Adapted by The Crow‘s John Shirley
In the ’60s, Roger Corman charged into Edgar Allan Poe territory adapting a number of the author’s works – notable for their vibrant color palettes and, most often, leading performance by incomparable Vincent Price. Under the American International Pictures (AIP) Corman helmed The Tomb of Ligeia with Price playing a heartbroken man haunted by the spirit of his late wife.
Decades later, the concept lives on in Michael Staininger’s feature film Edgar Allen Poe’s Ligeia, adapted for the screen by John Shirley (The Crow). “It’s about a young professor who is followed by a girl [Ligeia] who is dying and who has been practicing ways to continue living and capture souls – taking bodies with her soul,” star Wes Bentley explains to ShockTillYouDrop.com while out promoting the DVD release of P2.
In this modern re-telling, Bentley’s character, Jonathan Merrick, becomes obsessed with Ligeia, even after her death, which forces his marriage and sanity to crumble. Bentley is joined by co-stars Michael Madsen, Eric Roberts, newcomer Sofya Skya and Kaitlin Doubleday.
“We had a great cast,” the actor adds. “I’m so glad Michael did this, he’s a legend and he certainly brought that to this film. It’s dark, but with a supernatural element to it without it being out there, I would say. It’s Poe. We have Sofya plays Ligeia, she’s Russian and she learned English within six months. She had it down for when we made the film. She’s got an incredible, great presence and chemistry. Kaitlin Doubleday plays my wife. It was a great experience.”
Madsen, who we spoke to at Sundance about the film, describes his time on set as, “A very bizarre experience. We filmed it in St. Louis and i have no idea how it’s going to turn out. I play a father in the film, I’ve been looking for some gentler, nicer roles to balance out the roles I play in films like Hell Ride. I’m really kind’ve perceived as the notorious Michael Madsen – those villain roles are great, but I like to change it up every once and a while.”
Ligeia was produced by Jeff Most (The Crow series) and is currently in post-production.
Source: Ryan Rotten
