Director James Mangold doesn't like to be stereotyped. After making his debut with acclaimed indie "Heavy" (with Liv Tyler), he's directed a police pic ("CopLand"), oestrogen-sodden mental institute drama ("Girl, Interrupted"), romantic comedy ("Kate & Leopold"), and now the horror/whodunit pic "Identity". He's soon to begin work on Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line", with Joaquin Phoenix playing the C&W legend.
What drew you to "Identity"?
I've always loved films that take place in closed and claustrophobic environments, whether they're old Hitchcock films - like "Lifeboat" or "Rear Window" - or newer ones like "Alien" or "The Others". I think single location films, in a funny way, actually defy conventional wisdom in that they're more, not less, cinematic.
Your cast is unfamiliar in this genre. What made you pick actors like Ray Liotta and John Cusack?
I haven't made a horror film before, so I wanted to use the same calibre of actors that I was work with in dramas. Also the genre, at least in the United States, had become solely for teenagers, and starring teenagers. So the second you start casting grown ups, you suddenly are dealing with some wonderful actors and ones who are interested in exploring that wilderness.
The rain plays a huge part in the film. How difficult was that element to control?
Well, the motel is all built indoors, on one of the largest sound stages in Los Angeles. It's actually the same stage that the Emerald City in "The Wizard of Oz" was built on, and also the large sets from "Singin' in the Rain". So the entire motel swimming pool, parking areas, even the desert around it, was all a set with an amazing rig of sprinklers which made rain that we could turn on and off like lights.
The film asks questions about the death penalty. What's your position on this issue?
The film asks whether pure evil exists and what we should do about it. Do we destroy it, or do we try to love it into goodness? That question, I think, is a question that every country and every person debates all their life. It's a tough question and, personally, one that confuses me. As a matter of course, I don't support the death penalty. But if someone did something to my wife or to my family, God forbid, the rage you'd feel as the victim is very different.
