Born Villain (film)
| Born Villain | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Shia LaBeouf |
| Written by |
Shia LaBeouf Marilyn Manson |
| Starring |
Marilyn Manson Miss Crash Fred Sablan Ashley Adair |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 6 minutes and 11 seconds |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Born Villain is a short film directed by actor Shia LaBeouf in collaboration with Marilyn Manson. It was released on August 28, 2011, during its inaugural screening, at the L.A. Silent Theater. Produced as an accompaniment to the Born Villain album, the film was intended as the record's promotional "trailer". The music heard in the video is the song "Overneath the Path of Misery", a track from Born Villain.
Background and development
""The song has all these references to 'Macbeth' and all this Shakespeare and heavy theology, so we tried to make Manson's 'Un Chien Andalou' macabre 'Macbeth' — that's sort of what that became."
The idea for the film originated after Manson and LaBeouf struck up a friendship at a concert of The Kills. The actor, who "has always been intrigued" with the singer, then offered to direct his next music video. In order to convince him, LaBeouf gave Manson a screening of Maniac — his directorial collaboration with American rappers Kid Cudi and Cage. Impressed, Manson commissioned the aspiring director to create a "making-of" video documenting the album's recording and production.
Manson and LaBeouf produced the film throughout July 2011 under the management of California-based production company Vanderson Inc. The film borrows a variety of "very intense, graphic imagery" from an number of sources including Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 film The Holy Mountain, Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel's 1929 short film Un Chien Andalou, Shakespeare and theology. LaBeouf explained that "we tried to make Manson's 'Un Chien Andalou' macabre 'Macbeth' — that's sort of what that became." Manson, for his part, described his intention with the film as "both an homage and a mockery of the history of Cinema." On August 17, Sablan leaked the film's official website on his Twitter blog. The website announced the project release date. Drummer Chris Vrenna has claimed that Born Villain is not a music video but "a full thing". He also mentioned that the film contain short clips of the album and its own score.
Campaign
Campaign is a book by Shia La Beouf (photographer), Karolyn Pho (photographer) and Marilyn Manson released in August 2011 by Shia La Beouf's Grassy Slope Entertainment, Inc. The book, accompanied by a DVD, is a visual accompaniment to Marilyn Manson and Shia La Beouf's collaboration, Born Villain.
