Written Interview: Aaron Guzikowski (“Prisoners”)

Jeff Sneider (@TheInSneider) from TheWrap interviews Prisoners screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski:

TheWrap: I found the film to be gripping and haunting … where did the idea originate from?

Aaron Guzikowski: I set out to write something scary and thrilling, and what scares me most is not being able to find something you deeply love or need to survive, as well as the feeling of being lost. Then I used those fears to motivate a dramatic thriller that is occasionally a horror movie. “Silence of the Lambs” and “Se7en” are two of my touchstones as far as being amazing thrillers. It was a lofty goal I always had in terms of trying to construct something character-driven with big surprises. It started to evolve as I worked on it.

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Were you ever worried that because of the nature of the material, it would never get made?

The whole time I was writing it, I was convinced it was too dark and would never get bought, let alone get made. It still had to have a soul, but that’s what the story was. Alcon was always great about that. They didn’t try to make it something it wasn’t. Everyone embraced that it was gonna be a tightening-of-the-noose kind of movie. I was convinced, as much as I loved it, that it was so dark there was no way in hell it was going to get made as a studio movie.

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What were some of your inspirations for this movie?

“Silence of the Lambs” was a huge influence. I’m also influenced by high-end horror movies like “The Exorcist” and thrillers like “Se7en” and “The Sixth Sense.” Kidnapping is part of the story but I never looked at “Prisoners” as a kidnapping movie like “Ransom.” It’s about the parents and what they’re driven to as a result of it.

Here is a trailer for the movie which opens this weekend:

For the rest of the interview, go here.

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