The Invisible Man
The Invisible Man , a joint project between Universal and Blumhouse Productions , aims to reinvent the roulette wheel in more ways than one . Originally planned as part of Universal ’s Dark Universe , the idea was make over after 2017’sThe Mummyfailed to revive the studio apartment ’s monster motion picture . Director and screenwriter Leigh Whannell then approached the story with a novel linear perspective : make the film about the victim instead of the villain .
While still based on the H.G. Wells novel of the same name , The Invisible Manfocuses on a woman named Cecilia ( Elisabeth Moss ) who narrowly escape her abusive young man Adrian ’s ( Oliver Jackson - Cohen ) get hold of only to find herself still haunt by him after his manifest demise . The poke leaves no doubtas to what is happening - Adrian is using the power of invisibleness to torment Cecilia as she endeavor to move on - but the question is how she will finally shoot down him .
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Whannell sit around down with Screen Rant in anticipation of the moving picture ’s February 28 release to discuss his inhalation behind the project , the importance of listening to other perspectives , and his own monster movie desire for the hereafter .
What first enliven you to flip the script on this story and make it about the victim ?
Leigh Whannell : I remember what inspired me was the estimation of making The Invisible Man chilling . I do n’t have intercourse that I ’ve seen a truly terrorise Invisible Man movie . I ’ve patently come across the original film , but it plays in a very historic circumstance . You have intercourse , what scares audiences in 1933 is n’t go to work in 2020 .
So , my first thought was , " How do I make this fictitious character truly scary and terrifying ? " And that lead to me thinking , " Well , you ’ve got to make him cryptical . " The picture ca n’t be about the Invisible Man ; it require to be about the victim of The Invisible Man , the individual that he ’s haunt . And that was fundamentally it . That was how I amount up with that .
And you did an amazing Book of Job in the handwriting , and with everything in the production giving us the subject matter that you have to believe her account , without hitting us over the foreland with it . How much did you delve into the scurrilous backstory with the actors when you were discuss it ? Because the story stems from that , even though we do n’t get to see their relationship .
Leigh Whannell : I mean , I talked to Lizzie a lot . Elisabeth and I had a raft of conversation . Before we started pullulate , we would sit in a room for hours - we would place aside three or four hours to just ride and go through the script and talk . And she really gave me this priceless distaff view on it that I take . That was the missing piece of the handwriting ; that true female insight .
She would talk to me about situation she ’d been in where she was uncomfortable . And she ’s lived through , like many women , relationships like this ; where she ’s felt insecure or she ’s felt that the person is manipulating her or being verbally abusive . So , there was this firsthand brainstorm into it . And that was , I think , the piece we require to finish the plastic film .
Also , I loved the way that the set was so receptive . peculiarly his house , where everything is field glass and feels so visible . Was that on purpose ? He ’s invisible , so everything else is visible .
Leigh Whannell : It was a very deliberate choice for that exact reason you stated . The thing is , whenever I make a film - any film , but even a thriller like this - my first dubiousness is , " What am I going to do that ’s alone ? How can I make this different ? " And the thing that come to mind is the unseeable Man does n’t necessitate shadows to obliterate in . This is not a monster that needs to hide in the darkness . He could be standing next to you in a brightly light tooth doctor ’s office , and you would n’t know .
So , I tell to the cinematographer , " We take to turn the lights on . " I ’ve made a lot of repugnance film with the light off . Now we ’re going to turn them on , which is dissatisfactory for him to get word because cameraman love dark . They require to film shadows , and he does n’t exactly want to turn the lights on . It ’s not a pretty trope . But I said , " We ’re going to do something unlike here . We ’re going to turn the light on . "
I give him the attic scene . He acquire to do it in complete darkness .
Is there any other monster myth , Universal or otherwise , that you would wish to like to tackle ?
Leigh Whannell : Oh , man . You live , it ’s fishy . I experience like Steven Spielberg dropped the mic on shark movies after he madeJaws . He ’s like , " Bye ! respectable luck making another one of those . " Nobody has been able to make , I call up , a really truly efficacious shark flick .
There ’s been some in effect ones , some fun ones likeDeep Blue Sea , over the years . But I always finger like the shark is the … Who can do that again ? Because it ’s been a recollective metre since Jaws came out . Is anyone adequate to ?
Although , now I feel wicked saying that , because sharks are endangered . get ’s scratch that . I do n’t want to make sharks nonextant . They ’re gon na have to do a when fauna set on film . We ’ll split it 50/50 .
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