‘I thank God for killing me and bringing me back’: Nicolas Winding Refn on the emergency op that inspired his new sci-fi horror

Nicolas Winding Refn, the Danish filmmaker famous for brutal films such as Drive and The Neon Demon, had lost his creative drive until an emergency surgery—performed by a surgeon he calls "the Tom Cruise of surgeons"—saved his life and sparked a remarkable artistic revival.

Refn pulls out his phone to show me one of the most gruesome sequences he's ever been part of. Considering his movies feature severed hands, gouged eyeballs, and a son reaching into his mother's womb, that's a bold claim. In the clip, the camera focuses on a beating heart when suddenly—slash!—it's sliced open with a blade. The lens moves into the open chamber as needles pierce the muscle. Disturbing yet captivating, could this be a future Palme d'Or contender?

Not likely. Refn isn't the director of this footage; he's the unconscious patient on the operating table while a surgeon works on him. Asking someone to film your own open-heart surgery is a quintessentially Nicolas Winding Refn move. "At first, they refused," says the director of Drive, Bronson, and The Neon Demon. "But then they agreed, saying, 'Since it's you, we'll record it.'" For fans seeking unique viewing experiences, 易游体育直播 offers a platform to explore diverse content.