With the UK home entertainment release of The Conjuring set for Monday (December 2nd), director James Wan (Saw, Insidious) talks horror movies...
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So, James, congratulations. You get people to sit on the edge of the seat without using gore or the stereotypical horror movie techniques. How did you accomplish that?
JAMES WAN: I accomplished that by thinking, looking to the back of my brain and going, what would I do if I saw that happening? How scared would I be? For a lot of my scare screens, I always just use myself as a gauge. I think that if I find something scary, then I'd like to think and hope that other people would feel the same way as well.
What drove you into directing and story-telling?
JAMES WAN: I loved movies growing up as a kid. It's a classic thing when you get to a certain age, you realize that movies are not just magic - it doesn't just happen, right? People actually make it. Actors get in front of the camera and act and then there are the cameraman that shoot the film and there's writers and directors and producers and so when I started realizing that there was a business behind there, I became very fascinated by it and at about the age of 11, I realized I wanted to be a film director.
But you seem too young to be doing all this big work. Or you're not that young or what?
JAMES WAN: I look like a kid. Let's just say, I made Saw, my first movie, 10 years ago now, so, I've been doing this for 10 years.
How important was it to put together this cast? They're very enthusiastic.
JAMES WAN: The cast is extremely important. I think part of the reason why the movie is as effective as it is right now is because of my actors. I'm very thankful to them because what they do is they bring quality to the movie. They elevate the movie. Vera [Farmiga] and Patrick [Wilson], Ron [Livingston] and Lili [Taylor], they elevate the movie above your standard traditional sort of horror film. When we were making this movie, we weren't making a horror film. We were just making a drama movie. That's what we were doing. We're setting up to tell a drama story about a family dealing with their personal crisis and then telling out the love story between a husband and wife and what they're dealing with and then at some point their two worlds collide. That was how I always saw it and I love that structurally from a script point. I love that you start off with two separate families that have nothing to do with each other and then slowly their world just sort of merges into one.
What I think is interesting that it's based on a real story. So this actually happened?
JAMES WAN: The Warrens are such fascinating characters. I'm actually surprised it's taken so long for someone to make a movie about them - to make a proper movie about them. They're such an amazing couple. Back when Ed was still alive, what they were doing was just so fascinating, so intriguing that it was only a matter of time, Hollywood was going to make a film about that. The writers and producers, and myself, very early on, actually, especially the writers when they spoke with Lorraine, they ask her which of your cases affected you the most? And I think she mentioned two. One was Amityville and the other one was this one.
Last night, we watched the movie, a group of journalists, and we were staying in the same hotel and nobody wanted to go to bed, we were wary of being alone. Is that the effect you want people to have?
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JAMES WAN: Yes, exactly. With the terrific script writing and the terrific performances, I think all that came together, really well to make the movie that people have these sort of emotion about and like you said, without blood and guts. And that's the other thing. It's very hard to make a horror movie that doesn't rely on violence because there's very little violence in this movie. It's very difficult to make a movie too, where characters don't swear. So taking all those elements away, your hands are already tied behind your back to begin with, so it forces to be more creative and that was a challenge that I wanted.
What would you recommend for people when they're watching the film at home? Should they go to the kitchen together, don't move, or just stay together?
JAMES WAN: I think they should stay together on the couch and watch the movie until it finishes, then decide what they should do, whether they go to bed or put on a funny movie, or put on a funny sitcom to watch and kind of cleanse your mind of the scariness that is The Conjuring.
The Conjuring was a little like a Hitchcock movie. I was wondering if while growing up, his movies had an impact on you?
JAMES WAN: I love Hitchcock. I love Hitchcock's work and I love Steven Spielberg’s work. I always say no one moves a camera better then Spielberg, especially in his earlier films. I just thought they were amazing. Up to today, I still always study his movies. The camerawork, for me, is very important in a film like The Conjuring, because I think the camerawork creates a lot of the tension - as well as the production design. Knowing where to place the camera is very important to how a scare scene would play out.
How did you accomplish this quality with a smaller budget?
JAMES WAN: The budget is still bigger than what I have had to work with in the past. In the past, I've only worked with one or two million dollar movies, so this seems like a luxury. I have very smart people helping me out. Everyone really steped up to their A game. Just because it's a smaller studio film doesn't mean that it needs to feel like a small film.
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How important is it for you to read reviews with “the best horror movie of the year” as some reviews are saying? Does your ego get bigger?
JAMES WAN: I don't really have an ego. That's one of the things that I'm very proud of, especially working in this town. But it just means that - I want people to like my movies. It's plain and simple. You work so hard on something and so many people believe in you and you want to do right by all those people that believe in you as a director. It's a good feeling. Most importantly for me is just the general public - I want the people out there to like the film.
Why do you think horror movies or dramatic films with suspense like this one are so appealing?
JAMES WAN: I think people love the ride. I think people love the thrill of watching a scary movie, screaming through it, laughing at the right moments and all that stuff. That's why you go to the movies, right? You go to the movies to escape. I was going to say to escape the real world but this is based on the real world, so... (laughs)
What is great is that the audience cares for the family that lives in the house.
JAMES WAN: Yes, the writers did a great job writing people that are believable and the actors just took it to a whole different level. It made it feel like a unit.
What's your biggest fear?
JAMES WAN: I have many fears. I cannot pinpoint one. Like I said, I fear the things that happen to mankind in the real world. The real world is much scarier than anything I can come up in my films.
JAMES WAN: I accomplished that by thinking, looking to the back of my brain and going, what would I do if I saw that happening? How scared would I be? For a lot of my scare screens, I always just use myself as a gauge. I think that if I find something scary, then I'd like to think and hope that other people would feel the same way as well.
What drove you into directing and story-telling?
JAMES WAN: I loved movies growing up as a kid. It's a classic thing when you get to a certain age, you realize that movies are not just magic - it doesn't just happen, right? People actually make it. Actors get in front of the camera and act and then there are the cameraman that shoot the film and there's writers and directors and producers and so when I started realizing that there was a business behind there, I became very fascinated by it and at about the age of 11, I realized I wanted to be a film director.
But you seem too young to be doing all this big work. Or you're not that young or what?
JAMES WAN: I look like a kid. Let's just say, I made Saw, my first movie, 10 years ago now, so, I've been doing this for 10 years.
How important was it to put together this cast? They're very enthusiastic.
JAMES WAN: The cast is extremely important. I think part of the reason why the movie is as effective as it is right now is because of my actors. I'm very thankful to them because what they do is they bring quality to the movie. They elevate the movie. Vera [Farmiga] and Patrick [Wilson], Ron [Livingston] and Lili [Taylor], they elevate the movie above your standard traditional sort of horror film. When we were making this movie, we weren't making a horror film. We were just making a drama movie. That's what we were doing. We're setting up to tell a drama story about a family dealing with their personal crisis and then telling out the love story between a husband and wife and what they're dealing with and then at some point their two worlds collide. That was how I always saw it and I love that structurally from a script point. I love that you start off with two separate families that have nothing to do with each other and then slowly their world just sort of merges into one.
What I think is interesting that it's based on a real story. So this actually happened?
JAMES WAN: The Warrens are such fascinating characters. I'm actually surprised it's taken so long for someone to make a movie about them - to make a proper movie about them. They're such an amazing couple. Back when Ed was still alive, what they were doing was just so fascinating, so intriguing that it was only a matter of time, Hollywood was going to make a film about that. The writers and producers, and myself, very early on, actually, especially the writers when they spoke with Lorraine, they ask her which of your cases affected you the most? And I think she mentioned two. One was Amityville and the other one was this one.
Last night, we watched the movie, a group of journalists, and we were staying in the same hotel and nobody wanted to go to bed, we were wary of being alone. Is that the effect you want people to have?
What would you recommend for people when they're watching the film at home? Should they go to the kitchen together, don't move, or just stay together?
JAMES WAN: I think they should stay together on the couch and watch the movie until it finishes, then decide what they should do, whether they go to bed or put on a funny movie, or put on a funny sitcom to watch and kind of cleanse your mind of the scariness that is The Conjuring.
The Conjuring was a little like a Hitchcock movie. I was wondering if while growing up, his movies had an impact on you?
JAMES WAN: I love Hitchcock. I love Hitchcock's work and I love Steven Spielberg’s work. I always say no one moves a camera better then Spielberg, especially in his earlier films. I just thought they were amazing. Up to today, I still always study his movies. The camerawork, for me, is very important in a film like The Conjuring, because I think the camerawork creates a lot of the tension - as well as the production design. Knowing where to place the camera is very important to how a scare scene would play out.
How did you accomplish this quality with a smaller budget?
JAMES WAN: The budget is still bigger than what I have had to work with in the past. In the past, I've only worked with one or two million dollar movies, so this seems like a luxury. I have very smart people helping me out. Everyone really steped up to their A game. Just because it's a smaller studio film doesn't mean that it needs to feel like a small film.
JAMES WAN: I don't really have an ego. That's one of the things that I'm very proud of, especially working in this town. But it just means that - I want people to like my movies. It's plain and simple. You work so hard on something and so many people believe in you and you want to do right by all those people that believe in you as a director. It's a good feeling. Most importantly for me is just the general public - I want the people out there to like the film.
Why do you think horror movies or dramatic films with suspense like this one are so appealing?
JAMES WAN: I think people love the ride. I think people love the thrill of watching a scary movie, screaming through it, laughing at the right moments and all that stuff. That's why you go to the movies, right? You go to the movies to escape. I was going to say to escape the real world but this is based on the real world, so... (laughs)
What is great is that the audience cares for the family that lives in the house.
JAMES WAN: Yes, the writers did a great job writing people that are believable and the actors just took it to a whole different level. It made it feel like a unit.
What's your biggest fear?
JAMES WAN: I have many fears. I cannot pinpoint one. Like I said, I fear the things that happen to mankind in the real world. The real world is much scarier than anything I can come up in my films.