At one point, we had heard that Orphan: First Kill – a prequel to the 2009 movie Orphan (watch it HERE) – would be reaching theatres on January 28, 2022… but that’s clearly not the case anymore, since that date is three days away and we still haven’t seen any marketing for the movie. So we’ll have to wait a while longer for this one, but The Hollywood Reporter did recently talk to star Isabelle Furhman about the film, and during the interview Fuhrman said she is “thoroughly disturbed” by how effective their attempt to make her look like a child again turned out to be.
Furhman’s character is Esther. In the first Orphan, she appeared to be a 9-year-old kid from Russia, but turned out to be thirty-something serial killer from Estonia. Looking 9 was easy for Fuhrman at the time because she was a child when she made that movie… but now she’s reprising the role as an adult in Orphan: First Kill, and she still has to look like a kid. She told The Hollywood Reporter,
to reprise a role that you literally did as a kid as an adult has never been done before. It’s kind of impossible. And we did it. We didn’t use special effects, we didn’t use any crazy makeup tricks. And I think that’s what makes the movie work, is because you really can’t figure out how I look like a [9-year-old], but I do. And it’s really creepy. … I know how we did this. I know all the tricks, and I’m so thoroughly disturbed right now, because I somehow am nine years old again, and it doesn’t make any sense… I was like, how do I revisit this part and then also convincingly play a kid? Because that was the easy part last time, the hard part was trying to be an adult. Now the hard part is I have to be kid.”
Fuhrman also mentioned that script for the Orphan prequel had been on the table for a while, but she was inspired to push the project forward after seeing a 2019 episode of Dr. Phil in which reality seemed to be copying the fictional story of Orphan. That particular episode happens to be titled “Ukrainian Orphan: Child or Adult Sociopath?” and has the following synopsis:
An interview with the Ukrainian orphan whose adoptive parents have been accused of abandoning her when she was just 8 years old; they say Natalia, who has a form of dwarfism, is really a sociopathic adult posing as a child — who tried to kill them.
Fuhrman was an associate producer on Orphan: First Kill and
got to be a part of the creative process of like, how can we tell this story differently? How can we come back and make this cooler or more interesting and different?”
Directed by William Brent Bell from a screenplay by David Coggeshall, Orphan: First Kill has the following synopsis:
Leena Klammer orchestrates a brilliant escape from an Estonian psychiatric facility and travels to America by impersonating the missing daughter of a wealthy family. But Leena’s new life as “Esther” comes with an unexpected wrinkle and pits her against a mother who will protect her family at any cost.
Julia Stiles, Rossif Sutherland, Matthew Finlan, and Hiro Kanagawa are also in the cast.
Co-financed by eOne and Dark Castle, Orphan: First Kill was produced by James Tomlinson, with Dark Castle Entertainment’s Alex Mace, Hal Sadoff, and Ethan Erwin. Original Orphan screenwriter David Leslie Johnson served as executive producer alongside Daryl Katz, Chloe Katz, Paul Marcaccio, Victor Moyers and Kyle Irving. Kelly Gallagher and Robert Bell co-produced, with Jen Gorton and Josie Liang overseeing for eOne. Fuhrman also has an associate producer credit.
The film has been rated R for “bloody violence, language, and brief sexual content“.
I really want to see Orphan: First Kill, so hopefully they’ll be announcing a release date and sticking to it very soon.