James Wan
James Wan
James Wan is a Malaysian-Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth26 February 1977
CityKuching, Malaysia
CountryAustralia
character emotional cinema
For me and my films, I want my audience to experience cinema in its full glory. It's not just visual, it's audio as well. It's emotional, and I want you to be engaged with not just the scene but with the characters.
one-day fans want
I'm a big movie fan, and I want to make movies in every genre. I want to make my romantic comedy one day.
eye thinking giving
One of the things I tried to do is to kind of talk my actors through the scene, but at the same time let them know how I plan to shoot the film and just give them an insight into the way I'm thinking, so that when they're acting out their scene, they can kind of see it in their minds' eyes.
dark watches littles
When you make movies, I find that I never have time to go to the movies and enjoy movies like I used to, because I'm so movied out, right, I'm so filmed out that the last thing that I wanna do is with the little spare time that I have is stick in a dark room and watch more stuff on the screen.
smart artist looks
If I'm smart as an artist, I wouldn't be a snob and turn it down, because I'd look at it and go, this is great stuff, but I definitely do want to experiment in other genres, or make films in other genres.
want stuff horror-fans
We're not just horror fans. We're film fans. I love action films. I want to do action films. I want to do romantic comedies. I love all this stuff. So, if I find the good material, I'll do it.
believe design important
Designing the technical aspects of my camera movement for me is very important. I want the camera to be a big part in telling the story as well, like what I really believe in with all the films I make.
way cameras helping
I realized that my camera work could help me in a lot of ways to put the audience in the driver's seat, so to speak, to get them in there with the action, and to get them as close and be as intimate with what was going on on-screen as possible.
pain real blood
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 onscreen is at that level, you can imagine how my threshold is to all the pain and suffering that is happening in the real world.
thinking creative way
I think the financial restraint really pushes me as a director to be more creative with the way I shoot the film.
character kind horror
I've always said that with a lot of the horror franchises that I've started, it's like directing a pilot. I come in, I direct the first movie and all these directors come in and direct all the sequels after me and hey have to kind of retain the look, the tone, and the characters.
thinking people hollywood
I don't feel so strongly against remakes, but if I don't like it, I guess I just don't do it. It is what it is. Hollywood is driven by the financial system, so if they think that it has a brand and people are going to go see it because it's a recognizable property, they're going to remake it.
thinking people important
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.
audience
I don't like talking about sequels or spinoffs or franchise until they actually happen, until they actually work with the audience.