[ad_1]
When director Gerard McMurray set out to make the science fiction / horror prequel The First Purge (released July 4), he hoped to end up with a scary action movie that would entertain moviegoers. "Spectators want to have a good time and still be in the world of the purge, and have fun and it's not a sad thing," he says. But the African-American filmmaker also had another goal. "I said:" This could be a chance for me [to ask] what would the Purge look like from a black man's point of view? "(19659002) McMurray painstakingly studies this fourth entry into the franchise, a series detailing the violent and homicidal carnage that could ensue if the crime was legalized one night a year. is about the first experimental version of the purge, which is taking place on Staten Island.Televiewers are discovering that the idea of a 12-hour anarchy period is the idea of a scientist (Marisa Tomei) who believes that society would be improved if citizens were periodically able to "purify" their anger.Tomei's character is well-intentioned, but the plan is hijacked by the ruling party, the New Fathers founders of America, who use the purge as a way to thin the local working-clbad and popular, namely blacks and browns. "They allow the citizens of Staten Island to vote on the Purge," says James DeMonaco, who wrote all the films Purge and directed the three previous ones. "They vote yes because if you participate, and you stay on the island during the Purge, you will receive an allowance of $ 5000. So most of the poor stay, and the rich go away, and the government has its own agenda. "
Staten Islanders Under Threat in The First Purge includes a crime lord (Y & # 39; Lan Noel), a militant community (Lex Scott Davis), his younger brother (Joivan Wade), and psychopath Skeletor (Rotimi Paul), a McMurray character, horror-lover, partly based on Freddy Krueger. Meanwhile, the NFFA is portrayed in the film by Arlo Sabian, Chief of Staff of Patch Darragh, a government official whose resemblance to Sean Spicer is more than fleeting and not at all coincidental. "It was definitely an inspiration," says McMurray laughing
RELATED: 8 ways to survive The Purge
In the movie, Sabian basically succeeds in orchestrating a war race, with local residents facing ex-soldiers paid by the NFFA. Some of these mercenaries wear uniforms similar to those of the Third Reich soldiers, while we also see people dressed in the Klu Klux Klan's hood. This is a powerful material for a horror film in the summer blockbuster season, and doubly at a time when Trump administration management of many issues racially criticized has been widely criticized.
"I'm not afraid to solve racial problems," says McMurray. "It's just what I am as a person, and I do not run away from it, so I wanted to push that. It was not heavy. It was more like we were doing this movie, and we say something at a different level, and if people pick it up, it's awesome. "
The Purge Series has always been clear that a night that will ultimately benefit the rich by hurting the poor would have a racial and racist dimension." In 2013 The Purge A nameless black young man played by Edwin Hodge sets off the main plot when he hides in a house of a group of White Purgers.In 1945 The Purge: Anarchy Carmelo Jones of Michael K Williams leads an anti-Purge resistance group, while in 19459004 The Purge: Election Year the character of Hodge, whom we discover is called Dante Bishop, plots to badbadinate a candidate for The pro-Purge presidential played by Kyle Secor
"Over the years, we have continued to go further with the idea of race, racial wars in America," DeMonaco said. between us was pushing a little more envelope. In [ The First Purge ] we thought, "Let's go."
This decision was reinforced by the hiring of McMurray. The director First Purge attended the USC film school, where he became friends with Ryan Coogler, and was then badociate producer of the first film of the director of Black Panther Fruitvale Station . "We met the first day of the film school," says McMurray. "I was producing a lot of his shorts, he was shooting a lot of my shorts." When Fruitvale arrived, he said, "Come on, help me make my film" and I was down there. "
McMurray was recruited by producers of the series Purge his own first film, Burning Sands a drama about a fraternity at a historically black college, played Sundance in 2017
"Gerard saw the films Purge as a metaphor for black distress in America, or the black experience in America," says DeMonaco. "I am an Italian kid from Brooklyn and Staten Island. I can not speak to [that]. You know, the first version, I think it was more mixed, to be honest with you. The neighborhood was Puerto Rican, it was black. He informed [depiction] of the African-American experience [in the film] more than my initial project. "
McMurray was born and raised in New Orleans, and his mistrust of the government stems in part from George W. Bush's handling of his city's disaster zone. became in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. "I was there," he says. "My whole family was there. I had people there in New Orleans, stuck when the dikes broke, and we could not get them out of the city. My brother. My nieces and nephews. It was an inspiration [for The First Purge ]. There is a sentence in the film that says, "No one comes to save us." I am not a follower of the government, but it is one of the things that have happened.
The director's portrayal of a racial war inspired by the clashes that took place between white supremacists and protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, last August, while McMurray was filming the film.
"I said," I really have to put that in the movie. "" Because for me, any kind of horror is like real life things. No ghosts, no supernatural stuff. It's horror for me – the people of Charlottesville. The KKK. I wanted to use it. I used it as a source of inspiration, just like the Sean Spicer thing. "
Despite all this, McMurray insists that he was successful in his mission of making a movie fun – or at least that's the word of the audience." People were really in it, "he says." They really thought it was political, they thought it was scary in some cases, but mostly they thought it was fun, they spent a good time. "
McMurray does not know if he will come back to make a fifth Purge movie, should there be one." That's not my call, " he says, "I'm just happy to make this film." But he agrees that in these turbulent times, it's puzzling to think of what might happen in the coming months that could inspire or influence a film. another entry in the series. "
" I know! ", he says laughing. " That scares me!"
Source link
