Born Villain (film)

Born Villain
Directed by	Shia LaBeouf
Written by	Shia LaBeouf Marilyn Manson
Starring	Marilyn Manson Miss Crash Fred Sablan Ashley Adair
Release date	August 28, 2011 (2011-08-28)
Running time	6 minutes and 11 seconds
Country	United States
Language	English

Born Villain is a surrealist horror short film directed by actor Shia LaBeouf in collaboration with Marilyn Manson. It was released on August 28, 2011. The film features a series of vignettes involving Manson's character cutting women's hair, a doctor inserting an eyeball into a woman's vagina, and characters reciting passages from William Shakespeare's Macbeth, and features the Marilyn Manson song "Overneath the Path of Misery".

Born Villain was intended as a promotional "trailer" for the album of the same name, and was conceived of after Manson and LaBeouf became friends at a concert by The Kills. In crafting the film, the duo drew inspiration from theology, Macbeth, and the films Un Chien Andalou (1929) and The Holy Mountain (1973). The short premiered at the L.A. Silent Theater; its premiere could only be attended by people who had purchased copies of Campaign, a limited edition book by Manson, LaBeouf and Karolyn Pho. Upon release, the short received mixed reviews from critics. Some praised its power to disturb, while others found it dull.

Synopsis

The film repeatedly quotes Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

The film begins with a man (played by Marilyn Manson) cutting a pair of nude women's hair until they are bald and pushing their heads together. The film then depicts a boy in white face makeup sitting on a couch next to an older man who touches the boy's thigh. The boy and the man fight. Manson's character then recites part of the "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy from William Shakespeare's Macbeth as the two women with shaved heads stand behind him. A group of masked people, two of them wearing Nazi uniforms, applaud his recitation.

Manson's character then watches a blindfolded man and woman have anal sex in a glass cage. A woman shoots a man with an apple on his head in the eye; he then hands her the eye she shot, which is fully intact. A woman recites Lady Macbeth's plea "Come, you spirits. That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here" before kissing a man with no legs. She is applauded by a pair of blindfolded women.

Manson's character then puts a long, thin knife through a woman's cheek as she cries and then kisses her. He blows out a candle and combusts. A doctor is them seen inserting an eyeball into a woman's vagina. Manson's character, apparently unharmed, says "The wages of sin is death" before forcing a gun attached to a crucifix into the mouth of the man who molested the boy in white face makeup. As the man screams, the boy smiles, and Manson's character pulls the trigger. Facing the corpse, Manson's character quotes Macbeth: "Nothing in his life. Became him like the leaving it." The same character sits on a chair next to the legless man and a lion, before the film fades to black.

Analysis

Lina Lecaro of LA Weekly was unsure of the film's meaning,^[1] while Alex Barshad of Grantland called Born Villain "nonsensical".

Background and development

The idea for the film originated after Manson and LaBeouf struck up a friendship at a The Kills concert. The actor, who "has always been intrigued" with the singer, then offered to direct his next music video. In order to convince him, LaBeouf screened Maniac (2011) — his directorial collaboration with American rappers Kid Cudi and Cage — for Manson. Impressed, Manson commissioned the aspiring director to create a video for him.^[2][3]

LaBeouf discussed the film's genesis in an interview on Live with Regis and Kelly, saying that Manson "lives in West Hollywood above a liquor store and there's no lights in the room," LaBeouf recalled. "There are these big metal doors and he opens the door and he's in a kimono, a big pink kimono. He shakes my hand and we talk in, it's like a lair. No lights, so you have to use your cell phone to guide you around. He's a cinephile so all he does is watch movies. Really the whole house is just a theater. He eats, sleeps, records - it's all in a movie theater essentially." LaBeouf said that he and Manson "sat and watched movies a bunch and talked about what we wanted to do for the visuals on his album, which are all really eccentric ideas. All things I can't really say out loud because this is morning television."^[4]

Born Villain was inspired by films by Salvador Dalí (left) and Alejandro Jodorowsky (right).

LaBeouf produced the film in July 2011 under the management of California-based production company Vanderson Inc. The film was inspired by William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Salvador Dalí's and Luis Buñuel's surrealist short film Un Chien Andalou (1929), Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain (1973), and what LaBeouf described as "heavy theology."^[2][1] Laney Chantal, the wife of Marilyn Manson member Twiggy Ramirez, served as the makeup artist for the short.^[5]

In an interview with Revolver, Manson discussed his use of Macbeth's "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy in Born Villain, saying LaBeouf was "enthusiastic. Maybe in some ways he did not recognize the irony and — not intentional — mockery of him in the Macbeth quote I recite at the end: 'Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.' I don't think he fully grasped that. But if he did, that's even better…"^[6]

On August 17, actor Fred Sablan, who appears in Born Villain, leaked the film's official website on his Twitter blog. The website announced the project release date. Marilyn Manson's drummer Chris Vrenna has claimed that Born Villain contains short clips of the album and its own score.^[2] The song "Overneath the Path of Misery" from the album Born Villain (2012) was used in the film.^[7] Via MarilynManson.com, the band's frontman explained his intentions in creating the short:^[8]

While looking to experiment in unlikely collaborations, I met Shia, and we spent a long night at my studio. After seeing Maniac, his short film, which is somewhat inspired by Man Bites Dog, I was astonished by his directing ability. So I shared quite a few of my favorite inspirations in art, literature, and obviously film. I was impressed with how Shia digested my world, and made what Id like to think, is both an homage and a mockery of the history of cinema. We ended up writing a short film. The score is from my new album, and is, in the words of Macbeth, 'Full of sound and fury.'.

LaBeouf told MTV that he enjoyed making the film and that he was unfazed that people who became fans through his role in the film Holes (2003) might not appreciate the film, adding "I don't think my audience is the only thing I should exercise my artistic muscle for. I don't necessarily always do things for the audience; this is one of those."^[3] Mallika Rao of HuffPost reported that Born Villain serves as a "trailer" for the album of the same name.^[9]

Release

Campaign is a limited edition book by Shia LaBeouf (photographer), Karolyn Pho (photographer) and Marilyn Manson, which was released in August 2011 by LaBeouf's Grassy Slope Entertainment, Inc. The book is a visual accompaniment to Born Villain, and was accompanied by a DVD of the film.^[9] MTV reported that Manson and LaBeouf would appear at Los Angeles's Hennessey + Ingalls bookstore to sign copies of the book and screen the short. Attendance of the event was limited he event was limited to 150 people over the age of eighteen, who were required to by a copy of the book.^[3] Copies of Campaign were sold for $75 and featured of photographs of "other peoples' graffiti and cut-outs LaBeouf and Pho made of themselves, taped around Los Angeles," according to HuffPost's Mallika Rao.^[9] The film had its premiered at the L.A. Silent Theater on August 28, 2011^[10] and was later screened at Space 15 Twenty in Los Angeles with entry guaranteed exclusively to those who purchased the book.^[9]

Critical reception

Shia LaBeouf's direction garnered praise.

Loudwire's Joe Robinson called the short "the most interesting, challenging and envelope-pushing video Manson has made in a decade. It also may be his most disturbing, so watch at you own risk."^[11] Writing in Spin, Kevin O'Donnell said that Born Villain "proves the shock-rocker has not lost his ability to freak fans out" and is "sicker than ever," adding that the scene "where Manson pokes a needle into a woman’s cheek, might be the sickest thing ever captured in a music video. And the execution at the end is just plain terrifying."^[12] Lina Lecaro of LA Weekly felt that through the "arty, dramatic, salacious, [and] depraved" film Manson "reaffirms his 'shock rocker' status," though she was unsure of the film's meaning.^[1] For Billboard, RJ Cubarrubia reacted to the video by saying "Good news: Marilyn Manson is still terrifying"^[13] while Amos Barshad of Grantland praised LaBeouf for his "directorial chops" and for crafting a "effectively, overwhelmingly gross" film.^[14]

The Chicago Reader's Miles Raymer said that "Born Villain is pretentious garbage, and it's fantastic....I think LeBeouf [sic] just might have what it takes to be a great B-movie filmmaker. This thing is so big and overwrought and blind to its own ridiculousness that it does what all great exploitation movies do, which is to go past being so bad that it's good to become something so bad that it's art."^[15] In Consequence of Sound, Chris Coplan said the film showcases "the standard twisted visuals Marilyn Manson has built a career on."^[2]

MetalSucks' Axl Rosenberg criticized the film's appropriation of pre-existing sources, explaining "Macbeth has nothing to do with Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's historic film, Un Chien Andalou," a film which he considered far superior to Born Villain.^[16] Max Feldman of PopMatters wrote that Manson collaborating with LaBeouf for the short and Johnny Depp for his cover of Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" (1972) "prove[s] that all those issues that have been so central to the Marilyn Manson agenda – our culture of fear and self-loathing, our false consumer choices, the emptiness of other peoples' celebrity status – have turned into something to which Manson knowingly contributes without apology."^[17] IndieWire's Kevin Jagernauth dismissed the clip as "pretty fucking boring"^[18] while Metal Injection's Robert Pasbani called it "very boring for me".^[19]

References