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GORE VERBINSKI:
“It was very important for me to try not to take away from what worked well in the original movie. I think there was a wonderful illusive minimalism to the original film that I felt was very important to keep.”
NAOMI WATTS (Rachel):
“It was the character of Rachel that drew me to the project. It’s a genre film, and you get all those moments that you get in a genre film, but in this you get a little bit more. I think it’s more psychological, and the character has her own personal journey to go through, and I particularly liked it for that reason. Rachel starts out as a flawed person who’s not the greatest mother. She’s a little bit driven and focused on what she thinks is the right thing to do, which is work. It’s only after all the drama and the chaos that happens that she realizes that it’s not just about that, it’s about spending time and recognizing what her child needs before he states it.”
MARTIN HENDERSON (Noah) on how he got the role:
“I had returned to New Zealand after September 11th to be with my family and friends and to reassess what I wanted to do with my life, and then I decided to come back to LA When I got off the plane, it was the first script I read and it intrigued me. It was somehow different than your conventional Horror films. I was elated when I got it.”
GORE VERBINSKI:
“It was important for me that the images on the tape had to be disturbing and had to provide a series of clues. I just started with images that I found horrific and then we built the tape long, and kept reducing it and trying to avoid the temptation to make it narrative. It’s amazing how images, when they fall together start to tell a story, even when you’re trying not to.”
NAOMI WATTS:
“I read the script and then I managed to get a hold of a copy of the Japanese version of the movie, which was particularly difficult to find as I was shooting a film in Wales, and the video store people looked at me blankly. I watched it in my hotel room alone on a very small TV screen, and I remember being pretty freaked out.”
MARTIN HENDERSON:
“I saw Ringu after I got the role. I didn’t want to see it at first, because I didn’t want it to taint how I was going to play the part. I watched it with a few of my buddies on a Sunday afternoon. We were all sitting around the house and we drew the curtains and watched it. It was on a little television with subtitles and we weren’t paying much attention. And then, as it went on, it got creepier and creepier and I realized if Hollywood made this in the right way, this could be a really effective scary movie.”
GORE VERBINSKI:
“Our journey began with a videotape that comes with a warning. Yet, it is the very warning that makes it all the more interesting to us. Taboos are always accompanied by temptation; it’s an essential quality of human nature – to discover the forbidden. Knowing this about us is what makes the evil essence of The Ring all the more horrifying.”
NAOMI WATTS:
“I saw the movie the other night. You don’t really get lost in the story like a ordinary audience member, but I did find myself leaping at the odd occasion and then getting the giggles, thinking, ‘I know the beats. I know this script back to front,’ and feeling a bit embarrassed for having such a reaction.”
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THE CONCEPT:
