12 Films That Inspired ‘A Different Man’

‘Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde’ (1931)

Director: Rouben Mamoulian

When Schimberg first sat down to write “A Different Man” he thought of doing a spin on director Rouben Mamoulian’s pre-Code classic. From a plot standpoint, it was an approach that proved too unwieldy, nonetheless, it’s a film that left a lasting impression.

“What I like about the film is it took me by surprise in how disturbing it is,” said Schimberg. “There’s this one scene he’s just terrorizing [actress] Miriam Hopkins, it’s strongly suggesting he’s assaulting her and she’s screaming, and he’s so full of joy. He’s so happy that he can get away with this, that he can be so evil, he feels so free. And it’s really one of the most disturbing scenes that I’ve ever seen. I wasn’t prepared for how upsetting it would be.”

‘Bigger Than Life’ (1956)

Director: Nicholas Ray

“‘Bigger Than Life’ is possibly my favorite movie. It also is a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ story, in a way,” said Schimberg. “I don’t rewatch films that often, but I’ll usually watch this three or four times a year, and it just grows in my estimation every time. I don’t usually like films about the suburbs, conformity in the suburbs, and I’m not even that particularly interested in films from that era, so it sort of took me by surprise that this film resonated with me so deeply. Part of that is James Mason’s performance. In a way he’s severely miscast, and yet he is miscast for a reason, and it resonates in these profound ways. It’s a masterpiece, and I’ll definitely be seeing it on 35mm [at BAM].”

‘The Driller Killer’ (1979)

Director: Abel Ferrara

“It’s one of the best New York films. I think it’s one of the most accurate New York films,’ said Schimberg. “It came out the same year as ‘All That Jazz,’ which is a film that I know everybody loves, but I don’t like it at all. In many ways they’re quite similar films. They sort of are about the same things, about being an artist in New York, and one is sort of an uptown version and one is sort of a downtown version, and ‘Driller Killer’ resonates with me more.”

Schimberg had exchanged brief emails with director Abel Ferrara to get his permission to use “The Driller Killer,” which appears in the background of “A Different Man,” but he got a chance to meet his New York filmmaking idol recently at the Berlin Film Festival.

“I thought I’d flatter him and I said, ‘You know, you’re my favorite filmmaker,’’ said Schimberg, who admits it was a hyberbolic statement, that Ferrara is one of many of his favorites. “[Ferrara] turns to the young woman he was with and he said [Schimberg imitates Ferrara’s mocking tone], ‘I’m his favorite filmmaker,’ and he walked away.”

‘To Be or Not To Be’ (1942)

Director: Ernest Lubitsch 

“Lubitsch is probably my favorite director, don’t tell Abel,” said Schimberg. “I was going to either show ‘The Great Dictator,’ or ‘To Be or Not to Be,’ films where people dress up as Nazis, so I went with the Lubitsch. And it’s about the theater, so it seemed like a fit.”

‘The Elephant Man” (1980)

Director: David Lynch

The connections between “A Different Man” and “The Elephant Man” may be obvious, but for Schimberg those connections made his film even possible. When he wrote “A Different Man,” the director knew little about prosthetic makeup and admits he had no clue how or what would be involved with transforming actor/producer Sebastian Stan into someone with Neurofibromatosis. It was Stan who knew prosthetic makeup designer Mike Marion and reached out to see if he could get the Oscar-nominated artisan, who was used to working on huge projects like “The Batman,” to do their indie.

“The ‘Elephant Man’ was a huge inspiration to Mike, it was a defining film for him, the reason he got into prosthetics in the first place. So just from that angle, he was interested,” said Schimberg. “When I think about all the pieces that had to line up for me to get the opportunity to make this film it’s scary, and Sebastian is the person who really got it off the ground in that sense.”

‘Gertrud’ (1964)

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer

“I think ‘Gertrud’ actually was a direct influence on the ending of ‘A Different Man,’ because they jump forward in time in the very last scene,” said Schimberg. “I don’t think I was necessarily conscious of it when I was writing, but afterwards I saw ‘Gertrud’ again, and I remembered that when I first saw the ending I thought, ‘I want to do an ending like that sometime.’ So, I’m sure I stole it from ‘Gertrud’ in some way.”

‘Shoot the Piano Player’ (1961)

Director: François Truffaut

“A Different Man” is a film that has two distinct halves, there’s the story of Edward before and after his surgery, which is separated by a fade to black and a jump forward in time. It’s a structure Schimberg thinks “Shoot the Piano Player” turned him on to during his formative movie-going years.

“In high school I watched this film all the time. I moved on from Truffaut and watched other New Wave directors, but I watched it recently for the first time in decades. I knew it by heart and to me I could see its influence on ‘A Different Man,’ especially I think this break in the middle.”

‘That Obscure Object of Desire’ (1977)

Director: Luis Buñuel 

“Another film that’s about doubling in a very interesting way,” said Schimberg. “I love the way Buñuel shoots things in terms of blocking, the camera, and lighting. If you tell your cinematographer that you want to light a film like Buñuel he’ll probably quit your film, but Buñuel tends to knock out a scene in one shot if he can, and that’s what I like to do, so I always take inspiration from it. And it’s also his last film, and I think it’s possibly his best.”

‘The Face Behind the Mask’ (1941)

Director: Robert Florey

“I’ve seen probably every film about the subject of disfigurement … and a lot of these films are terrible, but ‘Face Behind the Mask’ really resonated with me,” said Schimberg. “And yet I haven’t seen it since [before making his previous film] ‘Chained for Life.’ It never screens. I’m a big [actor] Peter Lorre fan, he’s great in it, so it’s just a chance to show this film that never gets seen.”

‘The Hole’ (1998)

Director: Tsai Ming-liang

In “A Different Man” there is a hole in the ceiling of Edward’s apartment that keeps getting worse. Schimberg is clear that this is based on a real hole in his apartment, that was actually worse than the fictional one in his movie.

“It was not actually influenced by [‘The Hole’], but everyone asks if it was,” said Schimberg. “But I like director Tsai Ming-liang. I love ‘Goodbye, Dragon Inn,” and ‘The Hole,’ so I figured I had to put it in.”

‘Opening Night’ (1977)

Director: John Cassavetes

Schimberg admits “Opening Night” didn’t have a direct influence on his film, but he wanted the series to represent a New York City independent film and theater tradition. That star Gena Rowlands recently passed away makes the screening something even more important to the director. 

‘Pickup on South Street’ (1953)

Director: Samuel Fuller

Important programming note: “Pickup on South Street” will not screen as part of the BAM series due to print availability. Regardless, the film’s influence on the director is huge.

“In some ways it’s the reason I moved to New York. It’s location shooting, so you really feel New York,” said Schimberg. “It’s also a film where even the bit parts resonate, these sort of tragic figures, which is something that I try to do. I try to have all the characters have some kind of life beyond just some function in a particular scene.”