José Mojica Marins

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For The Horrors drummer, see Coffin Joe (The Horrors).
José Mojica Marins
Born March 13, 1936
São Paulo, Brazil
Nationality Flag of Brazil Brazil
Other names Zé do Caixão
Coffin Joe
Occupation Filmmaker
Actor

José Mojica Marins (born March 13, 1936) is a Brazilian actor and film director. Marins is also known by his alter ego Zé do Caixão (in English, Coffin Joe).

Contents

[edit] Biography

Mojica Marins was born on March 13 (a Friday), 1936, in São Paulo, Brazil. Some sources erroneously list his date of birth as 1929. [1] His interest in film-making began at an early age; his father ran a local cinema, and the family literally lived behind the screen. Though poor, Mojica Marins managed to scrape together enough money to complete a film at age 12. By age 18 he had completed over 80 shorts. He was interested mostly in horror and gothic films, and his films feature shocking, often repulsive imagery.

A 2001 documentary, Maldito - O Estranho Mundo de José Mojica Marins (released in the US as Coffin Joe: The Strange World of José Mojica Marins), examines Marins' life and his works. The documentary won the special jury prize at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.


[edit] Zé do Caixão/Coffin Joe

José Mojica Marins originated the role of "Coffin Joe" in 1963's À Meia-Noite Levarei Sua Alma (At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul), taking on the role after the original actor backed out. Coffin Joe is an undertaker who is greatly feared by the locals. He wears a black suit, a cape and a top hat, and long fingernails. He is at first married to a humble woman and shown to have friends.

He greatly dislikes morality and religion, which he describes as "comfort for the weak." One of his most enduring traits is his single-minded obsession with the "Continuity of the Blood"; he wants to sire the perfect child from the perfect woman, and he is willing to kill anyone who crosses his path.

He has a kinder side. In At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul, he reprimands a father for punishing his son too severely. In This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse, he puts himself in harm's way to save a child about to be run over by a motorcyclist. He greatly values the life of children, mainly because he sees in them the "continuity of the blood".

This film is considered Brazil's first horror film. The Censorship Board at the time had been disbanded and regulations were left to local markets to decide. Many Brazilian states banned the film altogether, but the ones which showed it recorded a box-office success. It was in theaters for at least four months.

Coffin Joe is actually a nickname for Josefel Zanatas. Marins would go on to play the character in over a half-dozen films. He even grew his fingernails to an extraordinary length, wearing them in the style of the character. Eventually, Marins began to tire of the character, and cut his nails in 1998.

In November and December of 2006, Marins shot the third installment of his Coffin Joe trilogy, Encarnação do Demônio (The Embodiment of Evil). The film completes the storyline that began with At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul and continued in This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, The Embodiment of Evil was finished in 2008.

Despite its title, Strange World of Coffin Joe (1968) does not contain the Coffin Joe character.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References in popular culture

  • The Brazilian band Os Mutantes mentions Zé do Caixão in the lyrics to their song "Trem Fantasma" on their 1968 self-titled debut album.
  • The death metal band Necrophagia dedicates a song to the character on their album The Divine Act of Torture. The song re-tells A meia-noite levarei sua alma and contains sound samples of Zé do Caixão's voice.
  • The drummer of Southend gothic rockers The Horrors has the stage name of Coffin Joe.
  • Zé do Caixão is mentioned amongst two other Brazilian legends, Zumbi and Lampiao, in the song "Ratamahatta", from Sepultura's 1996 album Roots.
  • The opening from Awakening of the Beast was sampled and used as the intro to White Zombie's song "I, Zombie."
  • The character of Hopey in "Wigwam Bam Part Four" of Jaime Hernandez's graphic novel Locas is shown watching At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Peter Rist and Donato Totaro, "Jose Mojica Marins: Up-Close and Personal", Offscreen, Volume 9, Issue 6 (June 30, 2005)

[edit] External links

 This Brazil-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Languages