Profile: James Wan Modern Day Horror Legend
Warner Bros. Pictures
October is the time to celebrate the films that made our worst nightmare seem like a reality. From creating vicious movie monsters to psychological mind benders, the genre has taken many twists and turns in storytelling. The main purpose of a film is to evoke an emotion and for horror that emotion is fear. Throughout the decades horror films has evolved from being afraid of the big bad werewolf to your secretly evil next door neighbor. Horror films of the early 2000’s mainly consisted of remakes of classics and foreign horror films such as The Ring and Friday the 13th. But with the release of 2004 Saw, the genre took a sharp turn diving deep into a new kind of narrative not many audiences were prepared to watch. Critics at the time thought ill of the film, New York Times felt like the film was "a distasteful idea." But nonetheless , the film garnered over 50 million dollars and spawned out to create a series of six films. Director James Wan stylistic technique approach to horror and gore, developed a new age of filmmaking that has ever since changed the horror films we see today.
The Malaysian born director received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the film school at RMIT in Australia. That school helped embark Wan’s career as a director, putting him in a space to meet close classmate and soon to be creative collaborator, Leigh Whannell. In an interview with the AV Club, Whannell spoke about the first time he saw James’ short film “Zombie Apocalypse” he knew from that moment on they needed to be friends. After graduation, Wan was like any ordinary film school graduate, working at unfulling jobs to get by and hopefully save up to make a movie. Successful independent directors like Kevin Smith and Robert Rodriguez who paved the way using their own finances, inspired Wan to do the same. Before becoming an iconic horror film director, James Wan first feature length film was Stygian, an indie horror film that competed in the Melbourne Underground film festival and won Best Use of the Guerilla Aesthetic, but it wasn’t quite the film to shoot him up to stardom. Having kept in contact with Whannell, the two pitched ideas to one another and decided to create a simple film with a five-thousand dollar budget. In an interview with AV Club, Wan shares how he pitched what would be his breakthrough film, Saw. Wan envisioned “ two guys in a room, and lying between them was a dead body on the floor. They have a gun and a tape player” unsure of what would happen between the beginning and the end, Whannell used his screenwriting skills to make one of the most popular horror films to date. Not having enough money to make the whole film, Wan wanted to film an excerpt to pitch and show production executives that he had an eye for direction.
Lionsgate took on the productions and funded the film, making a five-thousand budget jump to 1 million. Saw was released in 2004 and became Wan’s directorial debut into the mainstream film industry. The film release made 55 million dollars domestically and over a little over 40 million internationally making over 100 million and eighty times more than its budget, the Saw series was green-light, turning into a billion dollar horror movie franchise. Wan went on to direct two box office flops with 2007 Dead Silence and Brian Garfield book adaptation of 2007 Death Sentence starring Kevin Bacon. During the production of Death Sentence, Wan recalled a timed when Kevin Bacon spoke to him and said “..that there will be bumps along the way — ups and downs — but always remember what you are capable of,” Wan said “I really took it to heart.” After taking a short break from directing to produce many other horror films and the Saw franchise, Wan directed 2011 Insidious starring Patrick Wilson who would later star in more of Wan’s films and Rose Bryne who also made a name in the industry through Wan’s work. Insidious was immensely popular grossing about 97 million in the box office attracting horror producer Jason Blume of BlumeHouse productions attention to further produce two more films in the franchise which each made over 150 millions dollars in the box office. Blume has great respect for Wan and claimed “He’s got great instincts, and he clearly sees the movie in his head before he shoots it, and the scares are all choreographed. He works quickly but is still great with actors.”
Greg Harmon
Signing a deal with Warner Brothers , Wan was allowed more creative freedom with a bigger budget, which resulted in the release of the highly esteemed horror film, The Conjuring in 2013. Known to be based on a true story, about the couple paranormal investigators, Lorraine and Ed Warren experience in a particular haunted family home. Critics were shocked by its overall “above average thriller” performance, The Conjuring has become one of Wan’s most highest ranked films, resting at an eighty-five percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Soon after the release of Insidious chapter 2, Wan took some time and slightly tweaked his direction. He became the go to guy for anything horror related, with hit after hit Wan finally geared his attention into something different when he directed the seventh installment of one of the most popular action film franchises with Fast Furious 7. The film made over 1.5 billion dollars worldwide it’s jam packed cast of stars such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez and the late Paul Walker. The film garnered an eighty-one percent on Rotten Tomatoes and Variety ranked it as the number one Fast and Furious film. Wan’s production company, Atomic Monster only adds to his long streak of success in the industry, even more so when he landed the job to direct a superhero film.
James Wan was excited to direct a film that was never done before knowing the character only appeared once in Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice, he had the creative space to make his own spin on the superhero film world. Having the chance to direct Aquaman’s origin story, Wan had fun adapting his version of the character but soon found himself discovering the similarities he shared with the character. The struggles Aquaman faced being both human and aquatic being touched Wan deeply as Malaysian man of Chinese descent moving to Australia at the young age of seven, he understood the difficulty of fitting in and blending into a new culture while maintaining the ones roots. In an interview with the Inquirer Wan said “It definitely gave me a very specific point of view about how to approach this character – and the fact that (lead actor) Jason (Momoa) is himself biracial meant we were sort of symbiotically on the same page.” Aquaman’s origin story evolved to an important message of self acceptance which was refreshing for Wan to “actually have something to say in the films that they make.” The film was a massive hit making over one billion dollars worldwide, which ultimately solidified his place as director for Aquaman 2.
Wan’s work embarked on a new age for the horror film genre by encouraging original haunting content that has taken over the 2010’s. His accomplishments as a filmmaker has not only left a lasting impact in the genre with the unforgettable character of Billy The puppet. His films bring communities of horror junkies alike as he continues to produce new work filled with terror and action for the next generation of movie-goers to enjoy.