SAM I AM

I came upon interviewing the very nice Director/Produer/Writer/Actor Sam Raimi in a way that most people would like to land interviews. Sam was at the first Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in New York and while Raimi was signing this incredibly huge French EVIL DEAD poster for me, I just asked if he’d be into doing an interview for my little metal mag ULTIMATUM sight unseen. To my surprise Sam said “Sure.”

The next day we talked about DARKMAN, his brilliant directorial debut for a major studio. Sam, as most of you know, has gone onto to greater things, namely his latest and most mature feature A SIMPLE PLAN. Personally, I hope that Raimi never loses that child-like creative spark and will continue to make genre films in between serious movies like ASP.

Sam, would you please describe DARKMAN for our readers

"It is primarily a love story with action. It draws on older motion pictures like PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and the classic BEAUTY AND THE BEAST tale. It has elements of the horror film, but primarily it is the story of the fall of one man Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson), toward a darker and darker abyss that he can’t seem to get out of. He is mutilated by criminals and becomes a very angry man. His love finds him hideous, and he strikes back at those who have tormented him.

Now, no longer having a face but having the ability to recreate human faces-as he is a scientist-he impersonates members of the mob that have destroyed him. He inflitrates their organizationand dismantles them from within.

“By the time they find out that he has, in fact, inflitrated them, and is working to destroy them, they take him aside and blow his brains out. But, of course, he has already changed identities. There are a lot of switcheroos in the picture, but it’s really of the heart. The man that tries to get back the love he had lost. A man who wants to be accepted by for the man inside by the woman who loves him, Julie (played by Frances McDormand). She can accept him for what he is, because she tells him she loves the man inside. By the point in the picture though, DARKMAN realizes he’s no longer the same man he was on the inside either; he’s a dark and angry person. Finally, here is what he wanted to hear all through the story, he now realizes that a love between them is no longer possible and goes on his own way.”

"It is primarily a love story with action. It draws on older motion pictures like PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and the classic BEAUTY AND THE BEAST tale. It has elements of the horror film, but primarily it is the story of the fall of one man..." -Raimi on DARKMAN's core story.

The liquid skin that DARKMAN uses is a wonderful concept. What inspired this medical breakthrough?

“Actually, they are working on liquid skins in some research labs in Los Angeles. I’m sure I am not wrong.

Certainly, they’ve done skin grafts, and they are able to grow skin. But the liquid skin really came out of neccesity from the plot. In fact, the story started out as a man who could look like anybody he wanted. To look like anyone. ‘Well, how would this be possible?’ was the next question I asked.

“Maybe, he could impersonate them, but it would have to be of a much finer impersonation technique than what is currently available through standard make-up skills. We would literally have to duplicate their skin, cell by cell. And he could do this through electronic imaging and laser scanning and a computer. To digitize the images and recreate them, that is to say if you had a liquid skin you can press it out into any computer driven map. I had to make him a scientist so he’d have this ability, and he had to be working in a field that would make it believable. So I made him a scientist engineering liquid skin.

“The time bomb in the story was that the liquid skin only lasts for 99 minutes. Once it has been exposed to light, it has a very short life. So he is forced to live in the shadows and the dark regions of man’s world. Only venturing out into the light for brief moments in which to carry on his lost love and sometimes to battle these criminals disguised as one of them.”

What was it like directing a motion picture for a major studio (UNIVERSAL), and how was this different from making independent films.?

”It was very different. The biggest difference was the amount of money you have at your disposal. In making a studio picture you’ve got a lot more. There is also a lot more creative imput from the financing entity than I am used to. You don’t have as much freedom working for a large corporation. I was aware of these limitations going into the project, so I wasn’t really surprised. In light how of this system works, it was a surprisingly pleasant experience.”

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