DIRECTOR JUSTIN Simien has a history steeped in Disney, he tells SFX. The films he grew up with - Beauty And The Beast, Oliver And Company and The Little Mermaid - were, he says, "a big deal in me figuring out I even wanted to be a filmmaker".
Visiting Disney World "all the time" as a kid - before later working at the theme park (a ride operator at Grizzly River Run in Disneyland, fact fans) while studying at film school - it was Haunted Mansion that was his favourite attraction. Specifically, he was intrigued by the trickery of it all: "When the hitchhiking ghosts are on your arm at the end of the ride, that used to really fuck me up as a kid."
Fortunately, it didn't put him off when reading the script for a new live action movie. "I felt that there was a cultural specificity that I could bring to it that I just always felt was missing from the attraction at Disneyland," he recalls. "You really don't get a sense of the place, but New Orleans in the 1800s is a very specific place. A lot of my ancestors come from that time period; I just had this oddly personal connection to this big blockbuster-y movie.
"The story at its core, it's about moving through this rephase of life. It's about leaning into something dark and finding something on the other side. I was like, 'Wow, I can say all of that in a movie that's fun and entertaining? That's kind of wild.'"
As if he already wasn't one of us, Simien also grew up fanboying for Marvel, Nintendo and Star Wars - so he gets the hardcore fanbase that Haunted Mansion has. It was them - and a ride "Bible" he was given by Disney - that became what he calls a "constant source".
"I feel like it doesn't take a lot," he begins to explain. "It just takes attention to detail, and leaning in to what their conversations are to make the fans happy. I just truly felt like that had to be one of my primary goals.
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ANCER MAHAGEMENT
WITH A NEW TRILOGY IN SIGHT, WE SPEAK TO THE DIRECTOR OF 28 WEEKS LATER THE ORIGINAL CHILLING SEQUEL TO DANNY BOYLE'S SEMINAL SURVIVAL HORROR
WHO YA CONNA CALL?
BEHIND THE SCENES AT HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS FOR GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
THE DEVIL'S HOUR STRIKES TWICE AS THE GENREDEFYING DRAMA RETURNS
SCARRY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK
FROM THE RETURN OF EC COMICS TO SCREAM!, THIS YEAR'S HALLOWEEN OFFERS UP HORROR COMICS FOR ALL THE AGES
UNDEADS REFLECTIONS
NEIL JORDAN ON BRINGING ANNE RICE'S MODERN VAMPIRE CLASSIC TO SCREEN, 30 YEARS ON
MUNSTER MASH!
PRODUCTION HELL, SHOCK RECASTING AND HOTLY CONTESTED AUTHORSHIP. AS THE MUNSTERS CELEBRATE THEIR 60TH ANNIVERSARY, WE UNCOVER HOW THE SPOOKY SITCOM WAS ALMOST DEAD ON ARRIVAL
COMING TO AMERICA
THE MOGWAI LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THEIR SECOND CHAPTER, GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH
BEING HUMAN EVOLUTION
IT MAY HAVE BEEN AN INSTANT HIT, BUT BBC THREE'S DARKLY COMIC DRAMA ABOUT A HOUSE-SHARING VAMPIRE/WEREWOLF/GHOST TRIO HAD A STRANGE JOURNEY TO THE SCREEN, SERIES CREATOR TOBY WHITHOUSE TELLS SFX
THE MAINE EVENT
THE DARK IS RISING IN SALEM'S LOT AS STEPHEN KING'S DEATHLESS TALE RETURNS TO THE SCREEN
WHY DON'T YOU STAY FOR A BITE?
THE VAMPIRE COMES HOME AS DIRECTOR EUROS LYN WELCOMES SFX TO HIS NEW DARK COMEDY THE RADLEYS
