No conversation about the greatest horrors of the century so far is complete without mention of Spanish masterpiece The Orphanage. Directed by JA Bayona and produced by Guillermo Del Toro, the film was written by Sergio G. Sanchez, who recently stopped by my podcast Script Apart (sponsored by ScreenCraft) to take me inside his early drafts of the chilling tale.
Thinking about tackling your own Gothic horror and wondering how to pull off a story that can make you cry as well as leap in fear? Here are a few tips from Sergio that might help you. Listen to the full episode below for more…
Can You Tell a Classic Tale From Another Perspective?
“I thought it would be interesting to tell the story of Peter Pan from the point of view of the mother who’s left alone while her kids go to Nevereverland,” says Sergio, explaining one of the main inspirations behind The Orphanage.
In J. M. Barrie’s children’s tale, there’s a sadness beneath the surface that the screenwriter saw an opportunity to explore, turning one of the best-loved stories of the last century upside down to create something new.
“You see Simon reading Peter Pan at the beginning of the story, asking why Wendy grew up. And we pick that up again later. In order to find out what happened to her child, she has to play like a kid again. There’s something in Peter Pan that attracts me, about the frontier between adulthood and childhood, reality and fantasy.”
The Orphanage (2007)
Don’t Be Afraid to Mix Genres in Ways That Haven’t Been Done Before
“A lot of producers weren’t sure how a horror movie could end in a big tearful, emotional scene,” laughs Sergio, recalling how the blurred line between horror and drama that makes The Orphanage so special initially made some movie industry financiers uncomfortable.
“There’s always something in horror playing on an elemental level that makes you care for the characters. But I thought, what if we take things one step further and make this a really powerful drama that talks about things that you don’t often hear about in horror movies? Raising the emotional stakes made the horror more effective – and the other way around.”
Read More: The Art of Constructing A Horror Scene
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Al Horner is a London-based journalist, screenwriter and presenter. His work has appeared in The Guardian, Empire Magazine, GQ, BBC, Little White Lies, TIME Magazine and more.
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Author: Al Horner
