Since the jaw-dropping climax to the indie horror classic SAW, actor, producer and screenwriter Leigh Whannell (alongside frequent friend and collaborator James Wan) has gone on to make the genre terrifying once again. The Australian actor, previously best known for a small role in The Wachowski’s THE MATRIX RELOADED, is perhaps deservedly looked at as one of the saviours of the modern fright flick with both his original creations SAW and the highly-effective chiller INSIDIOUS now multi-million dollar franchises.
So, with the upcoming home-entertainment release of sequel INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2, we had the chance to put some killer questions to Whannell regarding making his mark in the genre and what’s next as he moves into…’the further’:
You’re obviously and fan of the horror genre. Where does that love and inspiration come from?
I guess James and I are just big horror fans. We just both love horror films. We do want to work in other genres but horror has just been something we’ve always loved throughout our teenage years. You know, growing up watching Freddy films or FRIDAY THE 13TH. It’s just something we’ve loved so it’s just great to be able to contribute to the history of that genre.
Any particular favourites that you feel have inspired by or even borrowed from?
Well, we do have a lot and we’re very influenced by Dario Argento and the Italian horror films. My favourite horror film I think is THE SHINING. That’s my favourite horror ever and I think you see a little bit of the influence of THE SHINING in INSIDIOUS 2, which was kind of accidental though, because it was not something we intended once we had a story about a father chasing his children around the house trying to destroy them. That’s kinda hard to get away from THE SHINING. It’s kind of like making a shark movie and it’s hard to get away from JAWS, no matter what you do! So yeah, we’re very influenced and absorb all the different films we’ve loved or seen and spit them back out somehow through our sub-conscience.
Going back to SAW where you both made your name, did it feel at the time it was going to be something special and become as iconic as it has?
We had no idea at all. None! Not only did we not think it was going to be big or iconic in anyway but we thought it would be a straight-to-video film and maybe a few of the right people would see it, maybe chat to them and try and get a real film off the ground. It’s almost like we didn’t think of it as a real movie. Sort of as a warm-up exercise for our real first film. It was almost like a band going into the studio right before they record their first album and saying ‘lets put something down on paper and see how we sound’. Sketching out a riff, mucking around, recording a quick song and putting it out and suddenly it becomes a number one hit. It took us by surprise because we thought of it on those terms. We weren’t aiming at that and the fact it’s gone on and Jigsaw is now an iconic figure in the world of horror is cool. It’s like a really awesome bonus prize.
Do you feel a lot of that was down to that original jaw-dropping finale?
I always felt we had a really great ending but we didn’t know it was good enough to connect on a mass scale. That’s just something that astounded us. I’m sure when Steven Spielberg was making E.T. he was thinking ‘Gee, I hope this connects on a big global scale.’ We weren’t thinking that because we were first time filmmakers and we were making a small film. We were just hoping we could make a living making films. We just didn’t think of it as a global scale.
Yourself and James are currently looked upon as the saviours of horror right about now. Does that come with some sort of pressure for you guys?
Erm… a little bit. I mean, I’m still hoping as a horror fan that some kid out there makes a film in his backyard with a Canon 5D camera that becomes a huge game changer for the horror genre. I think that’s what it’s going to take. Someone is going to have to make something really original on their own and I’m still trying to do that. I’m trying to come up with films myself that are really original but I don’t think we feel that huge pressure anymore. I think the fact that we did INSIDIOUS and we’ve done two horror films that have done well has taken a bit of the pressure off the expectation of horror fans.
And when writing your screenplays, are there specific acting roles you write for yourself?
Yeah, usually I do. Usually I know which role I wanna play. I just wrote a horror/comedy called COOTIES. I’m really looking forward to that getting released and I wrote a role for myself in that. It wasn’t directed by James but I do try and be realistic about the roles I can play. You know, I never give myself the lead role and I prefer to give myself a supporting role. The problem with being a screenwriter is once you’ve finished the writing process, you then hand off the script and everyone else goes off and has a party and you’re not involved anymore! (laughs). You’re only involved at the start and the great thing about acting in a film is that you get to stay for that party.
You’ve mentioned SAW was a huge surprise in what it grew to be, but did you look at INSIDIOUS as franchise potential?
Not really. With INSIDIOUS we were at a certain point in our lives that we felt we needed a comeback film almost. We had done SAW and it had done well but our subsequent hadn’t done as well as SAW and we really wanted to connect with people again. I don’t think we saw it as a franchise movie, we just saw it as a horror film that hopefully would be really good and remind people that we were still here and that we were making good films. Everything is basically a surprise for us and I’m not being falsely modest when I say that. We really are surprised when people like what we do! (laughs).
You’re well known for collaborating with James, but do you have plans to direct yourself?
Yeah! It’s interesting that you ask that as I’ve been thinking about directing a lot lately and I think that’s going to be the next thing I do. I really want to direct something next year, so I’m essentially trying to come up with a film like SAW all over again. You know, I’m trying to come up with a new set of characters in a whole new universe that could be made on a low-budget scale. So it’s interesting and hopefully you’ll be interviewing me about a film I directed sometime in the future.
Do you favour one cap above the other in terms of acting or writing?
It’s hard to separate them because both have things that are really good about them. I love the aspect of writing, where you are sitting in a room on your own and you’re creating a world where no one else is privy to. I love that. You’re really just the God of this universe. You’re moving these characters around like it’s a chess board and you can seem a bit evil because you can inflict as much suffering as you want on these characters (laughs). Acting is more fun in a visceral sense. In that I mean it’s very social, you’re sitting around on a set, you’re hanging out with people and it’s a lot of fun and I really can’t pick one over the other.
As well as the upcoming COOTIES, which does have an awesome cast, are there any more projects in the pipeline?
Well, COOTIES just finished, so that’s going to be screening at the Sundance Film Festival. I’m really excited about that. I’m working on a sci-fi script at the moment called STEM, which I hope will shoot next year sometime. I’ve got a couple of other films in the pipeline and the main thing I’m working on right now is a film to direct. So, look out for that and hopefully I’ll have something for next year!
INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2 is released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK from the 6th January 2014. THN would like to thank Leigh for his time and wish him the best in all his future projects.
