“‘Dying of the Light,’ a film I wrote and directed, was taken away from me after the submission of the Director’s Cut (June 2014). Grindstone Pictures and the producers wanted a generic Nic Cage video-on-demand film, while my editorial instincts were pointing toward something more interesting. Grindstone recut, scored, and mixed the film without my input. Subsequently, actors Nicholas Cage and Anton Yelchin, executive producer Nic Refn and I distanced ourselves from the film… I remain hopeful that someday I will be allowed to finish the film.” –Paul Schrader
In this week’s episode of The Filmography podcast, Bjorn and I are joined by very special returning guest (and noted Cage-o-holic) Mark Hanson for a discussion of Paul Schrader’s 2014 CIA spy thriller, “Dying of the Light,” the first of two back-to-back Schrader / Nic Cage collaborations, as well as Schrader’s own psychedelic bootleg cut of the film, “Dark.”
Although the film was taken away from Schrader in post-production (echoes of his experience with “Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist“), re-cut, and poorly marketed as just another anonymous Nicolas Cage Direct-To-Video (DTV) actioner, Schrader at least attempted to do something new with the spy genre, as evidenced by “Dark,” which takes a radical Tony Scott / “Man on Fire” approach to the material, re-framing shots as extreme-close-ups, with music video-style quick cutting, and featuring extended psychedelic sequences, as seen in the image below:
While it drove Bjorn nuts, the bootleg “Dark” cut suggests a much more expressionistic take on the story, aiming to put you in Cage’s POV, heightening the sensation of his deteriorating state of mind. In both cuts, the dementia angle is an interesting complication to what is otherwise a fairly straight-forward revenge thriller.
When the film was taken away from Schrader, he and his stars, Nic Cage and Anton Yelchin, and executive producer Nicolas Winding Refn (who was originally slated to direct before he signed on to “Drive” instead, with Harrison Ford and Channing Tatum cast in the Cage and Yelchin roles, respectively) were photographed wearing their NDA agreements on their t-shirts as a silent protest.
“Because we were threatened with lawsuits if we spoke ill of the Grindstone version, our protests took the form of wearing T-shirts bearing the “non-disparagement” clause that prohibited public statements. For now, that’s the only photo I’ll include on this web page.” –Paul Schrader
The released cut of “Dying of the Light” is nowhere near as bad as one might expect from a picture that has been taken away from its writer/director and re-cut by its meddling producers, but it’s disappointing to see another Schrader picture barely get released.
“I made Dog Eat Dog to redeem myself from the humiliation of Dying of the Light, which was taken away from me. Nic and I disowned it, I subsequently did my own edit, put it on torrent, but it was a career killer.” –Paul Schrader
It turned out not to be a career-killer, neither for Cage, who is currently having a resurgence after his stellar turn in this years’ Oz (son of Anthony) Perkins‘ directed serial-killer thriller “Longlegs,” nor for Schrader, who would re-team with Cage on the above-mentioned “Dog Eat Dog” before his own resurgence with, arguably, his finest picture yet, 2017’s “First Reformed.”
Deserving special mention here is the supporting performance by Anton Yelchin, who brings a deep level of compassion and decency to his role as Cage’s young espionage protegé.
Yelchin was an extremely likeable actor who made all of his characters highly relatable with an abundance of natural charm and thoughtfulness, who was tragically killed in a freak accident much too young. I would have liked to have seen many more films from him, having watched him mature into a very fine actor in the years since his auspicious debut as a child actor in the under-appreciated 2001 Stephen King adaptation “Hearts in Atlantis,” starring Anthony Hopkins, and directed by Scott Hicks.
“Dark” is an interesting cinema artifact in that it hints at the film Schrader might have made had he been allowed to finish his cut of “Dying of the Light.” However, it’s too rough around the edges (made from DVD rough cuts of Schrader’s unfinished workprint) to really satisfy as a picture on its own terms.
What we are ultimately left with in “Dying of the Light” is a movie that is neither the total disaster Schrader seems to think it is, nor one that transcends the DTV action-thriller limitations of the genre that Cage has all-too-often dipped his toes in (with a back catalogue of mediocre and disposable pictures to his credit with interchangeable titles like “Stolen,” “Kill Chain,” “Vengeance,” “Primal,” “Rage,” “Seeking Justice,” etc., etc, etc).
Knowing that both Cage and Schrader would independently go onto make much better pictures in the years following this one takes a little of the bad taste out of your mouth, though their next film together, “Dog Eat Dog,” isn’t quite the redeeming palate-cleanser that Schrader suggests. Of course, for more on that, you’ll have to tune into next week’s episode! Until then, thanks for listening!
Listen to the podcast here:
Read IndieWire’s article on “Dark,” Paul Schrader’s recut of “Dying of the Light” here:
Watch the trailer for “Dying Of The Light” here:
Watch Schrader’s full bootleg cut, “Dark,” here:
https://ok.ru/video/6785931414200
Watch the trailer for Schrader’s and Cage’s follow up collaboration, “Dog Eat Dog” here:
Watch the trailer for Cage’s comeback picture, “Longlegs” here:
Watch the trailer for Schrader’s comeback picture “First Reformed” here:
Watch the trailer for Tony Scott’s genre-benchmark, “Man On Fire” here: