The Black Phone, which arrives in theaters on June 24, heralds director Scott Derrickson’s return to his horror roots and is being considered by some his best film yet. After departing from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, he partnering with Blumhouse Productions – known for creative and high-concept thrillers such as Get Out and Happy Death Day – and reunited with his Sinister writing partner C. Robert Cargill. Together, they crafted a chilling adaptation of the 2004 short story by Joe Hill.
A terrifying serial killer known as The Grabber, played by Ethan Hawke in a rare and recent villainous turn, is at the center of this dark tale. He habitually preys on children, but his latest abduction victim Finney Shaw (Mason Thames) has been receiving phone calls from previous victims while trapped in The Grabber’s basement. With help from supernatural forces and his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) helping from the outside, Finney just may be the one to survive.
Screen Rant spoke to Derrickson about how Ethan Hawke was convinced to join the film, the depth of his friendship with Blumhouse Productions CEO Jason Blum, and his personal affection for The Black Phone.
Screen Rant: Scott, the main event! The Queen’s here.
Scott Derrickson: Thank you, really. You’re like my favorite reporter. It’s so good to see you again.
That’s going in the reel. So good to see you. I love this movie. You have an actual black phone in your basement?
Scott Derrickson: I do, I do. When I finished the movie, I bought a new house. My old house burned down in 2018; I’ve been living in apartments, so I bought a new house.
My first night in the house, there was a phone that rang in the basement. I terrifyingly walked downstairs, and I opened the basement with a flashlight, and the black phone had been installed in the basement. Jason Blum managed to get somebody into my home and installed a black phone in the basement. When I answered, it was him. And he also had a program so that if I ever pick it up, it just direct dials his cell phone number.
That was really wonderful. And it’s still there. I’ll never get rid of it.
I interviewed Jason Blum yesterday, and we actually tried to call your black phone. But you’re not home.
Scott Derrickson: God, no. I’m in New York. But if I had heard a ring, I would have answered it. I always pick it up if it rings. It’s rung a couple of times, but every time it’s rung, there’s never been anyone there. Which is creepy.
I hate that. That is the most Jason Blum thing I’ve ever heard. If he calls you what, what does that mean? If he actually calls the black phone, what happens?
Scott Derrickson: It’s just kind of a fun way for us to get a hold of each other quickly. It’s like the Bat phone. We text a lot; we leave messages, but the black phone is the Bat phone. It one of us really has to get a hold of the other, then we know you’ve got to pick up the black phone.
I love seeing you and Ethan Hawke reunite. I just talked to him, and he was very much like, “When I got the script, I was like, ‘I’ll just read it, but I’m definitely not doing this movie.'” How do you feel like you were able to convince Ethan Hawke to take this role? Because he is just amazing in it.
Scott Derrickson: It was just the script. Because he told me when I gave it to him. He said, “Look, I don’t really play villains. It’s unlikely that I’ll do this.” I sent it to him and went to bed, and then in the morning, he had left me a voicemail in the voice of The Grabber, reading one of the lines from the script. And when I heard that, I knew that was his way of telling me he was going to do it.
I just think that he read it and realized that there was a challenge in it that he wanted to take on. And I think the challenge was specifically to play a role that is performed behind the mask, because I think the brilliance of what he does is that he lets the mask do the work of the mask. He lets the mask be scary, and he lets it be menacing; he lets it be sadistic. It’s all those things, and somehow he’s able to bring all these interesting nuances from behind that mask in the iterations of his voice. With these performer-magician gestures that he does, he just somehow had an ability to create a very complex character without a backstory and without a lot of information.
That’s what great actors do; they create at that level. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever seen him do.
That’s why he’s one of the greats. Do you still have the voicemail of him doing The Grabber?
Scott Derrickson: I do have the voicemail. I don’t have it with me, but I’ve kept it. I’ll always hold on to that.
Amazing. I keep hearing that you’re returning to your horror roots. We don’t have time to dig into everything, but what does this new chapter for you look like? Do you feel like this is a start of this kind of partnership with Blumhouse? What do you see yourself doing next?
Scott Derrickson: I mean, it was a return to Blumhouse. This was kind of getting the band back together.
I do have a TV deal with Blumhouse, and I want to continue to develop more material both in film and television for the genre. But Jason is the person I’m closest to in the business. We have a really close personal relationship. He knows things about me that no one else in the business knows. We sort of share all of our dirty little secrets with each other. But I think that he’s very protective of me creatively, so I’m always gonna want to be able to come back and work with somebody who just lets me do what I do. And he does that in a way no other producer ever has.
But in terms of what I do in the future, I really don’t know. I don’t try to plan out too much too far in advance. I don’t plan my career strategically. The decision that I made years ago, around 2008 or 2009, was that I would make each film as though it would be the last film I would ever make. I don’t think strategically, like, “I’ll do this commercial thing, and then I’ll do this more independent thing.” Each film, I think, “If I only get to make one more movie, is it this movie?” I’ll make it like it’s the last film I’ll ever make. Because one day it will be.
And so far, that strategy has worked out pretty well for me.
I think this is just a top tier movie. I’m so happy for you.
Scott Derrickson: I really appreciate it. It’s my favorite of the films I’ve made, I think. It’s certainly the only film I’ve ever made that I haven’t gotten sick of watching at this point.
I did see a ranking yesterday that puts this as your number one.
Scott Derrickson: I’ll take it.
The Black Phone Synopsis
Finney Shaw is a shy but clever 13-year-old boy who’s being held in a soundproof basement by a sadistic, masked killer. When a disconnected phone on the wall starts to ring, he soon discovers that he can hear the voices of the murderer’s previous victims — and they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.
Check out our other interviews with The Black Phone stars Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames & Madeleine McGraw, as well as producer Jason Blum.
More: Do Black Phone & Sinister Exist In The Same Universe?
Key Release Dates
The Black Phone
Release Date:2022-06-24
