It’s almost Halloween again and of course the cinemas are going to be packed with some frightentgly good horror films for the scary season. And none are perhaps more anticipated that Jigsaw, the latest installment in the wildly successful Saw franchise. While it may have been established that John Kramer/Jigsaw is dead, his legacy still lives on…
We celebrated the release by sitting down with the man himself, Tobin Bell, to chat about the new film and where the series is going with this new film. It was 13 years ago when Saw, written by Leigh Whannell and directed by James Wan, first hit cinemas but Bell admits he never saw a new horror franchise being born and thought of it as a self-contained film, saying:
“Enclosed for sure, a one off kind of deal. For me it was a very unique film about three guys locked in a room which was very ‘Waiting for Godot’ in its simplicity and unusual because no-one made films like that and the ending was remarkable but as far as I was concerned I was thinking about anything moving forward.”
So, with seven films already down and the 8th about to be unleashed to the public, you’d think Bell would be in need of a change of scene but the actor is thriving in the environment and says there are many other places to go with the character and his views on the world around him and says that fans are drawn to his dark aspirations as there is always a “real world” reasoning, saying:
“I would like to continue to open the window into what his ‘raison d’être’ is, what is he about, why is he doing what he’s doing and what’s his reasoning behind it and I think we are doing that with Jigsaw… There have been concepts in these films that seem to resonate with fans and they are very interested in the things he has to say and when its surrounded by the kind of intensity he will say something and people go ‘Oh, that’s why talking about'”.
As with many other franchises, secrets and spoilers are being kept to a minimum in the lead up to the release but Bell seems sure that the film will delight and intregue the fan base once again and may lead to more if they are allowed back to the well, concluding:
“There are some surprises in it and those surprised open the door too understanding even more about this interesting characters approach – John Kramer is committed to a course of action and doing something about it. Jigsaw continue he’s that and puts a fresh face on the Saw story.”
Jigsaw opens in UK cinemas on October 26th.
