post_page_cover

Dear David Director John McPhail Knows Its Futile to Try to Please the Internet

Nov 5, 2023


John McPhail knew he wasn’t going to be able to please everyone with his new movie Dear David, which tells the story of BuzzFeed reporter Adam Ellis’ viral 2017 Twitter thread about his New York City apartment being haunted by the ghost of a mutilated little boy.
So, McPhail decided to put the internet’s infinite opinions and attachments to the Dear David lore aside, and just make the best horror movie he could.

John McPhail on Making Dear David
“Obviously, there’s a lot of pressure because there’s already a fan base, and I know I’m gonna disappoint some people because it’s not exactly what’s in their head and how they wanted that story to go,” McPhail told MovieMaker.
Dear David came out on Friday, Oct. 13 in theaters, on demand and digital, starring Augustus Prew as Ellis, Justin Long as his hilariously blunt BuzzFeed news editor, Bryce, Andrea Bang as his BuzzFeed co-worker, Evelyn, and Cameron Nicoll as David.
“You just have to Google it and sit and watch the videos of people telling you the story and their conclusions of it. There are about 50 different variations [from] while this was happening of what was going on, and you’re never going to please all of them,” he said.

So, instead of trying to predict what ending the hardcore Dear David fans would like the most, McPhail decided to focus on the smaller details.
Also Read: Amityville: An Origin Story Reveals One Man’s Terrifying Account of What Really Happened During 1976 Haunting, and It Involves The Occult
“What we can do is we can build a set that you can recognize,” he said. “I can give you all these other little things. Me and Olga [Barsky], my costume [designer], obsessed over Adam Ellis’ Instagram to get what he was wearing that year.”

Augustus Prew and Cameron Nicholl in Dear David“We’ve tried really hard to sort of, as I say, cater for them. Because, again, I know I’m going to disappoint them story-wise, because it’s not their story. But I’ve done these other things in the hope that it’s going to bring you in, and you’re going to get those winks and nods, you’re going to recognize Adam Ellis’ [cameo] in the film and go, ‘Gasp!’ And that’s for you. These things out there are for those people. So as I say, the pressure is there. But what can you do apart from try your best?” he said.
McPhail and screenwriter Mike Van Waes definitely took some artistic license with the events of Ellis’ Twitter threads, adding in more supernatural and science fiction elements to spice things up. You can read all of Ellis’ Twitter original threads about Dear David, including videos of the rocking chair that rocks by itself and of his cats gathering at the door at midnight, in one place here.
“We’ve taken a lot of license for it to make it a little bit more cinematic and a little bit bigger for us to work in. But there was, as I say, a lot of aspects of those apartments, furniture and things like that, that I wanted to get right. And Adam gave give us loads and loads and loads of photographs,” McPhail said.

Internet citizens aside, one entity that McPhail does want to please is the ghost of Dear David himself.
“I don’t want to get haunted by him,” McPhail laughs.
Main Image: Augustus Prew as Adam Ellis in Dear David

Disclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by filmibee.
Publisher: Source link

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Nick Cannon On Insecurities In Mariah Carey Marriage

Nick Cannon On Insecurities In Mariah Carey Marriage For a reminder, Nick and Mariah secretly tied the knot in 2008 after starring together in the music video for her song, “Bye Bye.” Three years later, the couple became parents to…

Oct 30, 2024

Cynthia Erivo Speaks Out After Her Criticism of Wicked Poster

Cynthia Erivo is green with passion for Wicked. That is why the Tony Award winner—who portrays Elphaba in the film alongside Ariana Grande’s Glinda the Good Witch—didn’t hold back when she recently criticized an edit of the movie poster that…

Oct 30, 2024

A Picture Of People Praying Over Donald Trump Is Going Viral

Tonight we prayed over President Trump. We prayed for his safety, his strength, a unified country, and God's will to be done. May God continue to bless Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/YlECaL31Gf— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) October 24, 2024 Disclaimer: This story is…

Oct 29, 2024

Charlie McDowell Shares Insight Into Family Plans With Lily Collins

‘Emily in Paris’ Lily Collins Reveals Who She Thinks Her Character’s One True Love Is Lily Collins and Charlie McDowell’s plans for the future are très exciting. And as The Summer Book writer and director revealed, he and the Emily in Paris star can see themselves expanding their…

Oct 29, 2024