Oh the joys of New York Comic Con. While in attendance of the massive geek convention, I had the opportunity to participate in roundtable interviews with Saw 3D: The Final Chapter director Kevin Greutert (who also directed Saw VI) and stars Cary Elwes (Dr. Gordon), Costas Mandylor (Hoffman) and Betsy Russell (Jill). The interviews went rather well and it was my first time participating in this type of event. Check out the results to see if Saw 3D will be your go-to movie come Halloween weekend.
During the interview my recorder started to bug out and I wasn’t able to hear the audio well. It was enough to get some quotes and more than enough to understand the conversation and get the important information that you all wanted to hear. Below you will find a recap of the interviews, mostly paraphrased, with some details about what to expect, favorite kills, and how filming in 3D affected the filming process. My apologies for not having it verbatim but in actuality I think this makes it easier for you to read.
First and foremost, every single individual confirmed that this would be the last Saw film in the franchise. When Kevin was asked if this was “the final chapter?” he stated “maybe there will be an appendices chapter” but it is the last “in terms of their intent.” Everyone states they wanted to go out with a bang, “they have told the stories of these characters” and have no real need to make another. At least we know for a fact that we won’t see it next year because Kevin mentioned that in general, “we have to have the movie written before the previous one comes out” and right now there is no script so we are at least safe for one year.
In terms of working in 3D here is what Betsy and Costas had to say. Betsy stated that filming in 3D was the same except it took a lot longer because of the set up. The crew would say they just need to move the camera over, stick around, and then two hours later they would say they hit a glitch and so the whole process just took forever.
Costas pretty much stated the same thing, mentioning that there “was a learning curve for everybody” and that because of the delays he was able to “fool around a little bit longer,” by tickling people that were stuck in the traps for example.
When asked about 3D being a fad, Kevin thinks “it’s here to stay” because many theaters “went all in” and converted to 3D. “As people start to see more 3D films that look good, they will accept it” and, as a result, he thinks it will be here to stay.
At one point, Cary and Betsy were asked why 3D? Betsy stated that “they wanted to make it in 3D for a while and wasn’t sure if it would work or not… they wanted to go out with a bang” and as a result ended up making the final film in 3D. Cary stated that the film “lends itself to the technology” because of the traps and the way the film is shot. The result: Cary says that this is “the most intense and extreme thing he has ever seen.”
Since this is the last film, everyone was asked which one was their favorite. Both Cary and Betsy said this one but the funny part about that is Betsy hasn’t even seen the film yet. Oh the joys of promotional interviews. As for Costas and viewing himself as “Jigsaw’s bastard son,” he loved Saw 6, thought four was great because he got to surprise the audience, and then in Saw “5 I had that monster scene with Tobin” which meant a lot to him for some reason but “in this particular one I got to let loose and do whatever the f*ck I wanted.” Let’s all just saw Saw VI was his favorite.
At one point Betsy was asked “where do[es Saw] fit in with regards to the other horror franchises?” With a ton of pride she said “we set the world record! We got the plaque! None of the other films have that.” So clearly having the highest grossing horror franchise is her way of making film history since she hasn’t hit A-list status yet.
Kevin was asked how he would classify the franchise and he simply stated that the Saw movies are in a class by itself. “Vampire movies come and go in cycles, so do zombie movies. I don’t know how long those cycles are, definitely not 7 years but I guess that’s why this is the last. We are quitting while we are ahead” which is why it felt right to end the franchise this year.
As for Kevin’s future, he “want[s] to make all types of movies but my next project will most likely be horror.” Go figure right?
One of the pieces of the interview that I thought was very interesting was why Cary was still participating in the Saw films and he stated that it’s “because the fans ask for him.” I never knew that and I’m a fan of most of the series. He also went on to say that he “never saw any of this coming…[and] didn’t expect the first movie to blow up into the franchise that it now is.”
I’d rather end on a high note so to leave you with some trivial fun facts, I give to you Costas and Kevin’s favorite kill/scene. Costas’ favorite was when he went to Vegas for Saw V and, after he finished tickling the guy’s nose who was stuck, the trap was turned on he realized how heavy it was. That was the trap in the beginning of the film before the screen goes black. When he went to a screening and the scene finished the audience went crazy. He “remember[s] it because of the impact the audience had on me, I remember that [one] specifically.”
As for Kevin, the carousel scene in Saw VI was his favorite and the reason is because right before they began shooting the scene, one of the actors asked if he could improvise a bit. Once Kevin said action the guy yelled “You spineless pussy-whipped mother fucker” before he was killed. Not only did Kevin not expect that but it added a bit more power to the scene than originally anticipated.
This is, for the most part, the bulk of the interviews. Hopefully you got some fun facts from it and plan on going to see the traps come alive this Halloween weekend when Saw 3D hits theaters on Friday, October 29th.
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