Apart from his DC blockbuster, Aquaman, starring Jason Momoa, filmmaker James Wan is primarily known for his work in the horror genre. And his 2023 filmography also mostly consists of his core genre. He has been associated as a producer with Insidious: The Red Door and The Nun II and an executive producer with the tenth installment in the Saw franchise, which started almost two decades ago with the 2004 movie.
During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Wan revealed how he got the idea for the first Saw movie that went on to become one of the most lucrative horror movie franchises of all time.
James Wan Got the Idea For Saw (2004) in the Shower
James Wan has been the name behind several popular and successful horror franchises, including Insidious and The Conjuring, which is also the highest-grossing horror franchise. The filmmaker made his directorial debut with the 2004 horror film Saw, which went on to be one of the most profitable horror films at the time.
The 2004 film follows two men trapped in a dirty bathroom with a dead body by the Jigsaw killer. It has since developed a franchise consisting of 10 movies, with the most recent being Saw X, released in September 2023. Talking about how he got the idea for the 2004 film, Wan shared that he and Leigh Whannell had been planning to work on something during the mid-to-late ’90s.
He shared that they spent a whole year thinking about the ideas to bring something new. And one day, he got that idea while taking a shower. After coming up with the “rough setup” of having two men chained up on the other sides of the room, he knew he wanted to end the story by revealing the person behind all that.
“I knew how I wanted the story to end with Jigsaw, this person who put them in that situation,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. He shared the same with his friend and the Saw co-creator Leigh Whannell, who returned to him with the story of the first-ever Saw film.
James Wan Pitched the Idea For Saw With a Short Film
After coming up with the plot for the movie, James Wan and Leigh Whannell spent another year working on the screenplay. However, getting the movie off the ground was not an easy task for them. As they continued working on it in Australia, their manager at the time, Stacey Testro, told them about an agent who wanted to meet Wan and Whannell.
However, the Aquaman director was not up for the idea of “flying thousands of miles from Australia to L.A.” to meet someone. He then decided to pitch the movie with a short film. He shared during his interview with The Hollywood Reporter,
“Why don’t we show these guys that I’m a filmmaker and that you want to act? Let’s pool our money together and make a short that represents our vision for the script, and we’ll see what they think.”
It worked out, and the duo met producers Mark Burg, Oren Koules, and Gregg Hoffman, who saw the potential in the filmmakers and the story. They offered the movie to be made on a really low budget. The 2004 film was reportedly given a budget of slightly more than $1 million and became a box office hit by grossing $103 million worldwide.
Saw (2004) is available on Prime Video.
Saw X is playing in theatres.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
