{"id":2540,"date":"2012-04-25T14:29:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-25T20:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=2540"},"modified":"2012-04-25T14:29:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-25T20:29:00","slug":"nevermore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=2540","title":{"rendered":"Nevermore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nMuch we know is true: Edgar Allan Poe died on Oct. 7, 1849, at the age of 40, after having been found delirious and incoherent in the streets of Baltimore. His exact whereabouts in the few days previous remain unknown. His death has been attributed to everything from alcoholism to rabies to various medical conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Raven,\u201d the sleek and brooding thriller opening Friday, offers a different and improbable \u2013 but much less mundane \u2013 solution to the mystery. The movie, which incorporates several of Poe\u2019s best known tales into its narrative, also presents a side of the author far different from the usual somber persona of his biographies. Played by John Cusack in a fiery spin-wheel of a performance, Poe is an impetuous scoundrel: He\u2019s arrogant yet insecure (\u201cI despise people who despise me!\u201d), funny yet abrasive (\u201cI\u2019d rather stand. It makes it easier to leave\u201d), self-destructive yet relentless.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of beautiful-ugly paradoxes about the guy,\u201d Cusack says. \u201cWe made sure to touch on all his different facets. He saw himself as a provocative and satirical writer. He was very aware his work was in bad taste. He had a great sense of shock value and gallows humor. But he was also very competitive and constantly attacking other writers. And he was intellectually ferocious. All those things help make him feel like an incredibly modern character, even though the story is set in 1849.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cusack believes that Poe\u2019s willingness to transcend genre, confound expectations and challenge conformity \u2013 in his poetry, fiction and work as a literary critic \u2013 helped his legacy endure. Today, Poe is primarily remembered as one of the godfathers of modern horror: \u201cThe Pit and the Pendulum\u201d and \u201cThe Tell-Tale Heart\u201d can still stand up to whatever nasty business the \u201cHostel\u201d or \u201cSaw\u201d movies serve up.<\/p>\n

But Cusack sees more in Poe than frights, comparing the author to contemporary godheads such as Kurt Cobain or Hunter S. Thompson \u2013 two other artists who suffered greatly for their work to indelible effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoe was punk in a lot of ways,\u201d Cusack says. \u201cHe was also a guy who mashed up genres and created new ones. He wrote esoteric poetry and pulp thrillers and cliffhangers and grotesqueries. He wrote stories where baboons were coming out of chimneys with razor blades to kill people. But he also had a great striving for beauty and he was a pioneer of the subconscious. He had his finger on the zeitgeist when it came to the neuroses and fears and terrors of the time, and he gave that stuff a voice. Today, anybody who suffers outwardly like he did is a high priest of pop culture, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Raven,\u201d which incorporates facets of Poe\u2019s life into a fictional narrative that also borrows from his best-known tales, had been kicking around Hollywood for nearly a decade. The screenplay was originally written in 2002 by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare, who found out the film was finally getting made when Cusack announced on Twitter he had accepted the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people think of Poe as this morose, sad, drunken writer,\u201d Livingston says. \u201cBut he was so much more than that. He was capable of being very charismatic and he could be the life of the party. He had a tremendous sense of humor and he was very well liked. And yes, of course, he could be a miserable alcoholic at times. We wanted to show all those sides of him \u2013 not to rehabilitate his persona, but to show how interesting he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Livingston points to incidents in Poe\u2019s life as proof of how likable the writer could be. For example, soon after his short stint at West Point from 1830-1831, he moved to Boston and self-published a collection of poetry funded by donations from his fellow cadets, who had loved the funny, satirical poems he wrote about the school\u2019s officers.<\/p>\n

But Livingston is quick to point out \u201cThe Raven\u201d is not historical fiction. \u201cThis is fiction-fiction,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re using Poe as a character in our story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Raven\u201d centers on a demonic serial killer who patterns his crimes after Poe\u2019s tales and eventually targets the author\u2019s beloved (played by Alice Eve). In terms of story and mood, the movie is much closer to \u201cSeven\u201d than \u201cMasterpiece Theatre.\u201d Despite the fantastical elements, director James McTeigue (\u201cV for Vendetta,\u201d \u201cNinja Assassin\u201d) strove to capture the feel of the era through production and cinematography. To recreate the look of 19th Century, pre-Civil War America, McTeigue shot the film in Budapest and screened several movies to inspire the crew\u2019s art designers and lighting units, from the 1935 Peter Lorre chiller \u201cMad Love\u201d to more recent pictures such as \u201cBarry Lyndon\u201d and \u201cMoulin Rouge.\u201d<\/p>\n

McTeigue, who also shot second unit on all the \u201cMatrix\u201d films, concentrated on bringing a modern sensibility to the period setting, because he admits sitting through a straightforward biopic on Poe would not appeal to a wide audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not historical Poe: This is the popcorn version of Poe\u2019s life,\u201d McTeigue says. \u201cThere are little tricks you put into a movie to make it feel contemporary. Some of the costumes have modern lines to them. Some of the visual elements are borrowed from graphic novels. It\u2019s subtle stuff, but it all starts to bleed into the fabric of the movie. And then you have the performance by John, who is friends with Damien Hirst and other artists who were once ahead of their time. He brought their kind of energy to the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cusack says that after playing Poe and researching his life, he can recognize the author\u2019s influence in many aspects of culture beyond horror.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see him in William Burroughs and Norman Mailer. You can debate the merits of Howard Stern all you want, but what he\u2019s doing is voicing people\u2019s obsessions and problems and perversions. Stuff like heavy metal and death metal is the result of feeling overwhelmed and drowned by society. What do you do in a modern world when you can\u2019t find any authenticity or meaning? You embrace your biggest fears, which are death, horror, sex, perversion \u2013 all those shadowy feelings and ideas polite society says you\u2019re not supposed to talk about. It\u2019s nice to be happy and joyful, but it\u2019s also nice to give air to your shadows. That\u2019s what Poe did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more here: http:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/2012\/04\/24\/3573201\/the-raven-reinvents-the-life-and.html#storylink=cpy