“We wanted to make a family movie, but an R-rated one,” star Theo James says.
Neon
When you make a good movie, people want to work with you.
“What if it’s a comedy?”
Tatiana Maslany in ‘The Monkey’.Credit:Neon
“Here’s this monkey that doesn’t do anything.
It doesn’t attack.
It’s evil just in its existence.
Theo James as Hal in ‘The Monkey’.Neon
Things happen around it for no better reason than they do.
Its presence makes people die in insane ways.”
Perkins found a more personal connection when reflecting on his own life story.
Theo James with director Oz Perkins on the set of ‘The Monkey’.Courtesy of NEON
His father wasPsychostar Anthony Perkins, who had relationships with men until undergoing conversion therapy.
He died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1992.
“I’ve had people die in truly, deeply insane ways,” Perkins continues.
Nicco Del Rio in ‘The Monkey’.Neon
“Everybody dies whether there’s a monkey or not.
What if you could do this with a smile process the fact that everybody dies?
And what an insane, surrealist notion, dude!Youwill die;we’llall die.
That’s crazy sh–.
To do that as a comedy felt very apropos.”
The kids decide to rummage through his old stuff, knickknacks from his international travels.
When they use a key to wind it up, “stuff starts happening,” Perkins teases.
“It goes quite bad for them.
They’re very directly impacted in terrible ways.”
Perkins referencesDeath Becomes HerandAmerican Werewolf in London.
“The kids in the movie sh– talk all the time.
My 15-year-old daughter says f— every second word.
The twins take a stab at destroy the monkey, but they can’t.
They make a run at contain it but can’t do that either.
Finally, they manage to dispose of it, and for 25 years, they think they’re safe.
Courtesy of NEON
James wanted each performance as the brothers to feel as opposing as possible.
For Hal, his touchstone was earlyTom Hanks.
Put even simpler, “Bill’s a prick,” Perkins adds.
“He’s a blowhard and kind of stupid.
Hal is gentle, sensitive.”
Perkins says the character writes “pedantic how-to-be-a-father books.”
James calls him an “alpha intellectual asshole.”
“I’m a father of three children.
It’s a very important part of my life,” he says.
“We went through the same insane sh–,” he says of Elvis.
“We responded to that insane sh– very differently.
We’re very different people.
Part of the process of living is finding your way back home.”
At the same time, it’s a little bit of a dissection of family history and family trauma.
There’s multiple levels to this story.”
BetweenLonglegsand nowThe Monkey, James hopes Perkins is in a position to do essentially whatever he wants.
“Longlegsbroke him into the mainstream, but he’s always been making really good material.”
As it happens, Perkins started making another movie betweenLonglegsandThe Monkey.
“She’s f—ing amazing,” Perkins gushes of the actress.
“There’s nothing she can’t do.”
As for his own mainstream notoriety, he’s taking advantage of it.
“The dynamo that is me is fully spinning,” he says.
“I don’t need anybody’s material.
I’ve generated my own thing.
We now have two theatrical movies [being released] in six months.
That’s hard to do, and it seems to be working.
I’m going to ride it out.”
The Monkeywill premiere in theaters on Feb. 21, 2025.
