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MetalLife.com Interview With David Johnson (screenwriter for Orphan)
By: Terry Bunch
Date: July 23rd, 2009

1. Orphan is based on a story by yourself and Alex Mace. For the benefit of our readers, who is Alex Mace?

David. Alex is an executive at Appian Way, the production company that hired me to write the script. He wrote a 10-page treatment that served as the basis for my screenplay. I was given the first three pages of the treatment and asked to come up with an ending. After I was hired, they gave me the rest of the treatment and I was able to then merge my ending into the story outline that Alex had written.

2. Without giving away anything, was there a specific reason you chose to write about a "creepy little girl"? Often, children are scarier than adults in movies and the formula has been successful in the past.

David. I've been a big fan of the "evil child" sub-genre ever since I saw THE BAD SEED in college. So when presented with the opportunity to write this movie, I jumped at it. The idea of the "evil child" basically flies in the face of our instinctive drive to nurture and protect our offspring, which makes it very fertile ground for sowing horror.

3. Were you involved in any filming decisions? Did you have any say in how the script was interpreted?

David. My opinions were definitely solicited during the pre-production phase. I had a very good collaborative experience with everyone involved. But ultimately, we were all pretty much on the same page in terms of how to translate the script to screen.

4. Did you have any interaction with director Jaume Collet-Serra during the making of the movie?

David. Unfortunately, the movie was shot during the recent WGA strike, so I was not able to be involved with the actual shooting until very near the end, but Jaume and I collaborated extensively before the strike. He put together a visual treatment of what he wanted the movie to look like and as soon as I saw it, I knew the script was in good hands. He's a great director and a real pleasure to work with.

5. When you were writing the story, did you have any specific people in mind that you would have liked to have seen cast in any of the roles?

David. I don't usually write with actors in mind, but for some reason, when I was writing the character of Sister Abigail, I kept hearing CCH Pounder's voice in my head saying her dialogue. I'm a big fan of hers and so at some point I just gave in to the voice in my head and purposefully wrote the role for her. When it came time to cast the part, I shared my thoughts on it with Jaume and the producers and I just got lucky. She was available and agreed to do it.

6. Inevitably, things get removed from a screenplay to make the final film fit the needs of time constraints, budget restrictions, etc. Is there anything "missing" from the movie that you wish had been left in?

David. There's definitely nothing that I would consider to be "missing." All of the decisions made regarding what to cut out were good ones and I think the movie probably benefits from those choices. If there's anything that I would have liked to have seen shot, it would have to be a scene I wrote where Esther goes to the dentist. She acts likes she's afraid until the dentist gets close enough and then she goes berserk and bites his fingers. The dentist is screaming and bleeding and the hygienist has to pry Esther's jaws open to free him. That was a fun scene, but ultimately it probably would have hit the cutting room floor anyway.

7. You are currently working on a remake of an Australian horror film, "Lake Mungo". How is it different for you artistically, to rewrite someone else's story versus writing your own? Are the challenges and rewards greater since you have to envision the original writer's motivations?

David. Joel Anderson wrote and directed a great, scary supernatural drama in a faux-documentary style and I'm adapting it into a traditional narrative format. So it's really more of an adaptation than a remake. The reward is being given the opportunity to work with such great source material. It makes things easier at the beginning, because you know you have a really solid foundation to build off of. If there's a challenge, it's in telling the same story in a different way while still capturing all of the things that made the original so good.

8. It appears that you are a fan of the horror genre. Do you imagine the music that would accompany a scene while you are writing it?

David. I do, actually. I almost always listen to music while I'm writing. It's usually a soundtrack or a series of songs that fit the mood of the story I'm writing and I'll listen to them over and over to put my head where it needs to be. I listened to John Ottman's "APT PUPIL" soundtrack while I was writing "ORPHAN" and a funny thing happened - he wound up actually doing the score for "ORPHAN." I'd never told anyone that I had listened to him. I didn't even find out he was doing the music until I saw his name on the movie poster. It was a complete coincidence.

9. Have you seen a horror film with music in it that you thought made the movie better as a whole?

David. I think "THE MIST" makes a very interesting use of music. Instead of setting the mood with music, the director sets the mood with silence and then brings the music in to deliver the movie's emotional gut-punches. My favorite scene is near the end when Thomas Jane and his friends attempt to escape the mist and "Host of the Seraphim" by Dead Can Dance starts playing on the soundtrack. It's a haunting and emotionally devastating scene, made all the more so by the choice of music.

10. Our readers are fans of heavy metal music and are typically fans of horror movies. What are your favorite horror movies and why?

David. I like all kinds of horror movies, but my favorites are the ones that get under your skin and stay with you after you leave the theater. I think THE EXORCIST and THE SHINING are still probably the two best horror movies ever. They're obviously very graphic and disturbing, but they both succeed on an emotional level that most horror movies fail to achieve. When you look past the obvious horrors, THE SHINING is about an abusive father and a family that's falling apart. THE EXORCIST is really about a mother who's afraid of losing her daughter and a priest who's having a crisis of faith and how they ultimately help each other. I think having that emotional integrity at the heart of a horror movie is worth more than all the blood and green puke in the world. Not that I have anything against a good splatter movie, but aside from a few notable exceptions (the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, for instance), they just don't stick with me the same way.

11. Lastly, what other projects are you working on? Are you writing any other screenplays?

David. Aside from LAKE MUNGO, I just finished a horror/fantasy script in the vein of SLEEPY HOLLOW for Warner Bros. and I've got a couple of other genre projects in the works.

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