The first trailer for Chloe Sevigny’s long-gestating Lizzie Borden biopic hit YouTube Friday, and it appears the film offers some interesting theories as to…
The first trailer for Chloe Sevigny’s long-gestating Lizzie Borden biopic hit YouTube Friday, and it appears the film offers some interesting theories as to why Borden did (or didn’t) murder her father and stepmother with an ax in Fall River in 1892.
Shortly after the trailer begins, we see Sevigny (“Big Love”), as Borden, wearing a steely look as she’s asked if her father had any enemies. The trailer eventually shifts to show some of the other characters in the film, including Lizzie’s father, Andrew (Jamey Sheridan, “Spotlight”), and the Borden’s live-in maid, Bridget (Kristen Stewart, “Twilight”). As is the nature of most trailers, plot points are hinted at rather than explicitly stated, but it appears that Bridget is sexually abused by Andrew, Lizzie has a romantic relationship with Bridget, and the two women conspire to kill Lizzie’s parents.
After a montage of suggestive images (Andrew bashing a pigeon and serving it to his family, someone grabbing an ax, Lizzie screaming and covered in blood), the trailer cuts back to Lizzie once again being asked about her father.
“This is America, sir,” she replies. “Every man with a pulse has enemies.”
Sevigny, who was born in Springfield, tried to get a Borden project made for years, first as an HBO docuseries and now as a film. After the biopic’s debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January, she expressed disappointment with some of the choices made by “Lizzie” director Craig William Macneill in an interview with HuffPost.
“It was very hard,” Sevigny told HuffPost. “I was like, ‘If you have another scene with Kristen Stewart and you don’t put it in your movie, you’re stupid. What’s your problem?’ But almost every movie goes through that.”
In the same interview, Sevigny also discussed the shocking ending of the film, but we’ll leave that to your imagination until the film hits theaters Sept. 14.
