Twixt is a horror thriller film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola

Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...

 and starring Val Kilmer

Val Kilmer

Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...

, which has had screenings at film festivals.

Plot synopsis

Writer Hall Baltimore (Kilmer), in career decline, comes to a small town during a book tour, and becomes involved in the murder investigation of a young girl. In a dream, he is approached by a young ghost named V (Fanning), whose connection to the murder is unclear.

Cast

• Val Kilmer
  Val Kilmer
  Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
  
   as Hall Baltimore
• Elle Fanning
  Elle Fanning
  Mary Elle Fanning , credited as Elle Fanning, is an American actress. She is the younger sister of actress Dakota Fanning and mainly known for her starring roles in Phoebe in Wonderland, Somewhere, Super 8 and We Bought a Zoo which will receive a theatrical release on December 23,...
  
   as V
• Joanne Whalley
  Joanne Whalley
  -Early life:Whalley was born in Salford but brought up in Stockport where she studied at the Braeside School of Speech and Drama, Marple.Whalley first appeared as a child in How We Used To Live and bit parts in soap operas, especially Coronation Street and Emmerdale...
  
   as Denise
• Bruce Dern
  Bruce Dern
  Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
  
   as Bobby LaGrange
• Ben Chaplin
  Ben Chaplin
  Ben Chaplin , is an English actor.-Early life:Chaplin, the youngest of four children, was born in London, the son of Cynthia , a drama teacher, and Peter Greenwood, an engineer. He took his stage name after his mother's maiden name. He was raised in Windsor, Berkshire, England and attended Hurtwood...
  
   as Edgar Allan Poe
  Edgar Allan Poe
  Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
  
  
• Don Novello
  Don Novello
  Don Novello is an American writer, film director, producer, actor, singer, and comedian. Novello is best known for his work on NBC's Saturday Night Live, from 1977 until 1980, and then 1985 until 1986, often as the character "Father Guido Sarducci". Novello has appeared as "Sarducci" on many...
  
   as Melvin
• David Paymer
  David Paymer
  David Paymer is an American actor and television director, seen in such films as Quiz Show, Searching for Bobby Fischer, City Slickers, Crazy People, State and Main, Payback, Get Shorty, Carpool, The American President, Ocean's Thirteen, and Drag Me to Hell...
  
   as Sam Malkin
• Alden Ehrenreich
  Alden Ehrenreich
  -Life and career:Ehrenreich was born in Los Angeles, California. His mother, Sari, is an interior designer, and his stepfather is an orthodontist. He was raised in Reconstructionist Judaism...
  
   as Flamingo
• Lisa Biales as Ruth
• Anthony Fusco as Pastor Allan Floyd
• Ryan Simpkins
  Ryan Simpkins
  Ryan Elise Simpkins is an American actress. In the film Pride and Glory , she and her brother, actor Ty Simpkins, play the children of Colin Farrell. In Revolutionary Road she again starred alongside her real-life brother Ty.-Selected filmography:-External links:...
  
  as Carolyne
• Lucas Rice Jordan as P. J.
• Bruce A. Miroglio as Deputy Arbus
• Tom Waits
  Tom Waits
  Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
  
   (voiceover)

Development

In an interview with The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, Coppola discussed the origins of the film, which he said "grew out of dream [he] had last year – more of a nightmare" and "seemed to have the imagery of Hawthorne or Poe." He continued:

But as I was having it I realized perhaps it was a gift, as I could make it as a story, perhaps a scary film, I thought even as I was dreaming. But then some loud noise outside woke me up, and I wanted to go back to the dream and get an ending. But I couldn't fall back asleep so I recorded what I remembered right there and then on my phone. I realized that it was a gothic romance setting, so in fact I'd be able to do it all around my home base, rather than have to go to a distant country.

Filming and post-production

Twixt was filmed at Coppola's estate in Napa County as well as remote film locations in Lake County, California

Lake County, California

Lake County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of California, north of the San Francisco Bay Area. It takes its name from Clear Lake, the dominant geographic feature in the county and the largest natural lake wholly within California...

 including downtown Kelseyville

Kelseyville, California

Kelseyville is a census-designated place in Lake County, California, United States. Kelseyville is located southeast of Lakeport, at an elevation of 1384 feet...

 and Nice

Nice, California

Nice is a census-designated place in Lake County, California, United States. Nice is located southeast of Upper Lake, at an elevation of 1362 feet...

: further filming was done in Pope Valley

Pope Valley, California

Pope Valley is an unincorporated community located in the small valley of the same name in northern Napa County, California. It is east of Calistoga, north of Angwin, and borders Lake Berryessa, the second largest man-made lake in California. The zip code for Pope Valley is 94567, and the area...

, located in northern Napa County

Napa County, California

Napa County is a county located north of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is coterminous with the Napa, California, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2010 the population is 136,484. The county seat is Napa....

. Musician Dan Deacon

Dan Deacon

Dan Deacon is an American composer and electronic musician based out of Baltimore, Maryland. Since 2003, Deacon has released eight albums under several different labels...

 scored the film. The film's name was changed from Twixt Now and Sunrise to Twixt, and had scenes from it played at the August 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International.

Release

Twixt has received high anticipation for release among fans of Coppola. As of November 2011, it had not had a wide release, with screenings exclusively at film festivals. It was a featured film at the November 2011 American Film Market

American Film Market

The American Film Market is a film industry event held each year at the beginning of November in Santa Monica, California. About 8,000 people attend the eight day event to network and to sell and acquire films...

.