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MOVIE FEATURE

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American director Lucky McKee has earned himself a place among the Masters of Horror with powerful films like May (2002), The Woman (2011), and All Cheerleaders Must Die (2013). His latest movie, Old Man , reaffirms his reputation for being a twisted storyteller. Words Glenn Cochrane T he film stars Stephen Lang (2016’s Don’t Breathe ) as a cantankerous hermit living in The screenplay for Old Man , written by Joel Veach, was originally a stage play. “By

Stephen Lang (R), and Marc Senter

McKee admits. “It was the middle of the pandemic and we got a great deal on a fantastic sound stage. We had great deals on gear. There was a lot of crew available, because no one was working. Our rehearsals were just us reading the script from beginning to end on Zoom.” With a mixed amount of excitement, perplexity, and absolute amusement, McKee notes that the film has been retitled elsewhere in the world. “In Russia, they released it as Don’t Breathe: The Beginning, ” he laughs, referring to the distributors’ attempts to capitalise on the popularity of Lang’s 2016 film. “Kind of like the Italians used to do back in the day, with movies like Zombi 2 ”.

a remote cabin, whose existence is disturbed by a lost hiker. The story quickly descends into a paranoid game of cat and mouse.

the time [Veach] came to me,” McKee explains, “he had converted it into a screenplay. I really liked

• Old Man is out on Aug 9

Director Lucky McKee

“He insists that everybody call him ‘Slang’,” McKee reveals of his leading man, adding with a laugh, “I called him ‘Stephen’ one time and he said, ‘Only my mother calls me Stephen!’” The film is striking in its simplicity, boasting a tight and claustrophobic single location setting, comparable to films like Death and the Maiden (1994) and The Hateful Eight (2015). “I love both of those movies,” McKee enthuses.

his dialogue and I could really relate to what was going on in it. I was kind of raised by old country boys, and I felt a personal connection.” The trials of filmmaking during a global pandemic is a common story for recent movies, but Old Man is a rare example of the situation being fortuitous. “It actually worked to the movie’s benefit,”

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