. “However, the anonymous leader tried to replace his point of view. They asked him to look at it simply as an experiment, and he says he kept his brain open about it. . . But the experience of the story was exactly what I feared:
It has become something they were no longer rude about; they just said, “Look, we just have to check it out. We know you don’t have to do it, so we’ll just check it out, show it to you, and let us know what you think. ” And I thought, “Okay, I’m going to keep a completely open mind. ” And of course, I watched it in sequence and it turned out exactly as I expected.
By righting the ship, Mollner will pay tribute to Bill Block, who was the CEO of Miramax when the film was developed. The writer-director pleaded his case to management, and in addition to recognizing his passion, Block held a screening screening of Strange Darling to see how it would play for a general audience. Mollner said:
Thank God I talked to Bill Block, the head of the studio at the time, and he said, “You know what? I can tell you’re very passionate about this, and if you care, we don’t need to force you. Then he said, “Let’s review your edition for a recruited audience and see if there is a genuine challenge with cognition and data processing. “And then we did a verification review with out-of-sequence editing, and it checked the matrix well.
Fears that audiences would “get” Strange Darling were allayed, and J. T. Mollner’s original vision for the film was restored. And in fact, you shouldn’t expect to see the choice cut in any upcoming potential internal video releases either:
The rest is history and Bill left us locked up. So I saw it in order and I need to share that percentage with anyone.
Also starring Barbara Hershey, Ed Begley Jr. , and Breaking Bad Steven actor Michael Quezada, Strange Darling premiered last year at Fantastic Fest 2023, but thanks to Magenta Light Studios, it will hit theaters this week, notably on August 23. Check out Fandango to see where it’s airing before your social media timeline gets spoiled and stay tuned here at CinemaBlend for more stories from my interview with J. T. Mollner.
Eric Eisenberg is an associate editor for CinemaBlend. After graduating from Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he accepted a part-time job as editor of CinemaBlend, and after six months, he was presented with the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created editor position on the West Coast. More than a decade later, she continues to advance her interests and skills. In addition to conducting interviews with filmmakers and contributing to the site’s news and feature film content, Eric also oversees the Film Reviews section. He writes the weekend’s box office report (published on Sundays) and is Stephen King’s resident site expert. It has two columns related to the king.
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