OK I thought we were finally finished talking about Lionsgate's Saw III, which we just added a review for here. Hopefully this final piece and then this weekend's box office results will put the nail in the coffin until a DVD announcement is made further down the line. Inside you'll find our article from the Los Angeles press day where B-D reporter Joe Hui talked with the cast and crew of Saw III, which is now in theaters everywhere!
SAW III JUNKET
By Joe Hui
We got the great opportunity to meet the minds and faces behind Saw III and ask them a few questions. We got to meet with were Director; Darren Lynn Bousman, Writer; Leigh Whannell, Shawnee Smith, Tobin Bell, Angus Macfadyen, Bahar Soomekh and got to know the gears behind Saw III
With our good luck we started with Leigh and Darren who started things off with goofy antics and a plethora of jokes to us. They said that Saw III was long planned a year a go with some major crunch time though it was a bit more time than they had with Saw II. One of the questions posed was how much studio influence was in the film? Which Darren and Leigh answered with a, not very much. Just a little bit at the ending, but this story was all Leigh, James and Darren and definitely caps this chapter in the Saw series. The trio will most likely not return to the series after Saw III, except to come up with titles (jokingly). They also revealed that there will be nearly an hour of extra footage that will be on the DVD to the delight of this writer.
Next Leigh went on with how Saw III is not the same cookie cutter like story that most sequels end up being. The story is fresh and has a different theme than both of the previous films. The final question was regarding the traps that everyone loves and how this time they are just much bigger and more elaborate than ever. Darren tells a story on how he made sure that all the traps can all work before the shoot and one of the testing days, the poor stunt man in the trap actually got slightly hurt as the release did not go off. Leigh adds that as they were being built he asked Darren if they were going to hell this time.
Immediately following the duo was Bahar Soomekh who plays Lynn in the film. Her character is that of a doctor who is forced to keep Jigsaw alive as long as another character Jeff plays the game. Bahar started right away about how Lionsgate offered her the roll because of her relationship with them from Crash. To learn to be a doctor for the film she actually watched brain surgery films so that she would know what her character was doing. In the film she wears a huge collar trap, Bahar informed us that her trap was completely made of metal and was very heavy on her shoulders. She elaborates on her character in the film about a scene that was cut that involved a hardcore fight she had with Amanda (Shawnee Smith) while wearing the heavy contraption on her shoulders. She seemed very proud of that moment since it is her first on camera fight scene.
Angus Macfadyen graced us while drinking a glass of Double Shot telling us about his experience with the Saw series and describing how he perceived Jeff. He wouldn’t have been as interested in the film if he was the guy that got all the gory things happen to him but Jeff is more of a witness to the horrible fate of the torture victims. That being the case, he really liked the interesting dilemma of a man who can affect the fate of these other people. Speaking on working on big budget vs low budget films he describes that was in such a small location it felt like a trap in it’s own right at times.
Tobin Bell came by after a short break to tell us the complexity of Jigsaw and his relationship with Amanda is more of a love story in this film. When asked if he was willing to come back for more sequels he said definitely is interested in reprising the roll but it all depends on how the film will do. He enjoys how thought provoking Jigsaw is to the audience being genuinely someone who wants to help people via extreme mind games. In this roll he is drawn to his relationship with Amanda and what she meant to him. With the subtle touches and glances they give each other they show the audience that they really care about each other.
Ending our visit is with Jigsaw’s protégé Shawnee Smith talked about how she would have totally auditioned wrong if she were just going for Saw III and wasn’t already tied into the series. She had a totally different vision of Amanda in the second film that what she ended up being, due to her pregnancy. She had wanted to be a buffed up and tougher woman rather than what ended up working extremely well in the film. She would have walked into this being tougher but the character has already been established so the consistency needed to be there. She spoke on how she finally got to work with Tobin as since for the last two films she had only shot one or two scenes with him and she felt that her dynamic with him was very much a friendly rivalry. After their first scene working together they both realized that the other was here to play. Which she felt was great and had a blast doing.
That pretty much sums up the experience on meeting our day with the ladies and gents behind Saw III, they were great and the film is a great little joyride. Catch it in all theaters Friday Oct. 27.
We got the great opportunity to meet the minds and faces behind Saw III and ask them a few questions. We got to meet with were Director; Darren Lynn Bousman, Writer; Leigh Whannell, Shawnee Smith, Tobin Bell, Angus Macfadyen, Bahar Soomekh and got to know the gears behind Saw III
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