James Wan
Birthday:
26 February 1977, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Height:
168 cm
James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian film producer, screenwriter and film director of Malaysian Chinese descent. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw (2004) and creating Billy the puppet. Wan has also directed Dead Silence (2007), Death Sentence (2007), Insidious (2010), The Conjuring (2013) and Furious Seven (2015).Be...
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James Wan (born 26 February 1977) is an Australian film producer, screenwriter and film director of Malaysian Chinese descent. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw (2004) and creating Billy the puppet. Wan has also directed Dead Silence (2007), Death Sentence (2007), Insidious (2010), The Conjuring (2013) and Furious Seven (2015).Before his success in the mainstream film industry, he made his first feature-length film, Stygian, with Shannon Young, which won "Best Guerrilla Film" at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) in 2000.Prior to 2003, Wan and Leigh Whannell had begun writing a script based for a horror film, citing inspiration from their dreams and fears. Upon completing the script, Leigh and James had wanted to select an excerpt from their script, later to be known as Saw (2004), and film it to pitch their film to studios. With the help of Charlie Clouser, who had composed the score for the film, and a few stand-in actors, Leigh and James shot the film with relatively no budget. Leigh had decided to star in the film as well.After the release of the full-length Saw (2004), the film was met with overwhelming success in the box office both domestically and internationally. The film ended up grossing 55 million dollars in America, and 48 million dollars in other countries, totaling over $103 million worldwide. This was over 100 million dollars profit, over 80 times the production budget. This green-lit the sequel Saw II (2005), and later the rest of the Saw franchise based on the yearly success of the previous installment. Since its inception, Saw (2004) has become the highest grossing horror franchise of all time worldwide in unadjusted dollars. In the United States only, Saw (2004) is the second highest grossing horror franchise, behind only the Friday the 13th (1980) films by a margin of $10 million. Show less «
[on 'Saw'] That was part of my aesthetic that I was going for. I wanted to make the film really claustrophobic, and one way I was going to d...Show more »
[on 'Saw'] That was part of my aesthetic that I was going for. I wanted to make the film really claustrophobic, and one way I was going to do that was, every time we go to a new location, I'm not going to set it up using an establishing shot. You don't see a house, and then cut to the inside of the house. You cut to inside, to inside, to inside. Show less «
When we handed in our first cut, the Sundance version, we were essentially told the film was too intense. Really? I'm going to be penalized ...Show more »
When we handed in our first cut, the Sundance version, we were essentially told the film was too intense. Really? I'm going to be penalized for doing what I'm supposed to do as a director? I think they have a problem with the 'tone' as well. How do you cut 'tone'? How do you censor 'tone'? Show less «
I can't point anything specific out, but I'm a big David Lynch fan, he's a big influence on Saw, and another director I truly admire as well...Show more »
I can't point anything specific out, but I'm a big David Lynch fan, he's a big influence on Saw, and another director I truly admire as well, is an Italian, Dario Argento? These two guys have a big impact on us, Deep Red, Lost Highway. Show less «
We think craft is important, and the irony has always been that horror may be disregarded by critics, but often they are the best-made movie...Show more »
We think craft is important, and the irony has always been that horror may be disregarded by critics, but often they are the best-made movies you're going to find in terms of craft. You can't scare people if they see the seams. Show less «
Not many people realize this, but I'm a really squeamish guy. When I watch other horror films that are really over-the-top with their blood ...Show more »
Not many people realize this, but I'm a really squeamish guy. When I watch other horror films that are really over-the-top with their blood and guts, I cannot watch it. So if my threshold to something on-screen is at that level, you can imagine how my threshold is to all the pain and suffering that is happening in the real world. Show less «
James Wan's Photos
