From ‘Saw’ to ‘Insidious’ to ‘The Conjuring’, James Wan has directed, created and produced some of the biggest horror franchises of the last 20 years. Even when he’s prepping for an out-of-genre movie (Wan’s “aquaman and the lost kingdom‘ drops next year), and he never strays far from his horror conversations.M3GAN,‘ lit up the internet when it was released earlier this month. So it’s no surprise that Wan is taking his season of Halloween seriously. First, there’s Universal Studios Hollywood’s annual pilgrimage to Halloween Horror His Nights.
“I can take time off from work and indulge my thirst for horror,” he said in a recent video interview. I experience it in a more tactile way, I like to be scared, but it’s fun in the end, knowing that the guy chasing you with the ax doesn’t actually wield the ax. there will be.”
And, of course, there are movies. In his October, Wan takes turns watching his favorite horror movies like “The Chopping Mall” and “Night of the Creeps.” It also exudes director Peter Jackson’s unique sense of humor, he says.
“Sadly, most people today know him from the Lord of the Rings movies, but for hardcore fans, Dead Alive, Bad Taste, Meet I grew up in ‘The Feebles,'” he says. “In his gory horror-comedy, his horror-set piece is too awesome—blood splatters everywhere—it’s just hilarious. are scattered throughout.”
Here, Wan talks about the places, movies, and foods he enjoys all year round. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
1. “The Last of Us Part II” During the pandemic, IThe Last of Us Part II,” and so on, five times. It really feels like you are watching a movie. These games are so deep that you spend hours, days, weeks with the characters and stories, emotionally catching up with them. That’s why it worked so well. It was exciting, scary, but ultimately emotionally driven.
2. “Mars Attacks” trading card I grew up collecting toys, comics, and trading cards. During the pandemic, I went back to collectibles. I went to eBay and tried to collect all the Mars Attacks cards. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to find the original, so I had to buy several reprints. I used to collect a lot of sports cards in high school, so now it’s fun to collect non-sports cards like “Mars Attacks”.
3. Home theater When I was renovating the house I live in now, one of the things I really wanted was a really good home theater. It has nice recliners, a big screen, a high-end projector, a good sound system and the rooms are completely soundproofed. The first full movie I saw there was “Tenant”. It’s the pride and joy of my home.
4. 1978 Rolex Pepsi Another thing I love to collect is vintage watches. It doesn’t have to be big and flashy. I enjoy the idea of putting artistry and engineering into something so small. The older the watch, the cooler it is for me. One of my favorites of his is a red and blue 1978 Rolex GMT-Master 1675 “Pepsi.” I thought it would be fun to get a watch that was basically as old as me.
5. Underworld Haunted House One of my favorite haunted places I’ve been to is called Netherworld near Atlanta. A group of us went when we were filming “Furious 7” around Halloween. It’s really cool to see them pull off so many gags with cool animatronics, good lighting, fog, and other old-fashioned movie tricks.
6. Mother Laksa I grew up on a spicy Malaysian noodle dish called laksa. It’s not an easy dish to get in America and usually when they make it it’s quite different from the one I grew up with. , seems to be made with curry paste in other countries. And it just has a different flavor. It takes a lot of effort and patience to make, and you don’t have a lot of time to do it. So I just have to wait until her mother comes to visit me from Australia. She brings all the ingredients and cooks for me.
7. My courtyard If you look at Rob Zombie and then look at his crib, oh, it makes sense. When people come to my place, they find it very different from the kind of movies I make. You need a quiet, bright, peaceful space. i love the courtyard It’s a peaceful place to go outside in the middle of the night, come and go, and just think.
8. “Cuphead Show!” Late at night, I watched it with my wife until just before I went to bed.”Cuphead Show!” on Netflix. This is a comic based on his Cuphead from the video game. It’s about a pair of cups that are siblings. I love the old school cartoon aesthetic. It’s a great palate cleanser.
9. Antique music box I have a handful of antique music boxes. I love how smart engineering like this can be packed into a tiny little box. I have one on my coffee table about the size of a child’s coffin. I also have an old gramophone that I like to play from time to time. It freaks my wife out because it sounds like it came straight out of one of his in my horror movies.
10. Uffizi Gallery From Renaissance artists to Italian horror film directors such as Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, I am a big fan of Italian art and culture. When I went to Florence a few years ago, I said I had to visit the Uffizi Gallery. This place is filled with amazing works of art by artists such as Rembrandt and Caravaggio. It was amazing. Seeing the work of the artists I grew up with has been one of my favorite experiences of my life.