The Last Feast of E. Elias Merhige: An Interview by Perry Ruhland

[dr. locrian]

Quote

On Elias Merhige’s The Last Feast of Harlequin Everyone has a holy grail of an unmade movie. I know people who have spent ages obsessing over Kubrick’s Napoleon, professors haunted by the promise of Bresson’s take on the Book of Genesis, friends who still mourn Kenneth Anger’s Les Chants De Maldoror. My white whale? If I had to choose one, it would be E. Elias Merhige’s adaptation of Thomas Ligotti’s superb short story, The Last Feast of Harlequin. From the moment I heard of this project, I was obsessed. Ligotti is my favorite living author by miles, and Merhige’s films — particularly Begotten, which is my pick for the best American horror film since Hooper’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre — are some of the only cinematic works that can match the author’s command over dreadful atmosphere and piercing, resonant images of horror. Unfortunately, unlike many of the great cancelled films, there was next to no information on the project floating around the web. Until now.

(Aside: Back in the 90s, Ligotti told me that Lynch’s production company was interested in adapting "The Last Feast of Harlequin," but I had no idea what the details were or who was involved.)

Read the whole thing here: https://perryruhland.medium.com/the-...e-80b509dddffb

[luciferfell]

Not to be graphic but, this interview induced a mental orgasm in me.

[majickdog]

No one will ever make a good movie based on a Ligotti story. I don't think it's possible. Film is a different medium and some things don't translate well. Just look at The Color out of Space.

[bendk]

I'm surprised I had never heard of this before. My initial reaction was I got somewhat queasy. I found Begotten unsettling. Feast is also disquieting, and in Merhige's hands it could be even more so. I don't have the psychological constitution that I once had. Between health issues and rattling my own cage for as long as I can remember, it has become somewhat frayed at the edges. I once made the mistake of reading "Gas Station Carnivals" in the hospital after a particularly harrowing surgery, and the resulting despondency almost killed me. I have to be careful these days. But, of course, this would be a dream come true, and I would watch it as soon as I could muster the strength. I wonder if Merhige could still pull it off? He looks mighty cozy in the photo from the article. It seems like it would have to come from a dark place. In any case, I would love to read the treatments he did for the project.

Quote Originally Posted by majickdog

No one will ever make a good movie based on a Ligotti story. I don't think it's possible. Film is a different medium and some things don't translate well. Just look at The Color out of Space.

I think it can be done. It just takes a visionary director that won't stay anchored to the material.

[majickdog]

I think the first season of true detective is the best we'll get.
Filmmakers can't have their vision and a budget. One or the other, but not both. Look at how many company logos come up at the start of the next movie you watch. That's a lot of companies with a say in the final product. If the company demands that there be blood on every third page and nudity on every sixth page, because studies show that those films make more money, then you either do it, or you don't make your film. It's sad, but that's the reality. And if you have a bona fide movie star you either tailor it to their vision or you withdraw your services.
It may sound pessimistic, but no. There will never be a quality Ligotti movie. The business has killed the art.
Still, I hope someone options his stories for a few million dollars and then doesn't make the movies. That'd be great for him.

[luciferfell]

Quote Originally Posted by majickdog

I think the first season of true detective is the best we'll get. Filmmakers can't have their vision and a budget. One or the other, but not both. Look at how many company logos come up at the start of the next movie you watch. That's a lot of companies with a say in the final product. If the company demands that there be blood on every third page and nudity on every sixth page, because studies show that those films make more money, then you either do it, or you don't make your film. It's sad, but that's the reality. And if you have a bona fide movie star you either tailor it to their vision or you withdraw your services. It may sound pessimistic, but no. There will never be a quality Ligotti movie. The business has killed the art. Still, I hope someone options his stories for a few million dollars and then doesn't make the movies. That'd be great for him.

Good thing films like Cronenberg's Crash and Polanski's The Tenant don't exist. No filmmaker could ever match the brilliance of Ligotti, he is just beyond film! I guess you can tell I just completely disagree with your entire statement. There are a lot of brilliant films that have been coming out, recent films like Wounds, The Lighthouse, The Untamed, etc. I love Ligotti, but literature is not on a higher level than film, and Ligotti's work can certainly be made into an amazing adaptation by the right director. Literature and film are different, and an adaptation would be its own vision, but I hope and feel that at some point we will see Ligotti get a legit film adapation of at least one of his works.

[majickdog]

Crash and The Tenant would never be bankrolled now.
If you can shoot your entire film on one set (The Lighthouse) then you substantially reduce your budget and the number of people telling you that their niece needs to have a major role.
Cronenberg and Lynch don't get to make the films they want anymore. Cronenberg can't get funding from anyone. And why do you suppose Merhige has only made one movie in the last 20 years? I'm sure he's tried to get lots of films made, but no one will give him the money unless he makes something more palatable. I spent 20 years in the industry. Just because there were good movies thirty years ago doesn't mean there are good movies in the future.
Look at how much trouble Brandon Cronenberg had making Possessor. And even after loads of rave reviews at festivals it took a couple of years to get minimal distribution.
I'm not convinced. We won't see a Ligotti film unless he writes a Batman script. Even then, Batman would have to be a black autistic woman in a wheelchair or the film wouldn't get made.

[bendk]

There a many excellent short films uploaded on Youtube. The short form may the future for any Ligotti film. I still feel that some good adaptations are possible. But distribution and visibility are a problem, unless a new platform with credible critics or crowdsourced reviews is created. Perhaps bolstered by an online trade journal highlighting the best recent films in any particular genre.
"The Last Feast of Harlequin" strikes me as a feature length film though.


A podcast on the story:

The Last Feast of Harlequin - Blasphemous Tomes

[majickdog]

Quote Originally Posted by bendk

There a many excellent short films uploaded on Youtube. The short form may the future for any Ligotti film.

I think you're right. Funny that Cronenberg, Merhige, Lynch, and many others are working almost exclusively on short subjects now. It's the only way they can make what they want to make. They've rejected the "movie by committee' method. I wish any one of them would make a Ligotti short film. Hell, all of them should make a Ligotti film each and market them together as a horror anthology feature. Those things sell.
Actually, I'm going to start doing some voodoo, see if I can make it happen.
What? Voodoo works. Does so.

[luciferfell]

Quote Originally Posted by majickdog

Quote Originally Posted by bendk There a many excellent short films uploaded on Youtube. The short form may the future for any Ligotti film. I think you're right. Funny that Cronenberg, Merhige, Lynch, and many others are working almost exclusively on short subjects now. It's the only way they can make what they want to make. They've rejected the "movie by committee' method. I wish any one of them would make a Ligotti short film. Hell, all of them should make a Ligotti film each and market them together as a horror anthology feature. Those things sell. Actually, I'm going to start doing some voodoo, see if I can make it happen. What? Voodoo works. Does so.

And all those directors you mention, have CHOSEN to not create new feature-length films. They are not yearning to make films and are being restricted. Lynch can make a film anytime he wants, so can Cronenberg, in fact, they have to constantly turn down offered projects. Merhige is a bit different in he never really got mainstream favor, but in all fairness, he only directed one good film. Begotten. And his more mainstream films after that were.. not good. HE IS TOO AVANT-GARDE FOR HOLLYWOOD!! I know you will say. Um no, his other "experimental" films were also.. not good. He is a case of a one hit wonder.