Five Nights at Freddy’s is a hallmark in video game horror, following a security guard who must escape the demonic animatronics ready to murder him. After spawning numerous sequel games and spin-offs, the franchise has finally birthed its first live-action film. Blumhouse was a natural fit for such a project, and Emma Tammi (The Wind) was brought on to direct from a screenplay she co-wrote with Seth Cuddeback (Mateo) and game creator Scott Cawthorn.
Though Five Nights At Freddy’s amplifies the role of human characters, lending more focus to security guard Mike and his little sister Abby, the most important aspect for the team to get right was the visual aesthetic of the animatronics. With Cawthorn intimately involved from the start, the production had ever tool at their disposal to bring Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, Cupcake, and Foxy to life for the fans. There are also many more animatronics waiting in the wings of other games, and the projected box office of the movie suggests sequels will have the chance to tackle them.
Screen Rant had the opportunity to visit Universal Studios Hollywood and attend an event celebrating Five Nights at Freddy’s, where we sat down with director Emma Tammi and project supervisor Robert Bennett. The duo explained how working on the movie converted them into fans of the FNAF franchise, then shared the precepts they kept in mind for crafting the creepiest possible renditions of the animatronics — making sure to stay faithful to Scott Cawthorn’s vision throughout. Check out a snippet of our Blumhouse adventure and read the interview below:
Emma Tammi & Robert Bennett Talk Five Nights At Freddy’s
Screen Rant: How much were each of you fans of this IP before you were on board, and how much research did you have to do to really get involved?
Emma Tammi: I think both Bobby and I actually became fans of the game and the franchise through this project. I was getting educated after Blumhouse initially told me about the project.
Robert Bennett: I had heard of the game before we got the project. And then once we got the project, as we do in all of our jobs, we try to immerse ourselves. It was very easy for me. I mean, this is my nostalgia restaurant animatronics, and I kind of become a big fan. If you go into my office, I have the toys everywhere. I love it.
I know that you really wanted to stay true to the animatronics of the game, so what was the hardest and most challenging part about that, really recreating what you saw?
Robert Bennett: I think taking a digital character and bringing it into the real world; making sure that the textures were correct, and the colors, was the biggest challenge.
Emma, what’s it like having to seamlessly insert the animatronics into the story with the real people and blend those two together?
Emma Tammi: I think really just being aware of the tone that we were trying to strike throughout the movie, so that at no point did it feel like our actors didn’t belong in a movie with animatronics or animatronics didn’t belong in a movie with our actors. That was just an ongoing process to make sure that all the departments, the cast, the puppeteers, and the designers were all working towards the same shared tonal vision.
Speaking of tone, you’ve worked on things like Fraggle Rock, which is quite different than Five Nights at Freddy’s. What is the chord that you have to strike to make these creatures that could easily be cuddly or just kooky really, truly creepy?
Robert Bennett: I think Dark Crystal is a great example of a world-building project and these very delicate but yet somewhat menacing characters. For me, it’s the textures. It’s layering the color and the dirt and trying to convey realness. When someone sees it, you want them to instantly know what that thing is, that it looks like it’s existed in this world forever.
Emma Tammi: Yeah, and then how they moved and expressed emotion. That felt like we needed to figure out what the FNAF version of that was because it is different than a Muppet or a Fraggle, or even a Dark Crystal creature. It really has its own feeling. That was something that, through the rehearsal process and the design period, we really nailed down.
We’re getting to know these guys in this movie. Hopefully, there will be more movies with more animatronics from future games. Do you have one each that you’re most excited to get your hands on?
Emma Tammi: [Laughs] I do have one, but I’m not going to mention it right now.
Robert Bennett: I absolutely have my top one, but I don’t want to say.
It’s a secret. Finally, you both worked very closely with Scott on this project. What has been your favorite bit of feedback from him over the course of the filming and production?
Emma Tammi: I mean, all of his feedback was really imperative, and – certainly while building the animatronics – it was critical for our process.
But I would actually say my favorite moment was when Scott said he was just enjoying sitting back and watching the dailies. That felt like he trusted the team, he was feeling good about what we were making, and he was getting to enjoy it. So that was awesome.
Robert Bennett: Yeah, he came to the workshop on set before we started filming, and that was the first time he’d seen them in person. Just watching him see these things for the first time, to me, was worth the whole building. I think he really was excited to see his creations in real life.
About Five Nights At Freddy’s
Mike Schmidt, a troubled security guard, accepts a night-time job at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a once-successful but now abandoned family entertainment center, where he discovers its four animatronic mascots – Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy – move and kill anyone that is still there after midnight.
Check out our other FNAF interviews here:
- Emma Tammi
- Emma Tammi @ NYCC
- Jason Blum @ NYCC
