“In relation to some of the things in the film that I think some people are offended by or hurt by, all I can say is that the entire film is built around this character, and from the point of view of this character. He’s a voyeur. There are very brutal waves of sadism. He’s struggling with feelings of misogyny. These are the core elements of what the film is about.
“The camerawork is more subjective than what we did with It Follows. It places you in the mind and eye-line of Sam. Sometimes that’s uncomfortable, and that’s the point. If that resonates with people, that’s cool. If some people are offended, I understand that, too.” The director adds, “No one should be modelling their life after his actions. These aren’t my personal beliefs, these aren’t my personal actions. I made two films with very strong female protagonists, and I thought it’d be interesting to have a very weak male protagonist. That’s probably hard for people to watch, and I get that.”
On Sam’s more unpleasant characteristics, Garfield refers to a scene involving Sarah’s vacated home. Sam climbs through the window and discovers a box. Inside it is a photo, some chewing gum, and a pink vibrator. Garfield had a thought. “I was like: ‘fuck, what would he do?’ This guy is going to pick up the fucking vibrator, and he’s going to not want to smell it, but he’s going to really want to smell it. He’s alone, and he’s going to do it.”
So Garfield suggested the action to Mitchell. “I said to David, ‘This feels like a real thing that this guy would do. I’m not judging him for it, because maybe there’s a part of me that would do that too if I was private and really attracted to a girl. It’s an animal thing. But it’s not a likeable thing. Are you OK with this?’ He was like, ‘I love it.’ So it wasn’t about trying to be unlikeable, but it was about allowing all the impulses to happen without judgement. So beating up the kids – all of it. There was no judgement of him. It was trying to be as honest as possible.”
