Silence filled the office where Jas Wan sat on the sofa, his gaze occasionally darting toward Matthew. Though he was no novice director, a knot of anxiety tightened in his stomach. He had prepared ticulously, but if the script failed to impress Matthew—his investor—all that work would be for nothing.
It wasn't for a lack of other offers. Several companies had approached him recently, but he'd turned them all down without a second thought. His loyalty was to Matthew, and for one simple reason: on Oscar night, Matthew had dared to antagonize Harvey Weinstein on his behalf. That single act was more than enough to make him honor his commitnt.
In all of Hollywood, including the six major studios, who would be willing to pick a fight with Harvey Weinstein for a minor director like him?
The Big Six might not have feared Harvey Weinstein, for the most part, but no one wanted to deal with a persistent fly buzzing around their ear.
Jas understood perfectly well what had happened that night. Matthew had gone to bat for him, a relatively small-ti director, and for a project with a laughably small budget.
He had also heard other news: rumors circulating from Warner Bros. claid that Matthew had snatched an investnt share in The Hobbit series from The Weinstein Company.
But to Jas, it looked like sothing else entirely. Matthew hadn't been after Harvey's investnt share; it was blatant revenge for being cornered by him on Oscar night!
He and Leigh Whannell might be able to scrape together the planned $1.5 million production budget, but a film was more than just shooting and editing. What about marketing and distribution? Who would promote it? Who would get it into theaters?
Getting the one and a half million dollars for production costs wasn't entirely out of reach for him and Leigh Whannell, but if only it were that simple...
That was just the production budget. The costs of marketing and distribution still lood large. How were they supposed to handle that? Who would promote the movie? Who would secure the theatrical run? The distribution fee alone could easily surpass the entire cost of production.
For the mont, Matthew paid no mind to Jas Wan’s anxiety, instead concentrating on the script he’d been given. The docunt was over a hundred pages long, yet the actual scenes outlining the story constituted less than half of its contents. The majority of the manuscript was dedicated to a ticulous shooting plan that Jas Wan had prepared.
According to the plan, Jas Wan only needed a single house and a few nearby streets for his shooting locations; the setting was remarkably simple.
Perhaps it was because he had just finished filming Inception, but Matthew felt the world Jas Wan had created in the script bore so resemblance to the film's multi-layered consciousness.
A person’s consciousness leaves the body, entering an "otherworld" full of darkness and grueso creatures...
The script was lean on characters and plot, revolving primarily around a single family.
The cast consisted of a family—a couple, Josh and his wife, plus their son or daughter, and possibly other children—a demon that preys on the young, and a team of exorcists, or psychics.
And that comprised the main cast.
After looking over the production schedule, Matthew closed the script and asked, "Jas, how co the child's gender hasn't been decided yet?"
Jas offered a sheepish smile. "I haven't decided if the character should be a boy or a girl yet."
Matthew wasn't sure what he ant by that.
"The character is supposed to be around eight or nine years old," Jas Wan elaborated. "It's not that easy to find good child actors in that age range. My plan was to see who we could find during casting. If we found the right actor, boy or girl, we'd just write the character to match."
Matthew nodded, not responding imdiately. He considered it for a mont, then said slowly, "I think... a girl would work better for the role."
Jas Wan remained silent, waiting for Matthew to elaborate.
Matthew explained, "Jas, think about it. Who is the primary audience for horror movies?"
The vast majority of horror films are R-rated, so the answer was obvious. Jas Wan replied without hesitation, "n."
"So..." Matthew spread his hands with a smile. "A character of the opposite gender will be more popular."
Jas Wan didn't understand the implication and looked confused.
Matthew added, "A cute, terrified little girl will obviously resonate more with that audience than a boy would. It'll trigger a paternal instinct in so viewers, a desire to protect their 'princess'."
Understanding dawned on Jas Wan. He thought for a mont before nodding in agreent. "You're right! Matthew, you're absolutely right!" He couldn't suppress a laugh. "Then it's settled!"
Matthew steered the conversation to the production itself. "Is one and a half million dollars going to be enough?"
Low-budget horror films were the quintessential example of making a small sum go a long way, and he had faith in Jas Wan. Since he was already planning to invest one and a half million, adding a few hundred thousand more wouldn't be a problem.
Jas Wan, however, shook his head. "One and a half million dollars is plenty. Horror movies don't need massive production budgets. If you can't scare an audience on a limited budget, you probably won't succeed in horror anyway."
Matthew gave a careful nod. "Then we'll keep the investnt small."
Jas Wan went on, "I think that if a horror film is done right, it can scare an audience without any jaw-dropping special effects. Directors in this genre have to be endlessly imaginative and find breakthroughs while working with limited resources."
"You're the expert here," Matthew admitted. He knew very little about horror films.
Since arriving in Hollywood, he had only ever been in one horror movie, Dawn of the Dead, and because he was the male lead, that film had been more of an action-horror hybrid.
Jas Wan was confident. "I've always believed that the hallmark of a great horror film is how a tiny detail can create a massive effect. The creak of a door, for instance, is enough to give you goosebumps, and it costs almost nothing to produce."
Matthew agreed with Jas Wan's perspective. "Whether a story is scary depends entirely on its execution."
"Yes." Jas Wan gestured to the script. "I like to put my own greatest fears into my screenplays. This one, for instance, draws on my biggest terror—waking up in the middle of the night and realizing soone is standing in the corner, just watching."
"So when are you planning to start pre-production?"
"Leigh Whannell has gone ho for a vacation, and I expect him back in about two weeks," Jas Wan said slowly. "Once he returns, we'll start putting the crew together."
Matthew gave another careful nod. "I'll have the studio get the financing in order." He looked at Jas Wan. "Jas, I told you I'd give you full creative control, and I ant it. You will be both producer and director on this project."
Jas Wan understood the weight of that promise and declared, "I'll give it my absolute best."
Matthew asked another question. "Will a year be enough ti?"
"Plenty," Jas Wan said confidently. "We'll start preparations next month, and I can have the film completed by May or June of next year."
"Excellent. In that case, we'll target a Halloween release for next year." Matthew paused in thought for a mont before adding, "Warner Bros. will handle the distribution."
Giving a film like this to Disney was obviously not a good idea. In any case, he had a strong working relationship with Warner Bros., so handing distribution over to them wouldn't be an issue.
Just then, Jas Wan scratched his head. "I already have two people in mind for the male and female leads—Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson."
Matthew had heard Jas Wan ntion both actors before, so he just said, "Casting is your call." Then he added a reminder, "Just make sure you find the right actress for the little girl's role."
"Right, I understand." Jas Wan nodded. "I don't have a lot of good candidates in that departnt. Matthew, you're well-connected in this town. Could you help
look?"
Matthew answered, "No problem."
Matthew didn't plan to interfere much with the project. Aside from financial oversight, it would be left almost entirely in Jas Wan's hands.
He hoped Jas Wan could unleash his full potential for horror and create another film like Saw—a low-investnt, high-return success.
After Jas Wan left, Matthew made a point to call Helen and ask her to keep an eye out for actresses born around the year 2000.
There truly weren't many young actors in that age bracket who could genuinely act, making them a scarce resource in Hollywood.
It wasn't just this one project from his studio that was in need of a young actor from that specific age group.
Aware of the difficulty in finding such talent, Sofia Coppola had also tasked Helen with preemptively searching for actresses to play Bella and Edward's daughter for the upcoming Twilight film.
The age requirents for both projects were very similar, and Matthew took Helen's advice to simply cast the sa actress for both roles, if it was feasible.
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