Darren Aronofsky has always been a fan of "home invasion movies".
The 48-year-old filmmaker – whose filmography includes award-winning dramas ‘The Wrestler’ and ‘Black Swan’ – has just seen his psychological horror ‘mother!’ hit cinemas and it stars Javier Bardem and Jennifer Lawrence as a husband and wife whose world is tuned upside down by a stranger who comes to their house.
Aronofsky has always enjoyed films which pit people being attacked in what should be their safest space, citing 1971 cult classic ‘Straw Dogs’ – which stars Dustin Hoffman and Susan George as a couple who move back to Cornwall only to be terrorised by the locals leading to a bloody and violent showdown – as an inspiration.
In an interview with Time Out London magazine, Aronofsky said: "I’ve always been a fan of home invasion films like ‘Straw Dogs’ and great, scary ideas – like ‘Black Swan’ started with this idea of losing your identity. But there’s also the fear of someone taking over your home. I knew that was a good genre base to start a very surreal, weird film. I like to have these genre pieces that audiences can have tested reactions to. They know there’s going to be humour, they know there’s going to be jump scares, but I also let them be surprised by really shaking up the formula whenever I can."
‘Mother!’ has a stellar cast that also stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall and Brian Gleeson and Ed Harris, but it was 27-year-old Lawrence who Aronofsky was most excited about working with and he insists she "knocked it out of the park" with her performance.
Aronofsky – who is dating Lawrence said: "When I first started working on it I wasn’t thinking about her, I never thought someone like her would do something like this. Then I got a phone call saying she might have an opening and I should go and be with her. I thought there was something really exciting about taking such a big movie star on a journey like this. I had never seen her do anything like this before. She’s always playing incredibly strong women, and this woman is very much on the back foot and a caregiver. I had no idea if she could find that within herself. She was able to knock it out of the park."
Darren Aronofsky loves home invasion movies
