The Invisible Man continues to grab the attention of audiences as the movie rolls out onto an early digital home video release. Although it still receives praise for its intense sense of paranoia and compelling portrayal of domestic abuse, the thriller’s sharp twists and turns may have left people with a healthy dose of questions and commentary. Luckily for fans, director Leigh Whannell has taken to Twitter in order to answer any burning inquiries about his film.
Whannell has had a long and fruitful career within horror cinema, writing and starring in the first Saw movie before moving on to pen the next two entries in the franchise. He has also been working with Blumhouse since he wrote and acted in one of the studio’s first movies, Insidious. Whannell’s directorial debut was for Insidious: Chapter 3, but the filmmaker’s unique style truly caught the attention of critics in Upgrade, which mixed violent action with body horror to visceral effect.
The online event spearheaded by Leigh Whannell coincided with the digital release of The Invisible Man on March 20th. The film was live-streamed while Whannell replied to Twitter users in the form of a Q&A. The following is a roundup of the most significant questions addressed by the director.
Why Did Adrian Frame Cecilia For the Murder of Her Sister?
The scene in which an invisible Adrian kills Cecilia’s sister in front of her in a restaurant is one of the film’s most shocking, brutal, and heartwrenching. However, if Adrian’s end goal was to get back together with Cecilia, then framing his former lover for a crime as heinous as this assures that she’ll be in jail for a long time away from his clutches. However, Whannell pointed out that Adrian planned on switching the story to eventually frame his brother from the very beginning.
The ending of The Invisible Man reveals that Adrian’s brother, Tom, was an accomplice in Adrian’s crimes and that Adrian locked himself up in his house to make himself seem like a victim of Tom’s actions. Adrian’s master plan was to lock himself in a relationship with Cecilia through her pregnancy, not to kill her or keep her trapped in jail. Manipulating events to make sure that the blame was lifted off Cecilia was Adrian’s twisted way of showing that he could protect her. In reality, it’s just one of the many ways in which he maintained control over her.
Why Did the Suit Look the Way it Did?
One of the most striking parts of The Invisible Man is the suit design, a complex piece of technology that approaches science-fiction levels of innovation. The film never fully explains how the invisibility device worked, but Whannell shared details on what ideas went into the making of the suit. He stated that he wanted it to be “camera-based,” a concept that is briefly mentioned in the film, and that he imagined the “each lens projects a hologram.” The science is still loose, but the lack of details was most likely avoiding overexplanatory jargon on purpose.
Whannell did mention that the subtle noises the suit makes, such as the whirring and chirping, are supposed to be the cameras moving and adjusting. The sound designer apparently created this sound using a collage of moving camera lenses, meaning that the effect is grounded in real life. It is not, in fact, supposed to mirror the similar clicks the Predator alien makes, despite the monsters in both films having invisibility suits. However, Whannell was unaware that trypophobia would lead to some people claiming that the suit’s most unsettling quality was its strange geometric pattern. He just wanted to emphasize the cameras covering the entire body.
What Was the Significance of the Dog?
Dogs don’t have a solid track record of surviving in horror movies, but Adrian’s and Cecilia’s dog Zeus makes it out alive. However, the pooch doesn’t serve a huge purpose within the plot, besides as a barking alarm to racket the tension up in the scenes at the house. This is because Zeus apparently plays more of a symbolic role, according to Whannell. For instance, the dog’s perimeter collar is supposed to represent Cecilia and her captivity, while the name Zeus is intended to reflect Adrian’s “god complex.”
What Was Adrian Doing in the House When He Wasn’t Torturing Cecilia?
Audiences may have been wondering what Adrian was doing in James’ house when Cecilia was living there. The film shows how he was tormenting her, but there are moments of quiet, as well. So what was the invisible menace up to? Whannell confirmed that he was busy setting up and living in his hiding space in the attic in order to spy on Cecilia. It’s perhaps a bit of a silly image to think of Adrian cooped up in the ceiling waiting to make the perfect strike at Cecilia, but it does reveal how patient and conniving the man is.
Why Didn’t Cecilia Take Adrian’s Phone When She Discovered His Attic Hideout?
This is a detail that may have bothered those who broke down the script for plot holes and missteps. Cecilia possessed a vital piece of evidence to prove her innocence as well as the existence of Adrian, but she discards this discovery in her escape from the house. However, Whannell blamed this mistake on Cecilia’s panic and fright. To be fair, the film does make it seem as if she is ready to gather Adrian’s materials before he scares her and makes her drop everything to flee. It’s a simple excuse, but it does make sense.
Did Cecilia Keep the Baby?
One of the most twisted parts of Adrian’s plan is his intention to get Cecilia pregnant so that he could have an excuse to trap himself in a relationship with her. It’s a horribly abusive idea that Adrian was planning long before he started tormenting Cecilia while invisible, and which he manages to almost see to completion before Cecilia kills him in the end. However, audiences may be wondering if Cecilia chose to keep her child, considering the dark backstory of her impregnation.
This is something Whannell chose to keep secret, probably because it doesn’t matter in the overall message of the story. Cecilia did manage to find liberation when she outsmarted her manipulator, and whatever happens to her from that point on is her choice. However, Whannell also said that if she does keep the baby, she would raise it with “every bit of love she has,” implying that her abuse and the act of violence she committed did not ultimately destroy her humanity.
Does James Consider Convicting Cecilia of Murder at the End?
Viewers may question the choice and motive for James, Cecilia’s friend and confidante, to turn a blind eye away from the murder Cecilia carried out at the film’s conclusion. Whannell does make note that since James hesitates at the end while Cecilia talks to him about Adrian’s staged suicide, he considers arresting her for her legitimate crime. However, he probably believes her story enough as a friend to keep her secret safe, especially since there’s a strong possibility Adrian didn’t tell the truth, either. Navigating the web of lies found within The Invisible Man means trying to understand the survivor’s experiences.
