You Won’t Be Able to Unsee These 20 Secrets About the Saw Franchise

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1. While the archetypal movie took spot successful a rundown concern bathroom, an archetypal thought from co-creators James Wan and Leigh Wannell was to person the full movie diagnostic 2 actors stuck successful an elevator, changeable from the constituent of presumption of information cameras, successful the hopes of keeping it contained and comparatively cheap.

2. After James pitched Leigh connected what would go the archetypal film's plot, helium was struck with inspiration for the untitled project.

"I'll ne'er hide that day," Leigh told Bloody-Disgusting.com successful 2010. "I retrieve hanging up the telephone and started conscionable going implicit it successful my head, and without immoderate benignant of agelong play of pondering, I opened my diary that I had astatine the clip and wrote the connection SAW. It was 1 of those moments that made maine alert that immoderate things conscionable truly are meant to be. Some things are conscionable waiting determination to beryllium discovered."

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3. The impetus for the franchise's iconic villain Jigsaw came astir erstwhile persistent migraines sent Leigh, convinced helium had a encephalon tumor, to a neurologist for an MRI.

"I started to think, 'What if you were fixed the quality that you had a tumor and you were going to dice soon? How would you respond to that?'" helium told The A.V. Club successful 2010. "So I started to ideate this quality who had been fixed a clip limit, who'd been told that helium had a year, 2 years to live, really, and that his information would dilatory termination him. Then I benignant of attached that to the thought of idiosyncratic who enactment radical successful a literal mentation of that."

4. Despite her quality Amanda Young becoming a cardinal fig successful the Saw franchise mythology, histrion Shawnee Smith, not a fearfulness fan, initially turned down the role, describing the publication arsenic "horrific." It was lone aft she watched the archetypal abbreviated film, which featured what would go Amanda's communicative successful Saw, that she accepted.

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5. The archetypal movie was changeable implicit the span of 18 days with a accumulation fund of conscionable nether $1 million. Money was truthful choky that precise fewer takes were permitted for each country and, successful post-production, James recovered helium didn't person capable shots to enactment with, forcing him and exertion Kevin Greutert to get creative.

"We would cobble shots together...that we would marque up, and fundamentally we would grunge the changeable up to marque it look similar surveillance cameras," helium explained to The A.V. Club. "And past we would, like, usage stills that the inactive lensman had changeable to fundamentally capable successful gaps."

Acutally, helium continued, "We did a batch of things to capable successful gaps passim the film. Whatever we chopped to paper clippings and worldly similar that, oregon we chopped to surveillance cameras, oregon we chopped to inactive photography wrong the film, which present radical say, 'Wow, that's specified a chill experimental benignant of filmmaking' we truly did that retired of necessity to capable successful gaps we did not get during the filming."

6. Billy, the puppet that became the mascot for the series, was primitively created by James connected the inexpensive with a look made of clay, papier-mâché and achromatic ping-pong balls with irises painted connected for the eyes. By the time Saw II was being made, he'd upgraded with a acceptable of remote-controlled animatronics and waterjet-cut foam for the body.

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7. After Saw proved to beryllium a monolithic success, making $103 cardinal worldwide, Saw II was instantly fixed the greenlight, but neither Leigh nor James was disposable to enactment connected it. So, producers optioned a publication called The Desperate by Darren Lynn Bousman to beryllium crafted into the Saw II script. Darren went connected to direct, portion Leigh recovered clip to supply rewrites connected the script. 

8. For Saw II's iconic Needle Room trap, successful which Shawnee's quality is thrown into a pit of hypodermic needles to find a key, 4 radical implicit the people of 4 days had to region the needle tips from 120,000 syringes and regenerate them with fibre optic tips. The needles that appeared to beryllium stuck to her were blunted syringes struck into padding nether her covering with a fake limb utilized successful definite shots.

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9. Initially, neither James, Leigh oregon Darren accepted the connection to marque a 3rd movie for the franchise. But erstwhile shaper Gregg Hoffman, who had been instrumental successful bringing James and Leigh's imaginativeness to life, passed distant abruptly astatine property 42 conscionable weeks aft Saw II's release, the trio agreed to instrumentality successful his honor.

"Leigh, James Wan and I each got unneurotic and had luncheon the time we heard," Darren told ComingSoon.net successful 2006. "We were sitting determination and we were like, 'You cognize what? They're going to bash Saw III with oregon without us, truthful let's bash it for Greg.' It was ever his volition to person 3 films, and truthful we each got unneurotic connected that time and started talking astir it for the adjacent 2 weeks."

10. Saw III's bath acceptable had to beryllium borrowed and redressed from the accumulation of Scary Movie 4, which had created the acceptable and modeled it aft the bath successful the archetypal Saw movie successful bid to specifically spoof the franchise.

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11. While respective of the franchise installments were threatened with an NC-17 standing by the MPAA until cuts were made to execute a much marketable R, Saw VI was deemed truthful convulsive successful Spain that it became the archetypal movie successful the country's past to ever beryllium issued a Pelicula X standing for violence. (The standing is usually reserved for pornography.)

Restricted to conscionable 8 prime theaters successful the country, the movie was released astir a twelvemonth aboriginal with an 18 standing aft producers chopped respective of the film's much convulsive scenes.

12. While a seventh and eighth installment had been planned, the mediocre container bureau show of Saw VI, forced producers to scrap Saw VIII and condense communicative elements from it into the seventh film, which would beryllium titled Saw 3D.

Ironically, that movie had a worldwide gross treble that of its predecessor.

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13. Saw 3D featured precocious Linkin Park pb vocalist Chester Bennington successful the relation of Evan, who worked with an acting manager to recognize the character.

"It was really a small much hard than I expected due to the fact that it took a batch for maine to fig retired however to represent this feline and what precisely his motives were going to beryllium throughout," helium told ArtistDirect.com successful 2010. "I thought possibly I was overthinking it, and I met with this truly large acting manager who helped maine locomotion done and marque consciousness of the motivation."

14. While the franchise would travel backmost to beingness with 2017's Jigsaw, producers of Saw 3D wanted to spell retired with a splat and utilized implicit 25 gallons of fake humor successful the making of the film. That's 2 and a fractional times much than what was utilized successful Saw II.

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“I ticker a melodramatic movie, and I go, 'I could’ve got 4 jokes successful determination without f--king up the movie.’ I ever play that game,'" the comedian said successful a 2021 interrogation with Comicbook.com. “Saw, particularly Saw II, was 1 of those movies wherever I was like, ‘I deliberation I could’ve gotten a mates of jokes successful determination without screwing up the movie.’”

So, helium continued, helium pitched the thought to the caput of Lionsgate astatine a wedding.

“I was like, ‘You ever deliberation astir putting immoderate drama successful Saw?’ Chris added. “Not a batch similar a Scary Movie, not marque it silly. But the Saws are truthful dire.”

17. As for wherefore Spiral wasn’t conscionable called Saw IX?

"It's due to the fact that it's the ninth instalment of this franchise, but it's not Saw 9," director Darren Lynn Bousman explained to RadioTimes.com successful 2021, "because determination volition ne'er beryllium different Tobin Bell, determination volition ne'er beryllium different Jigsaw."

As helium enactment it, helium “didn’t privation to insult the fans by trying to marque different Jigsaw," and introduced a caller slayer to debar comparison.

18. In fact, Tobin doesn’t look successful Spiral astatine all. Instead, Darren wanted the caller quality to physique disconnected what Jigsaw had done. 

“This killer, our caller killer, is reforming an institution, a large radical of people,” helium noted to RadioTimes.com “And I deliberation that he's taking it to the adjacent level, which is, successful my mind, the eventual bequest of what John Kramer wanted: to marque a change, a taste impact."

Lionsgate

19. However, Tobin did travel backmost for Saw X, marking Jigsaw’s instrumentality successful what Lionsgate dubbed his “most idiosyncratic game.” The movie was acceptable betwixt the archetypal and 2nd Saw movies, truthful the filmmakers had to marque definite the scenes represented that infinitesimal successful time.

“As acold arsenic phones go, we had to usage flip phones, and I deliberation 1 of the characters has a Blackberry,” manager and editor Kevin Greutert told the Oscars’ usher A.frame. “Finding those things wasn't easy, particularly getting moving versions that would behave. Cars were different problem. Whenever we were connected a nationalist street, we had to marque sure, oregon astatine slightest bash our best, to person the models we needed. There was 1 country that was deleted from the movie that progressive John Kramer connected a street, and erstwhile we got to the location, nary of the cars we planned to usage had shown up.”

Lionsgate

20. Saw XI was primitively slated to premiere successful September 2024 but past got pushed backmost a year. And portion fans volition conscionable person to enactment tuned to larn much astir the movie, Tobin has confirmed he’ll beryllium back.

“I’m truly excited astir continuing to make him,” the histrion told the Los Angeles Times successful October 2024. “John Kramer is not done. There’s much to learn.”