Exclusive: Oren Peli Talks Paranormal Activity 3 and the Franchise’s Past, Present, and Future
Steve Barton
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Tweet to See it First
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A couple of years ago a little movie burst upon the scene that changed every one of Hollywood’s rules. There were folks who knew it would be successful, but no one could have guessed that it would become a horror juggernaut and a sterling example that a filmmaker with heart and imagination can trump bloated special effects and enormous budgets. Today we sat down with the man behind the Paranormal Activity madness, Oren Peli, who talks the franchise now and beyond.
“We are very proud of it”, says Peli in regard to Paranormal Activity 3, which opens worldwide on October 21st (be sure to Tweet to See It First!). “We think it is extremely scary. If you liked the first two movies, we’re pretty sure you’re going to like the third one. We’re expanding upon the style of filmmaking that kept the first two successful, and we’re going even further back in time to explore the origins of the hauntings that have been plaguing Katie and Kristi. The story takes place in the late Eighties when our characters were just little kids so we get to see just how all of the crazy stuff started.”
“It’s very tricky to keep things feeling fresh,” Peli continues. “It takes a lot of people sitting in a conference room for many, many hours, for many days over a period of months to try and come up with new ideas. It’s a hard balance to come to because you don’t want to break the established formula and polarize the fans, but you also want to provide them with something fresh to see. We have to come up with different plot devices and different scares. While not getting into specifics, the new type of camera technique we use in this latest movie is something that people have responded to in an incredibly positive way. It’s very organic if used effectively to build up the scares.”
“As we were doing the second movie, we thought to ourselves, ‘If in fact there will be one after this, let’s plant something here that we can further use in the next film to expand on the overall mythology’,” explains Peli of the film’s now rich universe. “We sprinkled just a couple of things into the second movie that we fully explore in the third. You want to give the audience more information on the mythology. That’s what they’re there for. But we don’t want to give it all away. With Paranormal Activity 3 (review here) our goal was to answer some old questions while asking some new ones.”
One thing fans will notice about this latest flick is the absence of longtime star Micah Sloat. “With this latest installment we’re focusing more on the girls and their childhood. We wanted to put Micah into the movie but didn’t want it to feel forced and obligatory. We have too much respect for him and the fanbase to just shoehorn in an appearance.”
“We’re all big fans of Ariel and Henry,” says Peli of PA3‘s directing duo. “We loved Catfish as it was done in a very authentic way. The movie felt incredibly real, and even though it wasn’t a horror movie, they did a great job of building the tension. They brought the exact kind of moviemaking sensibilities that we were looking for with our third film. After we finally met them, we definitely got a sense that they totally got what we are doing with these films. They get the genre and know what to do to bring an air of realism to the movie. They’ve done a phenomenal job, and we couldn’t be happier with the way things have turned out.”
“In terms of a fourth film, I have no idea”, Peli says with a laugh. “I never thought there would be a Paranormal Activity 2, much less a Part 3. I was just happy to see the first film get released! Right now we’re not thinking past the release of Paranormal Activity 3. However, if this movie becomes successful, there will probably be a call for a fourth film, and we’ll do one ‘IF’ we can come up with an idea that makes sense. We’ll never just do a movie just to do a movie. Again, we have too much respect for the fanbase.”
Paramount Pictures will debut Paranormal Activity 3 exclusively in cities where the most fans “Tweet To See It First”. This first ever of its kind campaign is open to fans worldwide. Paranormal Activity 3 will premiere on October 18th in the top 20 cities with the most tweets, three days before the film’s global release.
To vote, fans can go to ParanormalMovie.com and select their city from a global map, which will also serve as the point of entry to create a tweet with a special set of hash tags that link directly to Twitter. Once a tweet posts, it counts as a vote. A leader board will show the top 20 global markets in real-time.
The top 20 cities will be announced on Friday, October 14th. Follow Paranormal Activity 3 on Twitter for audience reactions and important announcements.
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