The Next Chapter for Jeanne Marie Spicuzza’s ‘The Scarapist’

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Photo by Jill Dale - IMDb

Jeanne Marie Spicuzza

It’s not every day you get David Lynch’s blessing on a project, but in April of 2012—six months before Jeanne Marie Spicuzza’s film The Scarapist went into production—the late filmmaker wished her luck.  

Shot in Milwaukee, East Troy and surrounding areas, the film premiered at the Oriental Theatre the fall of 2015. The film also played at the LA Femme International Film Festival, and garnered awards like the Verein Deutscher und Filmemacher Award for Best Film at Berlinale. 

The Scarapist is currently streaming on tubi: tubitv.com/movies/100044912/the-scarapist 

Spicuzza chatted about the film and her artistic process. 

How did streaming on tubi come about? 

It’s so perfect, because it’s the 13th platform that The Scarapist has streamed on since its VOD release in 2016, including Seasons & a Muse membership-based platform The Studio Club that launched in 2022.  

We’re working with Infuse Releasing, a company in Los Angeles that specializes in iconic movies like Wings from Hollywood rebel William Wellman and the original three-strip Technicolor classic, A Star is Born, co-penned by satirist author Dorothy Parker. They’ve been so great to work with. I love the whole history behind Fox Studios, it’s a good match working with their streaming service, Tubi. 

Why now? 

I think the timing is spot on! It’s been 10 years since the premiere of The Scarapist at LA Femme International Film Festival, followed by its theatrical release at Landmark Theatres, including the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee. People still talk about it. The Scarapist went viral on Amazon Prime. Publicist Kim Dixon referred to it as a “cult film,” and I think she nailed it. The Scarapist holds people’s attention. Shepherd Express film critic and historian David Luhrssen called it “original.” It has staying power! 

What do you think of the experience making the film, over a decade later? 

I think The Scarapist had an uncanny way of making itself!  

Inspired by a harrowing true story of therapist abuse, it became an essay that morphed into a screenplay and then the motion picture. It was my first feature; I was so excited. Working with the cast and crew, they were great, they became like family.  

Shot in Wisconsin, during my father’s last days, it was really intense. I can’t watch The Scarapist without picturing all of the locations and my dad. I’m so grateful. 

Is it difficult to reset after a project like that?  

That’s such a provocative question! I can imagine how different things would have been if I hadn’t started writing the screenplay for what would become my second feature, Night Rain, while we were in post-production of The Scarapist.  

I was working on a film studies certificate in film noir. Publicist Jeremy Walker called The Scarapist “the new noir,” a new wave of dark, true crime suspense and psychological thrillers. So appropriate! It ushered in an era of movies like Get Out, Unsane, Hypnotic, Greta and others.  

Multi-genre, topically driven, minority-based, and empathetic, Night Rain was inspired by 1940s cinema, Elizabeth Short, victim of the Black Dahlia murder, and my own experiences being stalked and assaulted. It was so natural and graceful, moving between the two. Like a continuum. 

How long before you were able to dive into the next project? 

Night Rain, my second feature, overlapped The Scarapist. The Scarapist began its streaming release while we were in pre-production for Night Rain. 

Can you recall at what point did you realize The Scarapist was going become a reality? 

When I completed the screenplay in its initial form, those close to me said that it would be my first full-length movie. That was really illuminating. It drove me. When we secured the capital in June of 2012, I felt the anticipation.  

I hopped on a plane from Los Angeles to Milwaukee in August and knew I was committed for nearly three months. A supreme moment occurred during the first days of shooting, when Hildegard von Bingen was canonized. Her life and work have been the reason I pursued moviemaking. I was the same age then that she was when she experienced the vision and calling to write. When what you do is as real as breathing, that’s as present and incarnational as it gets. 

What do you think is the film’s legacy? 

I don’t think any movie in the last decade has been more influential in film and television than The Scarapist. The title has entered cultural use.  

The Scarapist helped shape modern true crime, expanded genres, opened doors for female-driven commercial stories, offered a sensitive approach to storytelling and put the psychological back into psychological thriller. 

What are you working on currently? 

I’m in pre-production for two projects. Vamp Out is a series based on Vlad the Impaler, the historical Dracula, a bizarre love triangle between Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero of The Room, and myself, and a litigation I consulted for, involving Tommy and these mean guys.  

Making Angels is my third feature, a fantasy ensemble dramedy. Both projects are sponsored by Cinefemme, a women directors’ collective. And my entertainment conglomerate, Seasons and a Muse, is in development of biopic Breath of God: The True Story of Hildegard von Bingen.  

An audio segment of the screenplay, a portion of which is heard in The Scarapist, is on permanent exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, as part of Judy Chicago’s celebrated feminist installation, The Dinner Party. 

Last question: you are headed to a desert island and can only take one work of art: film, album, novel, poem, painting. What do you take and why? 

I’d have to take Breath of God with me, because it incorporates all of these.