On Directing But Not Writing Saw III: Bousman wrote and directed Saw II but only directs Saw III. “We talked about it and there was just not… I was on press for Saw II still and Leigh and James had this idea, and I was already going to Toronto to start pre-production. They had basic ideas for it set – where it was going to take place - and so me working with David Hackl, the production designer, I didn’t have the time. Leigh and I talked every day, sometimes three or four times a day. We actually had the draft done in two weeks, two and a half weeks.”
Bousman says the first draft of Saw III was really close to the final shooting script. “About 80% the same,” offered Bousman. “An interesting fact - I don’t know if I told you this in the last interview – the kid in the safe in Saw II, that wasn’t thought of until the day before we shot it, which is a huge twist. There’s a lot of that stuff going on this year, a lot of the big twists that we were coming up with that we were coming up with like days before. We were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if…’
See what happens is Shawnee [Smith] and Tobin [Bell] are so passionate about their characters, we would see dynamics working between that we didn’t think about when we wrote the script. We were like, ‘Crap, they would never do this. This last scene, Shawnee’s bawling and when she’s supposed to go out and laugh. She can’t do that.’ We found ourselves shifting the character motivations and arcs as we were going along, which only benefited the movie. If we would have went directly how it was written, sometimes you can never tell what the relationships are really gonna be like on camera.”
The Ratings System and Input from the Studio: Bousman said they’ve been lucky in that Lionsgate has really allowed them to do the Saw films without applying much pressure. “You know, Lionsgate’s great and so is Twisted [Pictures]. They let us do whatever we want within reason. If I said I wanted to go out and murder a bunch of puppies, they would say no. But they pretty much left us alone. We self-censor ourselves. We know what we can’t do. Leigh and I know what’s too much. Not to say we won’t do it; there are some things in here that are pretty out there and I question how much of what we shot will actually make the final cut.”
Speaking of the final cut, the day of this interview was also the day Saw III was screened for the Motion Picture Association of America to determine the film's rating. Bousman was worried about a few scenes and what the MPAA might ask to be cut. “It’s not the violence; forget the violence for a second. MPAA looks at a film based on how they feel after they watch it. What is their feeling of the movie? This movie is a kick in the balls repetitively. It’s just like one kick after another after another. And again, violence being the very back burner – I’m not worried about the violence – I’m worried about just how dark the movie is.”
Rating a film based on how you feel on that particular day sounds like a bizarre way to do business. Bousman agreed. “Yeah, it is. It’s funny. Like I just watched a film recently that was rated R and I couldn’t believe it. They used the word ‘f**k’ twice and they showed a backshot of the man’s butt and it got rated R. I’m like, ‘That got the same rating as my movie’s going to get, which is killing people, yet I’ll have the same R as someone who said ‘f**k’ twice.’ It’s crazy. I understand why the MPAA is there, and I agree with it. I think there needs to be some sort of system. But, you know, at the end of the day it’s a movie. It’s not real. Like, we’re bigger than life. That’s what the Saw franchise is – bigger than life horror film. And so it is crazy. The MPAA is a wild beast.”
Addressing the Negative Reaction to Sequels: The announcement of a sequel to Saw hitting theaters a year after the original film’s release was met with a lot of skepticism. Bousman was fully aware of the negative reaction of some to the news of Saw II, and is aware there are still those who grumble about the making of a Saw III. “Oh God, you know, notorious haters. I think what’s so great is they can’t grasp how a studio can spend $60 million in two years on a movie and it does $20 million when it’s out and yet we, in an eight month period of time, will write a movie, I’ll direct it, and it’ll be in the theaters and make $86 million.
The best story ever: I get an email from an old school friend that I went to film school with and the email says, ‘You f**king suck.’ I clicked it open, it was a guy I was pretty close to, and it says, ‘I hate you. I hate you. You’re ruining horror for everyone. Stop making these cookie-cutter films. You’re giving horror a bad name.’ And then he signed his name - and he was being completely serious. There are definite haters out there.”
Page 3: Darren Lynn Bousman on the Reaction of Critics Versus the Needs of Fans
