Neon's cerebral horror Cuckoo had to execute more than a few clever maneuvers on its flight path to the theaters.
Like many projects, the coronavirus pandemic has pushed back the 2020 start date. Hence, delays on Hunter Schafer's HBO hit Euphoria he provoked Cuckoo was pushed even further, which resulted in some cast members having to move on to other commitments, forcing the production to change direction to find new actors to join Schafer.
Writer-director Tilman Singer's project was finally in pre-production in West Germany when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, resulting in the German government seizing it Of the cuckoo filming location to house Ukrainian refugees. It was a much-needed response to a humanitarian crisis, something like that Cuckoo the team understood. But the production needed other locations in which to shoot.
“There were a lot of swings at a difficult time from a lot of different people,” producer and Waypoint co-founder Ken Kao notes of the film that ultimately made it to the starting line.
Finding a new actor to replace former star John Malkovich was a particularly challenging task.
“My team did this reconnaissance, where I knew where every white man over 60 was,” jokes producer and Waypoint partner Josh Rosenbaum referring to the recasting of antagonist Herr König, written as a 60-something German . They ultimately went in a different direction, casting the much younger Dan Stevens in the role.
They also found new locations for the film, which follows Schafer's Gretchen, who mourns the loss of her mother when she moves to a resort in the Bavarian Alps managed by Stevens' Herr König. While moving in with her father (Marton Csokas), younger wife (Jessica Henwick), and her half-sister (Mila Lieu), Gretchen notices her half-sister acting strangely. Meanwhile, a mysterious woman in a trench coat appears to be hunting Gretchen, leading her to uncover a sinister plot.
The team refused to share the budget, but incentives for filming in Germany made the project financially feasible. And although after the theatrical release on August 9th, Cuckoo it didn't reach the heights of other Neon horror titles Long legsthe Waypoint team says it's more than happy with its $6.7 million haul.
“It's a credit to Neon,” Kao says for putting a spin on the project, particularly “at a time when a lot of people were switching to streaming.” Waypoint has a production and financing pact with Neon, which it has fully financed Cuckoo.
A highlight for the team was seeing the film screened at Quentin Tarantino's Vista theater in Los Feliz, where they screened a 35mm print (the film was shot on film).
Now, with the film coming out digitally, Waypoint is developing Singer's next feature. The German filmmaker bursts onto the scene with his film school thesis Lighta 70 minute supernatural horror film. After Light AND Cuckooaudiences might assume that his third project will be a horror film. But it's unclear what genre it will explore, only that it's said to be a step forward for the director.
“It's much more like the classic auteurs who made a different kind of film every time they tried,” Rosenbaum says.