Different Style of Ali Abbasi for “Holy Spider” UK Premiere – 66th BFI London Film Festival
Abbasi said, “In a really strange way, I felt sympathy for the guy, really against my own will. I think there was a psychotic element to the pleasure-seeking aspect of his murders, the twisted and whatnot, but there was also this strange innocence about him. It was more about how a society creates a serial killer.” Initial drafts followed the events more faithfully, but Abbasi eventually deviated from them and invented the character of a female journalist, as he felt the film should focus not only on the killer but on misogyny.