Longlegs is entirely fictitious but with its early '90s setting, Satanic panic undertones, and coded letter-writing serial killer antagonist, it can't help but give off serious true crime vibes. With that, you might assume writer-director Osgood Perkins looked into some real-life cases for inspiration. The Zodiac's, perhaps? Turns out, though, that couldn't be further from reality...
"I can't look at real things. I don't like them. They don't sit well with me. I don't want to know," the filmmaker admits to GamesRadar+ and the Inside Total Film podcast. "All this stuff couldn't be more fictionalized and totally made up. That's part of the fun of it [for] me. It's like, 'Oh, that's how FBI people probably talk. Oh, that's how they would probably come into a room. I don't know, maybe it's something like this'. It's part of what keeps it light for me, honestly. I'm not interested in what these sickos do. To me, this is a different kind of poem, you know, and it's totally just make believe."
