- Title: FILM-CRIMSON PEAK "Crimson Peak" stars promise new take on gothic romance genre
- Date: 12th October 2015
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT - OCTOBER 2, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR, GUILLERMO DEL TORO, SAYING: "Well I made it a point to make every man in the movie useless. Normally in gothic romance you end with Fabio carrying the girl without a shirt and rescuing her from imminent danger and I wanted to sort of actualise the genre a little bit and mak
- Embargoed: 27th October 2015 12:00
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- Topics: General
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- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: SHOT 10 CONTAINS PARTIAL NUDITY
The director and cast of "Crimson Peak" say their film puts a fresh spin on the gothic romance genre by subverting the classic gender roles.
"Crimson Peak" is a period thriller that follows an aspiring, New York-based author named Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) as she falls victim to the charms of a mysterious British stranger, Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston). In the wake of a family tragedy, Cushing decides to marry Sharpe and move to his crumbling and isolated English mansion with his spinster sister, Lucille Sharpe (Jessica Chastain). But the young bride soon discovers that her husband is not who he appears to be and his house contains many troubled spirits and gory secrets.
Oscar-nominated Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, best known for "Hellboy" and "Pan's Labyrinth", directed, produced and co-wrote the feature. He said he wanted to twist the traditional male and female roles.
"Well I made it a point to make every man in the movie useless. Normally in gothic romance you end with Fabio carrying the girl without a shirt and rescuing her from imminent danger and I wanted to sort of actualise the genre a little bit and make the female roles the central roles," he told Reuters when promoting the project in London.
Still del Toro's leading man Tom Hiddleston said he enjoyed being part of the "powerful" and "rare" story.
"I really admired him [del Toro] when he talked, quite early on, about subverting expectations about gothic romance. You know in many of these stories, the heroine is saved by the hero, and in this story the heroine saves herself. And I think that's very powerful because I think in many ways we all have to do that. And it did feel rare, it felt like the right way to move the genre forward," said the "Thor" and "War Horse" actor.
"Crimson Peak" also sees some partial nudity from Hiddleston in a sex scene which del Toro said he found uncomfortable to shoot.
"I feel very prudish because - you know Almodovar, when he produced "Devil's Backbone", Pedro said to me, "You can murder 50 people but you get really nervous when people are naked." And I do. I mean I was never happy in locker rooms, you know, I always get nervous," he joked.
With its haunted corridors and reminders of past luxury, the mansion - called Allerdale Hall - serves as a character in its own right. Although the film makes use of visual and special effects, the house itself was recreated on a soundstage in Ontario, Canada. Mia Wasikowska said the realism helped inform her performance.
"It's sort of becoming increasingly rare to be on a film where they've actually built the set, so to be able to actually be in that space and with it in its actual proper layout and walk through the kitchen and then the elevator works to go up to the top floors. It was quite, you know, I've not had that on a film before, that sort of extent of realism," she explained.
The Australian actress, whose credits include Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland", "Lawless" and "Maps to the Stars", revealed that she even took a few set pieces home with her when filming wrapped.
"I was quite greedy. But I really, I quite loved the gothic furniture and I just got a place in Sydney and it was quite empty, so I managed to sort of steal a bunch of things, some chairs and sort of sconces. It was really fun," she said.
Del Toro's fans can expect more dark tales from the director, he is currently working on an adaptation of Pinocchio which is set in Depression-era Italy.
"We are rewriting the story and the idea for me is to make "Pinocchio" in between World War One and World War Two in Italy, so it's the rise of fascism with Mussolini. And it's a very interesting angle on a puppet film."
"Crimson Peak" rolls out in cinemas worldwide from October 14. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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