Is Longlegs Based on a True Story & Real Events?

Osgood Perkins’ horror-thriller Longlegs takes place in the ’90s and revolves around the eponymous serial killer (Nicolas Cage), and the FBI agent (Maika Monroe) trying to catch him. The film’s setting, themes, and plot have seemingly made the audience recall several disturbing incidents from the ’80s and ’90s. Therefore, viewers are curious to know whether Longlegs is based on a true story or real events.

Here is what we have learned about the origin of the film Longlegs, and whether a real criminal case inspired it.

Is Longlegs inspired by a real criminal case?

No, Longlegs is not inspired by a real criminal case, nor is it based on a true story and real events.

In an interview with GamesRadar+ and the Inside Total Film podcast, Perkins, who wrote and directed Longlegs, explicitly mentioned that everything that happens in the movie is fictional, including the FBI jargon, as he felt uncomfortable looking at the case files of real incidents.

“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. 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,’” he explained.

The Blackcoat’s Daughter director stated that he had no interest in what serial killers do in real life. “To me, this is a different kind of poem, you know, and it’s totally just make believe,” he added.

However, like any other filmmaker, Perkins often adds elements of his life into his stories. In an interview with Indie Wire, he revealed that with Longlegs, he explored the idea that parents could lie out of love. This was inspired by his relationship with his celebrity parents: Anthony Perkins and Berry Berenson.

To sum it up, though Longlegs is undoubtedly a fictional story, Perkins drew a few aspects from his own life while working on the project.