Horror cinema, sometimes, is the only cinema verité. The filming of The glow or that of The Blair Witch Project They are examples of films in which fear was not suffered only by the spectators. Also the leading actors (or, in the case of The glowthe leading actress exclusively) experienced the other side of the camera like a horror movie. However, none of these feature films reach the terrifying magnitude of The possessionavailable in Spain thanks to the Filmin catalogue.
Directed and written by Polish Andrzej Zulawski (The important thing is to love), The possession contains one of the most iconic interpretations of horror cinema. Also, one of the most honored: just go back to the possession of Lily-Rose Deep in Nosferatu to glimpse the Isabelle Adjani in this movie. A possession that was about to be truly tragic.
a polish demon
No one has talked in such depth about what happened while filming The possession like its male protagonist, Sam Neill. New Zealand actor Jurassic Park He revealed several secrets beyond the cameras in his autobiography, in which, above all, he specifies that the film seems like a masterpiece, although he understands that many viewers are horrified by it.
Of its director, Zulawski, he points out that he was a genius (he died in 2016, six years before Sam Neill published his memoirs), but also someone difficult to deal with, with whom he did not end up ingratiating himself due to his bravado. The one who suffered Zulawski the most was Isabelle Adjaniat whom he yelled constantly.
The worst came when the director ordered Neill to slap Adjanito which the actor flatly and repeatedly refused. Adjani finally interceded and advised him to listen to her, just before meekly offering her cheek. “It’s the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever had to do in my life,” Neill recalls in his book.
Zulawski never apologized for his behavior and, in an interview, even joked with the air of a diva. Adjani, who used a razor blade to cut his wrists while filming. “He had one of these blades that barely scratches your skin,” the filmmaker said.
Adjani, who is still active, has barely spoken about this filming, but he has confessed in several interviews that Possession is one of those movies that one can only shoot once in a lifetime and that he would not undergo similar work again.
