Emile Hirsch first came to audiences’ attention in teen films The Girl Next Door and Lords of Dogtown. He then went on to star in the Wachowski’s Speed Racer and Sean Penn’s Into the Wild. Since then he has been steadily carving out a solid career traversing a range of genres, from sci-fi in Freaks,horror in The AutopsyofJaneDoe, and a string of psychological thrillers such as State of Consciousness.
Alongside Prey, another project featuring the actor, State of Consciousness arrives in theaters across the US from Friday 15th March. In State of Consciousness , Emile Hirsch stars as Stephen, a young man whose simple life is turned upside down after being accused of murder. Small town justice lands Stephen in a shady mental facility where an experimental treatment causes a year-long gap in his memory and an inability to separate his horrific hallucinations from real life. As he fights to regain the fragments of his old life, Stephen begins to realise the truth is more frightening than anything he could imagine.
State of Consciousness is a devious and dark psychological thriller that raises some interesting questions around the state and its power to enforce control. It is the latest in a long line of interesting and considered projects from Emile Hirsch. As State of Consciousness arrived in cinemas, THN were granted the opportunity to speak with Hirsch about the film. Our conversation covered what drew him to the project, the amazing speed at which the film’s director, Marcus Stokes, works, and how his band’s music ended up on the end credits. We also delved into some of Hirsch’s earlier films as we discussed Lords of Dogtown, The Girl Next Door, and what he has learned from working with some of the greatest in the industry.
Kat Hughes is a UK born film critic and interviewer who has a passion for horror films. An editor for THN, Kat is also a Rotten Tomatoes Approved Critic. She has bylines with Ghouls Magazine, Arrow Video, Film Stories, Certified Forgotten and FILMHOUNDS and has had essays published in home entertainment releases by Vinegar Syndrome and Second Sight. When not writing about horror, Kat hosts micro podcast Movies with Mummy along with her five-year-old daughter.