Born Villain (film)
A disturbing short film collaboration between Shia LaBeouf and Marilyn Manson.
Born Villain is an American horror short film directed by actor Shia LaBeouf in collaboration with singer Marilyn Manson. It was conceived as a promotional trailer for Manson's album of the same name and premiered at the L.A. Silent Theater in 2011. The film is notable for its disturbing vignettes, including scenes inspired by William Shakespeare's Macbeth and surrealist cinema.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Shia LaBeouf
- Writer
- Shia LaBeouf; Marilyn Manson
- Starring
- Marilyn Manson
- Miss Crash
- Fred Sablan
- Ashley Adair
- Miss Crash
- Released
- 28 August 2011
- Runtime
- 6 minutes
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
Facts from the source article.
Background and development
The idea for Born Villain originated after Marilyn Manson and Shia LaBeouf became friends at a concert by The Kills. LaBeouf, who had found Manson "frightening" as a teenager and had long been intrigued by his band's work, offered to direct a music video for the singer. To demonstrate his directorial competence, LaBeouf screened his earlier collaboration with Kid Cudi and Cage, Maniac (2011), which impressed Manson and led to the commission. LaBeouf later described visiting Manson's home in West Hollywood, California, which he likened to a large movie theater where Manson spends much of his time watching films. There, the two watched several movies together and discussed their "really eccentric ideas" for the project. LaBeouf financed the film himself. The short drew inspiration from William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou (1929), Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain (1973), and what LaBeouf called "heavy theology." Laney Chantal, wife of Marilyn Manson member Twiggy Ramirez, served as makeup artist. Manson conceived the title Born Villain after telling someone "Gentlemen prefer blondes...but I'm a villain," and noted that all his favorite literary and cinematic characters are villains. In an interview, Manson said his use of a Macbeth quote in the film could be interpreted as a mockery of LaBeouf, though he was unsure if LaBeouf was aware of this. He also stated that part of his motivation for making the short was his view that traditional music videos had become "pointless" due to MTV's decline.
Synopsis
Born Villain opens with Marilyn Manson's character cutting the hair of two nude women until they are bald. The film then shows an underage boy in white face makeup sitting beside an elderly man on a couch, who begins caressing the child's thigh; the two then physically fight. Manson's character recites part of the "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy from Macbeth, with the two bald women standing behind him, as a group of masked people, including two in Nazi uniforms, applaud. Next, Manson's character watches a blindfolded man and woman having anal sex in a glass cage. A woman attempts to shoot an apple off a man's head but instead shoots him in the eye; the intact eyeball is handed to her. Another woman recites Lady Macbeth's plea "Come, you spirits, that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here," then kisses a legless man, applauded by two topless blindfolded women. Manson's character pierces a long needle through a woman's cheek, then combusts as he blows out a candle. Reappearing as a doctor, he removes an eyeball from his mouth and inserts it into a woman's vagina, saying "The wages of sin is death." He forces a gun attached to a crucifix into the mouth of the man who molested the boy, and as the man screams, the boy smiles and Manson's character pulls the trigger. Facing the corpse, he quotes Macbeth: "Nothing in his life. Became him like the leaving it." He then sits on a chair next to the legless man and a lion, and the film fades to black.
Release
Born Villain was accompanied by Campaign, a limited edition book by Shia LaBeouf, Karolyn Pho, and Marilyn Manson, released in August 2011 by LaBeouf's Grassy Slope Entertainment, Inc., alongside DVD copies of the film. Copies of Campaign sold for $75 and featured photographs of graffiti and cut-outs of LaBeouf and Pho placed around Los Angeles. The film premiered at the L.A. Silent Theater on August 28, 2011, with attendees including actors Jon Hamm and Billy Zane; entry required purchase of the book. The short was later screened at Space 15 Twenty in Los Angeles, again with entry guaranteed only to book buyers. It was also shown at the Studio Servitu in Los Angeles, a club co-owned by fetish model Miss Crash, who appears in the film, as part of an art show where Manson debuted songs from the album Born Villain, Ramirez performed a DJ set, and artist Nick Kushner displayed paintings including a portrait of Manson painted in the artist's blood.
Critical reception and analysis
Upon release, Born Villain received mixed reviews. Some critics praised its power to disturb: Loudwire's Joe Robinson called it "the most interesting, challenging and envelope-pushing video Manson has made in a decade" and "his most disturbing." Writing in Spin, Kevin O'Donnell said the short "proves the shock-rocker has not lost his ability to freak fans out" and is "sicker than ever," singling out the needle-through-cheek scene as possibly "the sickest thing ever captured in a music video." Lina Lecaro of LA Weekly felt the film reaffirmed Manson's "shock rocker" status, though she was unsure of its meaning. Billboard's RJ Cubarrubia reacted by saying "Good news: Marilyn Manson is still terrifying." Other critics focused on LaBeouf's direction: Amos Barshad of Grantland praised his "directorial chops" for crafting an "effectively, overwhelmingly gross" film, but noted that the Macbeth quote suggested the short was meaningless. Miles Raymer of the Chicago Reader called Born Villain "pretentious garbage" that is "fantastic," arguing that LaBeouf may have potential as a B-movie filmmaker, and preferred it to Maniac.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who stars in Born Villain (film)?
Born Villain stars Marilyn Manson, Miss Crash, Fred Sablan, Ashley Adair and Miss Crash.
How long is Born Villain (film)?
Born Villain has a running time of 6 minutes.
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