One of the titles that movie lovers are most curious to check out this year isOpus. The A24 thriller starsAyo Edebiri(The Bear) andJohn Malkovich(Seneca) and an intriguing trailer was released last week. Luckily for Collider fans,Perri Nemiroffwas already able to check it out atSundanceand talk directly to director and screenwriterMark Anthony Greenand ask for more details about the upcoming movie.
During the interview, Nemiroff and Green took a moment to talk aboutMalkovich’s character, Alfred Moretti. In the story, Moretti is a superstar who has stayed away from the spotlight for over three decades when he suddenly reappears. In order to build up the character’s personality, Green came up with “101 facts, half-truths and rumors” about Moretti, which is more or less what happens with real-life pop stars. His bizarre personal collection was one of them:
“So I had a lot of the weird things that he collects. One of them being Freddie Mercury’s teeth, which is in the film. But then, there was like a long list of other pop stars, big celebrities, Fabergé, a collection and other creepy things. And, yeah, that was cool.”
Malkovich’s Real-Life Fame Helped Shape The ‘Opus’ Character
Green added that a lot of what made it to the screen inOpushappened because Malkovich was game to play such an eccentric figure. The filmmaker called him “a director’s actor,” in the sense that he’s willing to collaborate and study his character in order to make the best version of them possible. Green went on to say:
“When I gave that to John and, he read it, you know, he really is a director’s actor. And he’s like, I’ll read whatever you say, and I’ll watch whatever you say. And I could tell that he internalized the macro thought of it, which is, this is a human. John actually kind of lives like this. So he didn’t have to reach that far. But this is a human being that is limitless, that knows no border [or] boundary. Whatever curiosity thing that he finds creative, interesting, his group of friends, the whole thing. The writing of it was great. But then when it got into his hands, it became real. "
At this point, we all know that Malkovich is more than able to take an idea and run with it. Not only because he was game for outrageous projects likeBeing John Malkovich, but also because he’s often not afraid to take on villanous and enigmatic roles that help make stories irresistible, like he did inRED,Bird Boxand evenDangerous Liaisons.
Opusis set to premiere in theaters on March 14. Stay tuned at Collider for more updates from Sundance.
Opus is a psychological thriller film where a young writer is drawn into the secluded world of a legendary pop star who vanished decades ago. As she navigates a landscape filled with devoted followers and intrigued journalists, she uncovers the depths of the star’s enigmatic agenda.
