Have you heard of Wrinkles? He’s an unidentified man who has been popping up all over Florida in ominous-looking clown costume (seriously, you wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark alley). A short film in which he emerges from beneath a sleeping girl’s bed went viral, and Wrinkles even made the pages of The Washington Post. In reality, he isn’t dangerous at all. He’s just a clown for hire but not the sort that makes children laugh; instead, he frightens them if they’ve been naughty. He bought his mask on eBay because, as he puts it, it was somewhere between Michael Myers and my grandfather. Michael Beach Nichols takes a look at the Wrinkles phenomenon. His portrait of a man who found an unusual way to earn money is accompanied by reflections on the pop culture fascination with evil, the mechanisms behind urban legends and viral myths, and violence against children. The result is a fascinating documentary—Nichols once again reveals a piece of unknown America. And Wrinkles really isn’t the scariest at all.
Michael Beach Nichols is an experienced American documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, and cinematographer. He graduated from the University of Florida. His most acclaimed film is Welcome to Leith, which won awards at numerous festivals and was nominated for an Emmy. It was also shown during the sixth edition of the American Film Festival. He founded No Weather Productions together with the editor and screenwriter Christopher Walker. He lives in New York.
2010 The Man Behind the Curtain (doc.)
2013 Flex Is Kings (doc.)
2014 Delivery (short)
2015 Witajcie w Leith / Welcome to Leith (doc.)
2017 Beast of Man (doc. short)
2017 First Step (doc. series., 6 episodes)
2019 Wrinkles the Clown (doc.)