He is also extremely mentally ill. He does not talk that much, though he does make vocal sounds. He wears a mask made from a person's skin, which he uses to express a personality. It is also notable that director Tobe Hooper has stated that Leatherface kills out of fear, not malice.
Leatherface never speaks, and of course you never see his face, but he's by far the most expressive and unforgettable character in the movie. This is not only because he carves up most of the cast with a chain saw.
Leatherface in this continuity suffers from al disfigurement, a skin disease, that caused severe deformities and tumors to his face. Due to this disfigurement, his muteness and mental disability, other children bullied the boy.
In the first film, Leatherface shows emotions of fear upon seeing the intruders in his home, as he screams. He is very ruthless with his kills, treating his victims like mere meat.
Scared that others will hurt him; scared that his family will be displeased with him, scared that their shared willingness to eat human flesh will be discovered. He does as he is told. His family loves him and that is all that matters.
During his first meeting with the filmmakers, Hooper explained the character in detail for Hansen; describing Leatherface as being severely mentally impaired, and insane, which made the character violent and unpredictable.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Leatherface is responsible for 31 deaths across all movies in the franchise, while Freddy Krueger's kill count seems to be between 42 and 48. Jumping to the 1990s, another famous slasher, Scream's different Ghostface killers, have a total of 46 kills.
In the Texas chainsaw massacre Leatherface is 27 and the 2022 chainsaw Massacre is 50 years later making him 77, how would a 77-year-old still have the strength to commit more massacres? The explanation implied by David Garcia is that living this recluse life in a small town has kept him fit in a way.
Of course, this is not the end, as Leatherface survives. Considering that Leatherface is a much older man now in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and that he has sustained multiple injuries throughout the film, it is baffling as to how he returns in the end just to saw Melody's head off.
But when he came to Harlow he had to hide everything, from murderous tendencies to his masks and his queered identity. Mrs. MC represents a safe haven for Leatherface; she knew of the chainsaw, so she surely knew about his masks and thus, inadvertently or not, his queered identity, too.
Leatherface, portrayed by Gunnar Hansen in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), is 6 foot 4 inches (1.93 m) tall. Leatherface is the main antagonist of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, even though he commits his murders alongside his family. Leatherface wears a mask made of human skin, which is where he gets his name from.
For Leatherface, the domestic sphere is the only one he knows. Therefore, this asexual, almost childlike man has become the family's necerssary feminine presence, and his commitment to such a role shows how absurd the limitations of gender are within the traditional family.
In this continuity, Leatherface is raised by the Hewitts, a family of inbred cannibals. The family is loosely based on the Sawyer Family from the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. The Hewitt family consists of Luda May Hewitt, The Tea Lady, Jed Old, Charlie (aka Sheriff Hoyt), Emma Hewitt, and Hannah Hewitt.
As if the TCM III plot and characters weren't already weird enough, in comes Babi Sawyer (Jennifer Banko). Babi is Leatherface's daughter and her mother is one of his previous victims. She carries around a doll that she calls Sally, which could be in reference to TCM's final girl.
After Leatherface kills Franklin in the woods, Sally escapes him by reaching the gas station the group visited earlier in the film. During The Texas Chain Saw Massacre DVD's commentary, Gunnar Hansen revealed this chase sequence was the origin of his Leatherface chainsaw dance.
Leatherface's need to wear a mask, though, was a reaction to him having a skin disease that disfigured his face and made him the victim of ridicule among his peers. He began wearing a leather mask to draw less attention to his face, and over time, this practice became normal for him.
Although the character Sally Hardesty is the lone survivor of the five young protagonist friends in the original 1974 The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, her character dies in the 2022 reboot Texas Chainsaw Massacre from Leatherface chainsawing her in the stomach.
The film was marketed as being based on true events to attract a wider audience and to act as a subtle commentary on the era's political climate. Although the character of Leatherface and minor story details were inspired by the crimes of murderer Ed Gein, its plot is largely fictional.
Grandpa Sawyer is the grandfather and oldest living member of the Sawyer Family. He is a supercentenarian, former butcher/slaughterman and mass murderer. Director Tobe Hooper stated on the audio commentary for Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, that Grandpa is kept alive by drinking the blood of his family's victims.
Leatherface has a large figure, standing at 6'3" and weighing 230 lbs. Being in his 60's, he has dark grey hair, a beard and sallow eyes with rotten and filed yellowed teeth. For the first half of the film, he wore brown overalls with a brown button up and boots.
Sam Strike plays Jackson, born Jedidiah Sawyer, as one of the four inmates that escape the mental institution, before ultimately becoming the eponymous Leatherface after enduring tragedies that destroy his cognitive stability.
