Born Villain (film) in West Hollywood, California, which LaBeouf described as a large movie theater where Manson spends much of his time viewing films. LaBeouf said that he and Manson watched several films together there, and discussed the "really eccentric ideas" they had for their video collaboration. LaBeouf financed the film himself. It was inspired by William Shakespeare's "Macbeth", Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel's surrealist short film "Un Chien Andalou" (1929), Alejandro Jodorowsky's "The Holy Mountain" (1973), and what LaBeouf described as "heavy theology." Laney Chantal, the wife of Marilyn Manson member Twiggy Ramirez, served as the makeup artist for the short. Manson
Maya Deren influence because of the surreal nature of "Meshes of the Afternoon". Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou" (1928) is on the premier examples of film representing the structure of the subconscious. Deren detested this comparison because of the surrealist movement's interest in the entertainment value of its subject more than its meaning. The form of "Meshes of the Afternoon" does not compare to Un Chien Andalou either. Psychoanalysis of "Meshes of the Afternoon" from a Freudian viewer or Jungian viewer attempted to decode the symbolism in the film to uncover what Deren was saying about identity and sexuality. Deren adamantly objected her