For the third chapter ofInsidious, Whannell has personally picked up the directors megaphone for the very first time.
Going back to the beginning, the firstInsidiouswas regularly compared toPoltergeist.
Did it start out as aPoltergeisthomage, or were those elements you introduced as you went along?
Youre talking about somebody asleep and their soul leaves their body.
In those terms, its not veryPoltergeist, and we thought that element of it was very original.
It wasnt intentional, but maybe subconsciously…?
I love the originalPoltergeist, so maybe I was drawing on that unconsciously.
Conversely, though,TheShiningreferences in this third one must be deliberate nods?
Maybe this was my way of keepingThe Shiningalive on our set.
Theres more: theres that book shes reading,Clockwork Orange.
I really liked that documentaryRoom 237…
Yeah, documentary.
It talks about all of the, ridiculous or not, hidden meanings ofThe Shining.
Maybe I was trying to inject a little of that into this film.
I was half expecting a steadicam shot following the wheelchair up one of the corridors.
No, we never did that.
We were definitely confined by the realities of the set.
A lot of the time, my shots were dictated by What can we do within this small space?
What do you think you gain from including an homage?
Do you ever worry that its a distraction?
I wouldnt make that film.
What would be the most concerning thing is if I did.
But I give a shot to make the plotlines and the scares as original as I can.
Moving to the second film for a moment.
How did you balance it?
And did you ever cheat your own rules?
It does get confusing.
In this movie, the supernatural element affords quite a lot of freedom.
I give a shot to stick to a basic set of general rules and not over-complicate it.
Thats a good trick.
And it does now feel like the series, structurally, is quite wrapped up.
Do you feel so?
I did have a lot of fun playing with Elises visions of the future in this third film.
They add an extra dimension of heroism to her character.
Those things are really fun, tying up loose ends and looking into the future.
Do you think its quite honest?
I think it does.
I went back and watched the first film.
For me, she doesnt walk into that room 100% sure.
Shes maybe visited that room before, and realises it now.
I made sure by going back and watching the first film that things would play.
I know, isnt it!
Ive seen movies do it so well.
I thought that was brilliant, but they restructured it.
No, no, shes a CIA person, and she knew that he would understand.
Its much more convincing than Luke is Leias sister, Darth Vader is their Dad.
Ive never bought that.
You never bought that?
You think that was something they came up with later?
If George Lucas really had planned ahead, then the man comes off like a pervert.
I think he must have come up with it duringEmpire.
Hes trying to push Leia and Han, them being in love with each other.
Maybe its untrue, but I heard he came up with that on the fly.
She wroteThe Long Goodbyeand theres a lot of brilliant lines in that too.
Youre not here to talk aboutStar Wars.
So, lets talk about your style.
What tells you that youve put your camera in the right place?
Its a mixture of things.
Firstly, when youre writing the scene, you see a version of it in your head.
Its a wonderful mixture of creativity butting heads with the practical realities of filmmaking.
I think its always good when you write a script to be able to see the whole film.
And Id watch it in real time.
For ninety minutes Id be in a movie theatre in my mind, picturing each scene.
Your brain unconsciously puts the camera where youd most want it to be when you do this.
So you trust yourself on this?
You trust your gut instincts.
Its just that sometimes they dont mesh with the practical realities of filmmaking.
Did you pull away from your instinct with a lot of that stuff?
Its funny how it correlates.
This is perhaps why films work, why we can all watch them together and understand them.
The language is innate.
Yes, theres a lot about it in his bookIn The Blink Of An Eye.
He says that audiences subconsciously edit, and so hed count these blinks.
Thats fascinating to me.
Further proof that the unconscious mind constructs these films in a much better way.
Almost based upon what it needs.
So I did a bit of both.
It was surprising to me how much they matched up.
How is your next film going to be better?
Id like to think that I can talk to the crew a little better.
Id like to think I can now better hone in on emotions.
When youre editing a film, you discover what you should have done.
Its sort of the autopsy.
And, for a long time at least, it was literally cutting the thing apart with a scalpel.
You open up the corpse and looking at the gizzards.
You discover in the edit room why things didnt work.
If youre shooting a scene thats meant to emotionally resonate, ensure you get in close.
And if you dont have the notebook with the rule written down, youll probably forget it again.
I think theres an accumulation of things that you learn.
That was a real life example.
So, what did you do?
Sometimes weve ended up with a compromised version, but I think that goes for every film.
you’re free to be sat there watchingThe Godfatherthinking What a masterpiece!
When youre an audience member you dont know what youre missing.
I guess thats the curse of being the inside man.
Must be worse when you didnt direct your own screenplay and somebody else took it on.
Yeah, when youre a screenwriter theres definitely times when you think Oh, man, really?
Thats the way you went?
Ive had people come up to me in the past and say Why did you do that inSaw?
or Why did you do that inInsidious 2?
and Id say I didnt do anything.
Thats the thing about working with Blumhouse.
Im working on a few different things.
Im going back to films I love from the VHS era, films likeThe ThingandThe Terminator, andAlien.
Sci-fi thrillers, really?
Its funny how all of those films are sci-fi married to another genre.
Sci-fi horror, sci-fi action.
Thats one of the great things about science fiction; its really a production design thing.
Science fiction is the world, and the story that fits into that world could be anything.
It could be an action story, it could be a meditative, talky thriller.
you could make a haunted house movie in space.
Well, Ridley Scott did.
In terms of ambition, well, I really like writer-directors.
I like people who are solely responsible for worlds.
Im much more comfortable having ownership of the material, so I look at people like Rian Johnson.
I love what hes done.
If you look atLooperits a very inventive sci-fi movie, but its a world completely created by him.
Thats such a rule-driven, closed-off club.
I hope thats what theyre doing anyway.
Its much better to say Hey, were buying into your brand.
They did that with Chris Nolan, saying Give us the Chris Nolan version of Batman.
That is what I aspire to.
Im not sure Id be any good at Batman.
Id probably fuck it up.
Id rather create Ratman, my own hero, and then no-one can tell you that youre wrong.
Well, someone will.
Thanks again for your time, Leigh.
Insidious 3hits UK cinemas today.
