Quotes by Leigh Whannell - Page 2

I remember telling ghost stories with my cousins when I was four, five, six-years-old. I've just always loved it. But I think you're drawn to things you're terrified of.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Cousin
Ghost
Thinking
Copy Quote
James Wan is somebody who doesn't have any problem coming in and directing somebody else's script, he'll be the director for hire and he has his own style and he loves that.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Directing
Hire
James
Copy Quote
I do feel like in filmmaking you are largely in control of the perception of you. If you want to be seen as the comedic person you've got to write a comedy and go after that.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Filmmaking
Perception
Largely
Copy Quote
If you chose to be an actor, if you take that baton and say 'OK, this is what I want to do with my life.' you're really putting your fate and your life in the hands of others.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Baton
Fate
Life Your My Life
Chose
Life My Life Your
Copy Quote
I just try to write literally what I love. That's usually the barometer that I use. As trite as it sounds, I'm like, 'what would I want to see? What would I be excited about?'
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Barometer
Trite
Copy Quote
The good thing about directing a screenplay that you've written is that you see the film in your head as you're writing it and then you see those decisions through to the end.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Directing
Good Thing
Screenplay
Copy Quote
In a lot of ways knowledge kills fear. Once you know who the boogie man is, once you know what's under the bed, it can still be frightening but that fear of the unknown is gone.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Boogie
Unknown
Copy Quote
Writing a screenplay is an act of faith. First, that it's interesting enough that anyone would want to make it. Secondly, that anybody would want to watch it, let alone enjoy it.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Screenplay
Secondly
Copy Quote
Usually with me, the ideas I have for movies just sort of pop into my head. I've read a bunch of screenwriting books over the years and, to be honest, they're mostly pretty crappy.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Screenwriting
Crappy
To Be Honest
Copy Quote
I think the way to create a lot of terror in a haunted house film is to have a bunch of people who have no idea what's happening to them, and you sort of live the movie through their eyes.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
No Idea
Terror
Eyes People Way
Haunted
Copy Quote
One of our film lecturers, one of the guys teaching the course, said to the departing film class, 'No one in this room is going to make it, as a filmmaker.' I have no idea why he said that.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Departing
Filmmaker
No Idea
Copy Quote
Well you know, the big trick with 'Saw,' the sleight of hand that you have to pull off is that - spoiler alert - the bad guy, the antagonist, is right there in front of your face, literally.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Antagonist
Alert
Bad Guy
Trick
Copy Quote
I think that's the problem, when you're a young filmmaker and you're starting out, you don't know people, you're easily lead, you don't know the right people to talk to, you really need guides.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Guides
Right People
Copy Quote
Certain stories need the resources of a studio. If you're telling a story about a giant robot war in outer space, you're going to need the money and the resources most of the time to do it justice.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Outer Space
Giant
Outer
Copy Quote
When the whole 'Saw' thing died down, I feel like I had praise withdrawals. I had never been congratulated so much on something in my life. So, it was a really amazing whirlwind when 'Saw' came out.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Praise
Whirlwind
Life Amazing My Life
Copy Quote
You know, by the time you get to the fourth film in a franchise you're really mining for something different. You're really looking for a way to go about things that the audience hasn't already seen.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Fourth
Mining
By The Time
Copy Quote
I like pointing the camera at the actors and letting them fight. Don't let the camera do the fighting for you, and don't let the camera give them the adrenaline hit. Let the people in the frame do that.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Adrenaline
Pointing
Fight Fighting People
Frame
Letting
Copy Quote
I love, and I've always loved, contained sci-fi films that utilize practical effects. I feel like the human eye can tell when something is actually in the frame and when it was inserted digitally later.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Effects
Sci Fi
Love Always Feel
Contained
Frame
Love Feel Always
Human Eye
Inserted
Practical
Utilize
Copy Quote
In chatting to directors over the years, including James Wan, they always tell you the war stories. No one ever says, 'Oh, I had a great time on that film.' It's always this went wrong, that went wrong.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Chatting
War Time Great
Great Time
James
Copy Quote
What I love about writing is that you don't need anyone's permission to do it. You can just get up in the morning, grab a pad and pen and start writing. With acting you're really beholden to everyone else.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Morning
Acting
Writing
Copy Quote
The problem with acting is that there's really no control. You're at the behest of others. Everyone else decides if you did a good job and you have to wait for other people's permission to work as an actor.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Jobs
People
Waiting
Copy Quote
I've actually written a children's film called 'The Myth,' which you could say is like a big 'Harry Potter'-esque fantasy for kids, and that's a film I would love to see get made. That's a dream project of mine.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Myth
Harry
Copy Quote
When I directed the third 'Insidious' film I loved it so much that I decided this is what I want to do from now on. I don't even think I would write something as a screenplay now with no intention of directing it.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Insidious
Intention
Directed
No Intention
Screenplay
Copy Quote
I wasn't a frustrated writer who really wanted to act or a frustrated writer who really wanted to direct. I was really happy writing screenplays, and there's a lot of people who just do that - they're screenwriters.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Frustrated
Screenplays
Copy Quote
I think I've had a lot of experience with watching other people shepherd my ideas with the 'Saw' films. They made four 'Saw' movies without me. I never really had a protective or fierce policy towards that. I let it go.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Protective
Experience Movies Me
Shepherd
Copy Quote
I mean I met James Wan at film school. That's where we met. I didn't go to film school to find someone else to work with. I was thinking I would go and learn to direct and go and be a director like everyone else at school.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Film School
Everyone Else
James
Copy Quote
The great thing about horror films is that they work on a low budget. The genre is the star. You don't need big movie stars, and I actually think a lot of times that the best horror films are the low budget contained ones.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Big Movie
Genre
Stars
Best Work Great
Budget
Star
Contained
Great Thing
Horror Films
Low
Movie Stars
Copy Quote
Saw' was a film that James Wan and I came up with back in Australia and we were just hoping anyone, literally, anyone would make that film and if nobody would give us the money we were going to shoot it in a garage somewhere.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Garage
Hoping
James
Copy Quote
I think, what happened with 'Dead Silence' is that other people told us that we should be doing that and now that I look back, I realize, 'should' is not a word that comes into an art. It's whatever you're feeling like doing.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Silence
Copy Quote
I feel like with the first 'Insidious' film we had a massive cache of stories and scares that we'd built up over the years. It was like a band, you know they say a band has forever to write their first album because no one cares.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Insidious
No One Cares
Cares
Scares
Copy Quote
If you look back at a film like 'Dawn of the Dead' - You can either watch it as a straight-up genre film and have fun with zombies being shot, or you can look at it as a metaphor for consumerism. Or a metaphor for the Vietnam war.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Consumerism
Dawn
Metaphor
Vietnam
Vietnam War
Have Fun
Zombies
Copy Quote
The good thing with 'Insidious' and 'The Further' is that it's so nebulous, this supernatural world, that it allows you to bend things. There's a lot of room, it's very malleable, like how in the second film we had a lot of time travel.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Insidious
Time Travel
Time Good Travel
Bend
Good Thing
Malleable
Supernatural
Copy Quote
I found myself in this conundrum of loving acting, but not liking the path that you have to take to do it. I was just never good at auditioning, so basically I decided I would just write my own stuff and if I could get a role in it, then fine.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
If I Could
Auditioning
Copy Quote
I always say that the horror genre and the comedy genre are close cousins because they are the two genres where you are attempting to elicit an involuntary vocal response from a crowd of people and you instantly know whether it's working or not.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Attempting
Involuntary
Response
Vocal
Always Where People
Always People Know
Crowd
Elicit
Genres
Instantly
Copy Quote
I mean, I certainly wouldn't want to paint myself as, you know, the evangelist for practical effects or some sort of anti CG guy because it's really a tool. Like filmmaking is this toolbox and you use what's appropriate in relation to the story.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Appropriate
Effects
Filmmaking
Paint
Relation
Anti
Evangelist
Practical
Copy Quote
Writing feels safe, you know, it's a hard job, but at least you're in your office or wherever you are and there's no one standing over your shoulder staring at what you're writing. And when you're directing, everybody's looking over your shoulder.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Directing
Hard Job
Shoulder
Copy Quote
It's always an interesting experience with the 'Saw' films, when a sequel comes out that I didn't have anything to do with, creatively, because here's this idea, this story, and this character that I created for James Wan, but now it doesn't need me anymore.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Experience Always Character
Anymore
Experience Character Me
Created
Creatively
James
Sequel
Copy Quote
Prior to 'Insidious Chapter 3,' I was happy to write movies for James Wan to direct as I felt very much that I was one half of a duo. I looked at us as a team who works together and I was happy to be part of that, I was happy to effectively be the bass player in The Beatles.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Insidious
One Half
Bass Player
Chapter
Duo
Effectively
James
Prior
Copy Quote
I'd always had this romantic idea, ever since I've been writing scripts, that I would travel one day and pull up stumps, as we say in Australia. It's a cricket reference. You can Google it. Pull up stumps in some country like Italy or Spain and do my little Truman Capote thing.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Travel
Cricket
Google
One Day
Scripts
Spain
Truman
Capote
Italy
Pull
Reference
Copy Quote
When 'Psycho' came out back in 1960, it was seen as an abomination and as this really gory thing. We all watch 'Psycho' today, of course, and think it's so tame since there's no blood or any real gore in it. But for the standards of the day when it was released, it was extreme.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Gore
Psycho
Standards
Extreme
Released
Tame
Copy Quote
When you sit down to write a film, you direct it in your head. If you are writing a scene, you are watching the scene. And maybe it's different when you are writing a novel because you are thinking of it in terms of being read. But films are only consumed one way - through the eyes and the ears.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Consumed
Ears
Copy Quote
That's one of the great things about creativity. You labor away in a room, and when you're writing a film, it couldn't be more of a solitary activity or a lonelier job, but if you then write a film that gets made and goes out into the world, it kind of flies away from you. It's not yours anymore.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Activity
Great Things
Labor
Solitary
Anymore
Flies
Lonelier
Yours
Copy Quote
I think true connectivity is something that is rare in sequels. I mean I love the first 'Die Hard' film; you won't find a bigger 'Die Hard' fan than me. But I feel like with the sequels, they're just taking that character and dropping him in different scenarios. There's no real connective tissue.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Dropping
Scenarios
Sequels
Love Character Me
Rare
Die Hard
Tissue
Copy Quote
Every now and again, something will pop into my head when I'm driving or I'm in the shower, you'll just get an image and it stays with you. It doesn't have to be much, it doesn't have to be a story, it could just be an image. But it won't leave your head and that's when you know you've got something.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Will Your Know
Shower
Stays
Copy Quote
I remember when James Wan and I did the first 'Saw' movie, a lot of people would say to us, 'Well, you left the door open for a sequel.' And we would say, 'No, we literally closed the door!' We thought it was a nice ending. Little did we know that the producers had other ideas once the film was a hit.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Producers
Remember When
Closed
Ending
James
Sequel
Copy Quote
Australia, most of the filmmakers there write a film and they direct it. There's a lot of writer/directors there, because nobody wants to write a script and then let it go when they've had that much of a personal investment to it, because you're not getting paid huge amounts of money in Australia to direct.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Investment
Huge Amounts
Copy Quote
I love watching audiences scream. I imagine it's the same joy that a director feels who has made a comedy when he or she is sitting at the back of a theater listening to the audience laugh. That sound of laughter is so sweet to a comedy director and that's exactly how a horror film feels when you hear the audience scream.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Laughing
Laughter
Sweet
Copy Quote
So when I look back at 'Saw' and 'Insidious,' I just think, 'Wow. Both of those films went way past what we ever could've dreamt for them' and it makes me genuinely thankful, like every single day, once a day, even if it's just for thirty seconds, sitting in my car, I have a moment where I'm like, I can't believe I'm here.
Leigh Whannell / Screenwriter
Thankful
Insidious
Seconds
Thirty
Genuinely
Dreamt
Every Single Day
Single Day
Copy Quote

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Leigh Whannell Quotes - Page 2

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