February 09, 2005 - IGN FilmForce was on hand last night at the hip L.A. club Blue for a party to celebrate the DVD release of Saw on February 18th. After our extensive interview with James Wan and Leigh Whannell a few months back, we got a chance to ask some follow-ups about the success of the film, address the subject of the quickly announced Saw 2 and talk about their next project, Silence. Surprisingly, although this was a party for the DVD, Wan and Whannell had little to say about that, admitting they hadn't yet gotten their hands on one.

Walking into the party, two security guards immediately approached me and my girlfriend. Assuming they were going to search us for recording devices or something, I showed them my voice recorder and camera. They weren't interested, asking instead that I simply extend my right hand so that they could place a rubber shackle on it, with metal chain links hanging off. A nice touch. Inside, the party was pretty crowded. Immediately upon entering the room, there was a female dummy in black panties chained down to a table with chain linkage laid across and around her in front of a Saw poster.

In the back of the room a large projector ran footage from the film inside a room separated by large fences. Apparently the décor of the night – chains, handcuffs and the like – adorned the sides of the fences. Inside the pseudo screening room was a bathtub like the one seen in the movie. On the side wall were projected images of table saw wheels.

After a few drinks and a little mingling, Cary Elwes, Shawnee Smith, James Wan and Leigh Whannell entered the room. All four seemed in very high spirits for the party, saying their hellos and posing for slews of shots. After the photographer finished taking about 500 shots of the exact same pose, I finally got led to a side booth where I got to talk to James Wan. Leigh Whannell joined the interview a few questions in. It was a little hard to hear over the blaring music at the club, but we did our best to shout questions and responses over the racket. I reminded them both that I was the guy who told them The Grudge sucked when we last talked. They laughed and said they remembered, and Whannell even said he had gotten to check out the review. Here's how the chat went down...

	-Photo: Jeff Otto This lovely lady greeted guests at the door

IGN FILMFORCE: The last time I talked to you, you told me you were still broke and that Lions Gate was paying for everything. That must have changed a little bit by now?

JAMES WAN: We have a bit of money now. (Laughs) It's good! It's good to be finally able to afford food for a change. It's good to move on from potatoes and tin soup.

IGNFF: The buzz was just building the last time we spoke. Were you surprised by the success of the film?

WAN: Yes, definitely. I keep telling everyone, I felt fortunate to be making this film. I would be so lucky if this film had gone straight to video. I'd be like, 'Hey! I finally got a show to show people!' But for it to go on and play as big as it has, it's just beyond me.

IGNFF: Also when we last talked, you didn't sound too interested in Saw 2. Of course, now after the success, Lions Gate announced the sequel immediately after opening weekend. What's your take on all that?

WAN: Yeah, opening weekend! We kind of knew about it… We knew if the film opened well, it was gonna happen. And it did well that weekend.

	-Photo: Jeff Otto The infamous bathtub

IGNFF: They even set the release for Halloween 2005.

WAN: I know. It's like, it happened once so they want to cash in on it again. Not cash in, it's superstitious. I think they believed it was a good time. (Laughs)

[At this point, Whannell comes over and joins the interview.]

LEIGH WHANNELL: I guess it depends to what extent we're involved, like if we're just involved in a producing level or, we don't know yet if we're going to be really involved… We don't actually know yet, so at the moment, we're hard at work sort of working on our, planning our next film, see how that's going to go. You know, it's kind of like, it's hard to concentrate on anything else when you're trying to get another project happening, even the sequel to your first film.