Self-starter, Aussie actor Leigh Whannell has undergone a full transformation: from being a struggling actor-hopeful, who co-wrote and co-starred in a ‘little’ independent horror film called Saw, into being one of the major reasons why the horror genre has reached the heights of popularity today.
James Wan–Whannel’s bold collaborator–also broke new ground with Saw, which served as a startling directorial debut. The creepy 2004 jigsaw thriller went on to spawn a horror franchise and grossed over $400 million worldwide; it left an indelible impression it its film market niche. The collaborating duo quickly became a curious Hollywood success story.
Most recently, the partners-in-crime collaborated again on the new horror Dead Silence. Helmed by Wan, Whannell has foregone taking a lead role, and instead has limited his work to behind-the-camera, co-writing the thriller screenplay with Wan. Dead Silence concerns a young widower [played by Ryan Kwanten] whose investigation into his wife’s murder turns into an encounter with a very dangerous legend. Hollywood.com caught up with Whannell and Wan and delved into what it must feel like to have been two of the instrumental forces behind the hit, horror franchise Saw.
Hollywood.com: You guys shot Dead Silence about two years ago. What was the holdup on releasing it?
James Wan: It was a really hard film for me because halfway through editing, my friend/producer Gregg Hoffman passed away. It was a really hard time so that screwed me up for a bit. Universal was nice enough to allow me some time off. I took a couple of months off which screwed up the schedule. With horror films, you get small window of release so we had to wait for the next.
HW: How was it to work with James [Wan] again after doing Saw?
Leigh Whannell: It was great working with him again. Actually, we’re working on another project together now together and it’s just great. We have a shorthand. That awkwardness that comes from working with someone that you’ve only just met isn’t there because we’ve been friends for so long.
HW: Even though this is your first time working with a major studio like Universal, did having Leigh [Whannell] as co-screenwriter make you feel more comfortable?
JW: Since Leigh did not act in Dead Silence, once the script was out of his hands, he did not have much to do with it…that is, besides talking to me on the phone, and hearing me bitch and moan about how tricky it was to shoot the film. But it was good, even though we didn’t get to work together as much as we did on Saw.
HW: How did you like maneuvering all the stuff that goes along with working with a large studio, namely Universal, as opposed to doing a film independently, or with Lionsgate?
JW: It’s definitely tricky. You hear these same kinds of stories all the time. It’s nothing new. It’s all about adjusting to the different processes. There’s really no right or wrong way of doing it, it’s what you’re most comfortable with and it definitely can be challenging. But what has made up for that is you actually have a proper budget to shoot the film with. On a little independent film like Saw they give you all the freedom in the world to do it–but you can’t get what you want because you don’t have the money to do it properly. So there is an up and downside to both processes.
LW: It’s a big change and it was a big learning curve for us. It really was like a mini film school. James and I met in film school, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He was in the same class as I was and we were there for three years together. But we learned more in the two years of Dead Silence than we did in three years of university. I can just see the people at RMIT reading this interview and wanting to sue me. But it’s a different kind of learning. It was like learning to swim by somebody strapping weights to your ankles and saying, “Alright, dive into the ocean!”
HW: So, what were some of the unforeseen adjustments?
LW: I really felt like it was a step above a student film. I felt like the camera was a little bit bigger, and the crew was a little bigger–but everything else was basically at that student film level in terms of what we had access to. So to go from that to sitting in these big boardrooms with Universal executives was intimidating. It was interesting learning how they work. It’s a corporation so more people have an opinion. The Saw films had three producers so the notes were coming from those three guys and that was it. With Universal the notes are coming from all different places, so there was a learning curve.
HW: Was studio at least flexible regarding your creativity?
LW: I would actually say that Universal really let us do what we wanted to do. Our vision for this film was to have it be a throwback to the old Hammer horror films. We wanted to make a film that resembled an Edgar Allen Poe story, with the fog machines running overtime to create that classic look. Universal could have easily balked at that–but to their credit they let us do it.
HW: Dolls are as big a part of Dead Silence as they were for Saw–were dolls a big point of fear for you when you were a kid?
JW: [laughs] Yeah, you could say that. I have a strange fascination with creepy dolls. I think I keep citing Poltergeist because of that. I saw Poltergeist at the very young age of 7. The doll in that pretty much scarred me for life and I find the act of ventriloquism really fascinating and interesting. I thought, “Wow, wouldn’t it be interesting to tell a supernatural ghost story but tell the movie from the point of view of ventriloquism and dolls.”
HW: With the Saw films Lionsgate is always very cagey with who they screen the film for in advance. Now Universal isn’t screening Dead Silence for critics, what do you guys think of that?
LW: Look, at the end of the day, too much good has happened in my life because of the Saw films and Dead Silence for me to let critics’ opinions taint it. I really think you make a piece of art, be it a painting, a poem, a song, whatever, and you put it out in the world, and it is no longer your child. Now the rest of the world takes ownership, and they’ve got their own opinions whether they like it or not–and you can’t change it.
HW: So you’re always objective about critical opinion?
LW: When Saw was released, I remember the first few bad reviews that I read and they really cut deep [laughs]. It felt the person was coming to my house and personally insulting me. Now after three movies I’ve developed a thicker skin. I realize there’s nothing you can do about it once it’s finished. As far as critics…ultimately I let that stuff slide away.
HW: As the director that helped ignite a new interest in horror films, do you feel a lot of pressure with Dead Silence being your sophomore project?
JW: I would be lying if I said no. Yeah, of course. I keep telling people that Saw was my student movie. It was a low budget movie that wasn’t supposed to be seen by anyone. It was supposed to go straight to video. It was me getting used to filmmaking; and for it to go on, and be as successful as it ended up being–and spawning one of the most successful horror franchises–is definitely very intimidating to follow up. All I really want to do is survive that sophomore curse that a lot of young directors go through.
HW: Since James and you are both horror geeks, are all your dreams finally coming true?
LW: Oh absolutely. [laughs] But I wouldn’t say my dreams are coming true because I never had these dreams. Seriously, the reality of my life has gone past my fantasies. When I was back in Australia hoping to become a filmmaker, writing the script for Saw but never knowing what happen, I used to scale down my daydreams to make them more achievable [laughs]… Whereas imagining coming over to America and making a film with Danny Glover and having it go on and spawn all these sequels would have been outrageous, and much too presumptuous of me… I always feel like someone who casually walked onto the field of a stadium and accidentally won like the archery gold medal at the Olympics.
HW: Well, what’s it like having had created Jigsaw, who’s going to eventually be put on the horror icon pedestal along with Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and Leatherface?
JW: It’s very flattering. We never set out to do that but that’s what happened. As they say, good things happen a lot of time by accident, and we just stumbled into it and we’re very fortunate and grateful for it.
HW: Is it weird at the same time?
JW: Yeah, it’s very strange now to see fans lining up to show you tattoos of imagery from your film, or little figurines from your film. But at the same time, this is the kind of stuff that Leigh and I live for. It’s very fun–and I’m definitely not complaining.
HW: Your next film, Death Sentence, seems to have been inspired by ’70s exploitation revenge flicks, is that the spin you’re taking?
JW: Death Sentence is the revenge drama that I’m finishing up right now. I feel like each movie I make I want to do something different. I don’t want to repeat myself. That’s why I think I picked this revenge drama and I got the chance to work with Kevin Bacon, which was fantastic. Strangely enough today’s kids are not very familiar with the great ‘70s revenge dramas that we grew up with. [It’s] one that really harks back to films like Death Wish, the Dirty Harry films, and I was very heavily inspired by The French Connection. So it is a tribute to ‘70s revenge dramas but it’s got that that slight modern day slant.
