Pascal Laugier (French: [loʒje]; born 16 October 1971)[1] is a French screenwriter and film director.[2]

Pascal Laugier
Pascal Laugier
Born (1971-10-16) 16 October 1971 (age 53)
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter
Years active1993 – present

Career

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Pascal Laugier made his first major mark in the film industry with Christophe Gans' film Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001). Laugier was a gofer on the set and can briefly be seen playing the assistant to Francois Hadji-Lazaro's character. Gans had Laugier direct the "making-of" documentaries of the film.[3]

Working with Gans led to Laughier's first feature film with Saint Ange (2004) for producers Richard Grandpierre and Gans. The film impressed Grandpierre enough to let him make another project which would develop into Martyrs (2008).[3]

Following the film's release, the American production company Miramax asked Laugier to create a remake of Hellraiser (1987).[3] Laugier initially agreed and spent four months working on the project but eventually left the film and worked on his English-language debut with The Tall Man (2012).[4] Laugier wanted his Hellraiser to be very serious and explore gay S&M culture, whereas the producers wanted the film to be more commercial and appeal to a teen audience.[5] Following the release of The Tall Man in France, Jason Blum approached Laugier to direct a sequel to the film Sinister (2012). Blum's production company Blumhouse had already produced a remake of Martyrs with Martyrs (2015). Laugier responded that "American studios have the ability to hire us for our original vision only to ultimately insist we just be like everyone else. There can be only one person in control of a film, not ten all with different views. I played that game with Miramax and I had no intention of ever doing it again."[6]

Potential future directing projects include a supernatural thriller entitled Details.[7] Laugier spent two years working on a project which never developed.[6] In that time, he directed Mylène Farmer's music video "City of Love", the teaser of which was released online in December 2015.[8]

Inspired by three films: Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem (2012), David Robert Mitchell's It Follows (2014) and S. Craig Zahler's Bone Tomahawk (2015) he wrote Ghostland (2018).[6] In December 2016, while filming Ghostland, Taylor Hickson was told by director Laugier to bang her fists against a glass window and that it was safe to do so. The window then shattered and she fell on the glass, severely cutting the left side of her face. The wound required 70 stitches, which left her with permanent scarring.[9][10][11] Subsequently in 2019, the film’s production company, Incident Productions Inc., "pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety and welfare of a worker under the Workplace Safety and Health Act" and was fined $40,000 by the province of Manitoba for the incident.[12]

Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ "Northlander interviews MARTYRS' Pascal Laugier - and he spills about his HELLRAISER remake!!". Ain't It Cool News. Ain't It Cool, Inc. 28 December 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  2. ^ "American 'Martyrs' Remake Has Found Its Director". Bloody-disgusting.com. 16 November 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  3. ^ a b c Jones 2018, p. 8.
  4. ^ Jones 2018, p. 8-9.
  5. ^ "AICN HORROR talks with writer/director Pascal Laugier about MARTYRS, the HELLRAISER remake, and his new film THE TALL MAN!!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Jones 2018, p. 9.
  7. ^ "Laugier is 'Details' oriented". Variety.
  8. ^ HOFER, Julien AUTIER, Philippe LEZE, Guillaume DATEZ & Sarah. "Teaser clip". Mylene.net. Retrieved 20 November 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Robb, David (6 March 2018). "Actress Taylor Hickson Sues Producers Over Disfiguring Injury". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  10. ^ Andrews, Travis M. (March 9, 2018). "Taylor Hickson, an up-and-coming actress, was disfigured on a movie set. Now she's suing". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-08-06.
  11. ^ "Actress Taylor Hickson sues producers of Winnipeg-shot movie after face badly cut during filming". CBC News. March 7, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
  12. ^ "Winnipeg film company fined $40K for incident that left actress with cuts to neck, face". CBC News. November 27, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2021.

Sources

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