One of the most lucrative horror movie franchises of all time would be the Saw series, which kicked off with the original film in 2004 from director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell. That first movie tells the story of two men, played by Cary Elwes and Whannell, who wake up chained in a dirty bathroom with what appears to be a dead man’s body on the ground in between them. After several story twists and turns, it is revealed that this has all been orchestrated by Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), a cancer patient looking to teach others a hard lesson about the value of life.
Whannell penned the screenplay, though the story is based on a concept that was originally conceived by Wan. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Wan shares the full story behind where the idea for the horror movie came from. At the time, he was specifically looking to collaborate with Whannell on a project, but they couldn’t quite nail down a specific idea. That would change one day when the concept for Saw came to Wan out of the blue as a shower thought. As the director explains:
“It was the mid-to-late ’90s, and Leigh and I really wanted to cut through the noise of all the indie movies that were coming out at that time, so we spent a whole year thinking about story ideas. And one day, as I was in the shower, I thought, ‘What about a movie with two people stuck in a bathroom with a really grungy toilet? They have no idea how they got in there, and they’re chained to opposite sides of the room.’ So I only knew the rough setup, and then I knew how I wanted the story to end with Jigsaw, this person who put them in that situation. And so I pitched a really simple setup and finale to Leigh, and he was like, ‘Oh, wow. Let me think about it.’ So he went off, and he came back to me with Saw.”
Wan also spoke about how life as they knew it would change forever for himself and Whannell after the release of Saw. From there, both have found further success in Hollywood outside of the franchise, and Wan feels grateful ot have been able to have his first movie be such to a hit, resulting in his ensuing accomplishments. Wan explains:
“When Saw became this mainstream indie hit, life did change in a big way. It put Leigh and I into the spotlight as these two young guys with genre film ideas that were worth rolling the dice on. So we were very fortunate that our first movie was such a big film and has gone on to become one of the biggest franchises ever, not just in the horror genre, but Hollywood in general. So we’re very thankful for what the Saw franchise has done for us.”
The Saw Franchise Will Return With Saw X
Many sequels would follow that original Saw movie, and the franchise lives on to this day. A new film in the series, Saw X, is set to hit theaters just in time for Halloween this year. The film brings back Tobin Bell as Jigsaw alongside Saw II star Shawnee Smith as Amanda Young. Plot details are still unclear, so it remains to be seen how these deceased characters will be factored into the story of the sequel.
Saw X will be released in movie theaters on Oct. 27, 2023.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
