All language subtitles for Unknown Dimension The Story of Paranormal Activity.English

af Afrikaans
sq Albanian
am Amharic
ar Arabic
hy Armenian
az Azerbaijani
eu Basque
be Belarusian
bn Bengali
bs Bosnian
bg Bulgarian
ca Catalan
ceb Cebuano
ny Chichewa
zh-CN Chinese (Simplified)
zh-TW Chinese (Traditional)
co Corsican
hr Croatian
cs Czech
da Danish
nl Dutch Download
en English Download
eo Esperanto
et Estonian
tl Filipino
fi Finnish
fr French
fy Frisian
gl Galician
ka Georgian
de German
el Greek
gu Gujarati
ht Haitian Creole
ha Hausa
haw Hawaiian
iw Hebrew
hi Hindi
hmn Hmong
hu Hungarian
is Icelandic
ig Igbo
id Indonesian
ga Irish
it Italian
ja Japanese
jw Javanese
kn Kannada
kk Kazakh
km Khmer
ko Korean
ku Kurdish (Kurmanji)
ky Kyrgyz
lo Lao
la Latin
lv Latvian
lt Lithuanian
lb Luxembourgish
mk Macedonian
mg Malagasy
ms Malay
ml Malayalam
mt Maltese
mi Maori
mr Marathi
mn Mongolian
my Myanmar (Burmese)
ne Nepali
no Norwegian
ps Pashto
fa Persian
pl Polish
pt Portuguese
pa Punjabi
ro Romanian
ru Russian
sm Samoan
gd Scots Gaelic
sr Serbian
st Sesotho
sn Shona
sd Sindhi
si Sinhala
sk Slovak
sl Slovenian
so Somali
es Spanish
su Sundanese
sw Swahili
sv Swedish
tg Tajik
ta Tamil
te Telugu
th Thai
tr Turkish
uk Ukrainian
ur Urdu
uz Uzbek
vi Vietnamese
cy Welsh
xh Xhosa
yi Yiddish
yo Yoruba
zu Zulu
or Odia (Oriya)
rw Kinyarwanda
tk Turkmen
tt Tatar
ug Uyghur
Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:42,334 --> 00:00:43,335 Excuse me. 2 00:00:46,421 --> 00:00:47,464 What scares you? 3 00:00:48,966 --> 00:00:50,092 The dark? 4 00:00:51,134 --> 00:00:52,594 I don't like spiders. 5 00:00:53,095 --> 00:00:55,722 Little tiny dogs that snap their jaws. 6 00:00:55,806 --> 00:00:56,848 Sharks. 7 00:00:56,932 --> 00:00:58,183 Demons, or Satan. 8 00:00:58,267 --> 00:00:59,309 Heights. 9 00:00:59,393 --> 00:01:00,894 Natural disasters. 10 00:01:01,228 --> 00:01:04,731 Putting my hands and feet in places I can't see what I'm touching. 11 00:01:05,649 --> 00:01:06,692 Clowns. 12 00:01:06,775 --> 00:01:08,777 Something happening to the kids, for sure. 13 00:01:08,860 --> 00:01:10,862 Weird sounds coming from my basement. 14 00:01:10,946 --> 00:01:12,990 My girlfriend, when she's mad? 15 00:01:13,407 --> 00:01:14,700 Growing old. 16 00:01:14,783 --> 00:01:15,701 Being alone. 17 00:01:15,784 --> 00:01:16,868 Dying. 18 00:01:16,952 --> 00:01:17,828 Ghosts. 19 00:01:17,911 --> 00:01:21,248 Being home alone at night in the dark. 20 00:01:21,331 --> 00:01:23,292 Demonic stuff is always really scary. 21 00:01:23,375 --> 00:01:24,459 Fear of the unknown, 22 00:01:24,543 --> 00:01:27,462 not knowing what you're gonna have happen when you wake up. 23 00:01:27,546 --> 00:01:30,882 Something that's invisible, unknown, comes from a different dimension. 24 00:01:30,966 --> 00:01:34,052 We don't know what it is, how to defend ourselves against it. 25 00:01:34,136 --> 00:01:35,971 That's a scary concept. 26 00:01:38,724 --> 00:01:41,411 - So, Jason, you just yank on... - Michael, will you just sit down... 27 00:01:41,435 --> 00:01:42,936 And away the boat goes. 28 00:01:43,020 --> 00:01:44,521 - Michael... - Okay. It's working now. 29 00:01:48,317 --> 00:01:49,943 Are you sure it's not back there? 30 00:01:50,027 --> 00:01:51,987 It's not back there, I just took a look in there. 31 00:01:52,070 --> 00:01:53,071 We gotta get out! 32 00:01:56,366 --> 00:01:59,661 Before I made my film, which was originally titled. 33 00:01:59,745 --> 00:02:03,165 UFO Abduction, and then later on became The McPherson Tape, 34 00:02:03,790 --> 00:02:05,751 I had never seen a found-footage film before. 35 00:02:05,834 --> 00:02:07,514 I didn't even know that there was something 36 00:02:07,544 --> 00:02:08,962 that was kind of similar fo that. 37 00:02:09,379 --> 00:02:10,297 A buddy of mine said, 38 00:02:10,380 --> 00:02:12,300 "Hey, I'll give you a budget to make your movie." 39 00:02:12,382 --> 00:02:16,261 - And I said, "Okay, what do you got?" - And he goes, "6,500." 40 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,682 And I literally said, "Great, for that I can do like a home video." 41 00:02:21,516 --> 00:02:23,894 And then I finished reading this book called Communion, 42 00:02:23,977 --> 00:02:25,729 and it terrified the hell out of me. 43 00:02:25,812 --> 00:02:30,484 So I thought, "How do I experience, an alien abduction without the anal probe?" 44 00:02:31,401 --> 00:02:35,280 And it dawned on me, well, if it was a home video 45 00:02:35,364 --> 00:02:39,242 that you were witnessing this first-hand, and you had improvisational actors, 46 00:02:39,326 --> 00:02:43,121 then it felt like, "All right, that might be a great way to get into it." 47 00:02:43,205 --> 00:02:46,333 So my only experience with the found footage 48 00:02:46,416 --> 00:02:47,584 was out of necessity. 49 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:51,046 Shit. 50 00:02:56,677 --> 00:02:57,844 Holy shit. 51 00:02:59,137 --> 00:03:01,723 - What the hell is that? - It's a spaceship, Mike. 52 00:03:01,807 --> 00:03:04,518 When you want to be scared, you want to know something is real. 53 00:03:04,601 --> 00:03:07,312 And I think found footage, when it was originally created, 54 00:03:07,604 --> 00:03:09,524 the thing that terrified people and scared people 55 00:03:09,773 --> 00:03:11,650 was the fact that it could be real. 56 00:03:11,733 --> 00:03:14,277 Could they have done this? Could they have faked that? 57 00:03:14,361 --> 00:03:19,533 Could they not? It really looks real, but one of them seems like an actor, it's 58 00:03:20,492 --> 00:03:22,703 that sort of questioning in the back of your head. 59 00:03:22,786 --> 00:03:25,539 And I had a couple of film students who came up to me and said, 60 00:03:25,622 --> 00:03:29,543 "Hey, do you know that you're the father of found footage?" 61 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:31,753 And I thought they were messing with me 62 00:03:31,837 --> 00:03:33,964 because no one had really kind of tracked that, 63 00:03:34,047 --> 00:03:36,133 that I was aware of. And I said, "What do you mean?" 64 00:03:36,216 --> 00:03:39,052 He says, "Well, you made this film," you know, blah, blah, blah. 65 00:03:39,136 --> 00:03:42,281 And one of the other students had said, "Oh, well there was Cannibal Holocaust." 66 00:03:42,305 --> 00:03:44,474 And I'm like, "What's Cannibal Holocaust?'" 67 00:03:50,188 --> 00:03:53,817 Four young and fearless Americans, children of the space age, 68 00:03:53,900 --> 00:03:57,487 armed with cameras, microphones, and curiosity. 69 00:03:57,571 --> 00:04:00,115 A lot of people say that Cannibal Holocaust 70 00:04:00,198 --> 00:04:03,910 is the first found-footage film, but it's really not. 71 00:04:03,994 --> 00:04:08,790 It's a narrative feature shot on film that has found-footage elements in it. 72 00:04:08,874 --> 00:04:10,768 A lot like Faces of Death, it was sort of the thing 73 00:04:10,792 --> 00:04:12,294 everyone claimed fo have seen. 74 00:04:12,377 --> 00:04:15,022 I think a lot of people saw that, they thought it was real and were like, 75 00:04:15,046 --> 00:04:17,215 "Oh, that part's fake. Oh, that part's real." 76 00:04:17,299 --> 00:04:20,761 And I, even as a horror fan, I refuse to watch it. 77 00:04:20,844 --> 00:04:24,639 A found-footage movie is footage that was found, the whole thing. 78 00:04:24,723 --> 00:04:27,184 Ideally, it's not cut, it's not edited together, 79 00:04:27,267 --> 00:04:28,560 it's all one long piece. 80 00:04:32,397 --> 00:04:34,483 We pop the tape in and we were sitting there 81 00:04:34,566 --> 00:04:36,286 on the couch watching it and we just kind of 82 00:04:36,359 --> 00:04:39,112 kept looking at each other like this is Blair Witch. 83 00:04:39,196 --> 00:04:41,323 You know, like they go from the footage fo the people, 84 00:04:41,406 --> 00:04:43,784 you know, looking at the footage fo the back of the footage. 85 00:04:43,867 --> 00:04:45,911 In the '80s, it was just a different... 86 00:04:45,994 --> 00:04:48,181 You couldn't really pull it off the same way you could now. 87 00:04:48,205 --> 00:04:49,998 I don't think audiences really responded 88 00:04:50,081 --> 00:04:54,878 to the digital look as well as they did in the late... 89 00:04:54,961 --> 00:04:56,921 You know, by the time The Blair Witch came around. 90 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:05,555 The reason I really love found footage, 91 00:05:05,639 --> 00:05:07,933 and I think it started with The Blair Witch Project, 92 00:05:08,016 --> 00:05:12,646 is because when it's done right, it adds a certain level of authenticity. 93 00:05:12,729 --> 00:05:14,981 And this is like '90 or '91, 94 00:05:15,065 --> 00:05:20,862 and Dan and I had just gone to see a movie called Freddy's Dead. 95 00:05:20,946 --> 00:05:22,614 You know, it was not horror at all. 96 00:05:22,697 --> 00:05:24,533 And we were like, you know, 97 00:05:24,616 --> 00:05:27,661 it's just weird that horror movies are not really scary anymore. 98 00:05:27,744 --> 00:05:29,996 You know, like The Shining and Amityville Horror 99 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:32,791 and, you know, Jaws and Exorcist. 100 00:05:32,874 --> 00:05:34,143 We kind of started drifting towards 101 00:05:34,167 --> 00:05:36,878 like The Legend of Boggy Creek and Chariot of the Gods. 102 00:05:36,962 --> 00:05:38,171 And we started thinking like, 103 00:05:38,255 --> 00:05:40,423 "I wonder if you could do that, you know, now," 104 00:05:40,507 --> 00:05:42,592 like you could really do like a pseudo-documentary. 105 00:05:42,676 --> 00:05:44,970 They utilized the early days of the internet 106 00:05:45,053 --> 00:05:46,930 in just a way that's so brilliant, 107 00:05:47,013 --> 00:05:49,349 creating missing pages for people. 108 00:05:49,432 --> 00:05:51,643 And at that point, I don't think mainstream audiences 109 00:05:51,726 --> 00:05:55,021 were so quick to be like, "Oh, it's fake." They want to believe that it's real. 110 00:05:55,105 --> 00:05:56,565 Unfortunately for the actors, 111 00:05:56,648 --> 00:05:58,441 they didn't let them appear and do publicity 112 00:05:58,525 --> 00:06:00,044 because they wanted to maintain the illusion 113 00:06:00,068 --> 00:06:01,379 that the actors were actually dead. 114 00:06:01,403 --> 00:06:03,321 Burkittsville people were calling people 115 00:06:03,405 --> 00:06:05,824 to see if they could help find these kids in the woods. 116 00:06:05,907 --> 00:06:08,743 That's amazing. I don't think that's ever happened before. 117 00:06:08,827 --> 00:06:10,245 It does it in a very raw way, 118 00:06:10,328 --> 00:06:12,622 like we literally had the actors shooting everything 119 00:06:12,706 --> 00:06:15,458 and it very much looks like an amateurish video. 120 00:06:15,542 --> 00:06:17,544 And I remember seeing that and going, 121 00:06:18,003 --> 00:06:20,422 "Oh damn, I should have done that." 122 00:06:21,131 --> 00:06:22,883 So I think it kind of disarms people, 123 00:06:22,966 --> 00:06:25,260 and makes you, like, even if you know it's not real, 124 00:06:25,343 --> 00:06:27,387 your brain's constantly thinking, 125 00:06:27,470 --> 00:06:29,514 "Is this real? Is this, you know, a YouTube video?" 126 00:06:29,598 --> 00:06:33,268 Here were these kids from Florida who don't know anyone in Hollywood, 127 00:06:33,351 --> 00:06:34,745 they just bought some video cameras, 128 00:06:34,769 --> 00:06:36,980 ran around in the woods, you know, with some actors, 129 00:06:37,063 --> 00:06:39,417 and they made a movie that made quarter of a billion dollars. 130 00:06:39,441 --> 00:06:40,984 So I'm like, "This is mind-boggling!" 131 00:06:41,067 --> 00:06:43,004 I didn't know that you could make movies that way. 132 00:06:43,028 --> 00:06:45,530 And maybe if, one day, I have an idea for a film, 133 00:06:45,947 --> 00:06:48,107 maybe I'll give it a shot if I can do it in that style. 134 00:06:57,500 --> 00:06:59,210 Does it feel strange being back here? 135 00:07:00,003 --> 00:07:02,213 I mean, I still care a lot about the house. 136 00:07:02,297 --> 00:07:04,466 I feel like, you know, not only was it my house 137 00:07:04,549 --> 00:07:06,259 for about 12 years, 138 00:07:06,343 --> 00:07:08,845 but it's also the house that changed my life 139 00:07:08,929 --> 00:07:10,281 because of the movie that I made here. 140 00:07:10,305 --> 00:07:13,016 So, you know, it feels kind of weird and special to be here. 141 00:07:13,683 --> 00:07:18,939 So in 2003, my girlfriend and I moved to the first house 142 00:07:19,022 --> 00:07:20,273 that I've ever lived in. 143 00:07:20,357 --> 00:07:23,318 My entire life I grew up in apartments, even back in Israel. 144 00:07:23,401 --> 00:07:24,694 So when you live in an apartment, 145 00:07:24,778 --> 00:07:27,280 you're used to hearing a lot of noises from your neighbors, 146 00:07:27,364 --> 00:07:29,783 walking down the hallway, slamming doors and stuff like that. 147 00:07:29,866 --> 00:07:32,327 And when you live in a house in quiet suburbia, 148 00:07:32,410 --> 00:07:34,454 everything is like super, super quiet at night, 149 00:07:34,537 --> 00:07:35,789 you don't hear anything. 150 00:07:35,872 --> 00:07:39,209 But we would hear some noises like the house creaking 151 00:07:39,292 --> 00:07:41,378 and my girlfriend would get totally freaked out. 152 00:07:41,461 --> 00:07:43,797 She would think there's gotta be something in the house. 153 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:47,050 I feel something breathing in my ear and whispering and there's noises 154 00:07:47,133 --> 00:07:49,386 and I feel there is like someone walking around 155 00:07:49,469 --> 00:07:52,472 and I hear footsteps and I, kind of like Micah, 156 00:07:52,555 --> 00:07:53,555 was the skeptic. 157 00:07:53,598 --> 00:07:55,392 And I told her, "There's nothing there, 158 00:07:55,475 --> 00:07:57,078 it's just the house, don't worry about it." 159 00:07:57,102 --> 00:08:00,563 And there were a few things that happened that we didn't know how to explain. 160 00:08:03,233 --> 00:08:04,526 Can you hear that? 161 00:08:06,069 --> 00:08:08,530 - I'm going down. - No, no, no, Micah! 162 00:08:08,613 --> 00:08:09,613 I started thinking like, 163 00:08:09,656 --> 00:08:12,701 "Well, in this day of, you know, technology 164 00:08:12,784 --> 00:08:14,327 and access to video cameras, 165 00:08:14,411 --> 00:08:16,079 I could set up a video camera in the house 166 00:08:16,204 --> 00:08:19,833 or in the bedroom, let it run all night and see If it will capture, you know..." 167 00:08:19,916 --> 00:08:21,560 "Maybe there's something walking in the house?" 168 00:08:21,584 --> 00:08:24,295 "Is there, you know, an animal that sneaks in, 169 00:08:24,379 --> 00:08:26,548 whatever it is, maybe we can capture it with the video 170 00:08:26,631 --> 00:08:27,841 and find out what's going on." 171 00:08:27,924 --> 00:08:30,510 And then I thought how scary it would be 172 00:08:30,802 --> 00:08:34,389 to watch footage of yourself while you were asleep 173 00:08:34,472 --> 00:08:37,017 and unaware of it and something is happening. 174 00:08:37,100 --> 00:08:38,685 That would be really creepy. 175 00:08:38,768 --> 00:08:41,521 So I never actually went on with my personal experiment 176 00:08:41,604 --> 00:08:43,523 'cause I wouldn't have had the patience to watch 177 00:08:43,606 --> 00:08:45,817 hours of myself sleeping, but I thought, 178 00:08:45,900 --> 00:08:48,319 "Maybe that's a concept for a scary movie." 179 00:08:51,573 --> 00:08:52,657 What is it? 180 00:08:54,117 --> 00:08:56,578 So I spent about a year doing lots of things, 181 00:08:57,370 --> 00:08:59,456 I was researching film making. 182 00:08:59,706 --> 00:09:03,376 How do you cast people, you know, about editing, 183 00:09:03,460 --> 00:09:06,296 and practiced the visual effects and sound mixing, 184 00:09:06,379 --> 00:09:07,380 all that kind of stuff. 185 00:09:07,505 --> 00:09:11,342 Also had to do a lot of home improvements to my house, to replace... 186 00:09:11,593 --> 00:09:13,513 We had carpets all over that wouldn't have worked 187 00:09:13,553 --> 00:09:17,015 with the footprints and Katie getting dragged out of bed. 188 00:09:17,098 --> 00:09:19,768 So I put hardwood floor everywhere. Painted the house, 189 00:09:19,893 --> 00:09:22,312 just to make it look a lot more nice and cinematic. 190 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,690 And did a lot of research on demonic hauntings, 191 00:09:26,316 --> 00:09:30,487 possessions, all that kind of stuff from a religious point of view, 192 00:09:30,570 --> 00:09:32,322 from the perspective of the people 193 00:09:32,405 --> 00:09:34,341 who believe that they are being haunted or possessed, 194 00:09:34,365 --> 00:09:37,952 I did a lot of research on that. A lot of research on found-footage films. 195 00:09:38,078 --> 00:09:40,705 Are you happy? Do you have enough batteries? 196 00:09:41,081 --> 00:09:43,374 I was working full-time as a video game programmer, 197 00:09:43,833 --> 00:09:45,210 so that was my day job. 198 00:09:45,293 --> 00:09:47,146 So everything I had fo do with Paranormal Activity, 199 00:09:47,170 --> 00:09:49,380 both during pre-production and post-production, 200 00:09:49,464 --> 00:09:52,967 had to be in my spare time in the evenings and weekends. 201 00:09:57,597 --> 00:10:00,975 Scorpion wins. Fatality. 202 00:10:01,643 --> 00:10:04,437 Probably the most important thing that I needed to figure out 203 00:10:04,521 --> 00:10:07,065 before I kind of green-lit it in my head, 204 00:10:07,148 --> 00:10:10,235 was that I needed to make sure that I have the right cast, 205 00:10:10,318 --> 00:10:13,446 that can basically carry an entire movie on their shoulders. 206 00:10:13,655 --> 00:10:17,325 What I did at first, is I read some auditions in San Diego 207 00:10:17,575 --> 00:10:22,247 and a few people came from L.A., actually, there was almost no one from San Diego, 208 00:10:22,497 --> 00:10:24,297 and I felt like, you know, I need to go wider. 209 00:10:24,374 --> 00:10:27,460 So I had to research, like, "How do you cast a movie?" 210 00:10:27,710 --> 00:10:30,255 And then ended up renting a theater in L.A. 211 00:10:30,421 --> 00:10:32,298 and put up casting notices. 212 00:10:32,382 --> 00:10:34,634 I was surprised because I didn't have 213 00:10:34,717 --> 00:10:37,595 the name of the project, no name of anyone involved. 214 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:39,480 Not that it would have helped to put my name, 215 00:10:39,556 --> 00:10:41,641 'cause I had no credits in the film business, 216 00:10:41,850 --> 00:10:44,435 but hundreds, maybe even thousands of people replied. 217 00:10:55,196 --> 00:10:57,240 The behind the scenes of the behind the scenes 218 00:10:57,323 --> 00:11:01,244 is always like an interesting concept because it's so meta, you know? 219 00:11:02,036 --> 00:11:03,830 I had just moved to L.A. I was brand new. 220 00:11:04,122 --> 00:11:08,251 I was actually... Well, I was waiting tables, I had no team. 221 00:11:08,334 --> 00:11:10,295 I knew no one in town, no one in the business. 222 00:11:10,670 --> 00:11:12,005 I was living in a garage 223 00:11:13,381 --> 00:11:17,594 with a sheet hanging down from the ceiling in-between me and my roommate 224 00:11:17,677 --> 00:11:19,762 and the rent was 450 bucks a month. 225 00:11:19,971 --> 00:11:23,683 And I was actually house sitting for my high school theater teacher. 226 00:11:23,808 --> 00:11:25,703 He and his wife had moved to L.A. the year prior. 227 00:11:25,727 --> 00:11:27,145 And I was house sitting for them, 228 00:11:27,437 --> 00:11:29,647 and on their computer scrolling through L.A. Casting 229 00:11:29,731 --> 00:11:31,816 and I saw the audition. 230 00:11:31,900 --> 00:11:33,776 - Hi, Oren, I'm Katie. - Nice to meet you. 231 00:11:33,902 --> 00:11:34,986 Nice to meet you. 232 00:11:35,653 --> 00:11:36,696 Have a seat. 233 00:11:37,071 --> 00:11:40,033 I said, "Fuck this project, this is bullshit!" 234 00:11:40,116 --> 00:11:42,827 I'm not going. That was my 235 00:11:42,994 --> 00:11:45,205 I was like, "This is the most insane casting notice 236 00:11:45,288 --> 00:11:48,208 I've ever seen. This is crazy." 237 00:11:48,458 --> 00:11:50,418 It's like you're going into this house. 238 00:11:50,627 --> 00:11:54,214 You can't tell anybody where you are, you can't tell anybody what you're doing, 239 00:11:54,422 --> 00:11:56,549 and we're going to torture you while we film it. 240 00:11:56,716 --> 00:11:59,344 It was essentially my memory and what the casting notice was. 241 00:11:59,469 --> 00:12:01,930 I learned later that Micah didn't even like, really want it. 242 00:12:02,013 --> 00:12:04,033 He was just kind of bored and he saw it and he's like, 243 00:12:04,057 --> 00:12:05,934 "Okay, I'll just go do an audition for fun." 244 00:12:06,017 --> 00:12:07,435 It was in this tiny theater 245 00:12:07,518 --> 00:12:09,979 and I showed up with a heads hot, like you do, 246 00:12:10,188 --> 00:12:11,773 and there was nothing to prepare. 247 00:12:12,023 --> 00:12:17,070 And I was waiting in the waiting room and all of these women would go in, 248 00:12:18,154 --> 00:12:20,573 and like immediately walk out. 249 00:12:20,949 --> 00:12:23,117 In and out, like, less than 30 seconds. 250 00:12:23,284 --> 00:12:26,079 People, people, people. And I'm like, "Okay, that's super weird." 251 00:12:26,246 --> 00:12:29,499 What we would do was exactly what they did in The Blair Witch Project casting. 252 00:12:29,624 --> 00:12:31,376 Just hit them with questions 253 00:12:31,459 --> 00:12:34,671 and jump right into the improvisational stuff. 254 00:12:34,837 --> 00:12:38,508 So people would come in and sit in and I would say, you know, 255 00:12:38,675 --> 00:12:40,593 "Hi, thanks for taking the time to come here." 256 00:12:40,677 --> 00:12:42,238 "What makes you think your house is haunted?" 257 00:12:42,262 --> 00:12:43,822 Immediately she's like, "Oh, well, you know, 258 00:12:43,846 --> 00:12:45,046 I'm hearing things happening." 259 00:12:45,098 --> 00:12:46,849 And she was, like, immediately in character 260 00:12:46,975 --> 00:12:48,855 and I could have an entire conversation with her 261 00:12:48,977 --> 00:12:50,057 and she didn't miss a beat. 262 00:12:50,103 --> 00:12:52,397 He's like, "Okay, well, now there's some stuff happening", 263 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:54,607 and you're in your house, 264 00:12:54,691 --> 00:12:56,691 "and there's like stuff happening," and I'm like... 265 00:12:56,943 --> 00:12:59,237 It's okay. Just stay calm. 266 00:13:01,239 --> 00:13:02,699 You know, just experiencing 267 00:13:02,782 --> 00:13:05,243 all this crazy shit that's happening in my house. 268 00:13:05,535 --> 00:13:09,664 I swear to God, something... Brian, something just grabbed me. 269 00:13:09,831 --> 00:13:12,583 The next step after that was to do callback auditions 270 00:13:12,709 --> 00:13:16,045 with both of them together, basically right after they met. 271 00:13:16,421 --> 00:13:18,381 I'm like, "Have a seat, do you guys need water?" 272 00:13:18,464 --> 00:13:20,174 "And this is Katie, this is Micah." 273 00:13:20,258 --> 00:13:21,986 "So tell me, how long have you guys been together?" 274 00:13:22,010 --> 00:13:23,130 - Want me to tell him? - Yes. 275 00:13:23,177 --> 00:13:25,805 - Okay, well actually, we... - I'm used to getting it wrong. 276 00:13:26,472 --> 00:13:27,574 They didn't rehearse anything. 277 00:13:27,598 --> 00:13:29,434 They never met before, it was all improv. 278 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:33,146 And I remember thinking then in my head, "This could work." 279 00:13:33,396 --> 00:13:36,482 This could work just because they were so good and so convincing. 280 00:13:37,233 --> 00:13:40,528 Hello, welcome to our house, or, actually, your house. 281 00:13:40,611 --> 00:13:44,532 Oren sent us a videotape of what his house looked like 282 00:13:44,615 --> 00:13:47,660 to familiarize us with the layout. 283 00:13:47,744 --> 00:13:49,787 And he was doing some, like, you know, 284 00:13:49,871 --> 00:13:52,123 like refurbishing of things in the house fo, like, 285 00:13:52,206 --> 00:13:53,791 make it look better on the screen. 286 00:13:53,875 --> 00:13:55,418 Our production central. 287 00:13:55,501 --> 00:13:58,796 We have all the equipment here and a whole bunch of stuff. 288 00:13:58,963 --> 00:14:00,243 So this is basically off-limits. 289 00:14:00,548 --> 00:14:04,886 So the actual shoot ended up being in October 2006. 290 00:14:04,969 --> 00:14:07,180 We showed up and we kind of got acclimated, 291 00:14:07,263 --> 00:14:11,517 and I basically moved into the bedroom that's in the movie, 292 00:14:11,601 --> 00:14:13,353 and then Oren and Micah took the guestrooms. 293 00:14:13,436 --> 00:14:19,692 Oren gave us a very, kind of intense collection of videos 294 00:14:19,901 --> 00:14:21,694 of various documentaries about hauntings. 295 00:14:21,778 --> 00:14:24,447 Basically just research into the genre. 296 00:14:25,782 --> 00:14:30,745 But because we were playing a version of ourselves in a way, 297 00:14:30,870 --> 00:14:33,164 there wasn't any sort of intensive character work, 298 00:14:33,247 --> 00:14:34,749 and because we didn't have a script, 299 00:14:34,832 --> 00:14:38,044 there wasn't any need to learn lines or anything. 300 00:14:38,127 --> 00:14:43,091 So the preparation was less intense than, like, 301 00:14:43,216 --> 00:14:45,093 for a scripted movie, obviously. 302 00:14:45,343 --> 00:14:48,471 They never really knew what the story was until I was telling them, 303 00:14:48,554 --> 00:14:50,154 "This is the next thing we're shooting." 304 00:14:50,264 --> 00:14:53,309 So it only had to be sort of, an internal document 305 00:14:53,393 --> 00:14:55,645 for myself and my crew. 306 00:14:55,895 --> 00:14:59,816 And it was like, this weird color coded, line-by-line, 307 00:14:59,899 --> 00:15:02,026 like, scene breakdown and had different... 308 00:15:02,110 --> 00:15:04,695 Like if it's a blue color, then it's a nighttime scene. 309 00:15:04,779 --> 00:15:06,989 If its a green color, it's a daytime scene. 310 00:15:07,073 --> 00:15:10,326 If it's in italics, it means there's a special effects shot there. 311 00:15:10,493 --> 00:15:12,679 All these, kind of, like, things that only made sense to me. 312 00:15:12,703 --> 00:15:16,165 There was no real normal day. Like, we woke up, 313 00:15:16,249 --> 00:15:18,793 we talked about what we were gonna shoot. 314 00:15:18,876 --> 00:15:21,587 We shot it for hours upon hours upon hours. 315 00:15:21,921 --> 00:15:23,297 Just leave me alone. 316 00:15:23,381 --> 00:15:25,508 Will you stop following me with the camera! 317 00:15:25,925 --> 00:15:28,553 The first shoot was a week. So it was seven days, 318 00:15:28,636 --> 00:15:30,155 pretty much shooting around the clock. 319 00:15:30,179 --> 00:15:32,181 Not a lot. I mean, we did sleep, but not a lot. 320 00:15:32,265 --> 00:15:34,684 I think Oren's sort of relentless work ethic 321 00:15:35,685 --> 00:15:39,272 was mirrored by our own desire to make something that mattered 322 00:15:39,355 --> 00:15:41,649 and make something that was good. And we all wanted... 323 00:15:41,732 --> 00:15:44,485 We would not stop until the scene was good. 324 00:15:44,569 --> 00:15:45,736 - Wow! - Let's do it again. 325 00:15:45,820 --> 00:15:47,947 What was the problem? That sounded good. 326 00:15:48,030 --> 00:15:49,030 I think it was good. 327 00:15:49,073 --> 00:15:50,843 I just think we should get another take for safety, 328 00:15:50,867 --> 00:15:52,052 there was kind of a weird moment. 329 00:15:52,076 --> 00:15:52,994 Okay. 330 00:15:53,077 --> 00:15:55,329 The crew pretty much consisted of myself, 331 00:15:55,413 --> 00:15:57,748 my girlfriend at the time that I was living with, 332 00:15:57,832 --> 00:15:59,935 and I told her, "Look, we're to shoot a movie in the house, 333 00:15:59,959 --> 00:16:00,877 you might as well help, 334 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:02,840 you won't be able to sleep in your bed anyways." 335 00:16:02,879 --> 00:16:06,257 So she was helpful. And then my best friend, Amir, 336 00:16:06,340 --> 00:16:09,218 who I've known since I was 13 years old, in Israel, 337 00:16:09,302 --> 00:16:11,062 and I told him the whole story and asked him, 338 00:16:11,137 --> 00:16:13,532 "Do you want to help?" And he's like, "Sure, sounds like fun." 339 00:16:13,556 --> 00:16:15,159 "But I don't know anything about film making." 340 00:16:15,183 --> 00:16:17,119 And I said, "You know, that's perfect, neither do I." 341 00:16:17,143 --> 00:16:21,439 The only real crew member that we had was a makeup girl named Crystal 342 00:16:21,522 --> 00:16:23,083 to come and help us for a couple of days. 343 00:16:23,107 --> 00:16:28,279 We shot the majority of the nights in the first movie in one night. 344 00:16:28,362 --> 00:16:29,614 God damn it! 345 00:16:29,989 --> 00:16:34,076 I'm tired of this motherfucking poop in this motherfucking attic! 346 00:16:34,368 --> 00:16:36,913 It's time to kick some demon ass! 347 00:16:37,163 --> 00:16:40,791 I remember laughing, sitting in the hallway, 348 00:16:41,042 --> 00:16:45,004 all of us laughing just in this, kind of zone of delirium 349 00:16:45,087 --> 00:16:46,887 where like none of us are functioning anymore. 350 00:16:46,923 --> 00:16:50,760 Just all of us, Oren, Micah and myself, just crying, laughing on the floor. 351 00:16:50,843 --> 00:16:52,386 Oren has just revealed to us 352 00:16:52,470 --> 00:16:56,057 that the name of the movie is Demonic Poop in the Attic. 353 00:16:56,265 --> 00:16:59,769 The name was a problem. We thought about Captured. 354 00:17:00,269 --> 00:17:05,107 We thought it means two things, both like Katie's captured by a force, 355 00:17:05,191 --> 00:17:09,237 and also something's captured on tape. And we just had, like, this notepad, 356 00:17:09,362 --> 00:17:11,364 Anyone that has any idea for a name, 357 00:17:11,447 --> 00:17:13,449 just write a name and people wrote different names, 358 00:17:13,866 --> 00:17:16,702 and Paranormal Activity just seemed kind of, like, accurate, 359 00:17:16,827 --> 00:17:19,455 but dry. So we kind of just said, "You know, 360 00:17:19,580 --> 00:17:21,517 that's the best name we have. We'll just go with that." 361 00:17:21,541 --> 00:17:23,352 - We could use a little... - Be careful. You're about to 362 00:17:23,376 --> 00:17:25,416 - run into the shower. - Extracurricular with this. 363 00:17:25,503 --> 00:17:29,257 In the shots that were taking place in the bedroom, 364 00:17:29,423 --> 00:17:34,136 usually I would be behind the camera unless I was actually executing a stunt. 365 00:17:34,220 --> 00:17:37,140 Like if I was crawling on the floor to move a door or something like that, 366 00:17:37,348 --> 00:17:38,534 then I would have to be there. 367 00:17:38,558 --> 00:17:41,644 But if it's all them, then I'd usually be behind the camera 368 00:17:41,727 --> 00:17:43,664 or maybe just kind of hiding in the corner of the room 369 00:17:43,688 --> 00:17:46,023 that I knew was outside the shot. 370 00:17:46,399 --> 00:17:49,068 The stuff that happens during the day, 371 00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:52,655 and I wanted them to have full freedom with the camera, 372 00:17:52,738 --> 00:17:54,758 then usually I would, like, go to hide in the bathroom 373 00:17:54,782 --> 00:17:55,992 or something like that. 374 00:17:56,075 --> 00:18:00,329 And I could hear much of what's going on. If I need to also see what's going on, 375 00:18:00,413 --> 00:18:02,582 we could just immediately review the footage, 376 00:18:02,665 --> 00:18:06,419 but Micah was such a great cameraman that we never had problems with him. 377 00:18:06,586 --> 00:18:08,004 I am Dr. Yurhan. 378 00:18:09,922 --> 00:18:12,383 I did do enough camera work to know 379 00:18:12,466 --> 00:18:15,261 this is how framing works, this is how zooming works. 380 00:18:15,344 --> 00:18:18,889 And then, when I got the camera and we're shooting, 381 00:18:19,181 --> 00:18:21,100 and Oren was looking at the footage, 382 00:18:21,183 --> 00:18:24,937 he's like, "No, this doesn't look hand held." 383 00:18:25,021 --> 00:18:28,149 He was great with a camera, so great that I had to tell him, 384 00:18:28,232 --> 00:18:30,901 "Don't do as good of a job because it looks too professional." 385 00:18:30,985 --> 00:18:32,379 And I had him close the viewfinder. 386 00:18:32,403 --> 00:18:34,780 I told him, "Just aim it in the general direction of Katie." 387 00:18:34,864 --> 00:18:37,325 Don't focus so much on making the shot look good. 388 00:18:37,408 --> 00:18:38,701 And then of course, later on, 389 00:18:38,784 --> 00:18:40,596 as he's editing these hundreds of hours of footage, 390 00:18:40,620 --> 00:18:42,060 he's like, "Thank God that you didn't 391 00:18:42,121 --> 00:18:44,332 shake the camera more, people would have been so sick." 392 00:18:44,415 --> 00:18:45,791 - Carbon image. - Watch your face. 393 00:18:46,959 --> 00:18:48,628 - That's beautiful. - Yeah! 394 00:18:48,753 --> 00:18:49,920 Look at this. 395 00:18:50,004 --> 00:18:51,422 Now watch this be our best burn. 396 00:18:51,839 --> 00:18:53,900 While I was trying to research how to do visual effects, 397 00:18:53,924 --> 00:18:57,845 what I figured out is that if the camera is steady, 398 00:18:57,928 --> 00:18:59,680 if it's basically fixed on a tripod, 399 00:19:00,056 --> 00:19:04,185 it's pretty easy to have a blank plate, which is basically just the bedroom. 400 00:19:04,310 --> 00:19:06,646 And then I can just mask things out. 401 00:19:07,104 --> 00:19:08,481 So I can split the screen. 402 00:19:08,606 --> 00:19:12,151 And if I'm here walking to the door and pushing the door 403 00:19:12,318 --> 00:19:13,736 and I put a mask here, 404 00:19:14,070 --> 00:19:15,905 I can just replace myself with the background 405 00:19:16,030 --> 00:19:17,110 that was in the other shot. 406 00:19:17,281 --> 00:19:19,241 So that's the basis for most of the shots. 407 00:19:19,450 --> 00:19:23,162 So for example, for the footprints, I simply put all the footprints there. 408 00:19:23,329 --> 00:19:26,224 And then with masking, I said, "Okay, now I'm just going fo reveal this one." 409 00:19:26,248 --> 00:19:28,208 "I'm going to reveal this one, and then this one." 410 00:19:28,292 --> 00:19:32,672 One of the trickier ones was getting a Katie dragged out of bed. 411 00:19:36,592 --> 00:19:37,635 That involved a lot of us. 412 00:19:37,718 --> 00:19:39,637 We had to figure out, first of all, the angle. 413 00:19:39,762 --> 00:19:41,597 How are we going fo actually drag her? 414 00:19:41,764 --> 00:19:45,017 So what we did is, I got a bungee ankle harness 415 00:19:45,351 --> 00:19:46,602 and tied it to her leg. 416 00:19:46,936 --> 00:19:50,064 And we had my girlfriend pulling her out of bed 417 00:19:50,231 --> 00:19:51,273 fowards the room. 418 00:19:51,565 --> 00:19:53,526 And then we had a simple pulley system 419 00:19:53,859 --> 00:19:57,321 where my friend Amir was pulling her into the hallway 420 00:19:57,446 --> 00:19:58,507 and the pulley would, kind of, 421 00:19:58,531 --> 00:20:00,258 get her exactly the right way through the doorway. 422 00:20:00,282 --> 00:20:02,118 And my girlfriend would close the door, 423 00:20:02,743 --> 00:20:04,370 so that by the time Micah opens the door, 424 00:20:04,537 --> 00:20:07,289 my friend Amir can keep pulling her straight into the hallway. 425 00:20:07,665 --> 00:20:12,128 - Micah! Micah! Micah! - Katie! 426 00:20:12,211 --> 00:20:14,731 And Katie was like, "You know what? Just drag me down the stairs." 427 00:20:14,755 --> 00:20:16,650 "Fuck it, drag me down the stairs, I don't care!" 428 00:20:16,674 --> 00:20:19,277 And Oren's like, "I don't think my insurance is going to cover it." 429 00:20:19,301 --> 00:20:21,363 And I was like, "But it will be so good in the movie!" 430 00:20:21,387 --> 00:20:23,597 And he's like, "No." Which was the right call. 431 00:20:23,681 --> 00:20:25,161 Okay, do you want to say, "Take one"? 432 00:20:25,266 --> 00:20:28,185 - Two. - Take 207? 433 00:20:28,310 --> 00:20:30,604 Then after we were done with the first shoot 434 00:20:30,688 --> 00:20:33,524 and I put everything together, we all met and we said, 435 00:20:33,649 --> 00:20:36,609 "You know, we're missing some parts here. These parts don't work too well." 436 00:20:36,861 --> 00:20:39,321 And we had a lot of rounds of reshoots after that 437 00:20:39,655 --> 00:20:41,407 to keep patching the story. 438 00:20:41,615 --> 00:20:44,452 It was the hardest work environment 439 00:20:44,702 --> 00:20:47,121 that I had ever been in, but in a very positive way, 440 00:20:47,204 --> 00:20:49,832 because I think it enabled us 441 00:20:49,957 --> 00:20:53,586 to get a level of investment and buy-in, 442 00:20:53,669 --> 00:20:57,131 that was not possible in, sort of, a union setting. 443 00:20:57,840 --> 00:20:59,842 So I tried sending it to some producers 444 00:20:59,925 --> 00:21:03,763 and to some festivals and got rejected by all of them. 445 00:21:04,221 --> 00:21:06,307 I'm like, "What do we do next?" 446 00:21:06,390 --> 00:21:10,895 And then we had an opportunity to submit the movie to Screamfest. 447 00:21:14,774 --> 00:21:18,986 So that was our premier screening event. And it went really well. 448 00:21:19,069 --> 00:21:21,614 First time we saw Paranormal Activity, it was in 2007. 449 00:21:21,697 --> 00:21:23,449 It was just sent as a regular submission. 450 00:21:24,700 --> 00:21:26,952 We decided to accept it because it was very different. 451 00:21:27,036 --> 00:21:30,122 The chemistry between Micah and Katie was off the chart, 452 00:21:30,206 --> 00:21:31,624 it was kind of very believable. 453 00:21:32,625 --> 00:21:34,043 Sounds pretty good. 454 00:21:34,168 --> 00:21:36,337 So after we watched the screener, 455 00:21:36,712 --> 00:21:40,049 I gave it to a friend of mine who was working at CAA, 456 00:21:40,132 --> 00:21:43,719 Karill Baru, who was a young exec over at CAA. 457 00:21:43,803 --> 00:21:46,597 And I gave it to him and he took it in and showed his boss. 458 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:50,267 And then, obviously, that was like a month before we even screened it. 459 00:21:50,351 --> 00:21:51,894 They kind of sat on it for a bit. 460 00:21:52,311 --> 00:21:55,439 I gave it to Luke Thompson in LA Weekly. 461 00:21:55,731 --> 00:21:57,584 My review was that it was the must-see of the film 462 00:21:57,608 --> 00:21:59,669 and I'm pretty sure it was on my Best of The Year list. 463 00:21:59,693 --> 00:22:02,780 And then I gave it to Steve Barton at Dread Central. 464 00:22:02,863 --> 00:22:06,116 I put on the movie, and my initial reaction was, 465 00:22:06,408 --> 00:22:08,619 "Fuck, it's another one of these." 466 00:22:09,829 --> 00:22:12,957 And then something really strange happened. 467 00:22:14,208 --> 00:22:17,086 The characters started becoming really relatable. 468 00:22:17,169 --> 00:22:22,883 The acting was way better than I'd seen in this type of movie in quite some time. 469 00:22:22,967 --> 00:22:26,762 We had a, you know, great reaction from the audience 470 00:22:26,846 --> 00:22:30,391 and I got in touch with a lot of distributors and press. 471 00:22:30,474 --> 00:22:33,727 We got some great reviews and we won a couple of awards. 472 00:22:33,811 --> 00:22:34,895 Katie won an award. 473 00:22:34,979 --> 00:22:38,482 I saw it with an audience, and also the first time 474 00:22:38,566 --> 00:22:41,068 I'd ever seen myself on a movie screen, you Know. 475 00:22:41,610 --> 00:22:46,615 I remember just thinking, like, "Oh my gosh, these people are excited." 476 00:22:47,199 --> 00:22:49,910 These people are, like, really scared and watching. 477 00:22:49,994 --> 00:22:54,415 And, like, it was just sort of mind-blowing to me. 478 00:22:55,916 --> 00:22:58,127 Micah! Come on! Come on! 479 00:22:58,502 --> 00:23:03,048 After the Screamfest screening, things started happening pretty quickly. 480 00:23:03,132 --> 00:23:08,512 A day after the awards ceremony, I got a call from an agent at CAA. 481 00:23:08,762 --> 00:23:11,432 And I met him a few days later and he was saying, 482 00:23:11,515 --> 00:23:15,853 "Hey, do you want to sign with us?" I'm like, "Yes, sure. Don't twist my arm." 483 00:23:16,103 --> 00:23:18,314 That was good. I mean... 484 00:23:19,857 --> 00:23:24,236 My agent sent the film to a producer named Steven Schneider, 485 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:26,947 who was like a horror guy and he really loved the film. 486 00:23:27,197 --> 00:23:29,742 I think I sent two emails. 487 00:23:31,702 --> 00:23:35,789 One to an executive at Paramount, 488 00:23:35,956 --> 00:23:40,753 who I was close to and still am, her name's Ashley Brucks. 489 00:23:40,836 --> 00:23:42,755 And he said, "Hey, I think I have something 490 00:23:42,838 --> 00:23:46,383 you might like, but I'm not going to send it to you." 491 00:23:46,884 --> 00:23:50,179 Because at that time, like, everyone was just, like, passing out DVDs 492 00:23:50,471 --> 00:23:51,722 and you just pop it in. 493 00:23:52,181 --> 00:23:54,683 And he's like, "You have to experience it." 494 00:23:54,850 --> 00:24:00,147 And another email to the producer 495 00:24:01,023 --> 00:24:04,276 whom I was working for and with at the time 496 00:24:05,569 --> 00:24:09,323 sort of apprenticing in some ways, I suppose, under Jason Blum. 497 00:24:09,531 --> 00:24:11,158 Steven saw it and loved it and said, 498 00:24:11,283 --> 00:24:13,094 "You gotta see this movie, you gotta see this movie." 499 00:24:13,118 --> 00:24:14,118 And I saw it, 500 00:24:14,161 --> 00:24:17,206 and I definitely thought there was something special about it. 501 00:24:17,414 --> 00:24:19,500 We got a few offers from places like IFC 502 00:24:19,625 --> 00:24:21,961 and Anchor Bay to go directly to DVD, which would... 503 00:24:22,378 --> 00:24:23,545 They were nice offers, 504 00:24:23,796 --> 00:24:26,256 but I always believed in the potential of the film, 505 00:24:26,465 --> 00:24:28,425 to do well theatrically. 506 00:24:28,592 --> 00:24:30,469 I said, "Oren, I'm gonna make a deal with you, 507 00:24:30,552 --> 00:24:31,947 I'll make a deal with you right now." 508 00:24:31,971 --> 00:24:34,011 I said, "Let me come on as a producer of the movie." 509 00:24:34,056 --> 00:24:35,700 "And we're going to sell the movie for sure." 510 00:24:35,724 --> 00:24:37,077 "It's gonna be one of the stories." 511 00:24:37,101 --> 00:24:40,187 And we went about the three-year odyssey 512 00:24:40,312 --> 00:24:43,774 of getting Paranormal Activity from that stage into a movie theater. 513 00:24:44,024 --> 00:24:46,026 Jason and I in particular started strategizing. 514 00:24:46,110 --> 00:24:50,739 We started screening the movie for people. We would invite people over to my house. 515 00:24:50,906 --> 00:24:54,118 He had, sort of, like, kind of, a screening room set up. 516 00:24:54,201 --> 00:24:57,871 And I think there were, like, maybe four or five of us there. 517 00:24:57,955 --> 00:25:02,668 Steven Schneider was there, Jason, and maybe a couple of other people. 518 00:25:03,002 --> 00:25:08,090 And I sat and watched it one night, and it was super fun. 519 00:25:08,173 --> 00:25:10,926 And she loved the film, she became, kind of, obsessed with it. 520 00:25:11,176 --> 00:25:13,429 She showed it to her boss, Adam Goodman. 521 00:25:13,595 --> 00:25:16,515 The first time I heard about the movie, it was probably in a staff meeting 522 00:25:16,932 --> 00:25:19,184 at Dream Works, which I was running at the time, 523 00:25:19,476 --> 00:25:22,938 and Ashley Brucks had brought it up at the table. 524 00:25:23,355 --> 00:25:25,107 And she made mention of the fact 525 00:25:25,315 --> 00:25:28,652 that there was this film, and it was found footage. 526 00:25:29,194 --> 00:25:31,572 And at the time, you know, outside of Blair Witch, 527 00:25:31,697 --> 00:25:36,201 there really wasn't any other example of found footage ever working 528 00:25:36,326 --> 00:25:38,537 or necessarily being theatrical. 529 00:25:38,954 --> 00:25:42,291 I don't know how many times I asked him to watch the movie. 530 00:25:42,374 --> 00:25:43,500 It was multiple. 531 00:25:43,667 --> 00:25:49,214 I think I watched it at my house on a DVD in my laptop. 532 00:25:49,298 --> 00:25:52,217 And he told her like, "I don't get it, not for me." 533 00:25:52,301 --> 00:25:55,113 And she kept bugging him, she's like, "No, you have to watch it the right way." 534 00:25:55,137 --> 00:25:56,698 "Watch the whole thing, not on the laptop." 535 00:25:56,722 --> 00:26:00,768 The first time I really watched it from beginning to end, 536 00:26:00,893 --> 00:26:02,728 we did a screening at Amblin 537 00:26:03,062 --> 00:26:05,481 and we had brought a bunch of other people info It, 538 00:26:05,939 --> 00:26:08,817 and it really got under my skin in that moment. 539 00:26:08,901 --> 00:26:11,570 Like, it was an entirely different experience 540 00:26:11,653 --> 00:26:14,865 than sitting at home on my couch with the lights on 541 00:26:15,074 --> 00:26:17,177 and trying to just get through my homework for the night. 542 00:26:17,201 --> 00:26:18,619 And then we worked on the movie. 543 00:26:18,744 --> 00:26:22,998 And Oren, every time we would screen the movie, 544 00:26:23,123 --> 00:26:26,668 Oren would like go back to his house and futz with it. 545 00:26:26,835 --> 00:26:30,631 He'd like shoot with Micah for ten minutes or shoot with Katie and he'd futz with it, 546 00:26:30,714 --> 00:26:32,174 futz with it. Futz with it. 547 00:26:32,257 --> 00:26:35,344 And, so, I always said he did 50 cuts of the movie after I was involved. 548 00:26:35,427 --> 00:26:36,970 He probably did another 50 before. 549 00:26:37,054 --> 00:26:39,181 And it would just get better and better and better. 550 00:26:39,765 --> 00:26:43,393 We really were at the time planning on just acquiring it 551 00:26:43,477 --> 00:26:45,395 to remake it. 552 00:26:45,479 --> 00:26:50,859 And they are offering us a deal where I'm going to reshoot the movie. 553 00:26:50,943 --> 00:26:56,657 I will direct a reshoot of the film, but with a proper budget and real actors 554 00:26:56,740 --> 00:26:58,117 and make sure that it looks nice, 555 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:01,829 not like a crappy found-footage film, and do it right. 556 00:27:01,912 --> 00:27:04,081 And I'm like, "No, it's not supposed to look right, 557 00:27:04,164 --> 00:27:06,375 and it's not supposed to have real actors." 558 00:27:06,458 --> 00:27:09,086 "It works because of the lo-fi nature of it, 559 00:27:09,169 --> 00:27:10,838 because of the authenticity, 560 00:27:10,921 --> 00:27:12,774 and because of the performances of Katie and Micah 561 00:27:12,798 --> 00:27:14,341 who are not known actors." 562 00:27:14,424 --> 00:27:18,345 The whole point is it's two people who are everyday people in a house. 563 00:27:18,470 --> 00:27:20,013 So if you see some actors 564 00:27:20,264 --> 00:27:22,683 you're immediately disconnected from the reality. 565 00:27:23,142 --> 00:27:24,577 I started thinking about it and I said, 566 00:27:24,601 --> 00:27:28,188 "Okay, I'll do it under the following conditions." 567 00:27:28,272 --> 00:27:31,108 "One is that we will do everything we can to sabotage it. 568 00:27:31,191 --> 00:27:33,235 So we can release the original version." 569 00:27:34,862 --> 00:27:37,447 "If we do make it, then the original..." 570 00:27:37,531 --> 00:27:39,992 "Original Paranormal Activity, the one that existed, 571 00:27:40,075 --> 00:27:43,370 will be on the DVD as an extra of the remake one." 572 00:27:43,829 --> 00:27:46,039 "And it has to be okay with Katie and Micah," 573 00:27:46,123 --> 00:27:48,333 because I felt it was like such a betrayal 574 00:27:48,417 --> 00:27:50,752 to have them be part of the movie 575 00:27:50,836 --> 00:27:52,754 and now, it's like, "Okay, thank you, guys." 576 00:27:52,838 --> 00:27:55,632 "Now I'm gonna do the 'real' version for Dream Works." 577 00:27:55,716 --> 00:27:57,092 "Thanks for the hard work." 578 00:27:57,176 --> 00:27:59,803 So the only way I could do it was say 579 00:27:59,887 --> 00:28:02,389 that we're going to make a deal and it's in that deal, 580 00:28:02,472 --> 00:28:05,350 contingent on selling you the rights to remake the film, 581 00:28:05,434 --> 00:28:08,729 you must screen the film in a test screening setting 582 00:28:08,812 --> 00:28:10,314 for 400 people, 583 00:28:10,397 --> 00:28:12,983 we chose Burbank, and you must attend! 584 00:28:13,066 --> 00:28:14,902 It was one of the most 585 00:28:16,236 --> 00:28:18,614 unusual screenings I'd ever been to 586 00:28:18,697 --> 00:28:21,366 because the audience was leaving in droves. 587 00:28:21,992 --> 00:28:27,247 And it was just one theater going, exiting after another theater going, exiting. 588 00:28:27,331 --> 00:28:30,000 And I just kept looking at Ashley and I'm like. 589 00:28:30,459 --> 00:28:31,710 I felt terrible for her. 590 00:28:31,793 --> 00:28:34,087 I was like, "This is such a horrible result." 591 00:28:34,171 --> 00:28:36,840 She was excited about the movie, I kept looking at Jason, 592 00:28:36,924 --> 00:28:39,301 I was like, "See I told you." 593 00:28:39,384 --> 00:28:41,136 And I got up to go to the bathroom, 594 00:28:41,220 --> 00:28:43,820 and I said to one of the security guards as I was exiting, I said, 595 00:28:43,847 --> 00:28:45,607 "What did everyone say when they're leaving?" 596 00:28:46,183 --> 00:28:47,952 And the security guard looked at me and he said, 597 00:28:47,976 --> 00:28:49,561 "They're saying it's too scary." 598 00:28:49,645 --> 00:28:51,730 And right then and there in the lobby, 599 00:28:51,813 --> 00:28:54,358 after the test screening, the Dream Works people 600 00:28:54,441 --> 00:28:57,045 are saying, "Yeah, you know what? Let's just forget about the remake." 601 00:28:57,069 --> 00:28:59,404 "Let's figure out a way to release this one." 602 00:28:59,488 --> 00:29:01,299 And it's why, it was still one of the best nights 603 00:29:01,323 --> 00:29:04,326 in my career. It's like, such vindication, right? 604 00:29:04,409 --> 00:29:06,203 The remake is gone. 605 00:29:06,286 --> 00:29:08,705 Just one more thing, we need to get to the approval 606 00:29:08,789 --> 00:29:10,791 of one more person. Steven Spielberg. 607 00:29:10,874 --> 00:29:13,168 Spielberg heard the test screening of this movie 608 00:29:13,252 --> 00:29:15,921 that his company had bought the remake rights to went great. 609 00:29:16,004 --> 00:29:17,214 He watched the movie. 610 00:29:17,297 --> 00:29:19,341 I guess there was a door that has never locked 611 00:29:19,967 --> 00:29:23,178 in the entire time he had lived in whatever this house was. 612 00:29:23,262 --> 00:29:25,764 The door locked from the inside. 613 00:29:25,847 --> 00:29:28,809 Like, he was the only one in the room and he couldn't... 614 00:29:28,892 --> 00:29:31,186 He had to call a locksmith and open his door, 615 00:29:31,270 --> 00:29:32,312 which is freaky. 616 00:29:32,396 --> 00:29:35,148 He came back to my office the next day 617 00:29:35,232 --> 00:29:38,568 and he handed me the movie in a garbage bag. 618 00:29:38,652 --> 00:29:40,570 Because he didn't want the DVD in his house 619 00:29:40,654 --> 00:29:42,072 and he didn't want to touch it. 620 00:29:42,155 --> 00:29:44,133 And he thought it was so scary, which was great theater. 621 00:29:44,157 --> 00:29:46,827 And he said not only is it so scary, 622 00:29:46,910 --> 00:29:49,871 he said, but there may be something seriously, 623 00:29:50,372 --> 00:29:53,625 you know, kind of, like, seriously off with this movie here. 624 00:29:53,709 --> 00:29:56,044 So that was one of those surreal moments in my life 625 00:29:56,128 --> 00:29:58,588 that I'm like, processing, like, if I heard 626 00:29:58,672 --> 00:30:00,712 that Steven Spielberg watched my movie and hated it, 627 00:30:00,757 --> 00:30:02,884 I'm like, "Oh my God, Steven Spielberg knows I exist!" 628 00:30:02,968 --> 00:30:04,386 You know? And he actually loved it, 629 00:30:04,469 --> 00:30:06,096 that was an amazing moment. 630 00:30:06,179 --> 00:30:08,557 Getting that kind of reaction from Steven was, 631 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:09,909 you know, that changed everything. 632 00:30:09,933 --> 00:30:13,270 I mean, we started to lean into this in an incredible way. 633 00:30:13,353 --> 00:30:16,356 He changed the ending because we had 634 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:18,209 I mean, we got the ending that was at Screamfest. 635 00:30:18,233 --> 00:30:22,112 That was a cool way of ending the film. 636 00:30:22,195 --> 00:30:27,576 In the original version, the cops come in, Katie, I believe, is holding a knife, 637 00:30:27,659 --> 00:30:31,413 they shoot her, and I believe Micah dies as well. 638 00:30:31,496 --> 00:30:33,915 So I think everybody dies. It's kind of a grim ending. 639 00:30:33,999 --> 00:30:36,460 Well, that was Steven Spielberg's idea. 640 00:30:36,543 --> 00:30:40,547 He was like, "This is great, reshoot it, don't kill the girl." 641 00:30:41,048 --> 00:30:44,259 And thank you, Steven Spielberg, for that. 642 00:30:44,343 --> 00:30:45,635 But at the time, 643 00:30:45,719 --> 00:30:49,681 Dream Works was going through a separation from Paramount. 644 00:30:50,140 --> 00:30:51,892 What was clear was that Dream Works 645 00:30:51,975 --> 00:30:54,102 was going fo be, kind of, going off on its own, 646 00:30:54,186 --> 00:30:57,647 and Paramount, which had acquired Dream Works, 647 00:30:57,731 --> 00:30:59,983 was going to be keeping all of its assets. 648 00:31:00,067 --> 00:31:05,197 I had heard that Adam, that Paramount, some, you know, forces that be, 649 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:07,407 wanted Adam to come over and run Paramount. 650 00:31:07,491 --> 00:31:13,246 Initially Steven said, "Go to Paramount, oversee all of the Dream Works slate", 651 00:31:13,330 --> 00:31:17,542 you know, into Paramount's system, but then come back home to Dream Works. 652 00:31:17,626 --> 00:31:20,212 He said, "Look, I think Paramount might want you." 653 00:31:20,295 --> 00:31:22,381 "I think you maybe should take the leap of faith." 654 00:31:22,464 --> 00:31:24,525 "I know it's... We don't know what's going to happen." 655 00:31:24,549 --> 00:31:27,344 No one knew what was going to happen at Paramount at the time. 656 00:31:27,427 --> 00:31:29,596 They were going through a lot of changes. 657 00:31:29,679 --> 00:31:32,140 So eventually, I think I knew I was leaving Paramount. 658 00:31:32,224 --> 00:31:33,701 I wasn't going to be there for very long 659 00:31:33,725 --> 00:31:35,578 because I was supposed to be going back to Dream Works, 660 00:31:35,602 --> 00:31:37,362 and at that point I sort of felt bulletproof. 661 00:31:37,729 --> 00:31:40,524 And I walked into my colleague's office 662 00:31:40,607 --> 00:31:42,526 and I'm like, "We've got to figure this out." 663 00:31:42,609 --> 00:31:47,739 And so we kind of created this "Demand It" campaign. 664 00:31:51,284 --> 00:31:53,870 Paramount came out with this "Demand It" campaign 665 00:31:53,954 --> 00:31:56,039 where you would kind of, have to be like, 666 00:31:56,123 --> 00:31:58,750 "I want this movie, I'm gonna go see it in this theater, 667 00:31:58,834 --> 00:32:00,043 in this town." 668 00:32:00,127 --> 00:32:03,380 Their whole gimmick was demand that your city gets this movie. 669 00:32:03,463 --> 00:32:05,298 This movie is getting a ton of festival buzz, 670 00:32:05,715 --> 00:32:07,384 you have to demand it comes to your town. 671 00:32:10,011 --> 00:32:12,889 I remember seeing the marketing for Paranormal Activity 672 00:32:12,973 --> 00:32:14,933 and thinking just how genius it was. 673 00:32:17,060 --> 00:32:20,063 And it put the cameras on, like, in night vision, 674 00:32:20,147 --> 00:32:21,565 on the kids in the theater 675 00:32:22,941 --> 00:32:24,025 getting their reaction, 676 00:32:25,193 --> 00:32:27,279 getting a quick blurb from them in the aftermath. 677 00:32:27,362 --> 00:32:28,362 Fantastic. 678 00:32:28,405 --> 00:32:29,465 I'd see it again, definitely. 679 00:32:29,489 --> 00:32:32,409 And I think that it's like, it's the kind of movie that maybe 680 00:32:32,492 --> 00:32:34,119 it was done out of necessity, 681 00:32:34,202 --> 00:32:37,539 'cause it's kind of, you know, it's a raw looking movie. 682 00:32:37,622 --> 00:32:39,916 It's a movie that's shot on a Handycam, 683 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,170 so if you just were to cut, kind of, a traditional trailer, 684 00:32:43,253 --> 00:32:46,756 I think the audiences hadn't seen a found-footage movie 685 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:48,360 that was mainstream since Blair Witch. 686 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:55,307 It's not the house, it's me. 687 00:32:55,390 --> 00:32:58,143 You cannot. I'm in control. 688 00:32:58,226 --> 00:32:59,269 You're not in control. 689 00:33:06,651 --> 00:33:10,655 Paranormal Activity has had abnormal activity at the box office. 690 00:33:10,739 --> 00:33:14,743 Sure has. That's because the little movie that started as a low-budget cult thriller 691 00:33:14,826 --> 00:33:16,077 with hardly any marketing, 692 00:33:16,161 --> 00:33:18,997 took home the number one spot at the box office last weekend. 693 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,125 And it was just enormous. It was huge. 694 00:33:22,542 --> 00:33:26,046 And they put it out against Saw VI, and they won. 695 00:33:26,129 --> 00:33:28,173 I was blown away by it. I mean, it was like 696 00:33:29,966 --> 00:33:31,051 you know, it was perfect. 697 00:33:31,134 --> 00:33:34,095 I got up and I moved down a few rows and I went, 698 00:33:34,179 --> 00:33:36,473 "God damn it. Damn this guy!" 699 00:33:36,973 --> 00:33:38,058 It was so terrifying, 700 00:33:38,141 --> 00:33:39,911 and I thought, "I'm not gonna leave the theater." 701 00:33:39,935 --> 00:33:43,188 So I went by the theater and when I drove up, 702 00:33:43,271 --> 00:33:44,624 I thought I was in the wrong place 703 00:33:44,648 --> 00:33:47,651 because there was a line, like, down the street for this. 704 00:33:47,734 --> 00:33:49,152 And I kept looking around, 705 00:33:49,236 --> 00:33:51,655 I'm like, "Is this a line for the movie?" 706 00:33:51,738 --> 00:33:53,382 I kept asking them, "What are you in line for?" 707 00:33:53,406 --> 00:33:54,884 "What are you in line for?" And they said, 708 00:33:54,908 --> 00:33:57,536 "Paranormal Activity, Paranormal Activity, Paranormal Activity!" 709 00:33:57,619 --> 00:34:01,081 I worked at City Walk and it was playing at the theater 710 00:34:01,164 --> 00:34:03,416 right there in City Walk, and across from City Walk 711 00:34:03,500 --> 00:34:04,751 was Buca di Beppo, 712 00:34:04,834 --> 00:34:06,994 and I'd be like, "Hey, guys, welcome to Buca di Beppo." 713 00:34:07,212 --> 00:34:09,548 "My name's Katie. So we have..." 714 00:34:09,631 --> 00:34:11,508 And I'd do the whole spiel, and they'd be like, 715 00:34:11,591 --> 00:34:13,468 "Do you... Are you that..." 716 00:34:13,552 --> 00:34:16,304 And I'm like, "Yeah, I am. Yeah, yeah, yeah." 717 00:34:16,388 --> 00:34:18,682 "I've only got a few more days." This whole thing. 718 00:34:19,057 --> 00:34:20,809 "Did you like the movie? I'm so glad!" 719 00:34:21,142 --> 00:34:23,103 "Can I get you a glass of wine to start off with?" 720 00:34:23,186 --> 00:34:24,938 Struggling actors like everybody else 721 00:34:25,021 --> 00:34:26,832 - out in Los Angeles, 150 people are... - Not anymore. 722 00:34:26,856 --> 00:34:30,318 It was a movie shot in a kid's house on a camcorder 723 00:34:30,402 --> 00:34:33,822 and no one would have believed that this little videotaped film 724 00:34:33,905 --> 00:34:36,658 could actually really change a lot of people's lives 725 00:34:36,741 --> 00:34:38,243 in the process of it. 726 00:35:05,854 --> 00:35:09,566 Paramount, as soon as they saw the success of Paranormal 1, they immediately said, 727 00:35:09,733 --> 00:35:12,444 "You know, we got to do sequels." And they wanted me to direct it. 728 00:35:12,611 --> 00:35:15,030 And I'm like, "I'm done, I'm retiring." 729 00:35:15,113 --> 00:35:17,991 You know, after you win the lottery, you don't go back to the factory. 730 00:35:18,116 --> 00:35:21,202 So the second movie really was a disaster. 731 00:35:21,328 --> 00:35:23,306 How can you make a sequel to a found-footage movie, 732 00:35:23,330 --> 00:35:24,490 like, you found more footage? 733 00:35:24,539 --> 00:35:27,751 It inherently doesn't make any sense, right? 734 00:35:27,876 --> 00:35:30,545 And I remember having this, sort of, discussion with Oren 735 00:35:30,670 --> 00:35:33,131 where we had to, like, prove how many sequels 736 00:35:33,214 --> 00:35:37,135 actually were better than the original, which there aren't many. 737 00:35:37,218 --> 00:35:39,387 Jason Blum, who is an old friend, 738 00:35:39,679 --> 00:35:42,265 came to me and asked me if I wanted to direct 739 00:35:43,141 --> 00:35:47,062 a Paranormal Activity 2. There was at that point no idea. 740 00:35:47,145 --> 00:35:49,022 They immediately, kind of, started the process 741 00:35:49,105 --> 00:35:51,066 of figuring out a story for the second one. 742 00:35:51,191 --> 00:35:54,861 And I said, "No, no, I don't understand." 743 00:35:54,944 --> 00:35:56,780 "I like that form, but I don't understand it." 744 00:35:56,863 --> 00:35:58,674 And then I was like, "But here's what you should do." 745 00:35:58,698 --> 00:36:01,368 "See, it should be a sequel and a prequel, 746 00:36:01,451 --> 00:36:03,211 and we should stretch backwards and forwards, 747 00:36:03,286 --> 00:36:04,972 and there should be this whole mythology thing." 748 00:36:04,996 --> 00:36:06,790 Which I was a little skeptical about 749 00:36:06,873 --> 00:36:08,913 until they come up with the concept of Paranormal 2, 750 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:14,297 which was making it sort of a prequel, but also kind of runs in parallel. 751 00:36:14,547 --> 00:36:17,425 And I thought the concept was actually kind of pretty smart. 752 00:36:17,634 --> 00:36:20,762 And so there was a lot of brainstorming, a ton of brainstorming creatively. 753 00:36:21,304 --> 00:36:25,892 As I recall, then there were long conversations 754 00:36:26,017 --> 00:36:29,270 about who to direct it when it became apparent 755 00:36:29,396 --> 00:36:30,438 that Oren wasn't going to. 756 00:36:30,563 --> 00:36:33,608 At one point, this was Steven and my's idea, 757 00:36:33,733 --> 00:36:35,568 and it was the stupidest idea in the world, 758 00:36:35,694 --> 00:36:40,782 thank God Adam shot us down, was to give 100,000 dollars 759 00:36:40,907 --> 00:36:42,992 to ten directors, let them make ten versions 760 00:36:43,076 --> 00:36:44,119 of Paranormal Activity 2, 761 00:36:44,202 --> 00:36:45,954 pick the best one and call that the sequel. 762 00:36:46,121 --> 00:36:48,281 That was one of our ideas, which was a really bad idea. 763 00:36:48,456 --> 00:36:50,417 There was like a five-question questionnaire 764 00:36:50,542 --> 00:36:51,876 that they sent out to directors. 765 00:36:53,294 --> 00:36:55,630 Basically sort of saying, "Why did this movie work?" 766 00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,800 "What made you think it worked and what would be the right way 767 00:36:58,925 --> 00:37:00,301 to go forward with the franchise?" 768 00:37:00,468 --> 00:37:01,970 Kip's not just a good writer, 769 00:37:02,053 --> 00:37:04,139 he's a good director, he's a good storyteller. 770 00:37:04,347 --> 00:37:07,767 And so we all sat around and continued to make up 771 00:37:07,934 --> 00:37:09,811 what might be the conceit of the movie. 772 00:37:09,978 --> 00:37:11,414 They kind of asked, "What's your plan?" 773 00:37:11,438 --> 00:37:13,374 There's a release date, you know, five months from now." 774 00:37:13,398 --> 00:37:15,501 "How do we do this? Or how do you think we should do this?" 775 00:37:15,525 --> 00:37:19,237 And my answer was that we should start shooting immediately 776 00:37:19,362 --> 00:37:21,990 and shoot a really bad version of it, like, that day, 777 00:37:22,115 --> 00:37:23,759 you know, or as soon as we possibly could, 778 00:37:23,783 --> 00:37:26,064 and then shoot another one and another one and another one 779 00:37:26,161 --> 00:37:28,222 until we ran out of time. That we would just keep shooting, 780 00:37:28,246 --> 00:37:30,457 that we'd get three houses, one for the set, 781 00:37:30,540 --> 00:37:32,542 one for production and one for cast. 782 00:37:33,918 --> 00:37:36,129 And that we would shoot until we ran out of time. 783 00:37:36,254 --> 00:37:38,339 Trying to find the movie 784 00:37:38,673 --> 00:37:41,217 and trying to be able to take Paramount Pictures 785 00:37:41,468 --> 00:37:44,679 and the apparatus that comes with a movie of that scale 786 00:37:45,013 --> 00:37:48,057 and trying to find the sort of bare-minimum approach, 787 00:37:48,516 --> 00:37:50,935 and reverse a hundred years of film making 788 00:37:51,102 --> 00:37:55,148 into now trying to essentially tap into all of what you know. 789 00:37:55,273 --> 00:37:56,633 It was like making a student film. 790 00:37:56,691 --> 00:37:58,252 - You see that thing in the corner... - Yeah. 791 00:37:58,276 --> 00:37:59,652 Looks like a motion detector? 792 00:37:59,736 --> 00:38:00,862 That's a camera. 793 00:38:01,738 --> 00:38:03,573 We're watching you! 794 00:38:03,948 --> 00:38:05,909 Casting was one of the really, really big deals. 795 00:38:06,117 --> 00:38:09,287 And there was again, a lot of voices in that process. 796 00:38:09,412 --> 00:38:10,288 So they said, 797 00:38:10,371 --> 00:38:13,875 "Can you come up to the house and help cut some of the casting footage?" 798 00:38:14,042 --> 00:38:15,394 I said, "Okay, do I have the job?" 799 00:38:15,418 --> 00:38:18,213 They said, "No, but can you come out and cut?" 800 00:38:18,505 --> 00:38:22,926 I said, "Okay, do you have a system? "No.' Okay, cool." 801 00:38:23,051 --> 00:38:25,553 I had Final Cut on my laptop. 802 00:38:25,762 --> 00:38:29,516 Greg was as much of a creative partner as absolutely anybody on the film, 803 00:38:29,641 --> 00:38:32,519 and I was with him every minute I wasn't on set. 804 00:38:32,727 --> 00:38:36,007 "The Friday before the production meeting, they called and said, You have the job." 805 00:38:36,064 --> 00:38:38,000 And I'm like, "Is it 100 percent? Do I have the job?" 806 00:38:38,024 --> 00:38:39,424 They said, "Yeah, you got the job." 807 00:38:39,484 --> 00:38:41,653 When we were looking for people in L.A. 808 00:38:41,861 --> 00:38:46,866 who... were unrecognizable or not broadly recognizable... 809 00:38:48,117 --> 00:38:51,830 If you're in L.A. and you're pretty good, you've probably done something. 810 00:38:51,955 --> 00:38:53,795 You know what I mean? You've done a few things. 811 00:38:55,792 --> 00:38:59,170 So, Akiva encouraged us to go beyond L.A. 812 00:38:59,712 --> 00:39:01,297 Don't look at me, look at the screen. 813 00:39:01,589 --> 00:39:04,592 I played Daniel Rey in Paranormal Activity 2. 814 00:39:04,801 --> 00:39:07,720 I played Ali Rey, she's 16. 815 00:39:07,804 --> 00:39:09,931 She's the daughter of Daniel Rey and Kristi, 816 00:39:10,223 --> 00:39:12,433 who is Katie's sister. 817 00:39:12,642 --> 00:39:15,812 Kristi seems to be somebody who wanted to be an artist, 818 00:39:15,979 --> 00:39:17,772 or an actor and they kind of gave up, 819 00:39:17,897 --> 00:39:21,067 and is being a stay-at-home mom now to a teenager 820 00:39:21,442 --> 00:39:22,610 and a brand-new baby. 821 00:39:22,735 --> 00:39:24,487 Guess who was in labor for a day? 822 00:39:25,738 --> 00:39:28,408 And a dog, an amazing dog. The star of the movie, really. 823 00:39:31,911 --> 00:39:35,206 It essentially introduced the whole idea that the demon was pursuing this child. 824 00:39:35,748 --> 00:39:38,251 And that they did this evil thing to transfer it to Katie. 825 00:39:38,334 --> 00:39:41,880 They essentially were the cause of Katie having her experiences. 826 00:39:41,963 --> 00:39:43,649 When they said there was going to be a sequel, 827 00:39:43,673 --> 00:39:46,426 I was like, "Wow! Another one?" 828 00:39:46,509 --> 00:39:47,802 "What is happening?" 829 00:39:47,886 --> 00:39:50,597 We had had the idea of using them 830 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,516 and sort of letting Micah be in the footage early on 831 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,603 and letting people be completely befuddled. 832 00:39:56,978 --> 00:39:58,980 And then being able to reveal 833 00:39:59,063 --> 00:40:02,275 that this was actually a prequel, not a sequel. 834 00:40:02,358 --> 00:40:05,361 Having continuity of actors, 835 00:40:05,445 --> 00:40:09,073 especially since there were very few of us in the first film, 836 00:40:09,157 --> 00:40:11,576 it lends a legitimacy to the sequels. 837 00:40:11,826 --> 00:40:15,121 This was such a well-crafted idea, the first one. 838 00:40:15,246 --> 00:40:18,124 And you wanted to honor that, kind of, spark of genius, 839 00:40:18,207 --> 00:40:20,960 that thing that the three of them had created. 840 00:40:21,127 --> 00:40:23,546 Okay, we have to have lightning strike twice, 841 00:40:23,630 --> 00:40:28,343 but how you do that now with a studio and with also many more eyes. 842 00:40:28,426 --> 00:40:30,106 I didn't feel a ton of pressure personally, 843 00:40:30,136 --> 00:40:31,888 but I was well aware of the fact that 844 00:40:33,181 --> 00:40:35,058 they were expecting this thing to continue, 845 00:40:35,141 --> 00:40:36,493 you know, like Paramount was on board 846 00:40:36,517 --> 00:40:40,438 and they really wanted it to replicate the success. 847 00:40:40,563 --> 00:40:42,666 Once we had the cast, then we had everything we needed 848 00:40:42,690 --> 00:40:44,150 to go make the movie, 849 00:40:44,275 --> 00:40:47,236 but until we had them, you know, weeks were passing. 850 00:40:47,570 --> 00:40:50,949 October's coming, and it was pretty panicky for a while. 851 00:40:51,074 --> 00:40:54,619 We reached out a lot of writers and heard different takes. 852 00:40:54,702 --> 00:40:57,205 They invited me and a handful of other writers 853 00:40:57,872 --> 00:41:00,625 to come and watch the footage that they had, 854 00:41:00,708 --> 00:41:01,834 which was really only 855 00:41:01,918 --> 00:41:06,130 I think they had something like 15 minutes assembled. 856 00:41:06,214 --> 00:41:07,382 And then they had like a. 857 00:41:08,341 --> 00:41:09,621 I don't even know if it was a... 858 00:41:09,676 --> 00:41:12,595 It wasn't even really an outline. It was just like a two-page document 859 00:41:12,679 --> 00:41:14,323 that was sort of like, "Here's our story." 860 00:41:14,347 --> 00:41:16,933 And I remember looking at Chris the entire time, 861 00:41:17,016 --> 00:41:19,769 he was just sitting there with this, like, shitty look on his face 862 00:41:19,852 --> 00:41:21,938 the entire time as we were talking about this movie. 863 00:41:22,105 --> 00:41:24,816 I'm a very passionate person 864 00:41:24,899 --> 00:41:27,402 when it comes to film making and specifically to horror, 865 00:41:27,568 --> 00:41:29,046 and so I remember just sort of like 866 00:41:29,070 --> 00:41:30,798 I think I had my arms folded and I was, like, 867 00:41:30,822 --> 00:41:32,633 shaking my head the whole time through this meeting. 868 00:41:32,657 --> 00:41:36,661 I was just looking at him, like, "What is this guy's problem?" 869 00:41:36,744 --> 00:41:40,081 "Why is he giving us so much grief about this?" 870 00:41:40,164 --> 00:41:41,642 While everybody else in the room was like, 871 00:41:41,666 --> 00:41:42,959 "Yeah, this is great!" 872 00:41:43,209 --> 00:41:45,294 And the head of the studio, Adam Goodman, 873 00:41:45,420 --> 00:41:47,314 he looked at me and he said, "Chris, what's wrong?" 874 00:41:47,338 --> 00:41:48,899 And I was like, "You guys are in trouble." 875 00:41:48,923 --> 00:41:50,925 I think that was the first thing I said to him. 876 00:41:51,009 --> 00:41:52,885 He's like, "What needs to happen is... ". 877 00:41:53,177 --> 00:41:55,179 And then he proceeded to pitch the sequence 878 00:41:55,346 --> 00:41:57,348 where Kristi gets dragged out of the nursery 879 00:41:57,890 --> 00:41:59,475 and down info the basement. 880 00:42:01,310 --> 00:42:04,147 All I remember is, like, we were all like... 881 00:42:05,398 --> 00:42:07,275 "What other ideas do you have?" 882 00:42:07,358 --> 00:42:08,526 And then after that 883 00:42:09,610 --> 00:42:13,531 they asked me to come on board and start writing more. 884 00:42:13,614 --> 00:42:17,035 And then as I got sort of more involved with the process, 885 00:42:17,118 --> 00:42:21,289 it sort of became clear to all of us, that they just needed a script. 886 00:42:21,372 --> 00:42:24,459 They couldn't just wing it anymore. 887 00:42:25,251 --> 00:42:27,128 Oren authored the first movie, 888 00:42:27,211 --> 00:42:29,630 Chris Landon, and to a slightly lesser degree, 889 00:42:29,714 --> 00:42:31,841 but a very important amount, and Greg Plotkin, 890 00:42:31,924 --> 00:42:33,593 authored all the sequels. 891 00:42:33,676 --> 00:42:38,347 The vision of the movies belong to those two guys. 892 00:42:38,431 --> 00:42:41,642 The release date was getting closer and closer and closer. 893 00:42:41,726 --> 00:42:45,146 And eventually I called our head of post-production 894 00:42:45,229 --> 00:42:48,357 and I said, "I feel like we're... ". 895 00:42:48,441 --> 00:42:49,752 "This is gonna need to be a movie 896 00:42:49,776 --> 00:42:53,154 that we're sort of making and posting at the same time." 897 00:42:53,237 --> 00:42:57,241 Greg Plotkin was moved from editorial, 898 00:42:57,325 --> 00:43:00,161 which was like way across the lot on Paramount, 899 00:43:00,536 --> 00:43:03,206 to down the hall from, yes, 900 00:43:03,289 --> 00:43:05,708 our president of production and my office. 901 00:43:05,792 --> 00:43:07,603 The difference between found footage and a narrative 902 00:43:07,627 --> 00:43:10,254 is that you really have to pay attention to every single frame. 903 00:43:10,379 --> 00:43:11,857 There's going to be something different, 904 00:43:11,881 --> 00:43:14,151 especially if it's hand held and it's an actor holding the camera, 905 00:43:14,175 --> 00:43:16,820 camera's gonna move in a different way. You get some sort of different image. 906 00:43:16,844 --> 00:43:19,605 It could be different story. It could be something different entirely. 907 00:43:19,764 --> 00:43:23,768 So the challenge was, and the fun thing was, 908 00:43:23,893 --> 00:43:26,354 I got to rewrite, which you always do in post anyway, 909 00:43:26,479 --> 00:43:29,333 but I got to kind of rewrite the story or write the story, because I would take 910 00:43:29,357 --> 00:43:30,608 a little bit from this story, 911 00:43:30,691 --> 00:43:32,503 a little bit from that story a little bit from this, 912 00:43:32,527 --> 00:43:33,962 and then sort of cobble it together to create 913 00:43:33,986 --> 00:43:35,666 what I thought was the stronger narrative. 914 00:43:39,951 --> 00:43:43,121 We'd shoot for a handful of weeks, look at the footage, 915 00:43:43,287 --> 00:43:47,041 see what worked and rework the story, 916 00:43:47,125 --> 00:43:49,293 maybe jump in and shoot for a couple of days. 917 00:43:49,502 --> 00:43:52,231 I would be writing something and then they would be shooting something. 918 00:43:52,255 --> 00:43:55,883 And then I would, hot off the press, like, run downstairs and like be like, 919 00:43:56,008 --> 00:43:57,568 "Here's the scene you're gonna do now!" 920 00:43:57,635 --> 00:44:02,515 And it was incredibly challenging, especially for the actors. 921 00:44:02,640 --> 00:44:05,476 The process that we shot, that we used in the first film, 922 00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:08,104 just wasn't there in the union setting, 923 00:44:08,646 --> 00:44:11,315 you know, like, we're getting this scene to work 924 00:44:11,566 --> 00:44:13,776 and then someone's like, "Lunch!" And everyone leaves. 925 00:44:13,860 --> 00:44:17,155 That doesn't allow for what we did in the first film 926 00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:18,440 to come into the second film. 927 00:44:18,531 --> 00:44:23,244 Because of how we were shooting, things could change pretty quickly 928 00:44:23,452 --> 00:44:25,580 and you could get something that was amazing. 929 00:44:25,705 --> 00:44:28,291 We'd be shooting out by the pool and someone would have an idea, 930 00:44:28,457 --> 00:44:32,044 "What if, you know, we use that pool cleaner 931 00:44:32,128 --> 00:44:34,589 and the pool cleaner, like, crawled out?" 932 00:44:34,714 --> 00:44:38,843 Instead of like waiting a week to do that and prep it and try to shoot it, 933 00:44:38,926 --> 00:44:40,678 you could do it in a matter of minutes. 934 00:44:41,095 --> 00:44:42,597 There's a sequence where the dad 935 00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:44,765 is playing with the controller for the pool cleaner, 936 00:44:45,308 --> 00:44:48,269 and then the pool cleaner ends up jumping out of the pool. 937 00:44:48,352 --> 00:44:50,563 We must have tried six different ways 938 00:44:50,646 --> 00:44:53,149 to mechanically get the thing out of the pool, 939 00:44:53,232 --> 00:44:54,710 to digitally get the thing out of the pool. 940 00:44:54,734 --> 00:44:55,776 None of them looked right. 941 00:44:55,860 --> 00:44:57,045 And they were talking about like, 942 00:44:57,069 --> 00:44:58,630 "How are we gonna tie strings to the vacuum?" 943 00:44:58,654 --> 00:45:00,465 I said, "We're not gonna tie strings to the vacuum." 944 00:45:00,489 --> 00:45:01,967 "I'm gonna go in, I'm gonna hold my breath, 945 00:45:01,991 --> 00:45:03,594 you're gonna shoot it, and I'm gonna throw it 946 00:45:03,618 --> 00:45:04,619 out of the pool." 947 00:45:05,912 --> 00:45:06,913 Yeah! 948 00:45:06,996 --> 00:45:11,584 The big scenes in the movie were experiments, were things that 949 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:14,712 that people had doubts would work, 950 00:45:14,795 --> 00:45:17,840 or that shouldn't be in the film, like the whole part 951 00:45:18,174 --> 00:45:21,111 of the security camera guy who comes over. That was a real security camera guy, 952 00:45:21,135 --> 00:45:22,905 because there was a lot of push back of the idea 953 00:45:22,929 --> 00:45:25,723 that this family would ever install security cameras. 954 00:45:26,098 --> 00:45:29,268 So we invited a real guy over and asked him to take us around the house 955 00:45:29,352 --> 00:45:30,787 and tell us where the cameras would go. 956 00:45:30,811 --> 00:45:33,064 And we filmed him doing it and he ended up in the movie 957 00:45:33,147 --> 00:45:36,776 and by showing that to the studio and showing that guy talking about it, 958 00:45:36,859 --> 00:45:40,863 they became believers that this is something a person might do. 959 00:45:40,947 --> 00:45:43,282 We wanted to add a few big scares, 960 00:45:43,366 --> 00:45:45,006 and I think what we did, we had a meeting 961 00:45:45,076 --> 00:45:47,828 with some of the stunt teams and the practical effects team, 962 00:45:47,912 --> 00:45:49,538 and we just ask them, "What can we do?" 963 00:45:49,622 --> 00:45:50,957 "What can we do that looks big?" 964 00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:52,434 And one of the ideas was, you know, 965 00:45:52,458 --> 00:45:55,836 we can, like, blow open some cabinets and cabinet doors. 966 00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:57,213 And he said, "Okay." 967 00:45:57,296 --> 00:45:59,066 And then, you know, "Just this cupboard right here 968 00:45:59,090 --> 00:46:03,219 is gonna blow open, this one right here." I was like, "Okay, great." 969 00:46:03,469 --> 00:46:07,515 So what you see on camera is the reality of me not knowing 970 00:46:07,640 --> 00:46:09,558 that all the cupboards were gonna blow open. 971 00:46:09,642 --> 00:46:11,352 And that is actually the first take. 972 00:46:15,815 --> 00:46:18,734 We actually, probably, didn't tell her well enough 973 00:46:18,859 --> 00:46:20,111 how big it's going to be. 974 00:46:20,194 --> 00:46:24,407 The scene I think where I'm watching TV 975 00:46:24,907 --> 00:46:27,952 and there's the demonic shadow that sort of comes over me 976 00:46:28,035 --> 00:46:29,120 and I wake up. 977 00:46:30,246 --> 00:46:32,832 This happened often because, you know, 978 00:46:32,915 --> 00:46:35,584 we're working late hours and I'm tired and I'd say, 979 00:46:35,668 --> 00:46:36,794 "Can I take a nap?" 980 00:46:36,877 --> 00:46:38,671 "Yeah, sure. You can take a nap." 981 00:46:38,754 --> 00:46:40,840 "Just know, like, we're gonna go into this scene." 982 00:46:40,923 --> 00:46:42,008 "Okay, cool." 983 00:46:42,091 --> 00:46:44,135 And then they'd put some guy behind a wall 984 00:46:44,218 --> 00:46:45,594 that just goes bang! 985 00:46:45,678 --> 00:46:47,972 And, like, that's a real reaction? 986 00:46:49,098 --> 00:46:50,808 Place to go for affordable prices 987 00:46:50,891 --> 00:46:52,768 on the best quality all-wood kitchen cabinets. 988 00:46:53,311 --> 00:46:57,440 Paramount had a lot more confidence in it than they originally did in Paranormal 1. 989 00:46:57,523 --> 00:47:01,694 And they knew it was going to go wide, so it was a totally different approach. 990 00:47:01,777 --> 00:47:05,698 They had the marketing budget to go wide from the first place. 991 00:47:05,781 --> 00:47:07,742 And they went, you know, really big with It, 992 00:47:07,825 --> 00:47:11,662 but still wanted to maintain a sense of... It's sort of like it's a big movie, 993 00:47:11,746 --> 00:47:13,956 but it still has, kind of, small origins. 994 00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:15,958 So they wanted to make sure that they're always 995 00:47:16,042 --> 00:47:17,978 in touch with the fans and they make the fans feel like, 996 00:47:18,002 --> 00:47:19,045 you know, it's their film. 997 00:47:19,128 --> 00:47:23,007 So it was a pretty clever way to both go big, 998 00:47:23,090 --> 00:47:25,926 but make it not feel like a big Hollywood movie. 999 00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:39,291 I was very skeptical on how they'd do a sequel, 1000 00:47:39,315 --> 00:47:40,816 obviously because of Blair Witch. 1001 00:47:40,900 --> 00:47:43,569 The Blair Witch sequel was an interesting mess, 1002 00:47:43,652 --> 00:47:44,987 I think, to put it mildly. 1003 00:47:45,071 --> 00:47:48,449 Two had this great idea of, "Well, let's just go back a few weeks 1004 00:47:49,075 --> 00:47:52,787 to when this stuff was almost just about to start." 1005 00:47:52,870 --> 00:47:54,872 And people were very, very scared. 1006 00:47:55,289 --> 00:47:57,917 And that's when I knew that we had succeeded. 1007 00:47:58,042 --> 00:48:01,253 We all started feeling, like, "Maybe it could be okay", 1008 00:48:01,337 --> 00:48:02,647 maybe it wouldn't be embarrassing,” 1009 00:48:02,671 --> 00:48:05,341 but I don't think we expected it to be as successful as it was. 1010 00:48:05,424 --> 00:48:09,303 When Paranormal 2 opened, it set the record for, 1011 00:48:09,387 --> 00:48:12,390 biggest weekend opening for a horror movie. 1012 00:48:12,473 --> 00:48:15,726 Honestly, a week before, if we'd screened our previous rough cut? 1013 00:48:15,810 --> 00:48:16,811 We weren't there. 1014 00:48:47,091 --> 00:48:49,552 It's very hard to keep mythology working 1015 00:48:49,635 --> 00:48:51,303 with found footage. It's very... 1016 00:48:51,387 --> 00:48:55,057 A found-footage movie is much harder to do 1017 00:48:55,141 --> 00:48:57,226 than a not found... No one understands that, 1018 00:48:57,309 --> 00:48:59,353 because you have to always... 1019 00:48:59,437 --> 00:49:01,397 You don't have to justify where you put the camera 1020 00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:02,833 when you're shooting a normal movie, 1021 00:49:02,857 --> 00:49:04,984 the camera can be wherever you want because... 1022 00:49:05,067 --> 00:49:07,820 You have to always justify where the camera is. 1023 00:49:07,903 --> 00:49:09,655 You have to justify why the camera's on, 1024 00:49:09,738 --> 00:49:10,781 why it's recording. 1025 00:49:10,865 --> 00:49:12,908 And mostly what you want fo see in horror movies 1026 00:49:12,992 --> 00:49:14,201 is situations in jeopardy. 1027 00:49:14,285 --> 00:49:17,580 Most of the time when you're in jeopardy, no one's holding a fucking camera. 1028 00:49:17,663 --> 00:49:19,665 Like, you know, that's an endless problem. 1029 00:49:20,082 --> 00:49:23,878 Katie referenced her childhood quite a bit in the first film. 1030 00:49:23,961 --> 00:49:25,522 And then it really sort of became a thing 1031 00:49:25,546 --> 00:49:27,673 in the second film between Katie and Kristi. 1032 00:49:27,923 --> 00:49:29,985 And so I think we were all kind of fascinated with the idea 1033 00:49:30,009 --> 00:49:31,969 of like, "What was that childhood experience like 1034 00:49:32,052 --> 00:49:33,179 and what really happened?" 1035 00:49:33,262 --> 00:49:36,348 We all thought that the idea of having a prequel 1036 00:49:36,432 --> 00:49:39,351 happening in the '80s, focusing on Katie and Kristi 1037 00:49:39,435 --> 00:49:41,604 when they were little girls was a winner. 1038 00:49:41,687 --> 00:49:44,982 We felt very confident about the concept from the very beginning. 1039 00:49:45,065 --> 00:49:46,942 And it was also fun to think like, "Oh, wow," 1040 00:49:47,735 --> 00:49:51,447 we, like, did this little movie and now this young actress. 1041 00:49:51,530 --> 00:49:53,199 Is playing a younger version of this role 1042 00:49:53,282 --> 00:49:56,452 that we originated in a house in San Diego years ago.” 1043 00:49:56,827 --> 00:50:01,749 I was finally able to really step in and take ownership of the story. 1044 00:50:03,209 --> 00:50:06,378 Instead of inheriting somebody else's idea 1045 00:50:06,462 --> 00:50:08,547 and then sort of running with it, this one was mine. 1046 00:50:08,631 --> 00:50:11,133 What I realized was how important it was for the franchise 1047 00:50:11,217 --> 00:50:14,720 to be true to the vocabulary of 1 and now 2. 1048 00:50:16,388 --> 00:50:18,724 Doing that again wasn't something I wanted to do. 1049 00:50:18,807 --> 00:50:20,518 We had to go out looking for new directors 1050 00:50:20,601 --> 00:50:22,394 and we were talking to everyone. 1051 00:50:22,478 --> 00:50:24,581 And we were interviewing everyone. Because the second movie 1052 00:50:24,605 --> 00:50:27,650 was both well-received and was a financial success, 1053 00:50:28,108 --> 00:50:30,528 the level of directors that were interested in it 1054 00:50:30,945 --> 00:50:31,987 had really changed. 1055 00:50:32,112 --> 00:50:35,950 We happened upon Henry and Rel, and really liked their stuff, 1056 00:50:36,033 --> 00:50:38,619 and though, maybe on the surface 1057 00:50:39,078 --> 00:50:41,580 they didn't scream, like, horror movie directors, 1058 00:50:41,789 --> 00:50:43,666 it doesn't really matter for this. 1059 00:50:43,749 --> 00:50:45,834 Yeah, before this, we weren't even big horror nuts. 1060 00:50:46,085 --> 00:50:47,085 Horror nuts. 1061 00:50:48,796 --> 00:50:51,006 I mean they were young, they were fun, 1062 00:50:51,090 --> 00:50:53,842 they were charming, they were really talented. 1063 00:50:54,009 --> 00:50:58,180 They had... this funny edge. 1064 00:50:58,305 --> 00:50:59,848 It kind of came out of the blue 1065 00:51:00,474 --> 00:51:03,227 because everyone thought Catfish was a found-footage... 1066 00:51:03,477 --> 00:51:04,645 Which it kind of is. 1067 00:51:04,770 --> 00:51:06,355 If you find it. 1068 00:51:06,522 --> 00:51:09,358 I mean, we found it in the camera after we shot it. 1069 00:51:09,525 --> 00:51:13,237 The directors who made this are very talented 1070 00:51:13,487 --> 00:51:15,781 and they did an incredible job at found footage 1071 00:51:15,864 --> 00:51:19,868 of making a story that seemed, you know, totally credible, 1072 00:51:19,952 --> 00:51:24,498 but it was obviously cast and it was, you know, it was all make-believe. 1073 00:51:24,582 --> 00:51:29,253 So, we must've flown out to L.A. within 48 hours... 1074 00:51:29,336 --> 00:51:31,297 - Yeah. - To sit down in front of, 1075 00:51:31,380 --> 00:51:34,675 it would seem like a Kafka-esque, endless... 1076 00:51:34,758 --> 00:51:36,093 Most intimidating meeting. 1077 00:51:36,176 --> 00:51:37,976 I think I said to them in the meeting, I said, 1078 00:51:38,053 --> 00:51:42,891 "Look, I think you guys are great, but you have to just tell me, 1079 00:51:42,975 --> 00:51:45,436 like, Catfish was bullshit." 1080 00:51:45,519 --> 00:51:48,856 "If you tell me right now that Caffishis fake, 1081 00:51:48,939 --> 00:51:50,065 you got the job." 1082 00:51:50,149 --> 00:51:51,942 They stuck to their guns, they're like, 1083 00:51:52,026 --> 00:51:55,195 "The movie's 100 percent real, there's nothing to it." 1084 00:51:55,696 --> 00:51:57,948 So, I remember going back to my office 1085 00:51:58,032 --> 00:52:00,534 and talking to Jason and Ashley and saying like, 1086 00:52:00,618 --> 00:52:02,661 "I really like these guys. I think they're great, 1087 00:52:02,745 --> 00:52:04,097 but I think they're full of shit." 1088 00:52:04,121 --> 00:52:06,582 - And we didn't get the job. - Yeah. 1089 00:52:06,665 --> 00:52:09,209 Ultimately, cooler minds prevailed. 1090 00:52:09,293 --> 00:52:11,462 Ashley, Jason probably beat me up and said, 1091 00:52:11,545 --> 00:52:12,897 "They're our guys, they're our guys." 1092 00:52:12,921 --> 00:52:14,882 And Jason called and was like, 1093 00:52:15,466 --> 00:52:18,469 "Can you be on a flight 6:00 a.m., tomorrow morning 1094 00:52:19,928 --> 00:52:21,972 to direct Paranormal Activity 37". 1095 00:52:22,056 --> 00:52:25,267 And I was like, "Yeah, sure. How long are we going for?" 1096 00:52:25,351 --> 00:52:26,268 "Six months." 1097 00:52:26,352 --> 00:52:27,712 Only been here for a few months, 1098 00:52:28,103 --> 00:52:31,523 but thank you for welcoming me into your family. 1099 00:52:31,607 --> 00:52:35,110 So, I played Dennis, I think his last name is Smith. 1100 00:52:35,778 --> 00:52:40,199 He is Julie's boyfriend. He's a wedding videographer. 1101 00:52:40,783 --> 00:52:44,995 And he has this feeling 1102 00:52:45,079 --> 00:52:48,791 that there might be some creepy stuff going on around the house. 1103 00:52:48,957 --> 00:52:51,168 So he sets up cameras to capture it. 1104 00:52:51,377 --> 00:52:55,172 We went to a house and had Chris Smith... 1105 00:52:55,547 --> 00:52:57,758 It was important, could he operate the camera? 1106 00:52:57,841 --> 00:52:59,343 And did he sound authentic behind it? 1107 00:52:59,677 --> 00:53:01,970 It was more important when, if he was the filmmaker, 1108 00:53:02,054 --> 00:53:04,181 he was auditioning and following her around the house. 1109 00:53:04,556 --> 00:53:05,724 It's time. 1110 00:53:05,808 --> 00:53:07,810 - Don't film this. - Why not? 1111 00:53:09,061 --> 00:53:10,062 It's illegal. 1112 00:53:10,145 --> 00:53:11,480 Well, I played Julie. 1113 00:53:12,898 --> 00:53:15,567 Julie is a mom. She has two girls. 1114 00:53:15,651 --> 00:53:18,278 And she is with Dennis, who's her boyfriend, 1115 00:53:18,362 --> 00:53:23,409 who has become part of the family, he's a father figure to the girls. 1116 00:53:23,492 --> 00:53:25,452 Yeah, the cast was incredible. 1117 00:53:25,536 --> 00:53:29,039 And the girls, I think, most of all. 1118 00:53:29,415 --> 00:53:31,291 I watched some of the tapes on the camera 1119 00:53:31,375 --> 00:53:34,336 and I saw you talking to somebody late last night. 1120 00:53:34,878 --> 00:53:38,549 If you saw me talking to somebody, it would be Toby. 1121 00:53:38,716 --> 00:53:42,636 I thought that Toby was a clever way to, sort of, like 1122 00:53:43,929 --> 00:53:46,682 deal with the subject of an imaginary friend. 1123 00:53:46,890 --> 00:53:49,852 Toby was my neighbor's chocolate lab 1124 00:53:51,103 --> 00:53:52,663 that they walked by my house every day. 1125 00:53:52,688 --> 00:53:55,524 And this was truly the cutest dog I've ever seen in my life. 1126 00:53:55,899 --> 00:53:57,794 And so that's why I named him Toby, because I thought, 1127 00:53:57,818 --> 00:53:59,737 "Well, if this lab is the cutest thing ever, 1128 00:53:59,862 --> 00:54:01,864 like, Toby should be the cutest thing ever 1129 00:54:01,947 --> 00:54:03,532 to this child. She should trust him." 1130 00:54:03,699 --> 00:54:06,493 The witches, a lot of us were very skeptical about it. 1131 00:54:06,660 --> 00:54:09,848 And we thought maybe it's a little goofy, but it seemed to have worked pretty well. 1132 00:54:09,872 --> 00:54:12,207 I was genuinely terrified by the idea 1133 00:54:12,291 --> 00:54:15,919 of a coven of witches and the terrible things 1134 00:54:16,003 --> 00:54:18,088 that they were willing fo do to get their way. 1135 00:54:23,260 --> 00:54:25,554 Post-production was exactly the same on PAS. 1136 00:54:25,637 --> 00:54:29,266 I think we had a little bit of a better idea 1137 00:54:29,349 --> 00:54:31,286 of how everyone worked, we have a better shorthand. 1138 00:54:31,310 --> 00:54:35,731 But it was constantly shoot, cut, you know, write, at the same time. 1139 00:54:35,814 --> 00:54:39,318 We'd shoot for like, a week or something and stop for two weeks. 1140 00:54:39,568 --> 00:54:43,030 And then we'd sit in the editing room and cut it together and we'd be like, 1141 00:54:43,155 --> 00:54:44,615 "Okay, here's a first act." 1142 00:54:45,032 --> 00:54:47,201 And then we'd go back in the story session, 1143 00:54:47,826 --> 00:54:51,413 throw out everything that we shot, except for maybe one scene 1144 00:54:51,497 --> 00:54:53,999 and rewrite the whole thing around that one scene 1145 00:54:54,082 --> 00:54:55,667 that we liked and do it again. 1146 00:54:56,210 --> 00:54:58,545 I would get new pages on the day. 1147 00:54:58,629 --> 00:55:00,214 "Here's the new scene we're shooting." 1148 00:55:00,589 --> 00:55:02,692 "We're not shooting what we were talking about yesterday, 1149 00:55:02,716 --> 00:55:04,402 we're shooting something completely different." 1150 00:55:04,426 --> 00:55:08,138 As an actor, you want to stay present, but you are of course insecure. 1151 00:55:08,263 --> 00:55:09,657 Like, well, what if I need to prepare 1152 00:55:09,681 --> 00:55:11,659 for what we're doing today and I don't have enough time? 1153 00:55:11,683 --> 00:55:14,186 But we just kinda had to throw ourselves in. 1154 00:55:14,269 --> 00:55:16,480 And that's what was so great about having Chris too, 1155 00:55:16,605 --> 00:55:19,608 because he was so lighthearted and funny and I felt so comfortable with him. 1156 00:55:22,361 --> 00:55:26,198 The oscillating fan was definitely one of the coolest parts of the movie. 1157 00:55:26,323 --> 00:55:28,951 It just created so much suspense in the movie. 1158 00:55:29,201 --> 00:55:31,161 It was such a smart, smart idea. 1159 00:55:31,411 --> 00:55:35,374 These films deal with space, with framing 1160 00:55:35,457 --> 00:55:37,626 and sort of how you can manipulate the audience 1161 00:55:37,709 --> 00:55:41,588 and create suspense by showing them things, 1162 00:55:41,713 --> 00:55:43,131 but also not showing them stuff. 1163 00:55:43,757 --> 00:55:45,551 My initial idea was that Dennis 1164 00:55:45,634 --> 00:55:48,345 was gonna build his own, sort of, custom rig 1165 00:55:48,554 --> 00:55:51,265 that would oscillate the camera back and forth. 1166 00:55:51,431 --> 00:55:54,226 And I just knew that like, we're gonna start to see something 1167 00:55:54,309 --> 00:55:55,644 and then we're going fo lose it. 1168 00:55:55,769 --> 00:55:59,064 And then when we come back, like, "Is it there? Is it gone?" 1169 00:55:59,231 --> 00:56:01,650 And it just, it created SO many opportunities 1170 00:56:01,775 --> 00:56:03,777 fo scare the crap out of people. 1171 00:56:08,991 --> 00:56:11,118 I loved it. Again, I love not cutting. 1172 00:56:11,243 --> 00:56:13,120 I love just sitting in the moment and so forth. 1173 00:56:13,245 --> 00:56:15,682 And Henry and Rel were really smart about how they staged stuff. 1174 00:56:15,706 --> 00:56:18,041 It was six months from the time 1175 00:56:18,250 --> 00:56:21,837 that the wheels of our airplane from New York landed in L.A., 1176 00:56:22,337 --> 00:56:24,006 to the movie being in theaters. 1177 00:56:28,719 --> 00:56:30,971 Whatever it was, it thrived on fear. 1178 00:56:33,432 --> 00:56:36,435 I was so pleasantly surprised with the actual outcome. 1179 00:56:36,518 --> 00:56:41,899 I thought the movie was great. I thought it was super fun and scary. 1180 00:56:42,024 --> 00:56:44,735 I became a horror fan working on the movie. 1181 00:56:44,860 --> 00:56:45,861 Yeah, me too. 1182 00:56:45,986 --> 00:56:50,407 I mean, I was, you know, casual horror fan. 1183 00:56:50,532 --> 00:56:52,159 Like before that, I loved The Shining. 1184 00:56:52,409 --> 00:56:54,012 - I've seen the classics. - Rosemary's Baby. 1185 00:56:54,036 --> 00:56:56,371 Three is when it really got into, like, the witchcraft 1186 00:56:56,455 --> 00:56:58,749 and Toby and all that sort of stuff that really, 1187 00:56:59,333 --> 00:57:02,169 you know, opened up the mythology in ways 1188 00:57:02,294 --> 00:57:04,671 that are barely even hinted at in the first film. 1189 00:57:04,796 --> 00:57:10,260 I think the format certainly helps to still maintain this amount of, 1190 00:57:10,344 --> 00:57:11,803 you don't have all the information, 1191 00:57:11,887 --> 00:57:13,597 even though you're getting bits and pieces, 1192 00:57:13,764 --> 00:57:16,224 you're not literally cutting to the scene. 1193 00:57:16,391 --> 00:57:18,226 You're always limited by this viewpoint. 1194 00:57:18,393 --> 00:57:22,230 So as much as you know, you still don't really know everything. 1195 00:57:22,397 --> 00:57:25,067 The ending is then you're going into the witch's house. 1196 00:57:25,150 --> 00:57:27,945 And you know, it's not just gonna be something invisible 1197 00:57:28,028 --> 00:57:31,573 that comes out, you know there's tangible people involved. 1198 00:57:31,657 --> 00:57:33,176 And of course, you're going to want to go see Four 1199 00:57:33,200 --> 00:57:36,745 because it comes right at the end, and they don't fully explain it. 1200 00:57:36,828 --> 00:57:38,246 It's not funny. 1201 00:58:11,738 --> 00:58:15,075 After the success of Paranormal 3, I don't think that anyone said, you know, 1202 00:58:15,158 --> 00:58:16,576 "We should stop milking the cow." 1203 00:58:16,660 --> 00:58:19,371 One was massive. Two was less so. 1204 00:58:19,454 --> 00:58:22,332 Three ended up being bigger when they didn't expect it, 1205 00:58:22,416 --> 00:58:25,669 so we were like, "We've earned some room to maneuver." 1206 00:58:25,752 --> 00:58:28,880 They were really put through the ringer on the third movie, Henry and Rel, 1207 00:58:28,964 --> 00:58:31,383 like they really, you know, Adam tortured them 1208 00:58:31,466 --> 00:58:33,969 and Akiva tortured them. And they were just tortured. 1209 00:58:34,386 --> 00:58:37,347 We had fun with those guys from the beginning of end. 1210 00:58:37,431 --> 00:58:38,974 We were always giving them grief. 1211 00:58:39,057 --> 00:58:41,518 They were really playful. They had great ideas. 1212 00:58:41,601 --> 00:58:44,664 But they made this movie that was great and it was the biggest most successful, 1213 00:58:44,688 --> 00:58:46,064 I think, of all the movies, 1214 00:58:46,273 --> 00:58:48,316 and so they, kind of, reluctantly came back 1215 00:58:48,400 --> 00:58:49,680 for the fourth movie thinking, 1216 00:58:49,901 --> 00:58:51,903 and now we're gonna have the keys to the castle 1217 00:58:52,154 --> 00:58:53,613 and we're just going to... 1218 00:58:53,697 --> 00:58:55,907 - Four is gonna be, like, insane. - Right. 1219 00:58:55,991 --> 00:59:00,120 And they just got hammered all over again, they were just, right in the same thing. 1220 00:59:00,537 --> 00:59:02,122 - Opposite. - Opposite happened. 1221 00:59:02,247 --> 00:59:07,794 And that combination, where the first time they kind of had the will to fight back. 1222 00:59:07,878 --> 00:59:10,297 The second time, I think they were so mad 1223 00:59:10,630 --> 00:59:13,759 that they were being treated so badly that the movie really suffered. 1224 00:59:13,842 --> 00:59:15,635 I thought the worst movie that we did was... 1225 00:59:15,719 --> 00:59:18,430 The fourth and the sixth movie were the two worst ones. 1226 00:59:18,847 --> 00:59:21,492 I remember the first thing we did. We went in there and we were like, 1227 00:59:21,516 --> 00:59:23,578 "So, guys, it's time to get out of the house, right?" 1228 00:59:23,602 --> 00:59:24,644 Yeah. No more house. 1229 00:59:24,728 --> 00:59:27,314 There's three movies in the house, like, enough with the house. 1230 00:59:27,439 --> 00:59:30,650 Right? Let's get on the road. We pitched like a road movie. 1231 00:59:30,817 --> 00:59:34,529 Right or wrong, I always felt like part of what created 1232 00:59:34,821 --> 00:59:39,451 the magic of the film was that we were in these contained spaces. 1233 00:59:39,534 --> 00:59:42,579 It was always what you didn't see that scared you 1234 00:59:42,662 --> 00:59:43,663 more than anything. 1235 00:59:44,873 --> 00:59:47,125 We got excited about it as we get about everything, 1236 00:59:47,209 --> 00:59:50,587 but I still do always feel like it shouldn't have been in a house. 1237 00:59:50,754 --> 00:59:52,089 I think that with Paranormal 4, 1238 00:59:52,214 --> 00:59:55,217 that may be when we started to lose our way. 1239 00:59:55,467 --> 00:59:58,136 And even though Paranormal 3 did so well 1240 00:59:58,261 --> 00:59:59,596 it was hard to top. 1241 01:00:00,055 --> 01:00:03,350 You know, what had been done in all these films, 1242 01:00:03,433 --> 01:00:05,393 it was hard to, kind of, change the rhythm of it. 1243 01:00:05,519 --> 01:00:06,770 And so I think at that point, 1244 01:00:06,853 --> 01:00:09,231 there was a fear of, "Uh-oh, have we peaked?" 1245 01:00:11,650 --> 01:00:15,278 Paranormal 4 takes place after the events of Paranormal 7and 2, 1246 01:00:15,403 --> 01:00:20,617 and it has to do with following Hunter, the baby from Paranormal 2, 1247 01:00:20,951 --> 01:00:24,913 and seeing what became of him as he realizes, 1248 01:00:25,163 --> 01:00:26,206 and his family realizes, 1249 01:00:26,456 --> 01:00:31,211 he may be the spawn of the witch coven, demon, whatever it is. 1250 01:00:31,336 --> 01:00:34,881 We started to think that we were becoming experts in, 1251 01:00:34,965 --> 01:00:36,925 you know, in how these films were playing. 1252 01:00:37,008 --> 01:00:39,636 The stuff that Micah and Katie say in the first one, 1253 01:00:39,719 --> 01:00:42,597 Just offhand, because I don't think Oren had this plan, 1254 01:00:42,764 --> 01:00:45,642 seven movies down the line became like the anchors. 1255 01:00:45,725 --> 01:00:47,727 They were like Talmudic anchors 1256 01:00:47,811 --> 01:00:49,980 that we would look back to as the Holy scripture. 1257 01:00:50,105 --> 01:00:51,148 - Yeah. - Like... 1258 01:00:51,231 --> 01:00:53,400 "Oren, what did you mean when you said, 'The fire?" 1259 01:00:53,483 --> 01:00:56,653 He's like, "I didn't mean anything. She's just said it." 1260 01:00:56,736 --> 01:01:01,449 And so certain things became, like, rules of the franchise, 1261 01:01:01,533 --> 01:01:04,578 that maybe in retrospect, we should've lightened up on 1262 01:01:04,661 --> 01:01:08,123 because the film probably had even more flexibility to it. 1263 01:01:14,838 --> 01:01:17,174 And then after that, it's sort of like anything goes? 1264 01:01:17,424 --> 01:01:19,009 And you start auditioning, 1265 01:01:19,092 --> 01:01:21,845 and just, like, open the cast and you see who you like. 1266 01:01:21,928 --> 01:01:23,555 And I think we really fell for Kathryn. 1267 01:01:23,680 --> 01:01:26,933 She had that improv quality, but she looks like a movie star? 1268 01:01:27,142 --> 01:01:29,811 They gave you, like, a paragraph, a synopsis. 1269 01:01:29,936 --> 01:01:34,691 They're like, "So your brother is dead. He died in a car accident." 1270 01:01:34,774 --> 01:01:37,027 "You guys fell off a bridge and your car was in the water 1271 01:01:37,152 --> 01:01:39,613 and you came out of the water and... Go." 1272 01:01:39,821 --> 01:01:40,947 You're fucked. 1273 01:01:42,699 --> 01:01:44,951 I could hear everybody. I heard everybody go, 1274 01:01:45,076 --> 01:01:46,578 "Oh my God, my brother died!" 1275 01:01:47,078 --> 01:01:50,999 And they started crying and I'm like, "Well, I'm not gonna do any of that." 1276 01:01:51,166 --> 01:01:53,710 - When are your parents leaving? - I don't know, soon? 1277 01:01:53,960 --> 01:01:55,629 I wanna get this party started! 1278 01:01:56,171 --> 01:01:57,857 The thing was just that there was no script, 1279 01:01:57,881 --> 01:02:01,426 so it wasn't like I knew what I was getting into, 1280 01:02:01,509 --> 01:02:03,845 all I knew was what I had seen before. 1281 01:02:03,929 --> 01:02:05,096 The boys were great. 1282 01:02:05,222 --> 01:02:07,682 Yeah! Yeah! 1283 01:02:07,891 --> 01:02:09,768 - The boys were wild boys. - Right. 1284 01:02:12,062 --> 01:02:13,313 Shit! 1285 01:02:16,816 --> 01:02:19,402 So I played Wyatt/Hunter. 1286 01:02:19,486 --> 01:02:22,405 - Yeah? How old are you? - Six? 1287 01:02:22,489 --> 01:02:26,159 I played Robbie in the film, the creepy kid across the street. 1288 01:02:27,369 --> 01:02:28,495 Wow! Dude! 1289 01:02:28,745 --> 01:02:32,249 We also thought that the fans really appreciated 1290 01:02:32,332 --> 01:02:33,833 and wanted to see Katie. 1291 01:02:34,084 --> 01:02:38,004 And were always sort of, like, waiting, like, "When's Katie's gonna show up?" 1292 01:02:38,088 --> 01:02:40,632 So I think we were trying to, sort of, balance that as well. 1293 01:02:42,592 --> 01:02:43,861 - Katie's the Terminator. - Yeah! 1294 01:02:43,885 --> 01:02:45,720 Like, you have to bring her back. 1295 01:02:45,845 --> 01:02:49,933 Katie is, like... lovely, and sweet, and charming. 1296 01:02:50,058 --> 01:02:51,601 And so, you meet her and you're like, 1297 01:02:51,726 --> 01:02:54,187 "Wow, this is tough to make her Michael Myers now." 1298 01:02:54,354 --> 01:02:55,522 She knows how to do it, 1299 01:02:55,605 --> 01:02:57,565 she can do this demon walk better than anyone. 1300 01:02:57,649 --> 01:03:01,486 She teaches people on set how to do it. She can do, like, dead eyes really well. 1301 01:03:01,611 --> 01:03:04,990 You throw the contacts in, and you just, you bring her in like a closer. 1302 01:03:05,156 --> 01:03:07,534 Like, "Katie, you've got, like, one batter 1303 01:03:07,617 --> 01:03:10,453 and we win the world series," and she's like, "Got it." 1304 01:03:10,620 --> 01:03:12,747 "You want me to do the demon walk? All right." 1305 01:03:12,914 --> 01:03:15,333 "Katie, we just need a demon walk down this long hallway 1306 01:03:15,417 --> 01:03:17,544 on night vision and tear through that door." 1307 01:03:20,755 --> 01:03:24,384 Henry and Rel are super mega-positrons, they're the most positive people. 1308 01:03:24,467 --> 01:03:27,012 I was always in a good mood. It felt like my birthday every day. 1309 01:03:27,095 --> 01:03:29,431 They were the most, like, fun down-to-earth people 1310 01:03:29,514 --> 01:03:30,849 I've ever met. 1311 01:03:30,932 --> 01:03:33,935 They just wanted me to have a lof of fun and be comfortable with everything. 1312 01:03:34,019 --> 01:03:35,353 Their chemistry together, 1313 01:03:35,437 --> 01:03:37,498 and I don't know if it's because they were friends forever 1314 01:03:37,522 --> 01:03:39,316 and this is what they did together, 1315 01:03:39,441 --> 01:03:43,987 was so great that I always felt very comfortable on set. 1316 01:03:44,070 --> 01:03:47,699 We're on the hunt. We need the gear. Know what I'm saying? 1317 01:03:47,866 --> 01:03:53,204 We filmed for four months because the script was changed a lot. 1318 01:03:53,330 --> 01:03:54,765 They give you a scene and there's like, 1319 01:03:54,789 --> 01:03:57,542 six or seven lines and you're supposed to hit that, 1320 01:03:57,667 --> 01:03:59,020 but they don't ever really say cut. 1321 01:03:59,044 --> 01:04:01,671 So then you just, kind of, start having conversations. 1322 01:04:01,921 --> 01:04:04,883 It's this huge studio film and yet for some reason you have freedom? 1323 01:04:04,966 --> 01:04:07,153 That was really cool because it gave me a lot of freedom 1324 01:04:07,177 --> 01:04:09,596 to determine that I knew who my character was 1325 01:04:09,679 --> 01:04:11,157 and that I could do whatever I wanted. 1326 01:04:11,181 --> 01:04:12,807 Okay. Here we go. 1327 01:04:17,103 --> 01:04:18,855 We were like, "Shit, we gotta top the fan," 1328 01:04:18,938 --> 01:04:20,398 which was really hard to do. 1329 01:04:20,482 --> 01:04:24,235 So we pitched the Xbox Kinect. We brought one into the studio, 1330 01:04:24,319 --> 01:04:26,529 where, like, it throws out these 3D tracking dots. 1331 01:04:27,072 --> 01:04:28,907 It's a field of green. It's super cool. 1332 01:04:29,366 --> 01:04:32,243 You can see Toby emerge in the shape of the green. 1333 01:04:32,327 --> 01:04:36,414 Like that should be the hook of the whole film. 1334 01:04:37,123 --> 01:04:40,460 - No, no, no, no. Turn the lights back off! - Okay. Why? 1335 01:04:40,543 --> 01:04:43,046 Just do it! What the fuck? 1336 01:04:43,296 --> 01:04:46,341 We were gonna reveal Toby, but in 3D tracking marks. 1337 01:04:46,424 --> 01:04:49,094 Lights on. That was awesome. 1338 01:04:49,969 --> 01:04:52,847 And it just got shaved and shaved, and shaved 1339 01:04:52,931 --> 01:04:54,557 until it's just this tiny moment. 1340 01:04:56,393 --> 01:04:57,852 What was that? 1341 01:04:57,936 --> 01:05:00,814 Paranormal 4 ends with the reveal of the coven in the backyard. 1342 01:05:00,897 --> 01:05:02,065 - That was awesome. - Yeah. 1343 01:05:02,148 --> 01:05:03,274 Wyatt! 1344 01:05:09,364 --> 01:05:12,325 I don't know that Alex really was... That that was her demise. 1345 01:05:12,409 --> 01:05:15,954 I think that it's left to be like, "Well, did she become a witch?" 1346 01:05:16,037 --> 01:05:18,373 "What'd they do to her? Did they sacrifice her?" 1347 01:05:18,456 --> 01:05:19,999 "Did she kill them all? I don't know." 1348 01:05:20,083 --> 01:05:22,669 There was Paramount's ending and our ending 1349 01:05:23,253 --> 01:05:25,255 and they were really similar. 1350 01:05:25,672 --> 01:05:28,716 They were like, maybe it was like an extra 15 seconds 1351 01:05:28,800 --> 01:05:30,802 - or something on our ending, right? - That's it? 1352 01:05:30,885 --> 01:05:35,014 It was like... I don't think it was a... They were not radically different endings. 1353 01:05:35,098 --> 01:05:38,643 - One more story beat. - And we couldn't come to an agreement. 1354 01:05:38,893 --> 01:05:40,371 And so they say, "You know what, guys?" 1355 01:05:40,395 --> 01:05:42,081 "This is what we do in this kind of situation, 1356 01:05:42,105 --> 01:05:45,442 we screen both versions and whoever gets the highest score, 1357 01:05:45,525 --> 01:05:46,725 that's the ending we go with." 1358 01:05:46,776 --> 01:05:48,856 And we were like, "That's totally fair. Fair enough." 1359 01:05:49,112 --> 01:05:52,407 So we get to the... They screened the Paramount ending first 1360 01:05:52,490 --> 01:05:54,492 and we get to the screening, it's on the lot. 1361 01:05:54,576 --> 01:05:57,662 And there's, like, burrito trucks and, like, food, 1362 01:05:57,745 --> 01:06:00,665 you know, dessert trucks and ice cream and everything. 1363 01:06:00,748 --> 01:06:02,750 It was, like, everybody is having a party. 1364 01:06:02,834 --> 01:06:05,128 - And they're like... - Pumping CBD into the air. 1365 01:06:05,211 --> 01:06:07,898 And they're, like, the audience gets into the theater and they're like, 1366 01:06:07,922 --> 01:06:10,341 "You're about to see the new Paranormal Activity movie!" 1367 01:06:10,425 --> 01:06:13,052 And everyone goes "Yay!" And flips out. 1368 01:06:13,136 --> 01:06:15,472 And we were like, "Okay, this is really good." 1369 01:06:15,555 --> 01:06:17,140 So they show the studio ending. 1370 01:06:17,223 --> 01:06:19,034 Then a couple of days later, they do our ending. 1371 01:06:19,058 --> 01:06:21,227 No food trucks, people like, 1372 01:06:21,311 --> 01:06:24,689 - glumly file into the theater... - They'd been making them wait. 1373 01:06:24,772 --> 01:06:26,483 And the guy goes, 1374 01:06:26,566 --> 01:06:28,776 "You're about to see the new Paranormal Activity movie!" 1375 01:06:28,860 --> 01:06:32,405 And everybody boos. I'm not kidding. 1376 01:06:32,780 --> 01:06:36,242 They're like, "Boo!" And then the next day, 1377 01:06:36,367 --> 01:06:37,595 we had this meeting with marketing. 1378 01:06:37,619 --> 01:06:40,288 They're like, "Guys, we have this pie chart right here 1379 01:06:40,413 --> 01:06:41,956 that says your ending sucks." 1380 01:06:46,377 --> 01:06:48,022 I don't know what it is, but I've just been 1381 01:06:48,046 --> 01:06:49,231 hearing noises a lot of noises. 1382 01:06:49,255 --> 01:06:51,215 And, like, all this weird stuff has been happening 1383 01:06:51,257 --> 01:06:52,577 since the new neighbors moved in. 1384 01:07:02,101 --> 01:07:05,396 Even though I think that the movie itself, 1385 01:07:05,480 --> 01:07:07,482 the cast, and I think everyone did a great job. 1386 01:07:07,565 --> 01:07:08,725 I think it was executed well, 1387 01:07:08,775 --> 01:07:11,694 I think the story was a little bit too all over the place. 1388 01:07:11,778 --> 01:07:12,904 Well, I watched it. 1389 01:07:13,279 --> 01:07:15,490 And I slept with my mother for a couple of weeks 1390 01:07:15,573 --> 01:07:16,908 because I was terrified! 1391 01:07:17,325 --> 01:07:19,536 My dad saw it with me for the first time 1392 01:07:19,619 --> 01:07:23,039 and he was the loudest person. Like, he's old! 1393 01:07:23,122 --> 01:07:26,292 And he was in a scary movie, like, he was gonna have a heart attack! 1394 01:07:26,376 --> 01:07:32,131 Paranormal 4 was the first film in the franchise 1395 01:07:32,215 --> 01:07:34,801 that was actually a direct sequel to the original. 1396 01:07:34,884 --> 01:07:38,096 So now we were not sure anything of where it was going to go. 1397 01:07:38,179 --> 01:07:41,224 Was it totally successful? Probably not. 1398 01:07:41,349 --> 01:07:45,937 But it was a really tall order to try and do that, because now, 1399 01:07:46,271 --> 01:07:51,442 being that the first three films were so well received and so embraced, 1400 01:07:52,026 --> 01:07:54,487 now you're venturing info unknown territory. 1401 01:07:54,571 --> 01:07:59,075 It was very polarizing. It's probably the most polarizing of all of the sequels 1402 01:07:59,158 --> 01:08:00,910 because it's such a different movie. 1403 01:08:00,994 --> 01:08:04,831 There was quite a bit of camera use. Did we get a little bit carried away? 1404 01:08:04,914 --> 01:08:06,874 I'm not sure, I never felt like it went too far, 1405 01:08:06,958 --> 01:08:10,003 but I think there was definitely an interesting trend 1406 01:08:10,086 --> 01:08:13,840 to, kind of, make the look of the film more interesting. 1407 01:08:13,923 --> 01:08:16,342 So it's not just like always a hand held video camera. 1408 01:08:17,468 --> 01:08:18,803 What? 1409 01:08:52,337 --> 01:08:54,714 I think when Four didn't perform as well, 1410 01:08:54,797 --> 01:08:58,676 both financially and critically, a lot of people started thinking 1411 01:08:58,885 --> 01:09:00,637 like we really need to change things up. 1412 01:09:00,803 --> 01:09:06,517 We tested the movies constantly. So when we were in production, 1413 01:09:06,726 --> 01:09:09,646 we were always putting the movies up in front of an audience. 1414 01:09:09,812 --> 01:09:12,065 The movies were always performing pretty well 1415 01:09:12,148 --> 01:09:14,692 in the Hispanic community and in Latin countries. 1416 01:09:14,984 --> 01:09:16,920 So we said, "Let's start to, kind of, lean on that." 1417 01:09:16,944 --> 01:09:18,863 And of course who is the first person you call, 1418 01:09:18,946 --> 01:09:23,159 when you have half of a bad idea? It's Chris Landon. 1419 01:09:23,284 --> 01:09:25,536 Well, Chris had been an incredible asset 1420 01:09:25,662 --> 01:09:28,748 throughout the whole entire... Since the second Paranormal. 1421 01:09:28,873 --> 01:09:31,584 And he had been a director, 1422 01:09:32,043 --> 01:09:33,729 he had directed something and he really wanted 1423 01:09:33,753 --> 01:09:35,505 another chance at a studio. 1424 01:09:35,588 --> 01:09:37,757 And there was a good working relationship with us. 1425 01:09:38,132 --> 01:09:39,967 And we really believed in him. 1426 01:09:40,093 --> 01:09:41,973 At that point, Chris probably knew the franchise 1427 01:09:42,053 --> 01:09:43,096 better than most people. 1428 01:09:43,262 --> 01:09:46,599 He had been so essential in helping craft the mythology 1429 01:09:46,724 --> 01:09:48,434 and working on story and characters. 1430 01:09:48,601 --> 01:09:51,479 I felt like I could, kind of, just try some different stuff, 1431 01:09:51,562 --> 01:09:53,564 and just have fun with it. 1432 01:09:53,648 --> 01:09:57,026 It really was the first time that we ever greenlit one of the films, 1433 01:09:57,110 --> 01:09:58,921 knowing what the beginning, middle and end was. 1434 01:09:58,945 --> 01:10:00,697 - Who? - Oscar! 1435 01:10:00,947 --> 01:10:02,323 - Who? - Oscar! 1436 01:10:03,116 --> 01:10:04,325 Oh my God! 1437 01:10:04,575 --> 01:10:07,245 That film follows a couple of young kids 1438 01:10:07,453 --> 01:10:10,707 who realize that someone that lives in their apartment 1439 01:10:10,873 --> 01:10:15,002 is somehow involved in bad witches and demons 1440 01:10:15,086 --> 01:10:17,526 and stuff like that, and they ended up getting involved in it. 1441 01:10:17,714 --> 01:10:20,049 We ended up throwing a really wide net. 1442 01:10:20,299 --> 01:10:23,094 They all came from very different backgrounds 1443 01:10:23,177 --> 01:10:25,096 in different worlds, but the lead, Andrew, 1444 01:10:25,179 --> 01:10:29,600 he was really a guy who was, like, dancing on Hollywood Boulevard. 1445 01:10:29,684 --> 01:10:31,620 Before that, I, you know, and it still to this day, 1446 01:10:31,644 --> 01:10:33,354 I was just a street performer. 1447 01:10:33,438 --> 01:10:36,278 I break dance in the street of Hollywood with a group of my guy friends. 1448 01:10:36,315 --> 01:10:38,335 There was something about him that I found watchable 1449 01:10:38,359 --> 01:10:39,485 and incredibly likable. 1450 01:10:39,569 --> 01:10:41,839 I never really thought about being an actor or anything like that. 1451 01:10:41,863 --> 01:10:45,992 But my mom, she's an acting manager. So she's always pushing that on me. 1452 01:10:46,159 --> 01:10:47,702 Like, "You have, you know, a good look 1453 01:10:47,785 --> 01:10:49,680 and you're used to, like, smiling in front of people, 1454 01:10:49,704 --> 01:10:50,788 you should give it a shot." 1455 01:10:50,872 --> 01:10:55,251 And the same went for Jorge, who is incredibly funny. 1456 01:10:55,668 --> 01:10:56,836 Shit! 1457 01:10:59,255 --> 01:11:01,507 I play Hector... 1458 01:11:01,591 --> 01:11:04,510 Damn it, I forgot my last name in it! I should know this. 1459 01:11:04,594 --> 01:11:08,514 And then Gabrielle, who just was smart and interesting. 1460 01:11:08,598 --> 01:11:12,310 I played Marisol, and I was Hector's cousin. 1461 01:11:12,393 --> 01:11:15,146 We did sort of like, a chemistry read of the three of them together. 1462 01:11:15,229 --> 01:11:17,040 And then that's when the directors and everybody 1463 01:11:17,064 --> 01:11:18,459 were like, "Yep, these are our guys." 1464 01:11:18,483 --> 01:11:19,984 There was no second-guessing. 1465 01:11:20,151 --> 01:11:24,864 It was, like, these three people feel like close, close friends to me. 1466 01:11:25,072 --> 01:11:28,534 And that for me, if that didn't succeed, then the movie would never succeed. 1467 01:11:28,618 --> 01:11:32,205 There was that blend of, be serious about your role, 1468 01:11:32,330 --> 01:11:34,832 but be happy that you're working with each other 1469 01:11:34,916 --> 01:11:39,796 and the kids were, they were wonderful. I still have all their phone numbers. 1470 01:11:40,379 --> 01:11:42,006 I'm going to start bothering them. 1471 01:11:42,173 --> 01:11:44,383 Get off of me, man! Stop it! Stop! 1472 01:11:46,177 --> 01:11:48,095 I had a lot of fun with that in The Marked Ones, 1473 01:11:48,179 --> 01:11:50,282 sort of playing this idea that Jesse suddenly feels like 1474 01:11:50,306 --> 01:11:52,892 he has supernatural abilities 1475 01:11:52,975 --> 01:11:54,811 and that they'd been imbued by something else. 1476 01:11:54,977 --> 01:11:56,457 And he starts transitioning and he 1477 01:11:57,605 --> 01:12:00,233 starts getting these superpowers, I guess, you would say. 1478 01:12:00,316 --> 01:12:03,045 And he has fun with that at the beginning with his best friend, Hector, 1479 01:12:03,069 --> 01:12:07,114 and it goes bad shortly after that. And I become the bad guy. 1480 01:12:11,828 --> 01:12:12,828 Fuck! 1481 01:12:12,870 --> 01:12:17,333 Marked Ones was by far the easiest of all the films for me to work on. 1482 01:12:17,917 --> 01:12:20,336 Again, Chris and I had to shorthand from Paranormal 2 1483 01:12:20,545 --> 01:12:22,731 I mean, from, from Burning Palms then from Paranormal 2 on. 1484 01:12:22,755 --> 01:12:24,507 If there's one sort of, common denominator 1485 01:12:24,590 --> 01:12:27,552 I've really tried to bring, not only to this franchise 1486 01:12:27,635 --> 01:12:29,929 but I think everything that I do, is humor. 1487 01:12:30,805 --> 01:12:32,807 I like these movies to be funny. 1488 01:12:33,266 --> 01:12:34,266 Go! 1489 01:12:34,934 --> 01:12:38,521 Grandmothers in and of themselves are funny. 1490 01:12:43,734 --> 01:12:47,530 Because they've already lived their lives and they've raised their children, 1491 01:12:47,655 --> 01:12:52,493 they've seen everything, and they have that comedic side. 1492 01:12:52,702 --> 01:12:57,498 Chris was able to keep in the fear factor, but still make it funny. 1493 01:12:57,707 --> 01:13:01,335 The biggest challenge on The Marked Ones 1494 01:13:02,461 --> 01:13:04,463 was ending the movie. 1495 01:13:05,214 --> 01:13:06,299 On possession? 1496 01:13:07,925 --> 01:13:09,302 It's not gonna work, Marisol. 1497 01:13:10,303 --> 01:13:12,680 I had a very different ending that I started with. 1498 01:13:15,391 --> 01:13:17,935 Get out! Go, Marisol! Hold his head! 1499 01:13:18,436 --> 01:13:21,076 We shot some in a church actually that never made it into the film. 1500 01:13:22,648 --> 01:13:23,648 Fuck. 1501 01:13:27,778 --> 01:13:29,363 What the fuck was that? 1502 01:13:29,447 --> 01:13:32,033 And basically this demon just starts coming towards like... 1503 01:13:35,536 --> 01:13:36,537 Go! Move! 1504 01:13:37,121 --> 01:13:38,873 And he, like, has a shotgun, 1505 01:13:39,582 --> 01:13:42,460 and he's like, "Run! Run, Motherfucker, run!" 1506 01:13:49,550 --> 01:13:50,593 Jessel. 1507 01:13:50,676 --> 01:13:54,597 They actually shot some scenes where you could see the demon. 1508 01:13:54,680 --> 01:13:56,140 I think it's cool. It's okay... 1509 01:13:58,017 --> 01:13:59,143 Fuck! 1510 01:14:00,269 --> 01:14:03,981 And when we were in the edit together, looking at where I had started, 1511 01:14:04,065 --> 01:14:10,071 it suddenly felt like a different movie. It just didn't feel like it belonged. 1512 01:14:10,154 --> 01:14:12,406 And if was something that everybody felt in their gut. 1513 01:14:12,490 --> 01:14:13,950 And I didn't even try to defend it. 1514 01:14:14,033 --> 01:14:16,619 We thought it would be nice to sort of, 1515 01:14:16,702 --> 01:14:21,332 and kind of fun, to tie it into the original movie. 1516 01:14:21,582 --> 01:14:23,022 Chris Landon called me and was like, 1517 01:14:23,167 --> 01:14:25,002 "Hey, we've been trying to figure this out, 1518 01:14:25,127 --> 01:14:28,172 we really need you. Can you come for a day, 1519 01:14:28,547 --> 01:14:30,383 and be part of the team and shoot the scene?" 1520 01:14:30,466 --> 01:14:35,930 I thought it was really fun, actually, the way that they played with the genre 1521 01:14:36,055 --> 01:14:37,255 and played with the franchise. 1522 01:14:37,598 --> 01:14:39,684 I also think that Oren's house, 1523 01:14:39,767 --> 01:14:42,269 Katie and Micah's house from the first movie, 1524 01:14:42,770 --> 01:14:46,232 it was so iconic, that going back there felt like a fun, 1525 01:14:46,399 --> 01:14:48,317 clever pop at the end of the movie, 1526 01:14:48,526 --> 01:14:52,363 and a good way to tie this spin-off to the other, 1527 01:14:52,530 --> 01:14:54,573 you know, to the other movies in the franchise. 1528 01:14:54,782 --> 01:14:56,784 That was when I, sort of, came up with this, 1529 01:14:57,076 --> 01:15:01,872 just completely bat shit crazy idea of going back to Lois' house, 1530 01:15:02,456 --> 01:15:04,083 that this house was sort of the nexus 1531 01:15:04,166 --> 01:15:08,004 of the coven's activity in that they would take Jesse there. 1532 01:15:08,170 --> 01:15:10,381 And that our, that his friends would have to rescue him 1533 01:15:10,464 --> 01:15:11,858 and that in the process of doing so, 1534 01:15:11,882 --> 01:15:13,922 they would discover a portal that actually took them 1535 01:15:14,719 --> 01:15:16,470 to different places in the franchise. 1536 01:15:16,554 --> 01:15:18,973 Micah! Micah! 1537 01:15:22,143 --> 01:15:23,853 What's the matter! Where are you? 1538 01:15:26,063 --> 01:15:27,565 What the fuck! 1539 01:15:28,399 --> 01:15:30,901 There was an operating logic behind it in the sense that, 1540 01:15:30,985 --> 01:15:32,028 like, the coven, 1541 01:15:33,029 --> 01:15:36,073 because they're witches, you know, they have powers. 1542 01:15:36,157 --> 01:15:38,784 Like they have the ability that they can conjure demons 1543 01:15:38,868 --> 01:15:42,204 and they can put demons in people, and they can do all kinds of stuff. 1544 01:15:42,288 --> 01:15:45,791 So why can't they, sort of, create doorways 1545 01:15:45,875 --> 01:15:47,293 into other places and other times? 1546 01:15:47,543 --> 01:15:49,837 It also gives me, as an actor, 1547 01:15:49,920 --> 01:15:53,716 just a sense of sort of resolution of continuity 1548 01:15:53,799 --> 01:15:57,678 to know, definitively, how she kills me. 1549 01:15:57,762 --> 01:15:59,388 And I have to, like, wonder in my head 1550 01:15:59,472 --> 01:16:01,599 all these different ways of Katie slaughtering me. 1551 01:16:01,682 --> 01:16:02,683 Jesse. 1552 01:16:03,059 --> 01:16:04,060 What's wrong with him? 1553 01:16:04,143 --> 01:16:05,263 I feel like I'm losing time. 1554 01:16:06,312 --> 01:16:07,688 What the hell's happening to me? 1555 01:16:13,611 --> 01:16:16,072 I don't think 7he Marked Ones made as much money 1556 01:16:16,405 --> 01:16:20,701 for two reasons. One, fatigue. And two, it wasn't marketed 1557 01:16:20,826 --> 01:16:23,996 as part of the Paranormal canon. It was marketed as a spin-off. 1558 01:16:24,121 --> 01:16:28,042 I think it was the story and also found footage. 1559 01:16:28,167 --> 01:16:31,087 I think people were not into found footage anymore. 1560 01:16:31,170 --> 01:16:32,963 Which is a shame because it's super fun. 1561 01:16:33,130 --> 01:16:35,450 It's smart, it's creative, it's inventive, it's everything. 1562 01:16:35,508 --> 01:16:38,969 And it actually kind of, answers more questions in some ways 1563 01:16:39,053 --> 01:16:40,262 than all the other films do. 1564 01:16:40,387 --> 01:16:44,475 I think that movie was quite good and it underperformed because people left. 1565 01:16:44,558 --> 01:16:46,769 Paranormal Activity 4 with a bad taste in their mouth. 1566 01:16:46,852 --> 01:16:49,939 It really over-performed internationally, 1567 01:16:50,022 --> 01:16:52,733 but it was being comped to all the other Paranormals. 1568 01:16:53,150 --> 01:16:56,278 And so it continued to give the sense that the franchise 1569 01:16:56,362 --> 01:16:57,613 was on a decline, 1570 01:16:57,696 --> 01:16:59,573 when, in a weird way, what we were trying to do 1571 01:16:59,657 --> 01:17:00,908 was expand the franchise. 1572 01:17:00,991 --> 01:17:03,136 It didn't follow a lot of themes of Paranormal Activity, 1573 01:17:03,160 --> 01:17:04,912 and they sort of spun the series off, 1574 01:17:04,995 --> 01:17:07,540 and I credit them for taking that challenge 1575 01:17:07,623 --> 01:17:08,809 and jumping in that direction. 1576 01:17:08,833 --> 01:17:11,085 You know, the series started using toys. 1577 01:17:11,669 --> 01:17:14,088 Teddy Ruxpin, I think, was the big one in 3, 1578 01:17:14,213 --> 01:17:16,465 and then the Kinect in 4, this one had Simon, 1579 01:17:16,549 --> 01:17:17,675 we've all played Simon. 1580 01:17:18,050 --> 01:17:20,344 What if your Simon games started answering, 1581 01:17:20,427 --> 01:17:22,827 you know, the red button for no and the green button for yes. 1582 01:17:24,181 --> 01:17:26,100 Shit! Shit. 1583 01:17:26,183 --> 01:17:28,561 In addition to being one of the better later entries, 1584 01:17:29,019 --> 01:17:32,523 it... really paid off. 1585 01:17:32,606 --> 01:17:35,651 It's more essential than some of the other sequels, I think. 1586 01:17:35,734 --> 01:17:37,069 It's ready for you. 1587 01:18:13,439 --> 01:18:16,108 You know, Chris, although not involved directly, 1588 01:18:16,233 --> 01:18:19,195 or initially, he kind of created a blueprint 1589 01:18:19,403 --> 01:18:21,405 for where we could go with the franchise. 1590 01:18:21,488 --> 01:18:23,991 So the conversations had been happening for a while 1591 01:18:24,074 --> 01:18:26,619 as to how The Marked Ones fit into to the canon 1592 01:18:26,702 --> 01:18:28,537 and how we could progress. 1593 01:18:28,662 --> 01:18:31,081 Greg wanted to direct something himself as well. 1594 01:18:31,207 --> 01:18:33,959 Like he felt like he was ready and it was his turn. 1595 01:18:34,835 --> 01:18:39,590 But then he was given a story 1596 01:18:39,715 --> 01:18:41,967 and an idea that was just impossible. 1597 01:18:42,134 --> 01:18:43,928 At the end of the day, they wanted to do 3D, 1598 01:18:44,011 --> 01:18:45,054 they wanted to go big. 1599 01:18:45,137 --> 01:18:49,099 They wanted to make it very visual, to do all these time travel games 1600 01:18:49,183 --> 01:18:50,392 and stuff like that. 1601 01:18:50,517 --> 01:18:52,144 Just to make sure that we can say, 1602 01:18:52,311 --> 01:18:54,980 "We're not like the other films, this is something very new, 1603 01:18:55,189 --> 01:18:57,524 for the first time you're gonna see the activity." 1604 01:18:57,942 --> 01:19:00,236 There were a lot more, low budget, 1605 01:19:00,653 --> 01:19:03,822 found-footage type movies that came after Paranormal, 1606 01:19:04,031 --> 01:19:06,033 and we were just worried that the marketplace 1607 01:19:06,116 --> 01:19:07,451 also was saturated. 1608 01:19:07,618 --> 01:19:09,058 What happened on 7he Ghost Dimension 1609 01:19:09,161 --> 01:19:12,581 was 3D was something that we were talking a lot about 1610 01:19:12,790 --> 01:19:14,291 at the studio. 1611 01:19:14,375 --> 01:19:16,794 I kept saying like, "No, that's a really dumb idea." 1612 01:19:16,877 --> 01:19:19,797 "Please, please don't do 3D, that'll ruin the franchise." 1613 01:19:19,880 --> 01:19:24,551 The idea of making a 3D Paranormal movie had come up prior to the third film. 1614 01:19:25,344 --> 01:19:30,975 And when that idea started to float up, I kind of came in with a fucking bat 1615 01:19:31,141 --> 01:19:32,393 and was like beating it down. 1616 01:19:32,559 --> 01:19:35,980 We needed some hook to be able to grab the audience 1617 01:19:36,146 --> 01:19:39,650 and say there's, like, a new reason to come see this thing. 1618 01:19:43,028 --> 01:19:45,614 A family moves into a house. They find a batch of tapes 1619 01:19:45,864 --> 01:19:48,784 and they find a camera that has special abilities, 1620 01:19:48,867 --> 01:19:50,995 to actually be able to see beyond 1621 01:19:51,287 --> 01:19:54,707 what the naked eye can show. And in watching those tapes, 1622 01:19:54,873 --> 01:19:59,420 they find a connection to Katie and Kristi, and little Leila, 1623 01:19:59,545 --> 01:20:03,257 their daughter, is special to the coven and that at the end, 1624 01:20:03,841 --> 01:20:07,261 Toby is going to, sort of, be born finally. 1625 01:20:07,469 --> 01:20:12,850 I played Ryan Fleege, sort of, the father... 1626 01:20:12,975 --> 01:20:15,060 Well, essentially I find this camera 1627 01:20:15,269 --> 01:20:17,855 in our basement while I'm cleaning it out. 1628 01:20:18,022 --> 01:20:19,815 I played Emily Fleege, 1629 01:20:19,898 --> 01:20:25,112 and she was the mom, wife of the Fleege family. 1630 01:20:25,321 --> 01:20:26,447 Leila, who's Toby? 1631 01:20:28,449 --> 01:20:29,450 Leila? 1632 01:20:30,117 --> 01:20:33,871 Finding the Leila part was really difficult, 1633 01:20:34,246 --> 01:20:36,749 but when Ivy came in again, 1634 01:20:36,832 --> 01:20:39,501 it was super late, like days before we started shooting, 1635 01:20:39,585 --> 01:20:42,046 but she just had this kind of magic quality. 1636 01:20:42,171 --> 01:20:43,172 She was awesome. 1637 01:20:43,547 --> 01:20:49,303 Greg was nice and he was sweet and he was, again, very playful. 1638 01:20:52,890 --> 01:20:53,766 Fuck! 1639 01:20:53,849 --> 01:20:56,769 We had ILM come on and said, "What would you do to these scenes?" 1640 01:20:56,852 --> 01:20:59,855 And it just empowered them to say, 1641 01:20:59,938 --> 01:21:01,833 "Oh my God, be fun if they did this, this and this." 1642 01:21:01,857 --> 01:21:03,942 And then those got incorporated in the film. 1643 01:21:04,109 --> 01:21:06,653 So, we do this extermination scene. 1644 01:21:07,112 --> 01:21:10,240 Father Todd comes over and he says, 1645 01:21:10,324 --> 01:21:14,536 "If we can put this holy water sheet, trap him in this circle, 1646 01:21:14,620 --> 01:21:17,456 put the holy water sheet over him, then we can exterminate him." 1647 01:21:17,623 --> 01:21:19,958 We kind of had the whole room rigged with filament, 1648 01:21:20,084 --> 01:21:21,728 so I could just pull anything off at any time. 1649 01:21:21,752 --> 01:21:23,271 I had someone behind the Christmas tree, 1650 01:21:23,295 --> 01:21:24,981 shaking the Christmas tree and throwing stuff. 1651 01:21:25,005 --> 01:21:27,341 You have no idea what you're acting with. 1652 01:21:27,716 --> 01:21:30,427 You're just, sort of, making it up as you go. 1653 01:21:30,552 --> 01:21:33,138 So that was kind of a trip to just, sort of, 1654 01:21:33,263 --> 01:21:37,518 see X's on the floor and not even know 1655 01:21:37,643 --> 01:21:39,579 what the visual effect's gonna be at the end of the day, 1656 01:21:39,603 --> 01:21:41,063 but you're reacting to it. 1657 01:21:41,146 --> 01:21:44,274 It was just kind of, like, pretending someone was there. 1658 01:21:44,566 --> 01:21:47,569 It was chaos because it was like in the middle of it, 1659 01:21:47,694 --> 01:21:50,656 it would be like, whoever had the camera would, 1660 01:21:51,490 --> 01:21:54,094 someone would be telling them, cause they're in video village, like, 1661 01:21:54,118 --> 01:21:56,370 "Pan down, pan up, look over here!" 1662 01:21:56,537 --> 01:21:58,914 "This person, say something! This person, look here!" 1663 01:21:59,081 --> 01:22:01,375 "Toby's huge! Now he's not! Now he's this!" 1664 01:22:01,500 --> 01:22:04,461 And then I guess I pull somebody out of the... 1665 01:22:05,254 --> 01:22:09,550 Ivy's getting sucked into the demon... vortex. 1666 01:22:11,176 --> 01:22:13,470 It wasn't scary, it was actually pretty fun. 1667 01:22:13,637 --> 01:22:16,640 I think that, I wouldn't say the worst part, 1668 01:22:16,932 --> 01:22:18,725 but a part that I had some difficulty with, 1669 01:22:18,851 --> 01:22:20,811 was there was a really bright light. 1670 01:22:20,936 --> 01:22:22,855 And there was a lot of whips and a lot of whips 1671 01:22:22,980 --> 01:22:24,541 and just trying to, kind of, build it in post. 1672 01:22:24,565 --> 01:22:26,525 And we thought it might be a fun opportunity 1673 01:22:26,692 --> 01:22:28,944 with the 3D to, kind of, show the demon moving around 1674 01:22:29,069 --> 01:22:31,196 and so forth, but it was, kind of, all hands on deck, 1675 01:22:31,280 --> 01:22:33,160 just like throw as much shit in there as you can 1676 01:22:33,240 --> 01:22:35,534 and make it sound crazy and fun. 1677 01:22:37,244 --> 01:22:40,080 I think this camera can see things you cannot see with the naked eye. 1678 01:22:40,914 --> 01:22:44,084 I've heard of spirit photography before, I've just never seen it in person. 1679 01:22:48,797 --> 01:22:52,468 - Here I am. He'll do... - What are you doing in here? 1680 01:22:54,261 --> 01:22:57,055 The big thing for us was that we thought that the 3D, 1681 01:22:57,222 --> 01:23:02,811 that that Ghost Dimension aspect of it, that we wouldn't market it as a 3D movie, 1682 01:23:03,103 --> 01:23:08,233 that we would give people the 3D glasses to kind of see this new thing. 1683 01:23:08,567 --> 01:23:09,693 And it was very complicated. 1684 01:23:09,985 --> 01:23:12,279 I think a lot of people were a little put-off 1685 01:23:12,362 --> 01:23:15,073 by the 3D and some of the effects and so forth. 1686 01:23:16,033 --> 01:23:17,594 You know, obviously, there was a lot of people 1687 01:23:17,618 --> 01:23:20,018 that loved it and thought it answered questions and so forth. 1688 01:23:20,329 --> 01:23:21,649 But I think there was a lot of, 1689 01:23:21,747 --> 01:23:23,391 or a good amount of frustration that it didn't 1690 01:23:23,415 --> 01:23:25,255 quite answer the questions in the way you want. 1691 01:23:25,334 --> 01:23:30,714 Ghost Dimension isn't a terrible movie, but it's not the way I think 1692 01:23:31,590 --> 01:23:34,760 it's not what I would want from a finale, or a franchise finale. 1693 01:23:34,885 --> 01:23:38,722 The problem with the Ghost Dimension is it kind of painted itself into a corner. 1694 01:23:40,182 --> 01:23:44,102 It was being portrayed as the last of the franchise. 1695 01:23:44,228 --> 01:23:45,812 This was gonna be the end. 1696 01:23:46,688 --> 01:23:49,566 Come on, we've all watched Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. 1697 01:23:50,317 --> 01:23:51,318 It's never the end. 1698 01:23:51,568 --> 01:23:53,946 The series started off with a guy in his house 1699 01:23:54,029 --> 01:23:55,697 and his tripod, you know, and I'm like, 1700 01:23:56,031 --> 01:23:59,618 "Now we have ILM effects and 3D and all this stuff," and it's just like, 1701 01:23:59,743 --> 01:24:03,247 it's really, kind of, gone away from what made the first one really work. 1702 01:24:03,413 --> 01:24:05,249 I don't think I had as much creative control 1703 01:24:05,332 --> 01:24:06,416 as I would've liked. 1704 01:24:06,542 --> 01:24:10,212 So there were a lot of creative decisions that I just had no say in. 1705 01:24:12,548 --> 01:24:14,188 Would they have been better? I don't know. 1706 01:24:14,216 --> 01:24:18,512 But it was definitely sometimes difficult to try to go down a path 1707 01:24:18,637 --> 01:24:21,306 that I didn't necessarily think was the healthiest for the film. 1708 01:24:21,431 --> 01:24:24,101 They actually released it at about half the theaters 1709 01:24:24,184 --> 01:24:28,355 that they released the other films of the franchise in. 1710 01:24:28,564 --> 01:24:31,692 And I can remember not being able to find it at a theater. 1711 01:24:31,817 --> 01:24:34,945 Paranormal 6'is the only movie in the franchise 1712 01:24:35,028 --> 01:24:36,154 I did not see in theaters. 1713 01:24:36,280 --> 01:24:38,600 It was just a weird thing. I don't, to this day, quite know 1714 01:24:38,657 --> 01:24:39,700 all the politics involved. 1715 01:24:40,867 --> 01:24:42,578 - Oh my God! - Father! 1716 01:24:44,288 --> 01:24:46,498 Here I am. He'll do. 1717 01:24:46,582 --> 01:24:49,334 Here I am. He'll do. 1718 01:24:59,428 --> 01:25:00,929 The decision was made by the studio 1719 01:25:01,013 --> 01:25:04,099 when they saw that, basically, their revenues are declining, 1720 01:25:04,182 --> 01:25:06,602 it's not becoming as profitable, and I said, "You know what?" 1721 01:25:06,685 --> 01:25:11,231 "We should just kinda quit while we're not even ahead." 1722 01:25:11,315 --> 01:25:13,900 We were flat out of ideas. It was... 1723 01:25:14,735 --> 01:25:17,362 You know, the movie had created so much success 1724 01:25:17,571 --> 01:25:19,698 for everyone involved with it, 1725 01:25:19,781 --> 01:25:23,035 that Jason, especially, had had such a big, 1726 01:25:23,118 --> 01:25:26,705 booming business that was happening that I also, was holding him back 1727 01:25:26,788 --> 01:25:31,418 from being able to launch his empire, that he's since created. 1728 01:25:32,294 --> 01:25:35,881 And... you know, bands have to take a break 1729 01:25:35,964 --> 01:25:37,644 and get off the road every once in a while. 1730 01:25:37,716 --> 01:25:39,968 We just said, "You know, let's just quit for now 1731 01:25:40,552 --> 01:25:43,722 and take a long break from Paranormal Activity." 1732 01:25:45,599 --> 01:25:48,477 Those movies were probably the most fun part 1733 01:25:48,560 --> 01:25:51,438 of my job and running all of Paramount. 1734 01:25:51,605 --> 01:25:53,445 My personal relationship to Paranormal Activity 1735 01:25:53,523 --> 01:25:57,277 is it gave me my business model and I built a huge business off it. 1736 01:25:57,444 --> 01:26:01,531 I went from knocking on the door to now, being in the room and being able direct 1737 01:26:01,907 --> 01:26:03,867 and sort of, fulfill all of my creative dreams, 1738 01:26:04,326 --> 01:26:07,245 so I couldn't be more thankful to the franchise. 1739 01:26:07,329 --> 01:26:11,541 Those movies were, kind of, our studio film school in a way. 1740 01:26:11,708 --> 01:26:12,935 - And, like... - It was a crash course. 1741 01:26:12,959 --> 01:26:16,546 It was a crash course, and, like, we learned from Akiva and from Chris, 1742 01:26:16,630 --> 01:26:18,110 and these guys who are just the best. 1743 01:26:18,173 --> 01:26:19,984 One of the cool things about making these movies, 1744 01:26:20,008 --> 01:26:22,070 and one of the humbling things about making these movies, 1745 01:26:22,094 --> 01:26:26,390 is that it truly was a... it was a group effort. 1746 01:26:27,349 --> 01:26:29,393 Yeah, I can't describe it. 1747 01:26:29,476 --> 01:26:34,648 It's been an emotional roller coaster, 1748 01:26:34,731 --> 01:26:36,900 but also I loved working on these movies. 1749 01:26:37,025 --> 01:26:38,193 I loved working hard. 1750 01:26:38,276 --> 01:26:43,573 I learned the most I ever have in terms of being behind the camera 1751 01:26:43,657 --> 01:26:45,177 and the physical production of it all. 1752 01:26:45,242 --> 01:26:47,994 I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. 1753 01:26:48,245 --> 01:26:51,123 I think the Paranormal Activity films appear to be real. 1754 01:26:52,958 --> 01:26:58,547 I think that we believe that next door, down the block, in our house 1755 01:26:59,506 --> 01:27:04,928 there are stories, and not all of them are good stories. 1756 01:27:05,178 --> 01:27:07,806 Maybe deep down, you know that it's not real, 1757 01:27:07,931 --> 01:27:09,266 but it feels real. 1758 01:27:09,433 --> 01:27:12,853 And it's easier for you to, kind of, get more attached 1759 01:27:12,936 --> 01:27:14,396 and invested in the characters. 1760 01:27:14,521 --> 01:27:20,652 What that guy did with not a lot of money and two actors in his own house 1761 01:27:20,819 --> 01:27:23,822 changed the horror industry, changed the genre. 1762 01:27:23,947 --> 01:27:26,616 There's, like, a specialness that I get to share it, 1763 01:27:26,742 --> 01:27:28,994 not only with Oren and Katie, 1764 01:27:29,077 --> 01:27:31,580 but with all the fans and we're doing it together. 1765 01:27:31,663 --> 01:27:34,541 We were in the moment and we were focused on making the best movie 1766 01:27:34,624 --> 01:27:38,295 we knew how to make because it was fun, and because we cared about it. 1767 01:27:38,462 --> 01:27:40,213 I mean, the whole thing is very surreal. 1768 01:27:40,380 --> 01:27:43,842 I mean, I'm mostly really proud of the success of the first one. 1769 01:27:43,967 --> 01:27:48,722 I think the other sequels had a lot more people involved, 1770 01:27:49,139 --> 01:27:51,391 but, yeah, anything and everything 1771 01:27:51,516 --> 01:27:53,327 that happened around the success of the franchise 1772 01:27:53,351 --> 01:27:55,187 has been, kind of, mind-boggling to me. 1773 01:27:55,312 --> 01:27:57,564 And I'm just happy to go along on the ride. 1774 01:27:57,731 --> 01:28:03,945 I think Oren's conceit of a couple, "I see ghosts, I don't see ghosts, 1775 01:28:04,029 --> 01:28:06,174 I'm gonna get a camera to you to prove that there're ghosts," 1776 01:28:06,198 --> 01:28:09,785 there's absolutely no better, and there never has been a better, 1777 01:28:09,868 --> 01:28:12,621 and I'd be surprised if there ever will be a better setup 1778 01:28:12,704 --> 01:28:14,456 for a found-footage movie. It was brilliant. 1779 01:28:14,623 --> 01:28:17,000 You know, it was extraordinary. 1780 01:29:01,211 --> 01:29:02,295 What's up, everybody? 1781 01:29:02,379 --> 01:29:04,065 We're here on set shooting the next installment 1782 01:29:04,089 --> 01:29:05,215 of Paranormal Activity. 1783 01:29:05,298 --> 01:29:07,676 Hi, my name is Emily Bader and I'm playing Margot. 1784 01:29:08,176 --> 01:29:10,887 Yo, you're killing my interview! 1785 01:29:10,971 --> 01:29:13,181 Hi, everybody. I'm Dan Lippert and I play Dale. 1786 01:29:13,557 --> 01:29:15,517 This is my time now, okay? 1787 01:29:15,725 --> 01:29:18,770 Hey, I'm Will Eubank, the director of Paranormal Activity 7. 1788 01:29:19,187 --> 01:29:20,772 And this mic is ridiculous. 1789 01:29:20,856 --> 01:29:23,483 We're filming the new Paranormal Activity 7 1790 01:29:23,567 --> 01:29:24,860 in Buffalo, New York. 1791 01:29:24,943 --> 01:29:26,420 It's always fun shooting scary movies 1792 01:29:26,444 --> 01:29:28,446 where you just feel like there's adrenaline 1793 01:29:28,530 --> 01:29:31,491 around every corner and scares, and little rushes, and whatnot. 1794 01:29:31,575 --> 01:29:34,160 But I think when the cast and crew come together 1795 01:29:34,286 --> 01:29:36,454 and they work in, like, that kind of environment, 1796 01:29:36,913 --> 01:29:38,498 it's just a hell of a lot of fun. 1797 01:29:38,582 --> 01:29:41,084 It's been, like, a weird little summer camp. 1798 01:29:41,167 --> 01:29:42,377 It was five weeks on a farm. 1799 01:29:42,460 --> 01:29:45,922 Like, we are our support system because we're really out here alone. 1800 01:29:46,047 --> 01:29:48,234 You kind of, either got to love each other or hate each other. 1801 01:29:48,258 --> 01:29:49,652 I think we came out with some love. 1802 01:29:49,676 --> 01:29:52,220 We have to be, like, super-together. 1803 01:29:52,345 --> 01:29:56,099 And like, scary, crazy nights. Everybody, kind of, has to buckle in. 1804 01:29:56,266 --> 01:29:57,851 So, yeah. Oh my fucking God! 1805 01:29:58,143 --> 01:30:00,395 Paranormal Activity films have always represented, 1806 01:30:00,520 --> 01:30:06,735 like, this crazy level of just true fear, but fear that feels like 1807 01:30:06,818 --> 01:30:08,570 something that could sort of happen to you. 1808 01:30:08,778 --> 01:30:11,531 The new direction that Will Eubank is taking the movie. 1809 01:30:11,615 --> 01:30:17,579 He's really, added a lot of new, exciting visual elements to the film. 1810 01:30:17,704 --> 01:30:22,125 I'm really excited to see the reaction of people 1811 01:30:22,292 --> 01:30:24,628 to the cinematography of this particular piece. 1812 01:30:24,711 --> 01:30:26,171 The other Paranormals, 1813 01:30:26,254 --> 01:30:29,674 you know, you kind of are secluded to one environment. 1814 01:30:29,925 --> 01:30:32,469 I'm super excited for fans to get to see, sort of, 1815 01:30:32,594 --> 01:30:34,554 an expansion of the world in a lot of ways. 1816 01:30:34,721 --> 01:30:37,474 In this one, we get out of one environment, 1817 01:30:37,557 --> 01:30:38,725 we're in many environments. 1818 01:30:38,808 --> 01:30:40,727 There's not a lot I can tell you about this PA, 1819 01:30:40,852 --> 01:30:46,024 but the things I can tell you is there are going to be some new scares 1820 01:30:46,107 --> 01:30:50,654 and some really wild, dark things going on. 1821 01:30:50,820 --> 01:30:56,242 We hang out, and as you can see, like a lot of laundry and just good vibes. 1822 01:30:56,409 --> 01:30:58,620 Yeah. People die! 1823 01:30:58,787 --> 01:31:01,623 Brace yourself and get ready for a ride. 1824 01:31:01,748 --> 01:31:04,751 And I know you haven't been scared since the last Paranormal movie, 1825 01:31:04,834 --> 01:31:07,337 so we're excited to do it now. 1826 01:31:07,504 --> 01:31:09,424 And we hope you guys really love what comes next. 1827 01:31:09,464 --> 01:31:11,925 Stay tuned for the next chapter of Paranormal Activity. 1828 01:31:12,008 --> 01:31:13,259 It's about to get poppin'. 1829 01:31:27,065 --> 01:31:28,316 What scares you? 1830 01:31:31,611 --> 01:31:33,947 That's an interesting one. 1831 01:31:35,991 --> 01:31:37,701 Katie is frightening. 1832 01:31:43,331 --> 01:31:44,499 School pickup? 1833 01:31:46,543 --> 01:31:47,585 It's a madhouse. 1834 01:31:51,840 --> 01:31:52,841 Spiders. 1835 01:31:53,550 --> 01:31:54,676 Studio executives. 1836 01:31:55,427 --> 01:31:57,178 Lasers in my eye. 1837 01:32:01,224 --> 01:32:03,768 Candyman was always the scariest one for me. 1838 01:32:03,852 --> 01:32:05,145 Tony Todd was really 1839 01:32:06,312 --> 01:32:08,064 like the big bad when I was growing up. 1840 01:32:12,569 --> 01:32:16,698 I mean, real life is so scary right now, and I could go into all that... 1841 01:32:16,781 --> 01:32:19,576 Like, Nazis are scary and they've made a comeback. 1842 01:32:23,872 --> 01:32:25,915 MapQuest. Yeah. 1843 01:32:27,042 --> 01:32:28,376 Scared me this morning. 1844 01:32:33,048 --> 01:32:35,717 There's a fear that maybe still lives in me, 1845 01:32:35,800 --> 01:32:38,762 which is that I've sold my soul to the devil 1846 01:32:38,845 --> 01:32:40,263 at some point and forgot about it. 1847 01:32:48,396 --> 01:32:52,150 I do a lot of hiking, and... so, bears, 1848 01:32:52,233 --> 01:32:54,402 and, you know, scary creatures, 1849 01:32:54,486 --> 01:32:57,989 mountain lions, coyotes, even raccoons can be feisty. 1850 01:32:58,573 --> 01:33:01,159 My chandelier was moving two days ago. 1851 01:33:02,410 --> 01:33:04,079 I was like, "No!" 1852 01:33:04,704 --> 01:33:06,331 I was like, "You hit that, right, Mom? 1853 01:33:06,414 --> 01:33:08,917 Like, that was you, you hit it?" She's like, "Uh-huh." 1854 01:33:09,000 --> 01:33:11,086 'Cause I'm like so freaked out by that stuff now. 1855 01:33:11,169 --> 01:33:16,174 I believe in ghosts, so, if something moves that shouldn't. 1856 01:33:17,467 --> 01:33:19,469 I can find that pretty disconcerting. 1857 01:33:19,552 --> 01:33:20,637 I'm very jumpy. 1858 01:33:20,720 --> 01:33:22,931 And so all of my friends and my family make fun of me 1859 01:33:23,014 --> 01:33:25,850 because I make these movies, 1860 01:33:25,934 --> 01:33:29,354 but if you, like, pop out of something, 1861 01:33:29,437 --> 01:33:33,691 I will scream and jump away. You know, I'm very jumpy that way. 1862 01:33:33,775 --> 01:33:36,945 My dad took me to this ride where, like, 1863 01:33:37,028 --> 01:33:39,614 they were literally would hit you with brooms, 1864 01:33:39,697 --> 01:33:42,283 the ends of, you know, broomsticks, not sticks, 1865 01:33:42,367 --> 01:33:44,911 but the soft part of it. 1866 01:33:44,994 --> 01:33:46,788 And I was, like, four or five years old 1867 01:33:46,871 --> 01:33:48,557 and it terrorized me. I don't know why my dad 1868 01:33:48,581 --> 01:33:49,581 took me to that. 1869 01:33:49,624 --> 01:33:50,792 What scares you guys? 1870 01:33:53,503 --> 01:33:55,797 - This interview. - Oh man. 1871 01:33:55,880 --> 01:33:58,758 The sound that occurred when you're watching. 1872 01:33:58,842 --> 01:34:00,510 Paranormal Activity, the first one. 1873 01:34:01,052 --> 01:34:02,804 That did it for me. 1874 01:34:03,346 --> 01:34:05,348 That got me to move up a couple rows. 1875 01:34:09,686 --> 01:34:10,687 That's it? 1876 01:34:10,770 --> 01:34:12,522 Cool! Thank you, guys. 1877 01:34:12,605 --> 01:34:14,023 Thank you so much. 1878 01:34:14,107 --> 01:34:16,027 - No problem, no problem. - Yeah, this was great. 162168

Can't find what you're looking for?
Get subtitles in any language from opensubtitles.com, and translate them here.