Oh yes, there will
be blood. And pizza.
Lots of pizza. At least
there was earlier this week when the fine folks at Lions Gate hosted
a special advance screening of SAW
II for select genre press. You see, it was us online
folks who helped propel the original SAW to greatness last year,
when the little-heralded film shocked the world and grossed over $18
million in its opening weekend alone! (it went on to make over $55M
in domestic gross) The studio
sought to return the favor by giving us all an exclusive look at the
highly anticipated sequel, which opens wide next Friday, October
28th.
I’m precluded
from giving a review of the film, but suffice it to say that, as
promised, there was indeed blood. Lots
and lots of blood. Oh, and our
very own John Fallon, aka The
Arrow, has a pretty sweet cameo in the film.
(I’m happy to report that his lines did in fact make the
final cut.)
Prior the
screening, Aussie co-writer and executive producer Leigh Whannell
got up and said a few words. Then
he presented a videotaped intro by director/co-writer Darren Lynn
Bousman, who was busy promoting the film in Japan.
Afterward there was
a brief Q&A featuring Whannell, producers Greg Hoffman and Mark
Burg, and star Tobin Bell (Hoffman has been contributing his own SAW
II diaries exclusively to JoBlo.com and the Arrow in the Head over
the past few months– you can check those out HERE).
Here are some excerpts:
The story
actually began as an original script by Bousman that had been
previously passed on by Twisted Pictures.
When Lions Gate pressed Twisted for a Saw sequel,
Whannell and Wan were already at work on the film SILENCE and
weren’t available to write it. SAW
Cinematographer Dave Armstrong encouraged Twisted to take
another look at Bousman’s script, and producers decided to use
it as the basis for the SAW sequel.
Whannell gave the script a re-write in order to, as he
put it, “Saw-ify” the story.
They were
shocked at the leniency of the MPAA, who pretty much gave them
everything they wanted. They’d
shot some footage that they assumed the ratings folks would want
removed, but they actually didn’t object much at all.
So don’t expect too much extra footage in the
“uncut” DVD.
They’ve
tossed around ideas for a third SAW but nothing specific has
been fleshed out yet. The
film definitely leaves room for another sequel (or sequels).
According to
producer Mark Burg, Saw II’s budget was around $4 million.
(The budget for the original Saw was $1.2 million.)
More to come soon.
Props to the folks at Lions Gate for the sneak peak.
Whannel with the man of the hour, Jigsaw
Whannel with the other man of the hour, producer Gregg Hoffman
Producer Gregg Hoffman chatting it up with me, Thomas Leupp
Questions? Comments?
Manifestos? Send them to me at thomasleupp@joblo.com.