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Keeping the Creative Juices Flowing: According to Whannell he’d be okay handing the Saw franchise off to someone else. “I would be fine. I always want to be involved. I’d want to always be executive producing, sort of keeping an eye on it, but I don’t know whether I would want to keep writing and writing because I’d feel like I was painting with the same brush. Once again, creatively, I feel like it’s time for me to stretch my wings a bit and try something else. I’m writing a film right now that’s like a children’s fantasy, essentially. That’s really important for your creative juices.”
Asked where the idea for his next script came from Whannell responded, “I wish I know where story ideas come from. I always imagine my subconscious. When I picture it, I picture it as a swamp. Just a swamp bubbling. And then every now and again this thing pops up and you’re like, ‘It’s like a gift.’ God knows where it comes from and it happens so rarely for me. Some people seem to have the ability to constantly churn out work. It’s a weird process and stuff kind of bubbles to the surface. That moment when you first have an idea that you love, that first sort of few weeks when you’re just, you’re thinking it over is the best time of any process.”
Whannell knows which of his ideas have a good chance of actually working out. “I think my subconscious tells me when it’s good because I can’t stop thinking about it. So if an idea comes to me, I can’t lie to myself. I could lie to other people: ‘I love this idea, and I could pitch it to you. But inside my subconscious would be saying, ‘Nnah, this one’s not great.’ It happened with Saw. I couldn’t stop thinking about Saw. I always knew something would happen with that film. I didn’t know it would come to this, but I knew that it was good and this idea I’ve got now, I love that. You’ve just got to wait. Unfortunately you can’t will them into existence, or I can’t anyway. I just have to sit there drumming my fingers and then finally one day something bubbles up.”
