Joe Hahn braved his first Comic-Con when he was 14 years old. Now 37, the Linkin Park beat maker is making his directorial film debut with Mall, a movie about a horrific shooting at a shopping mall.
Mall will premiere at Comic-Con San Diego on Thursday night, and though it's his first feature film, Hahn has directed more than 30 music videos and said those projects "helped make the transition to feature length very natural."
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"It is about the cycle of self destruction," Hahn told Mashable. "I find it refreshing to see this kind of point-of-view in contrast to today's society that interacts digitally. The thing with life though devices, Internet and apps is that people are self-editing themselves. They are picking the best selfies and showing how cool they are, very one-sided. ... When I read this script, it felt real and refreshing to show how ugly people can be as they hide their inner beasts after cracking their facades."
Mall is based on Eric Bogosian's 2001 novel of the same name, and it was slightly altered for the big screen by Sam Bisbee, Joe Vinciguerra and Vincent D'Onofrio. The latter two, respectively, also produced and and acted in the film.
Hahn 18 days to shoot Mall, which focuses on five "disgruntled suburbanites" inside the mall separately, but the narrative is driven by a single person.
"The script needed a main voice to lead you through the film; Jeff [played by Cameron Monaghan] was chosen as the one because of his dynamic character arc in his personal growth and realizations about life," Hahn said. "There is a quote in the film where Jeff says, 'I am not stuck, I am unstuck.' In that moment, Jeff chooses his own destiny to not take the easy way out like the other characters in the film."
The Nerd Machine and Paragon Pictures will live stream a sneak peek and a Q&A with Hahn at 11:30 p.m. PT from Comic-Con.
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