Near Dark, Kathryn Bigelow's first bite

In the early 1970s, Kathryn Bigelow studied contemporary art in New York at Columbia University. One evening, she discovers The Wild Horde in a room on Bleecker Street, in Manhattan. “Before this screening, I had never thought of making films,” says the director. “But with Sam Peckinpah's western, I saw that it was possible to integrate in a film the visceral, the cathartic, the intellect and the reflection at the same time. The beam of the spotlight in this night session marked an irrevocable change in my own story. » (1)

In 1981, the tall brunette filmed The Loveless, her first feature film, previously unseen in France, which she co-signed with her friend Monty Montgomery, the future producer of David Lynch. On the film, Montgomery takes care of the technical part and Bigelow takes care of directing the actors. Willem Dafoe, in his first role, plays the leader of a gang of bikers who arrive in 1959 in a small village in the southern United States. A biker story designed as a sort of homage to L'Équipée sauvage (1953), starring Marlon Brando.

In this twilight and Peckinpahian western, three members of this "savage horde" come from the cast of Aliens (1986). Indeed, Kathryn Bigelow chose Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein and Bill Paxton because they had already created extremely strong ties on the set of James Cameron's film. The latter met Bigelow for the first time in 1985. And they began to share everything: equipment, actors and technicians (the Israeli-American cinematographer of Terminator, Adam Greenberg, would become that of Near Dark). But Cameron will, above all, share the life of Bigelow. And their relationship would become official in 1987, when the filmmaker divorced his producer Gale Anne Hurd. That year, Kathryn turned 35. And is about to start shooting Near Dark. Producer Ed Feldman warns the newbie: “I'll see how you do the first three days of shooting. But if I see that you're not up to it, you'll be fired on the spot! So the filmmaker prepares the film as well as possible. Work hard. Clings to his dream. Feldman gives him a modest budget of five and a half million dollars and forty-nine days of filming – thirty-eight of which are at night. There are special effects and stunts to deal with. However, despite a very tight schedule, the director overcomes all the tests. At the heart of the film, a ten-minute cult sequence is the same sensation: the entry of vampires into a bar and the ensuing killing. An ultra-violent scene where Severin climbs onto the counter and slits the saloon owner's throat with his spurs. As Jesse collects the waitress's blood in a mug of beer! All on a cover of "Fever" by the American rockabilly group The Cramps.

Not having a car while living under the roof of my very conservative, religious parents made it impossible for me t… https://t.co/tt6p1N199p

— Eris Sat Jul 24 03:49:55 +0000 2021

A fantasy classic

When Near Dark was released in the United States in October 1987, it did not really succeed at the box office. Fortunately, it won critical acclaim and numerous festival awards (including the Golden Unicorn at the Paris Fantastic Film Festival in June 1988). It will know a second life in video. And will be noticed by Oliver Stone, who will produce Bigelow's next film, Blue Steel, with Jamie Lee Curtis as a female cop. On August 17, 1989, Kathryn Bigelow married James Cameron. But the latter left her in 1991 for her actress Linda Hamilton, the Sarah Connor of the Terminators. They nevertheless continued to collaborate together: Cameron produced Point Break with Keanu Reeves, Bigelow's first commercial success in 1991, and wrote the script for his ambitious science fiction film Strange Days in 1995.

Today, Near Dark is considered a fantasy classic. His dark romanticism (the beautiful idea of ​​blood transfusion) still fascinates. And a prequel, First Light, has even been considered. It was to take place during the Civil War and tell how the group of vampires was formed. This series B was not expensive, but it is priceless: we can already detect all the obsessions dear to the director. Like the marginality in a group (his new style vampires announce the band of robber surfers of Point Break). And above all addiction, a recurring theme in Bigelow's cinema. Indeed, the thirst for blood (daily, like a fix…) of the nomadic vampires of Near Dark is akin to an addiction to hard drugs. The extreme sports addict of Point Break (Patrick Swayze), the dealer of virtual images of Strange Days (Ralph Fiennes) and the hot-headed sergeant of Minesweepers (Jeremy Renner), intoxicated by danger and addicted to adrenaline during of its missions in Iraq, are only variations of it.

(1) Extract from the book Crossfire, published in 1997 by Institut Lumière/Actes Sud.