Why Neil Cross changed a victim’s gender in ‘Luther: The Fallen Sun’ after Netflix asked him to reconsider his choice

Neil Cross says he changed the sex of the first victim Luther: The Fallen Sun from a woman to a man after Netflix questioned his initial choice.

The author and screenwriter opened up about the decision in an interview with The independentin which he also explained why he thinks Luther star Idris Elba would make a great band and if he would do another Luther movie project.

As he elaborates on the change he made The fallen sunCross addressed the ongoing conversation about the history of the small and big screen with the violent victimization of women and previous criticisms of the Luther series regarding the depictions of violence against women. Violence is very present in Luther’s film debut, with the creator and writer claiming that his universe actually contains more violence against men.

“It has been mentioned before that people are not comfortable with the victimization of women Luther – not unjustly,” he said. “The strange thing is, though, if you were to do the math, there are many, many more male victims in Luther than there are women.”

Still, he admits there is something more disturbing about the presentation of violence against women – though he refuses to pinpoint exactly where it comes from. Instead, when the reporter pointed to continued headlines about disproportionate violence against women, Cross replied that “there was very, very little conscious response to current events.”

He did, however, acknowledge that the difference in audience reactions to a victim’s gender ultimately plays a role in the extent to which a story can inspire fear and prompted him to initially make the film’s first victim a woman. to make. “For reasons I fear to question too deeply, the female victims resonate and scare more deeply,” he explained. “So there was a defiant part of me in the first draft of this, which was, ‘Oh fuck it – the victim is going to be a woman, because that’s more terrifying.'”

Despite past criticism, Cross said it would be the streamer’s pause on the decision that would eventually give him a break – and convinced him to change the character from a woman to a man.

“That’s the one time Netflix said, ‘Do you want to think about this for a second?’ And I did say, ‘Well, it will be less scary.’ I was afraid it might be,” he recalled. “But actually they were right.”