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Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner Exclusive Interview in Brazil - THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOONSAW VI Producer Mark Burg and Co-Writer Marcus Dunstan talk SAW 7 3D and SAW 8
by Sara Wayland Posted:October 14th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Since the first installment’s surprise hit at the box office in 2004, there has been a new Saw film in theaters every Halloween. While the release of Saw 6 is still over a week away (opening in theaters on October 23rd), producer Mark Burg and co-writer Marcus Dunstan are already well underway with Saw 7, which they will be debuting in 3-D.
During the film’s press day, held at Universal Studios, which is currently hosting the Saw maze as part of their Halloween Horror Nights festivities (running through October 31st), Mark Burg revealed that they have the storyline figured out through Saw 8, but then the franchise’s future beyond that is undetermined. Read more after the jump:
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Question: As the Saw series goes on, do you want to get further out of those rooms with the traps and explore the broader implications of the character?
Dunstan: We are, already well underway into Saw 7. Often, with these movies, the marketing for the present movie leads to what the sequel after that is, in a lot of aspects. I think we’re doing that now. These movies are very serialized, which helps make it different from a lot of the horror franchises, where it’s just a one-off and it’s like, “Okay, now we’re back in the haunted house again. How are these people going to get out?” This is much more serialized, with these questions that continue on.
So, at the end of Saw 6, you get a real clear understanding of what John Kramer’s (Tobin Bell) overall plan was and, in turn, what Hoffman’s (Costas Mandylor) plan was ’cause they, of course, differ. Hoffman is someone that we introduced in Saw 5, with a very different philosophy from Kramer. So, slowly throughout Saw 6, we are pulling out of those rooms a little bit more, and we’re definitely seeing the social implications of this iconic killer. That would be a big, huge deal, if that was happening in real life, and we try to keep these films as realistic as possible, so you definitely see that in Saw 6 quite a bit.
I think that’s just how the series has evolved. It started in a tiny little room, and we just heard about this guy. And, by Saw 6, we will see the implication that it has on the people around it, and it is leading towards how this would affect other people, who aren’t necessarily in the traps, or who aren’t necessarily morally corrupted. I think that’s where it will naturally lead.
Is the budget still staying at about $10 million?
Burg: Yeah. The first film was $1 million. The second film was $4 million and change. Since then, depending on the dollar fluctuation, they’ve all cost between $10 million and $11 million.
Any plans to go 3-D, in the future?
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Burg: For Saw 7. It’s 3-D. Absolutely.
Will that still stay within the same budget?
Burg: No. 3-D costs more money. It’s a longer prep, a longer shoot, a longer post, more expensive cameras. It costs more to shoot and it costs more to market ’cause you have to buy the glasses. It’s an extra $2 million in marketing, just because you have to buy the glasses. But, it’s worth it. I think Saw itself, just the way the films are shot, lends itself to being a 3-D movie.
We saw a test that somebody did, that was a minute of Saw, that they just transferred from 2-D to 3-D, and it looked great. So, we were like, “All right, screw it. Let’s do it!” But, we’re not going to transfer it. We’re actually shooting it in 3-D. A lot of people just do the 2-D to 3-D transfer, but we want to be able to build the sets in a way that takes advantage of depth. We’re going to design traps to come at you. The pendulum trap that opened the last Saw movie would have been great in 3-D.
Have you determined what way the 3-D will be used? Will it be more about the depth of the film, or will you use it similarly to My Bloody Valentine 3-D?
Burg: We’re planning a lot of the movie to be through the victim’s eyes, seeing stuff as it’s coming towards them, in their point-of-view. But, I think the audience wants a couple My Bloody Valentine type moments, where the gun comes into the audience.
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Now that Saw 4 and 5 really cemented the idea that this is a series that is going to thrive, live and drive forward off of the flashbacks and the inter-connectivity of everything, how far in advance do you get to plan?
Dunstan: When (co-writer) Patrick [Melton] and I had an opportunity to work in this series, (producers) Mark [Burg], Oren [Koules], Jason Constantine and Peter Block had an end-game in mind and that is there. Piece by piece, if we’re so fortunate as to continue telling the story, there is a way to get there.
Burg: We’re definitely making Saw 7. We’re starting in January, and it’s going to be in 3-D. The storyline that we started in Saw 5 and carry through Saw 6, ends at Saw 8. Where it goes beyond that, I couldn’t tell you. In my mind and in Oren’s mind, we have the story threaded through Saw 8. After that, I can’t tell you that the franchise will continue.
Dunstan: That helps when writing, though. Even if it’s a small detail, you know that this element has to happen in Saw 7 and this has to happen in Saw 8, so that we know we’re getting up to that point. But, that isn’t to say that there isn’t definitely a clear resolution at the end of each story because there is, especially with Saw 6. Once you see Saw 6, you’ll understand how it’s supposed to end, and then, oops, something else happens and that will lead somewhere.
Burg: Saw 6 has a great twist. You’re going to look at the film and be like, “Fuck, they got me again! How did I not see this coming?”
Wait…I thought they skipped a year, there wasn’t a new one out last year was there?
No they didnot skip a year , and there was one for every year .
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i wonder how there willbe more !!! i think they have to finish it with the 7th movie
End with the 7th? Are you crazy? I’m a movie critic, and I write articles for a local film group about any movie that comes out. Independent film about a foreign sex group to horrors such as saw, I take the time to watch them all and write about them. Now when I first heard of saw I was very intrigued on how they were going to portray such an idea that would bring the audience in to question more and more about the story and it’s characters. After watching saw I knew the writers and producers had a great idea on their hands. The story line fit together perfectly and now as I have continued to go to the opening night for all the saws I realized something. When doing research about the original saw, I had seen some people talking about a rumor that there were going to possibly be 8 to 10 films in this movie franchise as we call it now. Hearing that I hold them to it. In my honest opinion I think to myself, how many people are actually sick of watching these movies. None, the movies are thrilling and bring a completely different aspect to serial killing than what any movie has brought to the table before. The saw writers have enough ideas to push them through to 8 films for sure. If they find some new and exciting thing to put in films to follow, more power to them considering that this is one of the most successful movie franchises in the last ten years and quite possibly of all time. Saw 7 in 3-D is the next step to pushing these films to their max potential which I don’t believe has happened yet. But what do i know i only watch anywhere from 3000 to 7500 movies a year. I have many movies behind me which I still love to go back and watch, but I have many more movies to watch and criticize.
I love how he talks about this shit series like it’s some kind of work of art.
SMH, the first one was surprising. Everything else sucked balls.
Dude, you don’t know how deep and complex this series is. Just because you don’t understand the plot doesn’t mean this series suck. Gtfo and go watch the mediocre horror movies.
Personally I think that 3 was the worst. 1 and 2 were genius and awesome. I also enjoyed the “teamwork” of 5, but it felt too simple. We get to see 6 before you Americans, so hopefully that will be good too. Four… meh.
1. pretty good, 2. mediocre, 3. poor, 4. awful, 5. terrible. 6 cannot be any worse than 5…
All of these movies have been awesome its one deep plot that gets twisted a little bit more every year. The complexity of the last 2 or 3 has been amazing and i can’t wait to watch this year and if we’re gonna have some more so be it. I do want there to be an ending eventually but as long as the plot continues to make sense and the writing continues to rock keep it up guys!!
Meh, First movie was pretty awesome as far as horror movies go, pretty original in the idea. The sequels have since not been absolutely terrible like people make them out to be (this is the internet), but they were no where near as good as the original. This series just suffers from the same downward spiral that scream, halloween, and Friday the 13th suffered from. The only difference, is this series is halfway entertaining to watch each movie at least once.
The first movie was great, and each one after that has gotten worse. I think it suffers mostly from such short production windows. If more time was taken these movies would all be much better. It will be interesting to see how they end it all (with 8?). The movies have been making less and less and I think this year it might actually make less than the first. 3D will def increase box office but with less and less people seeing the movies its hard to get them to see the next installment since it is so serialized…
Saw VIII? Please enough with Saws, dont get me wrong im a fan, but they’re milking the series. I was gonna go to watch Saw VI until i read here that theres going to be two more! enough with increasing the plots, i suppose at the end of this part it will be revealed jill is another apprentice, then in VIII they;ll show through flashbacks how jill became the apprentice, the series should have ended by III or IV!
Click on column header to sort
Released Movie Name 1st Weekend US Gross Worldwide Gross Budget
10/29/2004 Saw $18,276,468 $55,185,045 $103,096,345 $1,200,000
10/28/2005 Saw II $31,725,652 $87,025,093 $152,925,093 $5,000,000
10/27/2006 Saw III $33,610,391 $80,238,724 $163,876,815 $10,000,000
10/26/2007 Saw IV $31,756,764 $63,300,095 $134,528,909 $10,000,000
10/24/2008 Saw V $30,053,954 $56,746,769 $113,146,769 $10,800,000
10/23/2009 Saw VI - - - -
Totals $342,495,726 $667,573,931 $37,000,000
Averages $68,499,145 $133,514,786 $7,400,000
Even with less ppl each year watching these movies the very small budget screeams lets make more more more because all the bigwigs see are profit profit profit.
The first two were good. The third one was the worst. The fourth was almost as bad as the third. The fifth was better than the previous two, but still not good. Basically, none of have them have really “got me” since the first two. I saw the supposed twists coming for III through V (except that the doctor was the protagonist’s wife in III, but I didn’t care about the characters anyway). I really wish they could have kept the momentum of the first two going, but they didn’t. It’s been disappointing ever since.
Saw VIII….but….but…but you people said Saw VI would have closure….and it could have even ended with Saw III….Saw VIII….why….
how can you say all these negative things about saw,yes i agree that they are kind of dragging the series out a bit but the saw franchise is great one so you should just enjoy the ride and if you don’t like it then don’t watch simple as!!!
Just saw the sixth one, and, frankly, I want my money back.
I was bored shitless throughout this predictable movie, and I kept wondering how ANYONE could enjoy this crap. There was a lot of stuff ripped off from Seven, too. Fucking lame.
The acting was terrible, the plot was stupidly topical and felt poorly slopped together for the sake of topicality, and even the gore, the franchise’s single selling point, was comically and terribly overdone. Oh, and the little plot twist? Saw it coming 40 minutes in, man.
Hell, I wasn’t the only one disappointed. I couldn’t count how many times I heard people booing throughout the film. And after the film, if I had a penny for everytime I heard “I should’ve seen Paranormal Activity…”, I’d have a lot money than the amount this worthless franchise sucked up.
Don’t see this movie. Ever.
Brent: I don’t know what movie you were watching, but it definitely wasn’t SAW 6. This movie rocked! It had great pace and storyline. For me, the SAW series isn’t about the gore; it’s about the mystery and the puzzle itself.
SAW 6 was awesome! It was truly artistic watching all the scenes fit together to give the audience a picture of what everything was all about and also to clarify a few things the audience may have already been suspecting.
It was greatly entertaining, especially if you enjoy the mystery-suspense part of this franchise. If you are just looking for gore, please go somewhere else and stop annoying the grown ups who are trying to watch the movie.
The only thing missing from this movie was a strict Rated-R movie rating. Watching a bunch of 14 year olds waltz into the theatre and annoy the hell out of the audience was bad enough with SAW 5. This time, I was thankful that the ushers were checking ID and denying access to anyone under 18 who didn’t have an adult with them that could also prove their age.
If you truly understand the ongoing plot-line with this series, you are going to love SAW 6… If not, please go watch something else or you’ll just end up spouting some ridiculously uninformed opinion about this excellent series on some random comment thread… If you just want mindless gore, how about checking out Trick ‘r Treat on DVD… Personally, even that might be too much plot for this generation of moron teens…
SAW 6 = Highly Recommended.
SAW 7 = I am counting down the days til next Halloween already!
THANK YOU! Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person left who truly appreciates the deep continuing storyline in this series. All my friends always say things like “ugh, six… really, six?” and it just annoys me because it’s not just six movies of the same old stuff, it’s a constantly evolving story about the man they call Jigsaw. Each movie brings new insight into the mind of John Kramer and it just keeps you coming back for more. I’ll be honest, I like the gore, but as you said it’s more than that.
I have seen every SAW movie on opening weekend. The first one IMHO had the biggest twist ever in a movie..up there with 6th sense. They were able to focus on the story of the two in the room instead of multiple traps everywhere. Also, they did not need to have a shock effect on the first one. Each after just got more and gore.
The first 1 was awesome. 2nd, 3rd, 4th were ok but more for a shock effect. The 5th was better than 2, 3 and 4. The 6th one was fantastic. It had an actual story and was cohesive throughout the entire movie. You cant compare to the first, however it was great.
First off if u guys say after 3 it got worst. why see the next three. it had to attract u in some way to spend your money. come on honestly this is a great series overall. if your a true saw fan u will understand that. just cause your confused doesnt make the movie suck. i hope they continue to make saw up to 8. and guess what u same peeps that say it sucks will go and spend your money once more cause u know deep down in your pity minds its a great series.
I agree saw is great f*** the haters hell i will see saw even if it goes to 10!!!!!!!! lol take that!
You know the great thing about going to the movies, or renting a movie? You choose to goto the movies, or rent a movie. If you don’t want to see it, don’t. Stop hating because the franchise is actually making money.. fucking morons.. and speaking of horrible… the original halloween movies/nightmare movies looking back were fucking amazingly terrible.. but people didn’t bitch about there being 20 of them back then… go watch nightmare on fag street and choke on a dick, fucknuts.