Why James Wan Made A Smaller Horror Movie After Aquaman

Writer/director James Wan opens up about his decision to make a smaller horror film with Malignant after his DC Extended Universe debut, Aquaman. The film centers on a woman named Madison as she is paralyzed by shocking visions of grisly murders, only to soon discover these waking dreams are real occurrences and must race against time to find the answer to the mystery. Annabelle Wallis leads the cast for Malignant alongside Maddie Hasson, George Young, Michole Briana White, Jacqueline McKenzie, Jake Able, Mckenna Grace and Ingrid Bisu.

Wan first rose to stardom in the horror genre in the early aughts with the franchise-launching Saw, based on the short of the same name he directed and co-wrote with Leigh Whannell, who would return to scribe the feature length adaptation as well. The Australian filmmaker would continue his journey in the horror genre with 2007’s Dead Silence and the first installment in the Insidious franchise, both with frequent collaborator Whannell, before landing on the start of his hit Conjuring franchise. Wan would also dabble in the action genre with the Kevin Bacon-led Death Sentence before trying his hand with big-budget fare including Furious 7 and Aquaman.

While chatting in a Q&A for Malignant, Wan opened up about his thought process of going from the big budget Aquaman to the smaller horror movie. The filmmaker discussed that he had wanted to do something that was “in the spirit of what I used to make” and revealed that he often feels this way while working on larger-budgt productions. See what Wan had to say below:

“I always have this desire – whenever I’m making one of my big budget films like Aquaman or whatever, all I want to do is just go back to make a smaller film. A smaller, more intimate film. That was what happened when I was in the midst of making Aquaman and spending two years making that film and then a whole year doing post production on it, and all I wanted to do was just go back and do something unique, something that harkens back to the start. And it really was that. It came from the desire to want to do that. Then it became a case of finding a story that would fit that aspiration, if you will.”

Going from a more independent style of filmmaking to larger budgets is certainly on many directors’ wishlists for their career, but the sheer length of time it takes for many to get made makes it appreciably harder to enjoy the ride from start to finish for some filmmakers. Though Wan has frequently discussed his love of working on Aquaman and found his drive to come back for the in-production sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, it’s understandable that the three-year process it took to make the first film would create an itch to make the smaller projects he was used to, films that he could turn around in less than a year before moving on to the next project. While the DCEU movie certainly had plenty of heart in its characters and story, it’s also understandable that Wan felt the desire to go back to something with a lower scale to really hone in on the intimacy of developing the characters at the heart of the story.

The trailers for Malignant have certainly proven to be a promising return for Wan to the horror genre on the heels of Aquaman. Blending his signature fast-paced editing from the Saw franchise with a giallo color palette akin to Mario Bava and Dario Argento, the filmmaker looks to be pulling from a number of wonderful sources to scare the wits out of audiences yet again. The wait for Wan’s genre return is nearly over as Malignant hits theaters and HBO Max on September 10.