Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension – Exclusive Interview with Director Gregory Plotkin
Steve Barton
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The finale of the Paranormal Activity franchise is nearly upon us, and recently we sat down with the man taxed with the herculean task of putting it all together: director Gregory Plotkin. Read on for the skinny on the end of an era!
“I had guidance from the best,” says Plotkin of his involvement with the franchise since the second film. “Collectively with Oren [Peli] and everyone, we’ve come up with a rather unique bag of tricks so I felt pretty comfortable. I know how to cut these movies. I know how to put them together. This [being chosen as director] was all born out of working on five of these films. Since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to direct, and I was given this amazing opportunity to have a voice in this franchise from PA2 on. Over the years I developed a relationship with Jason [Blum] and Oren and the studio, and I made it known that if any opportunities happened to come up, I’d love to direct something. They knew that given the time I’ve spent in the cutting room on these films, this would be a labor of love for me. I’ve eaten and breathed these movies over the last five years. This is my dream come true, and I cannot think of another film I’d be happier to make my directorial debut with.”
Left to right: Ivy George, Brit Shaw, Gregory Plotkin on the set of Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension
Plotkin continues, “Filming in 3D was definitely challenging. I did a lot of research on shooting in 3D, and what I never wanted to do was make a movie that was 3D just for being 3D’s sake. I’m hoping we’re successful here in breaking that standard 3D mold. In terms of the vision I had and how it would pertain to 3D, I think we were pretty successful in getting that on-screen. It was a bit of a learning curve for sure, but I’ve been lucky enough to have been an editor on these films and others, so working up the FX shots wasn’t entirely new to me. Luckily I also had a great team of people who were always with me, helping and offering suggestions.”
“When I came aboard PA2, we began having conversations about where we thought all this was going,” says Plotkin regarding The Ghost Dimension being the franchise’s finale. “I never really thought about the pressure of having to wrap things up. What I wanted to do with this was simply make a movie that lives up to the other films that came before it. Oren’s film is the absolute classic. I still watch it and get scared. Everything about it is perfect. Having worked with Oren and the rest of the directors on all of the sequels, the only pressure I was concerned with was delivering something to complement everything that those enormously talented guys brought to the table. I wanted to make a great scary film and answer the questions that have been lingering for so long.”
Related Story: The Paranormal Activity Series and Top Things that Haunt Us at Night
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“We want to wrap all this up in a way that the fans will hopefully find satisfying. This movie was made for them. This one is for all the people out there who love the franchise and have supported it for so long. This could not have happened without them,” remarks Plotkin of the franchise’s adoring fanbase. “We didn’t feel comfortable just utilizing the same slow-burn technique that we had been using. We needed to answer their questions and also give them a fun ride. If people are scared and if people get their answers, I’ll be very happy. We know that we’ll never be able to please everyone. So, from the get-go, we decided, ‘Let’s not make the same film again; let’s do something differently.’ We had a lot that we wanted to do in the body of 90 minutes. We decided not to take the foot off of the pedal. Let’s show the evolution of Toby [the film’s demon], show the evolution of everything that had gone unseen in the other films. My hope is that people will see this and then go back and watch the other films in the franchise and say to themselves, ‘Oh, I bet you that was what was happening… and there… and there!'”
Gregory Plotkin’s Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension will open in 3D on October 23, 2015. Olivia Taylor Dudley, Chloe Csengery, Maria Olsen, Brit Shaw, Aiden Lovekamp, Jessica Tyler Brown, Ivy George, Chris J. Murray, Nathan Brewer, and Michael Krawic star.
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Synopsis:
The Ghost Dimension follows a new family, The Fleeges – father Ryan (Chris J. Murray), mother Emily (Brit Shaw), and their young daughter, Leila (Ivy George) – who move into a house and discover a video camera and a box of tapes in the garage. When they look through the camera’s lens, they begin to see the paranormal activity happening around them – including the re-emergence of young Kristi and Katie.
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