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David Goyer Talks The Unborn - Dark Knight Scribe to Direct Again
by Kevin Powers
July 23, 2008
Source: MTV
David Goyer is certainly sitting pretty right about now. Having served as one-third of the writing team for the immensely successful The Dark Knight, the scribe is already talking about future projects, namely his next directorial effort The Unborn, which is scheduled for 2009. Goyer spoke at length to MTV about the "old-school horror movie" based on an apparition the likes of the dybbuk (from Jewish folklore). The story has themes reminiscent of Goyer's second directing effort, 2007's The Invisible, in that Unborn also surrounds a wandering spirit; but this time it's one that's far more malevolent, and which tries to inhabit a body in order to be reborn. Goyer also revealed that beyond proper creepiness and scares, he intends to explain very little of the spirit, similarly to how the Joker was presented in Dark Knight.
"It's one of the things that I think help makes things scary," Goyer said of being coy with the ghost's origins. "We actually don't know where it really came from. The first thing it inhabits is a young child but it kind of hops bodies throughout the movie. If we're fortunate enough to do a sequel I would delve back even further because we don't say were it really originated from." I'm be on board with the concept, though I do sit skeptical considering the talk of a sequel already, and material for which we have to wait. Let's hope he doesn't hold that much back.
Goyer went on to say, "I never go into full-on Salvador Dalí land, but there's something about how this young girl's perceptions get subtly altered, and sometimes she's not sure whether what she's seeing is really happening or not. I don't always spell it out - things occur in the waking world that would seem to defy the normal conventions of reality, including some of the images that she has in her dreams that show up in reality on earth. I find the idea of identity - of something else taking over your body - very scary."
For the plot, Goyer explains that "an ancient and terrifying legend is made real for a world-weary woman, Casey, who must find a way to repel a spirit before it takes over her body, forcing her to wander the netherworld in its place." Casey will be played by Odette Yustman, who most might know from Cloverfield. Joining her is Dark Knight alumn Gary Oldman, who plays an advising Rabbi, along with Carla Gugino. Much of this sounds like 1998's Fallen, which is very cool film. But I can understand how Goyer also cites The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose as like-minded films.
Certainly not a bad prospect, and an encouraging one at that coming from Goyer. I wasn't a huge fan of Invisible, but Goyer actually didn't write the script for that film. His writing credits include Jumper, the Blade series, and, interesting of all, the screenplay for Dark City. If anyone can write a compelling supernatural thriller, it's Goyer. I'm on board. What about you?
7 Comments
1
Bring on the forgettable mediocrity. The project sounds good, but Goyer as a director? Not every writer should direct. He proves this.
roman on Jul 23, 2008
2
no kidding. goyer should stick to writing. blade 3 was putrid.
Tom on Jul 23, 2008
4
David Goyer is all right when he is in partnership with others who know exactly what they're doing! He's not a very good screen writer on his own at all. Look at the example's Kevin gave us here...Jumper and the Blade series. Overall, Blade was a very mediocre film series. The third one which he actually helmed from the director's chair was garbage - absolutely the worst one. I didn't even see The Invisible. Why would anyone actually be LOOKING FORWARD to Goyer's next project...at all? Waste of time. That's my two cents.
Conrad on Jul 23, 2008
5
the invisisble was a good movie. After seeing the invisible i realised that david goyer has definitley improved from blade trinity. So i will check this out.
Darrin on Jul 23, 2008
6
Dark City was even better. One of the very few films well-deserving of its cult classic status.
Devon Shaw on Jul 23, 2008
7
I place Goyer along side Kevin Smith in the Better Writer Than Director stack. Both are overrated to the extreme. Goyer single-handedly killed the Blade franchise with poor direction and crappy scriptwriting. As someone mentioned above, as long as Goyer is surrounded by people who know what they are doing, he won't cause that much damage. Hopefully.
William Mize on Jul 24, 2008
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