Does the number 11 interest you? Have you noticed that the time 11:11 seems to pop up all the time? Like, fully twice a day? And sometimes the number appears in the dates of significant historical events? Well, you’re not alone. Apparently, there are many thousands of crazies who are also fascinated by this totally banal occurrence, as you can see on this website. And if you’re still not convinced, Darren Lynn Bousman, the director of Saws II, III, and IV, is planning to show you just why you should start being afraid with his new thriller, 11 11 11, coming to theaters Friday, November 11, 2011. 11-11-11!
According to Heatvision, producer Wayne Rice (Valentine’s Day, Dude Where’s My Car) noticed that 11-11-11 fell on a Friday next year and realized he couldn’t pass up such an incredible marketing opportunity. “[Darren] and I sat down and over some pasta [and] the movie materialized,” said Rice. “A lot of this has been New Age-y or biblical with talk of angels. Leave it to Darren to see the dark side of that date.”
Bousman was at first hesitant about following in the conceptual footsteps of Joel Schumacher‘s The Number 23 with Jim Carrey, another numerological thriller that flopped in 2007. But the director was won over by Rice – especially when he noticed the number ’11’ appeared in his own birth date, January 11th! Bousman immediately began working on the first draft of a screenplay for the film, proving beyond any reasonable doubt that the number 11 holds a mysterious and mystical power… even over our own celebrities.
Bousman’s idea for the thriller / convenient marketing opportunity is to play with the idea of ‘the 11 gates of Heaven’, which open up on the 11th day of the 11 month at 11:11 (at night, most likely – for ambiance), allowing something from another world to enter our dimension for a brief period of time. Although the director has said he wants to make the movie less like Saw and more like Shyamalan‘s Signs, he admits that his primary goal is to “freak people out.” “That’s what I want to do with this,” Bousman said. “We want to take this phenomenon and give it horrific purpose.”
Rice, as the film’s producer, remains somewhat more down to earth. “This is a marketer’s dream,” he said. Spooky!
