Some very important excerpts (in my opinion) from Gunnarās book,Ā āChain Saw Confidentialā (any typos are mine):
Ā Ā āThe Cook berates Leatherface for the door, and then wants to know what happened toĀ āthem other kidsā. Ā The terrified Leatherface is desperate to reassure him. Ā Bent down in subservience, he backs away, moving around the kitchen squawking and squealing and patting different objects - the freezer, the butcherās table, Franklinās wheelchair. Ā Itās bizarrely funny to see this massive man with a voice like the squawk of a parrot. Ā Ā Originally, Leatherface had some lines in this scene - not that they were intelligible. Ā But they were written out. Ā His first line is,Ā āA ab e y ob er wew ober.ā Ā Then, after a few moments he says,Ā āIbe goba igee em a.ā Ā Ā Though seeming gibberish, the lines were actually supposed to mean something, as Tobe explained to me. Ā According to what I wrote in my script, the first line meant roughly,Ā āHow are you? Ā Welcome home. Ā Supperās almost ready.ā Ā The next line meant,Ā āIāve been a good boy and I gotĀ āem all.ā Ā There were some more lines over the next couple of minutes - they all pretty much went the same way. Ā (My favorite line, intended as aĀ āhello-how-are-you-sit-hereā greeting to Grandpa when Leatherface brings some cold cuts from the kitchen, wasĀ āAba de ah du o day; erik beaka obida tey.ā Ā Pure poetry, echoing Stephen Foster and the Beatles. Ā Ā Tobe wanted me to deliver these lines as if Leatherface knew what he was trying to say but could not quite get his mouth to work right. Ā Thus,Ā āIbe goba igee em aā could, with a stretch of the imagination, sound a bit like,Ā āIāve been a good boy and I gotĀ āem all.ā Ā The rhythm is sort of there. Ā Ā So I did it that way on the first take. Ā Tobe calledĀ āCut!ā Ā Nope, he said, it did not work. Ā The problem was that there was too much intelligence in Leatherface if he merely had trouble getting the words to come out right. Ā I agree - my sense of him was that he was so empty that he really could not speak. Ā Ā So Tobe told me to do it again. Ā This time I should think of Leatherface as knowing that these sounds we make mean something - after all, he understands what his brothers tell him - but he does not know how to form a thought and turn that thought into words, intelligible or not. Ā Ā I tried it that way, making a series of meaningless squawks and pointing around the room as if Leatherface actually thought he was saying something. Ā It worked, and we stuck with that for the rest of Leatherfaceās lines. Ā Some we dropped entirely, since they were pointless. Ā My favorite lineĀ āinterpretationā was when Leatherface is defending himself from the Cook and his raised broomstick. Ā The line was written,Ā āI iba i i iba i,ā meaningĀ āyes.ā Ā I said,Ā āIbe!ā Ā It was high-pitched and thin, and summed it all up for me. Ā I still say it now and then, usually when Iām taking a walk in the woods and think of Leatherface for no reason.ā
and
Ā Ā āThe Hitchhiker asks,Ā āYou like that face?ā Ā In the film Leatherface says nothing, but in the script he says,Ā āUn va uhn,ā curiously like the old 1950s jazz hipsterāsĀ āVa, va, voom!ā Ā My script margin notes indicated the meaning to beĀ āI like it,ā but this line and the rest in the scene were cut - after Tobeās earlier change in line readings, there was no point in having Leatherface try to speak again beyond occasional squawks.ā
and
Ā Ā āThere is an undertone of sexualĀ menace in the pairās approach, but nothing happens. Ā After toying with her they retreat. Ā Clearly, though, Leatherface likes what he sees. Ā Ā Leatherfaceās sexual ambiguity was originallyĀ carried further in the filming, in a scene edited out before the movieās release. Ā In the script, almost immediatelyĀ after this, Leatherface wanders into the living room whileĀ ātittering and babbling to himselfā (as I wrote in my script), making sounds that were supposed to sayĀ āYouāre so pretty!ā Ā Ā Leatherface shambles over to a bucket of faces hanging from the ceiling. Ā He grabs one and looks at it. Ā Its blonde hair looks to be cut in a pageboy. Ā He picks up a small hand mirror and compares the new mask to his current one, deciding which looksĀ better. Ā He rejects the new one,Ā tossing it over his shoulder. Ā (It is obvious in looking at this footage how hard it was for me to see out of the mask. Ā When I looked down to pick up the mirror, I had toĀ tilt my head straight down to see it.). Leatherface bends down again and picks up some face powder. Ā He powders his face grotesquely, the powder flying everywhere in a caricature of some feminine clichĆ© of an earlier time. Ā Then he applies fresh lipstick, doing it with someĀ delicacy, as if sometime in the past he watched his mother putting on her lipstick. Ā Then, checking outĀ his spruce-up in his mirror, he cocks his head to the side, as if admiring what he sees before he returns to the dining room. Ā Ā I do not think Leatherface is really trying to look feminine in this scene - nor did I back then. Ā After all, he is wearing a suit, not a dress. Ā But he wants to look attractive to Sally. Ā His gender is irrelevant here, as if he really has no sexual identity. Ā But he is smitten by their prisoner.ā God, I love this book. I love all these little looks deeper into the characterās mind from the man who first brought him to life. And he canonly calls himself a good boy, I am dead
