The news that Chris Rock was to executive produce and star in a brand-new instalment in the Saw franchise was a surprise to everyone. However, according to Saw co-creator Leigh Whannell, who wrote the screenplay for the first three movies, Rock had expressed his interest in working on a Saw title with him at a party back in 2015 but he thought he was “bullshitting.”
“It would have been early 2015 and he said to me ‘I’m a big fan of Saw and I’ve always wanted to write a Saw film,'” Whannell recounted to Cinema Blend. “And I thought he was just doing one of those things you do at parties when you say ‘Hey, big fan of your podcast, I’d love to be a guest’ and then you never follow-up with them. I thought he was just bullshitting me. Turns out, Chris Rock wasn’t joking. So the first thing I thought of when I heard that Chris was doing this film, I thought of that moment at that party and I thought how if I had known how serious he was I probably would have said to him ‘Well we should spend some time together hanging out and I’ll help you write that film,’ because I want to hang out with Chris Rock.”
By this point in Whannell’s career, he had already moved on from Saw and when asked if he would have returned to the franchise with Chris Rock on-board, the director revealed it wouldn’t have been enough to lure him back and wouldn’t have contributed in any major capacity in the development of Spiral: From the Book of Saw.
“I do feel like it’s best to move on. James Wan, who directed the original Saw film obviously, and myself, we’ve really stepped away from the Saw films,” he added. “It’s a strange feeling of divorce because this is something we created. We brought it over from Australia to the US and inadvertently kick-started this franchise and now we don’t have anything to do with it.”
SEE ALSO: Saw reboot Spiral gets its first teaser trailer and poster
A sadistic mastermind unleashes a twisted form of justice in SPIRAL, the terrifying new chapter from the book of SAW. Working in the shadow of an esteemed police veteran (Samuel L. Jackson), brash Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks (Chris Rock) and his rookie partner (Max Minghella) take charge of a grisly investigation into murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city’s gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of the killer’s morbid game.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw stars Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, and Marisol Nichols, with Darren Lynn Bousman returning to the world of Jigsaw for the 9th instalment having previously directed Saw II, Saw III, and Saw IV. It is set for release on May 15th 2020.
Originally published February 25, 2020. Updated February 24, 2020.
