For inspiration for characters, I was intrigued by the main antagonist Kilgrave (David Tennant). Kilgrave presents himself as a sophisticate purely based on his fashion and taste yet still physically retrains a darker, crazy side through his unshaven stubble. He wears suits, dines in fancy restaurants, relaxes in high rise apartments yet his screen presence is unnerving.
When coming up with my idea, my mind went to Kilgrave as I wanted to create a film about obsession, specifically over a particular person, which is what Kilgrave does. He obsesses over Jessica and stalks her both physically and mentally. He possess the power to command people without question which left Jessica with PTSD, allowing Kilgrave to haunt her mind as well as in person. I wanted this to come across but rather than the mind, have it be through technology. Appearing on screens, phones, intercoms, everything.
The idea was to have my character be the personification of the internet as we throw our trust at this abstract entity including our personal information, bank account details and interests. Having this blowback through being stalked someone who's passion is unrelenting despite all the terrible things they have done would be an interesting concept to explore.
Sherlock:
Aesthetically, I was drawn into Lars Mikkelsen's performance as Charles Augustus Magnussen from Series 3 of 'Sherlock'. Much like Kilgrave, he also wears suits and lives a high class lifestyle however, unlike Kilgrave, nothing seems physically off about him. He wears glasses, sports a beard and that's about it. All that remains is his mind which is where his threat lies.
Magnussen is a blackmailer and as a result has to keep a large amount of information on people in his 'vault' and POV shots show him basically scanning people like a robot. The revelation at the end of the series reveals that the vault is an abstract place located in his mind, very much like Sherlock Holmes', which struck a cord with me when character building.
Having the villain in my film be the internet fits perfectly with Magnussen who is almost a living computer, able to access any dirt on a person within seconds. Before the revelation, Magnussen's 'vault' is physically seen (the audience not knowing it's abstract at his point) and this was the initial vision that sparked my idea. We first see glimpses of him watching Sherlock on a number of computer screens in a dark room, the camera lingering on his cold eyes as he watches in amusement.
Ant-Man:
There wasn't a whole lot I am taking form Ant-Man as it almost has nothing to do with my film however it was worth bringing up that there is one shot that stuck out.
This shot of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) watching over many monitors sums up exactly what I'm aiming for in terms of tone, look and aesthetics. A lone suit-wearing man watching over someone on screens.
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