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The filmmaker (best known for co-creatingSawandInsidious) had to wrap his brain around such an expansive question.
It would be like if someone said, What do you think aboutMonopoly?
I guess I like it?, Whannell says.
Thats my own take.
Let me get shredded on social media for that one!
But Whannell didnt want to drive a good guy mad with power, either.
Why dont you just give me a chance?
She was very gentle.
Then I would see her do it and be like, Okay.
We see the scars of past violence as she is subjected to more in the present.
She gave me a lot of personal insight into relationships in her life.
We both shared a lot with each other, and through conversation the dialogue would change, Whannell says.
You start to doubt yourself.
She would really go through the scenes with me with a razor and just bring her insight to it.
As soon as I got her stamp of approval, I could feel comfortable moving forward.
In that regard, she was almost like a co-writer in her policing of every emotional beat.
Youre not scrutinizing the back and sides of every frame looking for the monster in waiting.
You have to think you could be looking right at him at all times.
With the camera acting almost like a person, it becomes a kind of audience surrogate.
Theyre aware of all the tropes and conventions of horror movies, and theyre desensitized to it.
So I decided that I could weaponize that knowledge against them.
Whannell also did Duscio the unkindness of telling him he wanted light.
Its not like, Oh, this is my sound movie.
I already go into the writing prioritizing that, Whannell told Vulture.
I wanted things behind people.
I wanted things to go off the screen.
I think people maybe wait for those moments in the film, but they never come.
