INTERVIEW: Scotland Yard is on the case of a serial killer in ‘Limehouse Golem’
The Limehouse Golem, the new movie based on the book by Peter Ackroyd, finds Bill Nighy playing a Scotland Yard inspector on the hunt for a serial killer who is terrorizing the streets of London. The killer is dubbed the Limehouse Golem in the press, and he leaves mysterious messages at the scenes of the crime. It comes a race against the clock to see if Nighy’s Inspector Kildare can catch the killer before he strikes again.
Juan Carlos Medina directs the new movie, which hits theaters, video on demand and digital HD Friday, Sept. 8. “I was a huge fan of the book already,” Medina said in a recent phone interview.
Medina and the producers were actually working with Alan Rickman during the development stages of the film. The actor was attached to the project to star as Kildare; however, Rickman became quite ill and tragically died in 2016. The illness and subsequent loss of their friend and colleague proved to be a difficult emotional obstacle to overcome for Medina and company.
“We worked with him on the script for six months, and then what happened is that Alan became very, very ill,” said Medina, who also directed Painless. “He had to drop out of the film sadly. It was a very, very tragic development for the project, and it was a turning point where I felt that I couldn’t see any way forward with the film.”
Eventually, Medina met Nighy, who had expressed interest in the project. Suddenly, The Limehouse Golem was revived, but still, Medina said it was a very, very hard moment to endure.
The director has always been a fan of police procedurals and murder mysteries, and The Limehouse Golem fits into that genre nicely. “I really very much enjoy films that sort of dive into those extremes because I think there are quite unique ways to shed a light on the human condition,” he said. “I think it’s always an excuse to go places where you couldn’t go with a more conventional type of story. … I really enjoyed to take the audience into a journey, into a trip to another world or a different vision of our world. Some of my favorite movies are, of course, detective stories or murder mystery stories like Seven or … Blade Runner or Chinatown. I mean, some of my favorite movies are in that type of genre.”
Medina called The Limehouse Golem a layered film that has the audience get in the head of the main character, which is an experience that mimics the book. “So it’s like a murder mystery told from the inside,” he said. “It’s much more about the journey and the ‘why’ then it was about the ‘who.’ … If you don’t guess, and if you’re surprised at the twist, you get the shock, and if you do guess, you’re still absorbed by it because you’re enjoying the ‘why’ and what’s going to happen after the truth is revealed.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Limehouse Golem opens Friday, Sept. 8 in theaters and is available on VOD and digital HD. Click here for more information.
