REVIEW
The actor-producer on how
he’s gone from hobbits to horror
Above:The
weird and
wonderful world
of Woods’
production
company,
Spectrevision.
Left:Not your
average family
film:Come
To Daddy.ELIJAH WOOD. HE’S a nice
boy, right? He was that lovely
Frodo Baggins, after all.
Wouldn’t hurt a fl y. Yet that
only tells half the tale. For the
past few years, Wood — now
shorn of any of the baggage of
the Lord Of The Rings movies
— has been involved in making
some of the most original and
intense genre movies around,
whether as actor or producer
via his company, Spectrevision.
“There’s certainly no strategy,”
he laughs. “I’m just reactive,
and have really been reactive
most of my life.” Strategy or
not, the latest slab of deranged
barminess is Come To Daddy.
He talks to us about that and
his other strange standouts...
MANIAC (2012)
What started Wood down the
dark path — playing a serial
killer in Franck Khalfoun’s
disturbing slasher remake.
“Initially, I was not receptive to
it. I was so tired, especially with
horror, of people remaking
fi lms that should not be
remade. But I read the script
and realised the approach was
so diff erent. The idea was that
for the most part it would be
seen in POV. The fact I would
only be seen in refl ections and
the occasional third person
perspective was exciting. It
was also the opportunity to
play a villain. The idea was that
I would only work for a week,
but after I met them I said,
‘I think I need to be around
the whole time.’ And that
was super-fun, fi guring out
how to get my arms or hands
into the frame.”COOTIES (2014)
Wood has only starred in one
fi lm he’s produced — this wild
and wacky comedy-horror, in
which he plays a teacher
battling a group of infected kids.
“The intention with
Spectrevision was to never
work on any of the fi lms as
an actor, and create a strong
dividing line, so it didn’t appear
that I was creating a company
to provide work for myself. Butthat was one of those scenarios
where I loved the script and
character, and I was like, ‘Ah
fuck. It’s not going to harm the
company.’ And the opportunity
to work on something whose
primary driving force was
comedy was super-exciting.”THE GREASY STRANGLER (2016)
Wood executive-produced
Jim Hosking’s truly bizarre
comedy, which features
prosthetic penises, people
yelling, “BULLSHIT ARTIST!”
at each other and, yes,
greasy stranglings.
“Ant Timpson emailed me and
said, ‘A bunch of us want to
make this thing called Greasy
Strangler. I think you’re going
to love it.’ An hour-and-a-half
later, I texted him, ‘BULLSHIT
ARTIST!’ I was quoting the
movie already. I emailed my
partners at Spectrevision and
said, ‘Guys, this is one of therare occasions where we’re
just going to do this. I want you
to read it, but we’re making this
movie.’ I was only on set for
a couple of days. With Jim,
I feel like our job was to get
out of his way.”THE TRUST (2016)
A dark, twisting thriller in which
Wood teams up with fellow
cop Nicolas Cage to pull off
a dangerous heist.
“It was the fi rst time I’d
ever had an out-of-body
experience while working with
somebody. I’ve worked with
some extraordinary actors,
but working with Nic was
bizarre in the best way. I would
be in the middle of a scene
with him and be slightly out
of myself going, ‘Holy fucking
shit, that’s Nicolas Cage! And
the way he said that was so
Nicolas Cage!’ There was a real
vitality to him.”Elijah Wood’s
strange
second act