Moon Knight star Ethan Hawke and Game of Thrones actress Lena Headey starred in James DeMonaco’s 2013 dystopian horror film The Purge, a major box-office success despite its mixed reviews. The insane plot of the film was derived from a real-life event that the director himself has encountered.
Of course, DeMonaco did not participate in any purging activities, but the idea came from his wife which he thought was a brilliant concept that must be put on the big screen.
How The Purge Director Came Up With The Movie’s Insane Concept
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, filmmaker James DeMonaco revealed how he got the central idea for The Purge. The film’s premise is quite simple: once a year, people are allowed to legally commit all crimes from dusk to dawn without getting punished.
My wife said something in a road rage incident that stayed with me. This guy almost killed us — and she’s a nice person, I hope this doesn’t reflect poorly on her, but she said something like, “I wish I had one a year,” meaning one legal murder.
It was his wife’s emotional outburst that prompted him to write a script that would soon turn into a box-office hit. As per The Numbers, The Purge grossed over $91 million against a measly budget of $3 million. DeMonaco continued:
It was [intended as] an exploration of America’s relationship with guns and gun control laws. There was part of me that was very angry with the scope of the first film. It’s a night of legal crime in America.
When asked if The Purge will happen in real life, he replied in the negative. “I don’t think that we will go that far,” he argued, although he thinks that the current situation of the world is the effect of a sad reality.
It is quite amusing that a common situation in life, such as road rage, has led the filmmaker to create a masterpiece that would serve as a political statement. It’s also crazy to think that if laws do not exist, that conflict on the road would have gotten out of hand. Indeed, a night of crime indulgence is something many would secretly want in theory but will never wish to happen in reality.
What Ethan Hawke And Lena Headey Think Of The Purge
Ethan Hawke shared the main thing that attracted him to work on The Purge movie was the political side of it. He explained via HeyUGuys:
There is a huge socio-political undercurrent to this movie that I hope people get… and what’s fun about that is that you can talk about politics without having an agenda with the audience.
On the other hand, Lena Headey does not believe Purge Night will happen but “as a horror-action idea, it’s kind of a great idea that’s based somewhat in reality.”
She also told Vulture that it’s a personal thing to want to inflict violence, and the movie provides an escape for people who would like that idea but won’t do it for real.
The Purge is available to stream via Hulu.
