Interviews
‘The Boogeyman’ Director Rob Savage Reveals the ‘Star Wars’ Connection That Disney Shot Down [Interview]
One of the more effective scares teased in the trailer of The Boogeyman, the latest from director Rob Savage (Host, Dashcam), makes terrifying use of a glowing moon ball in the dark. This moment encapsulates the horror movie’s quintessential light versus dark, good versus evil battle.
Ahead of The Boogeyman’s release in theaters this Friday, Bloody Disgusting spoke with Savage about the fear of the dark and crafting scares from it, which led to a surprising revelation about the light source that Disney vetoed that would’ve created an accidental Star Wars connection.
Because light is so vital in The Boogeyman, Savage explained his approach during our chat. He told us, “I wanted it to be simple and classic. It really is a story about light and dark, and we boil everything down to a very simple mythology. I wanted it to feel like the story that everyone already knows in their gut; you know that you’re not going to see the creature in the light. You know that’s a thing that lives in the darkness. So, we had this motif of light and dark and what’s lurking in the shadows. From there, it was really about how to give every single scare scene its own identity.
Savage continued, “I think James Wan is so great at doing this, and I forced everyone to sit through all the Conjuring movies. Every single scene, every scare scene you can identify by the hide and clap scene, everyone knows what you’re talking about as soon as you say that.
“I wanted it to be the same way in The Boogeyman, but with light. So, you talk about the moon ball; everyone can picture that sequence. You talk about the red light; it’s very distinctive. Between me and Eli Born, the cinematographer, we tried to come up with different ways to incorporate this idea of a kind of battle between light and dark. Also, the red light sequence is so pivotal. Coming up with light sources that are unreliable or that only illuminate the room in quick bursts, like the Christmas lights, obviously has these periods of darkness in between. And just using light to make the audience feel as anxious as possible was basically our directive.”
Vivien Lyra Blair as Sawyer Harper in 20th Century Studios’ THE BOOGEYMAN. Photo by Patti Perret.
© 2023 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
The moon ball that young Sawyer Harper (Vivien Lyra Blair) holds is instantly recognizable, but Savage initially had a very different light source in mind that was inspired by his own childhood: a toy lightsaber. Because Blair previously starred in “Obi-Wan Kenobi” as young Leia Organa, however, Savage reveals how Disney prompted him to rethink his idea.
“The moon ball was interesting because we came up with it at the very last minute. It was meant to be a lightsaber originally,” he explains. “Because when I was a kid, I had a light that would fritz out. So, when she was in the hallway, she was meant to be holding this lightsaber, and it was meant to stop working and messing up. I’d forgotten that Vivian played Princess Leia, and Disney didn’t want her holding a knockoff lightsaber that was fritzing out. They thought that was a bad look, so we had to come up with something fast, and we just Googled kids’ toys that light up, and we found this moon ball and rewrote the scenes in an afternoon. And it just ended up being the most distinctive image of the movie, little Vivian with the moon ball. So, it’s great. Normally when things like that come up, it always changes the film for the better.”
Does Savage’s childhood lightsaber inspiration mean he’s personally acquainted with Sawyer’s deep fear of the dark? “I’m still afraid of the dark,” the filmmaker candidly answers. “I think everyone’s afraid of the dark on some level. And that’s what I was trying to do with this one; take everyone back to being that scared little kid sitting in the darkness, imagining that your hoodie draped over the back of the chair is a person staring at you; trying to evoke those fears.“
The Boogeyman releases in theaters on June 2, 2023.
Only one episode remains in Season 3 of “Chucky,” and what a bloody road it’s been so far, especially for actor Devon Sawa. The actor has now officially died twice on screen this season, pulling double duty as President James Collins and body double Randall Jenkins.
If you thought Chucky’s ruthless eye-gouging of the President was bloody, this week’s Episode 7 traps Randall Jenkins in an elevator that feels straight out of an iconic horror classic.
Bloody Disgusting spoke with series creator Don Mancini and actor Devon Sawa about that ultra-bloody death sequence and how the actor inspires Mancini’s writing on the series.
Mancini explains, “Devon’s a bit of a muse. Idle Hands and Final Destination is where my Devon Sawa fandom started, like a lot of people; although yours may have started with Casper. I was a bit too old for that. But it’s really just about how I love writing for actors that I respect and then know. So, it’s like having worked with Devon for three years now, I’m just always thinking, ‘Oh, what would be a fun thing to throw his way that would be unexpected and different that he hasn’t done?’ That’s really what motivates me.”
For Sawa, “Chucky“ is an actor’s dream in that the series gives him not one but multiple roles to sink his teeth into, often within the same season. But the actor is also a huge horror fan, and Season 3: Part 2 gives him the opportunity to pay homage to a classic: Kubrick’s The Shining.
CHUCKY — “There Will Be Blood” Episode 307 — Pictured in this screengrab: (l-r) Devon Sawa as President James Collins, K.C. Collins as Coop — (Photo by: SYFY)
“Collectively, it’s just amazing to put on the different outfits, to do the hair differently, to get different types of dialogue,“ Sawa says of working on the series. “The elevator scene, it’s like being a kid again. I was up to my eyeballs in blood, and it felt very Kubrick. Everybody there was having such a good time, and we were all doing this cool horror stuff, and it felt amazing. It really was a good day.”
Sawa elaborates on being submerged in so much blood, “It was uncomfortable, cold, and sticky, and it got in my ears and my nose. But it was well worth it. I didn’t complain once. I was like, ‘This is why I do what I do, to do scenes like this,‘ the scenes that I grew up watching on VHS cassette, and now we’re doing it in HD, and it’s all so cool.“
It’s always the characters and the actors behind them that matter most to Mancini, even when he delights in coming up with inventive kills and incorporating horror references. And he’s killed Devon Sawa’s characters often. Could future seasons top the record of on-screen Sawa deaths?
“Well, I guess we did it twice in season one and once in season two,“ Mancini counts. “So yeah, I guess I would have to up the ante next season. I’ll really be juggling a lot of falls. But I think it’s hopefully as much about quality as quantity. I want to give him a good role that he’s going to enjoy sinking his teeth into as an actor. It’s not just about the deaths.”
Sawa adds, “Don’s never really talked about how many times could we kill you. He’s always talking about, ‘How can I make this death better,’ and that’s what I think excites him is how he can top each death. The electricity, to me blowing up to, obviously in this season, the eyes and with the elevator, which was my favorite one to shoot. So if it goes on, we’ll see if he could top the deaths.”
CHUCKY — “Death Becomes Her” Episode 305 — Pictured in this screengrab: Devon Sawa as James Collins — (Photo by: SYFY)
The actor has played a handful of distinctly different characters since the series launch, each one meeting a grisly end thanks to Chucky. And Season 3 gave Sawa his favorite characters yet.
“I would say the second one was a lot of fun to shoot,“ the actor says of Randall Jenkins. “The President was great. I liked playing the President. He was the most grounded, I hope, of all the characters. I did like playing him a lot.” Mancini adds, “He’s grounded, but he’s also really traumatized, and I thought you did that really well, too.”
The series creator also reveals a surprise correlation between President James Collins’ character arc and a ’90s horror favorite.
“I saw Devon’s role as the president in Season 3; he’s very Kennedy-esque,“ Mancini explains. “But then given the supernatural plot turns that happen, to me, the analogy is Michelle Pfeiffer in What Lies Beneath, the character that is seeing these weird little things happening around the house that is starting to screw with his sanity and he starts to insist, ‘I’m seeing a ghost,‘ and his spouse thinks he’s nuts. So I always like that. That’s Michelle Pfeiffer in What Lies Beneath, which is a movie I love.”
The finale of “Chucky” Season 3: Part 2 airs Wednesday, May 1 on USA & SYFY.
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