Osgood Perkins Adapts Stephen King's 'The Monkey'

Summary

All Of It: Episode Summary - "Osgood Perkins Adapts Stephen King's 'The Monkey'"

Podcast Information:

• Title: All Of It
• Host: Alison Stewart
• Description: ALL OF IT is a show about culture and its consumers, aiming to engage thinkers, doers, makers, and creators in discussions about the what and why of their work. The show fosters a community that celebrates diverse perspectives, reflecting the cultural mosaic of New York City.

---

Introduction to "The Monkey"

In this episode of All Of It, host Alison Stewart interviews writer and director Osgood Perkins about his new horror-comedy film, "The Monkey." Premiering in theaters on February 20, 2025, the film is an adaptation of a Stephen King short story that delves into dark humor intertwined with themes of death and family dynamics.

Alison Stewart introduces the film by outlining its premise:

"[...] two twin brothers, Bill and Hal, who don't exactly get along. [...] they find this very creepy monkey. They discover that when the monkey's key is turned, someone around them dies." ([00:16])

---

Adapting a Stephen King Short Story

Perkins discusses the allure of Stephen King's work for filmmakers:

"He's such a titan of culture [...] responsible for the kind of entertainment value of horror stories. [...] he did this beautiful blend of the uncanny, the supernatural, the terrifying, and then the really sort of sensitive kind of family stories." ([01:48])

He highlights King's unique ability to mix horror with humor and emotional depth, making his stories ripe for adaptation.

Challenges in Adaptation: Turning a short story into a full-length feature presented its set of challenges. Perkins emphasizes the importance of finding the story's "internal hook" that drives the narrative forward:

"Once you find that, it's kind of like downhill skiing at a certain point." ([02:34])

He notes that Stephen King provided the creative freedom needed, offering tacit approval without imposing restrictive feedback:

"He kind of liked my approach, and I was free to go." ([03:16])

---

Character and Symbolism of the Monkey

Designing the Creepy Monkey: Perkins delves into the aesthetic choices behind the monkey, aiming to resonate with the collective consciousness of what makes such toys unsettling:

"I wanted to make sure that it resonated with kind of the collective unconscious version of this thing [...] everyone sees the monkey [...] and says, there's something about that that's off." ([04:00])

He describes the monkey as a sentient entity straddling the line between reality and the supernatural:

"It sort of has these yellow smoker's teeth [...] at one point, it's filled with this black goo [...] it's obviously a toy, but it's kind of a sentient." ([04:00])

Symbolism Without Backstory: Perkins intentionally leaves the monkey's origins mysterious, suggesting it simply "is," representing an omnipresent force of life and death:

"He just is." ([06:30])

This approach allows the monkey to symbolize the inevitability and randomness of death without anchoring it to a specific origin story.

---

Casting and Character Dynamics

Choosing the Right Actors: Casting twin brothers Bill and Hal was pivotal. Perkins praises Christian Convoy for his versatility and experience:

"Christian Convoy is someone who worked a lot... he's just a terrific actor." ([08:19])

Character Relationships: The relationship between Bill and Hal is central to the narrative. Perkins explains their contentious dynamic:

"Bill is Hal's bully at school. [...] Bill is kind of cruel and dumb and so, so self-centered." ([09:13])

Despite their antagonistic interactions, there is an underlying complexity that hints at deeper familial bonds:

"There's an arch quality [...] It's like they never realized they share the same mom." ([09:24])

---

Personal Insights and Themes

Perkins' Personal Connection: The film mirrors Perkins' personal experiences with loss:

"Both experienced the same tragedies, but they have very different responses as adults." ([10:26])

He shares how differing responses to trauma shaped his understanding of the characters:

"Bill wants to control life and death. Hal is trying to protect his loved ones." ([10:41])

Incorporating Personal Loss: Drawing from his own losses, including the death of his parents, Perkins integrates themes of grief and coping mechanisms into the film's narrative:

"I've had time [...] the loss is at least sort of 25 years old [...] time heals." ([11:56])

---

Death Scenes and Dark Comedy

Balancing Humor and Horror: Perkins explains the rationale behind the film's gruesome yet humorous death scenes:

"The deaths couldn't be hurtful. They had to be cartoonishly impossible." ([15:31])

He likens the violence to the exaggerated antics of Itchy and Scratchy from The Simpsons, ensuring the deaths remain absurd rather than offensive:

"It's all about the absurdity of the fact that we die. Right." ([15:31])

Creative Constraints: To maintain comedic horror, Perkins set boundaries so that audiences wouldn't find the deaths relatable or upsetting:

"None of these can happen. [...] It was meant to be sort of more, if anything, Itchy and Scratchy or Chuck Jones." ([15:31])

He shares an example of a particularly elaborate death that was ultimately deemed too intense for the film's modest budget:

"A guy runs into his priest on the street... turns him into salt and pepper shaker versions of himself. [...] that one was a bridge too far." ([16:24])

---

Practical and Digital Effects

Special Effects Techniques: Perkins discusses the blend of practical and digital effects used to achieve the film's visual style:

"Wherever we could do practical effects, we did practical effects. And then we used VFX digital effects to marry." ([17:15])

He introduces the concept of the "guts cannon," a practical effect device filled with hot dogs, blood, and gore to simulate realistic dismemberment:

"It's exactly what it sounds like. [...] we have it on the truck." ([17:48])

This practical approach enhances the film's dark comedic tone while maintaining a 70s aesthetic:

"It's a style exercise. And so I think those movies look better." ([18:34])

---

Lessons from "Long Legs"

Collaboration and Growth: Reflecting on his previous success with Long Legs, Perkins emphasizes the importance of collaboration and understanding each crew member's role:

"When you've got good partners, you develop quickly." ([19:00])

He credits the Vancouver crew's dedication and versatility for his growth as a filmmaker, allowing him to tackle more ambitious projects like "The Monkey."

---

Persevering in the Horror Genre

Passion for Horror: Perkins attributes his enduring interest in horror to both personal influences and the genre's ability to explore profound existential questions:

"Horror movies offer this nice little neat package of we have no idea, we really don't know." ([20:24])

He appreciates how horror can address universal fears and uncertainties, making it a continually relevant and compelling genre.

---

Audience Takeaways

Hope Amidst Chaos: Ultimately, Perkins hopes that "The Monkey" leaves audiences with an appreciation for life despite its dark and humorous portrayal of death:

"I want people to walk out of the movie theater [...] I'm still alive. [...] I get to breathe in the air." ([21:57])

This sentiment underscores the film's blend of horror and comedy, encouraging viewers to find joy and gratitude amidst life's unpredictability.

---

Conclusion

In this insightful episode, Osgood Perkins provides a comprehensive look into the making of "The Monkey," blending personal tragedy with dark humor to explore themes of death and family. Through meticulous character development, creative special effects, and a deep understanding of Stephen King's storytelling prowess, Perkins crafts a film that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. Listeners gain an appreciation for the delicate balance required to adapt beloved literature into dynamic cinematic experiences, all while fostering a meaningful connection with the audience.

Quotes:

• Osgood Perkins: "He's such a titan of culture [...] responsible for the kind of entertainment value of horror stories." ([01:48])
• Perkins on the monkey's design: "It sort of has these yellow smoker's teeth [...] it's obviously a toy, but it's kind of a sentient." ([04:00])
• On the twin brothers' relationship: "There's an arch quality [...] They never realized they share the same mom." ([09:24])
• Discussing death scenes: "The deaths couldn't be hurtful. They had to be cartoonishly impossible." ([15:31])
• Audience takeaway aspiration: "I want people to walk out of the movie theater [...] I'm still alive." ([21:57])

---

This summary encapsulates the key discussions, insights, and conclusions from the podcast episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those who haven't listened.

Transcript

[Osgood Perkins]

Listener support WNYC Studios.

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in soho. Thank you for sharing part of your day with us. In the new horror comedy film from writer and director Osgood Perkins. A wind up monkey dollar has dark powers. The monkey is based on a Stephen King short story about two twin brothers, Bill and Hal, who don't exactly get along. In fact, Bill is actually a bully. Both miss their absent father who left them alone with their mom. One day, Bill and Hal go through their dad's closet and find this very creepy monkey. They discover that when the monkey's key is turned, someone around them dies. And just like in real life, death could come for anyone at any time. Flash forward. An adult. Bill and Hal are grappling in two very different ways with the legacy of this monkey. And when it happens that the monkey has returned, they hope to find a way to stop it. While this sounds like a very straightforward horror story, it really is a dark comedy. The deaths are increasingly gruesome and ridiculous. For example, one early death involves a hibachi gone wrong. All this adds up to a humorous and gory story about our own complex relationships with death. A theme that is drawn from Osgood Perkins own experience with the loss of his parents. The Monkey is in theaters now and I'm joined by writer and director Osgood Perkins. You might know him from last year's Long Legs. Nice to meet you.

[Osgood Perkins]

Good morning. Thanks for having me.

[Alison Stewart]

So this was originally a Stephen King short story. Why do you think so many filmmakers have been drawn to his work?

[Osgood Perkins]

Well, he's like, I mean, he's such a titan of culture and, you know, kind of, if you think about it, sort of in a way, responsible for the, for the kind of entertainment value of horror stories. Right? Like, he's kind of the guy who made it fun to be scared. And, you know, I don't think that was on Edgar Allan Poe's mind very much. And so I think that King did this thing where he sort of did this beautiful blend of the uncanny, the supernatural, the terrifying, and then the really sort of sensitive kind of family stories. And then there's this humor and this intelligence on it and this invitation to have a good time.

[Alison Stewart]

What was challenging about taking a short.

[Interviewer]

Story and turning it into a full length feature?

[Osgood Perkins]

It's funny. Some things are harder than others. And I think if you, if you find you your sort of hook and, and by hook, I, I mean kind of your internal hook, the thing that kind of Velcros your Spirit to the thing. Once you find that, it's kind of. It's just like downhill skiing at a certain point. And King is not, you know, precious about his work. He doesn't look over your shoulder. He doesn't backseat drive. So when I got the assignment, I sort of had to check in with him a couple of times, you know, kind of get tacit approval, and I think it might be this, I think it might be that, but I never got notes or feedback or resistance. You know, I think he kind of liked my approach, and I was. I was free to go.

[Interviewer]

At what point in your writing process did you decide this will be more of a dark comedy?

[Osgood Perkins]

That happened kind of right away. You know, Stephen King for me. Kind of the sweet spot of Stephen King for me is kind of Creepshow and Misery, which have a certain delight to them. This kind of showman's sort of showman's high entertainment value version of a horror thing. And also, it's a toy monkey. You know what I mean? It's like it's got. Got that face and those eyes and that little vest and little thing. It's like I kind of. I. I kind of couldn't do it without a smile.

[Interviewer]

How did you decide what the toy monkey would look like? It's a creepy toy monkey.

[Osgood Perkins]

They're all creepy. That's. Yeah, that's. The thing is, like, it's one of those things like ventriloquist dolls. Like, there's no such thing as a not creepy ventriloquist doll. So, you know, I wanted to make sure that it resonated with kind of the collective unconscious version of this thing, because I. I definitely wanted to ride in on that. Right. Everybody sees the monkey or sees a ventriloquist, all, for example, and says, there's something about that that's off. I don't. I don't love it. I'm intrigued by it. It's sort of cute, but it's also kind of awful. So I wanted to make sure it looked like the classical version. And then I wanted to sort of blur the line, which I felt was a very kind of Stephen King thing to do. Sort of blur the line between, oh, it's obviously fake, and is it kind of maybe a little bit sort of real? Ish. So it sort of has these yellow smoker's teeth, which are always kind of wet, and it has these little feet that grip the drum. And it sort of has this. You know, at one point in the movie, one of the kids tries to chop it up and it's kind of filled with this black goo. So I sort of had this sort of straddling universe, this thing. It's obviously a toy, but it's kind of a, in its own way, sentient.

[Interviewer]

And this just fits in with the whole story of the monkey is in the short story. It plays symbols. And you couldn't do that because Disney owns the monkey with the symbols.

[Osgood Perkins]

It turns out Disney owns it like almost everything, right? Like exactly when you realize how kind of look. And I love Disney. I'm, you know, especially old classic Disney. It's really impactful to me. You watch something like Snow White or Dumbo or Pinocchio, like, man, that's a really, that's really well done. I love Disneyland. So I got nothing against Disney, but they do own so much that they probably shouldn't. Like, they shouldn't own Darth Vader. Like, that's not a cool thing for them to have. He should be free, right? He should be free range. But they own the symbols for. Because of Toy Story 3, I guess. And so initially you're like, oh, that's a bummer. Everyone's going to expect the symbols. And then you have this moment. You're like, well, but if it's a drum, well, then it's sort of percussive and it's got energy and it's got rhythm and oh, rim shots and oh, drum rolls and oh, punch lines. And so you kind of get to this place pretty quickly. Say you can keep the symbols Disney. Keep them with your big pile of everything else.

[Interviewer]

We don't learn a whole lot about the monkey. The monkey doesn't have a big backstory. Why did you want to leave so much mystery about the monkey? And do you know the monkey's backstory?

[Osgood Perkins]

I think early on in the development, I kind of came to rest on this place of like, okay, it's not Megan. It doesn't do a dance, it's not Chucky. It doesn't come after you with a knife. It doesn't stab you with its drumsticks. It doesn't attack you. It doesn't jump on you. It just sort of sits there. And so I got into this mode where it was like, oh, it's kind of like a God. Do you know? It's kind of like a, like a totem or an idol, you know, almost. It sits there kind of cross legged, right? Like so many gods do. And so I had this thing of like, well, if maybe the monkey doesn't even need really need to be there. Maybe the monkey is just life and death. Oh, the monkey is just how it goes. And on the box, when the kids find the monkey, you know, it says imprinted on the box, like life. Not lifelike, but like life. And so I kind of just had this sort of moment of like, he doesn't need a backstory. It doesn't need to come from some hole in Antarctica or something where they, you know, unearthed him and, like, thawed him out. I think it just. He just is.

[Alison Stewart]

I thought of him like he could make a curse happen. And, like, monkeys are how. Monkeys are crazy. It could happen anywhere. It could happen anywhere. This curse could go anywhere.

[Osgood Perkins]

Yeah. I mean, it's a. It's a movable curse. Right? Isn't that sort of like the Hemingway thing? It's like you could travel with it because it's. Because it's like traveling with death. It's like you can't take. You can't, like, oh, I'm going to Hawaii, where there's no death. Do you know, it's like you can't slip it. So it's always just sort of there.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest is Osgood Perkins. He is the writer and director of the new horror slash comedy film the Monkey. It opens in theaters. I think it's tomorrow, actually. The first half of the story focuses on these two twins, Hal and Bill, and they're played by the same actor. What are the cast? What was the casting like?

[Osgood Perkins]

It's, you know, it's like any casting, which is sort of a. I think it's a brutal sort of scenario for everybody involved, like, as. As an actor trying to kind of hope that you get a part and sort of throwing your. Your tape of yourself out into the darkness and hoping someone sort of watches it and likes it. And then some people kind of are better than others, and some people surprise you and this and that. And Christian was someone. Christian Convoy was. Was someone who, like, worked a lot. He'd had a lot of work under his belt, and he's just a great. He's just a terrific actor. And guess what? That's what I'm after. It's. It makes my job so much easier if they're. If they're, you know, good at acting and. And with some experience, too, because you, you know, duh, duh, duh. But you get so much from practice, and when you're young like him, I think he was probably about 13 or so. He had had some practice. So he does a beautiful job.

[Alison Stewart]

They have a very contentious relationship.

[Interviewer]

Always have.

[Alison Stewart]

Bill is Hal's bully at School.

[Interviewer]

Do you believe is there any love between these two brothers as you wrote it?

[Osgood Perkins]

It's funny because, you know, there's a. There's an arch quality to the whole picture on purpose, right? There's a cartoonish quality to the whole thing. And so it's kind of the thing where like you put the glasses on the sensitive younger brother who was born second and you kind of make the older brother kind of cruel and dumb and kind of dumb to the point of not. And dumb is maybe the wrong word, but so, so self centered. So self centered and so sort of kind of sociopathic almost in that way where it's like, oh, there's other people. And he has this thing where late in the picture you realize he didn't even kind of ever think that they shared the same mom. Like, for, like to Bill, like my mom, she was my mom. And Hal has to kind of remind him, I know she was both of our moms. And so, you know, I just, I wanted to. To have it be pretty arch and have their relationship be pretty. Not cartoonish, but sort of archetypal, I suppose you'd say.

[Alison Stewart]

Both have experienced the same tragedies, but they have very different responses as adults. Theo James plays them as adults. What do these responses reveal to us about these two boys, these two men?

[Osgood Perkins]

It's all kind of lightly fashioned. After my, my brother and myself, you know, after the loss of our parents, especially the loss of my mom, we. It just, it just dawned on me kind of right from the jump that, oh my God, we're so different. Like, on the night of my mom's memorial service, I had a huge party, like a really noisy party, and my brother had kind of a silent wake. And when you realize sort of the, the. Just the, the chasm between those reactions, right? It's like they're, they're absolute opposites. That was sort of the, the basis that I was. That I was starting from. Bill kind of wants to get on top of it, right? Bill kind of wants to control life and death. And Hal is just kind of trying to protect his loved ones. And I think that. That there's sort of an offensive and a defensive look at the same thing.

[Alison Stewart]

You've been open about that this movie.

[Interviewer]

Touches on part of your personal story.

[Alison Stewart]

Your father, Anthony Perkins, died of aids.

[Interviewer]

Although I understand that you didn't know that for a long time. And your mother died as she was in the plane crash on 9 11.

[Alison Stewart]

Were you thinking about that as you were writing this story?

[Interviewer]

Did you have to stop? Did you have to give yourself time.

[Osgood Perkins]

No, because I'd had time. Like, you know, all of those losses are at least sort of 25 years old, which doesn't make them out of date, but it does make them like, more, far more okay than they were. If I'd made this picture when I was 30, it would have been a real drag, right? It would have been a real downer. What happened for me was in developing the material early on, got into this thing which I kind of mentioned before, which is like, oh, the monkey causes people to sort of die in these unimaginable. Like that couldn't ever happen. Like that's not a real thing. Like that's an impossible. And I was like, oh, wait a minute. That's my, that's my story. Hold on, hold on. I'm an authority on this. I, I'm an expert. And not only am I an expert, which gives me license to take whatever attitude about it I want. Right? That's, that's the, that's the thing about. That's the thing about. And I thought about it a lot. Some people who've had sort of shocking things happen, tragedies, losses, compared to someone who hasn't. Those of us who have, we kind of. We kind of get this credit in the universe where all of a sudden we can sort of say anything we want about it. We can kind of own our experience because it's. Who's gonna, who's gonna be like, you can't, you can't laugh at that, Perkins. It's like. Well, actually, yeah, I actually can. And like I say, had I made the movie 20 years ago, it'd be a bummer. But I'm older now. Things change. Time heals. All these, all these well worn adages are true. And here we are with the comedy.

[Interviewer]

Why do you think we as humans have a hard time talking about death?

[Osgood Perkins]

I mean, far for me to be the sort of any kind of expert on how culture has sort of diminished the reality of death or sort of vilified it, but obviously our culture doesn't go for it. That's a, It's, It's a bad thing. Getting older is a bad thing. Being alone is a bad thing. Looking sort of different as you age has a terrible. That's the worst thing. That's the worst thing of all. I hate it. But I, I think that it's just such an impossible sort of notion, just that you would have to kind of let go of everything that you have, whether that's your stuff or your people or your Sight or your dreams or your mind or whatever like it all you gotta. Gotta part with it. I think parting with things is not. It's not a popular idea.

[Interviewer]

My guest is Osgood Perkins. He's the writer and director of a new horror comedy, the Monkey. It's opened in theaters in New York. It opens in theaters wide tomorrow. We'll have more after a quick break. This is all of it.

[Alison Stewart]

You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest is writer and director Osgood Perkins. He has a new horror comedy movie, the Monkey, which is opening in New York right now. It's in theaters wide tomorrow. I have to ask you about the death scenes in this film. Sometimes they're funny, sometimes they're ridiculous. Like one guy gets trampled by wild horses. And that's funny. I shouldn't. I shouldn't say, say it isn't funny, but it is funny in the film. How did you decide on the types of deaths?

[Osgood Perkins]

The. The sort of rule of thumb that I had for myself was none of these can happen. No. No one can stand up in the theater and say, wait a minute, my Aunt Doris died that way. I'm hurt and offended. It. They had to be cartoonishly impossible. Sort of physics don't operate this way. Pool, water and electricity don't act that way on a body. And it was. It was meant to be sort of more, if anything, Itchy and Scratchy or Chuck Jones, you know, it was like it was supposed to be in that realm because I was trying to just. It's all about the absurdity of the fact that we die. Right. So I feel like the deaths couldn't be hurtful.

[Alison Stewart]

Itchy and Scratchy, it's perfect. Did you have an idea for a death that you weren't able to include for some reason?

[Osgood Perkins]

There was in an early draft, there was sort of a guy runs into his priest on the street and he's kind of navigated this construction site, sort of a very kind of almost like New York City level construction site. And this priest kind of. They sort of have a little hello and the priest goes on his way. And one of those wet kind of concrete saws, those circular concrete saws, like, slips out of a kind of a road worker's hand and kind of takes the priest down the middle and sort of turns him into sort of salt and pepper shaker versions of himself, like two halves. And we kind of. In pre production, it's just like that. That one seems like a lot. It was still a really Modestly budgeted movie. And we got all the other things and we did these elaborate things, but, you know, it was like that one was a bridge too far.

[Alison Stewart]

Were the. Were the effects practical?

[Osgood Perkins]

Insofar as we. Wherever we could do practical effects, we did practical effects. And then we used sort of VFX digital effects to marry, you know, Mary Layers. So with the example of the woman who dives into the electrified swimming pool, and it goes badly for her, we sort of lock the camera off and she. She dives in, we send the actors home, and we spend the night kind of doing layer after layer after layer of sort of throwing body parts in every direction and sort of. There's a thing called a guts cannon, you'll be happy to know. Oh, I need.

[Alison Stewart]

Wait, explain this, please. Guts cannon.

[Osgood Perkins]

It's exactly what it sounds like. Exactly what it sounds like. You. You. You fill it full of hot dogs and blood and gore and stuff, and then you just. You go pop, like that, and it sp in all directions. So you get enough of those layers. We. We found ourselves often kind of Siri, how much. How much blood is in a human body? And she says, it's this many gallons. You're like, really? That's it. I feel like we should probably do like, what, four or five times that. And of course, you. You say that to special effects teams and they're like, we have it on the truck.

[Alison Stewart]

First of all, everybody's Siri just went off. So it's funny because the film has sort of a 70s aesthetic, even. Even during the parts that take place today. Ish. Was that intentional? Yeah.

[Osgood Perkins]

When you're making a movie, you just want to kind of, to the best of your ability, do what you like, put forward what you think looks good and sounds right. And I don't know, it's. It's. It's. It's a style exercise. And so I think, you know, those movies look better.

[Alison Stewart]

You're coming off a really big success of Long Legs, which is a bit of a phenomenon last year. What did you learn from making that film that you were able to use on this film?

[Osgood Perkins]

It's funny, when I came to Long Legs, I'd made three movies and. And I kind of. I have to admit, like, I don't think I really understood the job and on Long Legs for whatever myriad reasons. And I think, particularly due to my collaborators who, you know, we did it in Vancouver, and I've subsequently done, you know, sort of three in total movies in Vancouver in the last two years, which is an insane thing. I Don't recommend it, but we have three terrific movies now. But the crew in Vancouver was. They just. They had. They were so great and so invested and so kind of handy with. With everything they were. With everything that they could do. When I brought them this wild material, everyone was just like, so turned on. It was like you could hear everybody kind of buz. And we collaborated so well, and everyone was kind of so open and generous and lovely. I kind of learned everybody's jobs and in doing so, learned my job. And also I had Nicolas Cage, right? Like, you have this. This lightning rod of experience. Such a. Just such a God, right? Such a. Such a. Such a light. Such an egoless dude who's just so willing and generous to contribute. So when you've got good partners, you develop quickly.

[Alison Stewart]

What keeps you interested in these horror movies?

[Osgood Perkins]

I think. I mean, I think it's sort of, you know, I think it starts with the fact that my sort of dad, who was. Was who he was. I think that the, you know, some of us with really famous parents are daunted by it and kind of buried by, oh, I would never try that. I ain't got. That's none of my business. I could never follow in those footsteps. And then some of us are like, no, that's a. That's a lit path, right? That's. There's. There's light up there like that. That's a big thing. Like, that's. There's a lot of energy on that. You think of like LeBron James's son, Ronnie James, right? Like, you're like, really, you want to try basketball? And part of you wants to be like, don't do that, dude. Like, you can't. And. But the other part of you is like, man, absolutely, that's your dad. Like, that's the biggest deal in the universe. Go get it. So I think it starts with that, and then you kind of get into this mode, and it's why the horror genre continues to sort of flourish and continues to be the. The dominant genre in film, right? It's. It's the one that always opens, and it's. It's because it deals with, you know, everything, right? Like the. There are no limits to the experience of a horror movie. And it deals with the big. The big questions, which is basically, what the hell is going on? What's happening? What's going to happen? And I think horror movies offer this nice little neat package of we have no idea, we really don't know.

[Alison Stewart]

And you also get to hang out.

[Osgood Perkins]

With the guts cannon and there's guts cannon. Every. Every five feet, there's a guts cannon.

[Alison Stewart]

What do you hope audiences leave the theater talking or thinking about after seeing the monkey?

[Osgood Perkins]

It's sort of goofy to say it. And I. And I've. But it's. But I want people to walk out of the movie theater, take a look at their arms and legs, and be like, I'm still attached. Look at me. I'm alive. I get to go to dinner. I get to go tuck my kids in. I get to go make love. I get to go have, you know, sushi. I get to go for a walk. I get to breathe in the air. And it sounds sort of corny, but what better than that, hey, look at me. I'm still alive.

[Alison Stewart]

The name of the film is the Monkey. It's open in theaters in New York today, wide tomorrow. I've been speaking with its writer and director, Osgood Perkins. It was fun talking to you.

[Osgood Perkins]

Thanks very much. I appreciate your time.