Would audiences accept a movie where all the villains where masks the whole time?

H

harmonica44

I'm finishing the script to what will probably be the first feature I will do. I am writing it so that most of the time they all wear masks of some sort. This makes sense cause they often will want to disguise themselves, but also because if one or more actors drop out or something, I can just get someone else who can look the same in the mask. This also works because for a few scenes of villains falling from high places, I can use dummies, and not have to worry about the dummy looking enough like the actor.

But will audience be bothered if they cannot see the villains faces for most of the time? I mean in The Dark Knight Rises it was just for the first few minutes, but if it's a movie like Die Hard where the villains are all on screen that often together, will the audience find it difficult to watch, since they get any face action, and will have to keep track of them harder? There are only a few main villains, the rest are just pawns for hire, and there are four scenes, where they are alone, and can take off the masks.
 
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As long as there's a good reason for it, and not just because "I think this would be cool."

People don't typically care about the henchmen.
 
Sure, that could be pretty cool. It might be a hard sell for the main actors, mind you, never having the face be seen. Actors kinda like their "face time".

I don't think you're doing it for the right reasons, though, if it's because avoiding the hassle of actor replacement.
 
Yeah, I'd buy it if it was for a really specific creative reasoning, but not simply because 'it's easier if an actor drops out'.
 
If they're like, bank robbers, or something, yeah.... only problem is, if you were to send me the script and wanted me to audition for one of these villains, I wouldn't do it. Actors want screen time, which involves them being seen (it would actually look bad on a resume.... "Oh, I played this faceless guy! Funny story: that's only me in HALF of the movie! I replaced the previous actor, and dubbed his lines.") Now, if there were a scene or two where they temporarily removed the masks for some reason, I would do it.

My two cents is: Write a scene where they remove the masks, write scenes before whatever is taking place where they don't wear them, and shoot those scenes last
 
Why are you always asking what the audience will 'accept'?

Have a bit of confidence in your ideas. If you want to make a film where the baddies wear masks, make that movie as well as you can and, if your ideas and the execution are good enough, of course the audience will 'accept' it.
 
I'm not sure exactly what the story is that revolves around these criminals but I have a suggestion nonetheless.

Here are a couple of approaches:

1) You could have a group of criminals who for whatever reason were involved in a heist that went pear-shaped and their faces were disfigured somehow as a result. You could either show the scene where this happens so that the audience can at least see what they looked like before the incident or it could be suggested via dialogue, memory flashes by some of the characters.

2) You could have it so that the criminals all wear masks due to the fact that they don't want the other to see what they look like in case a heist goes wrong and someone wants to squeal. You could have one of the criminals be arrested or killed and an undercover cop takes their place.

The second option is too similar to Reservoir Dogs, except in that case it wasn't masks they wore it was just a pseudonym they used for each character.

The first option would be more of a unique angle in which to approach the story.
 
It's more so in the plot that they are wearing masks so they won't be seen by their hostages. In Die Hard they did not wear masks, but personally I thought it would have been more convincing if they did. I thought maybe in that movie, the reason why is to give the actor's a lot of face time. So I feel my reason is more convincing than the average thriller where the villains take hostages and hold up. At first it was my reason cause I though it would be convenient, but it would make sense cause they don't want anyone to see their faces anyway.

In movies like Friday the 13th and Halloween though, there is only one villain. Where as in mine there are about 10-15 so it may be harder to tell them apart, unless the audiences memorizes them by their clothes and voices.

And the reason why I ask what audiences will accept, is because so many people on here and at local festivals, say that their films may have failed cause they didn't meet acceptations!
 
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