“ Longlegs ” opens with a title card with lyrics from “Get It On (Bang a Gong),” a 1971 track from the English rock band T. Rex, written by its frontman Marc Bolan: “Well you’re slim and you’re weak / You’ve got the teeth of the hydra upon you / You’re dirty, sweet, and you’re my girl.” Neither the song nor those lyrics play a critical role in the audience’s understanding of the story, in which FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) is on the hunt for the elusive serial killer Longlegs ( Nicolas Cage ).
While the look of Cage’s Longlegs is partially based on his character’s backstory as a former glam rocker, striking a similar silhouette to Bolan himself, writer/director Osgood Perkins told IndieWire the connections are far more cosmic than something tangible he can put his finger on. It was something Cage understood during his first call with Perkins to discuss the script, before he’d sign on to star in and produce the film . “I’m feeling really confident [during the phone call], and at a certain point, I just kind of blurted out, because I know he’s a music guy, too, ‘Nic, I know how this might sound, it’s T.
Rex,’” said Perkins, who recalled Cage immediately understanding. Perkins, in the IndieWire interview, impersonated (fairly impressively) Cage’s response: “‘It’s amazing you said that, Oz, because my kids learning to play the guitar, and yesterday, I played for him the backwards guitar solo on ‘Cosmic Dancer,’ [endin.