To celebrate the release of The Black Phone, the latest horror/thriller from Blumhouse, we had the pleasure of chatting to its incredible cast and director to find out more.
Finney Shaw (Mason Thames) is a shy but clever 13-year-old boy who’s being held in a soundproof basement by a sadistic, masked killer (Ethan Hawke). When a disconnected phone on the wall starts to ring, he soon discovers that he can hear the voices of the murderer’s previous victims — and they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney, while his whip-smart sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), uses her unique abilities to help the police track down her brother.
Chatting to McGraw and Thames, we speak about the uniqueness of the story, its mix of horror, thriller, and coming-of-age, what scares them in real life, and working with Ethan Hawke in his darkest role yet. Hawke, meanwhile, chats about the challenges of stepping to the “dark side”, having his greatest tool – his face – taken away from him, and navigating the psychology of a broken man who is much disturbed.
Derrickson, who co-wrote the script with C. Robert Cargill, talked about adapting the short story on the film is based as well as fusing it with his own experiences, why Hawke and his enigmatic voice were key to the success of the bad guy and subverting expectations of what audiences might be expecting.
You can watch the full interviews below:
The Black Phone opens in cinemas on Wednesday, June 22nd.
