Disney's newest film 'Haunted Mansion' is out this weekend, and promises to bring audiences a perfect combination of spooky, nostalgia, and humor.
Inspired by the famous Disney theme park ride, the film follows the captivating journey of a mother and son who call upon an eccentric team of 'spiritual experts' to help them rid their eerie home of its ghostly inhabitants.
Featuring a star-studded cast, including Danny DeVito, Owen Wilson, and Tiffany Haddish, this movie promises to deliver a spooky yet heartwarming experience.
Houston-born director Justin Simien joined KRLD's What to Watch to discuss the creative inspiration behind his unique take on the Haunted Mansion story.
Tell me about your personal experience with the Haunted Mansion ride!
I rode the ride when I was like nine years old, and I rode the Haunted Mansion ride in Disney World first. I grew up in Houston, Texas. We saved up the money, we drove to New Orleans and then we flew outta New Orleans to Orlando, and Haunted Mansion was the first.
Then we went on and it just blew my little mind. I knew I was old enough to understand that this was all like, make believe and special effects, but I had no idea how they did it, and it really got under my skin, and it guides your eye. It, it uses sound, it uses smoke and mirrors, it uses production design.
It relies on, you know, on, on props and puppets and things like that toaffect its audience. I just was always so kind of mesmerized by it.
So back then, could you ever imagine that today you'd be directing a film like this?
Absolutely not. I mean, when I was working there, I think the Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion movie was already out, and I had no reason to think that they would ever make another one or, you know, anything.
I actually really didn't understand what, how exactly I would even apply all the things that I was sensing from that ride and from those rides into my film work. But I just knew that there was a relationship, and at the time I was just like, oh, this is what I wanna do with audiences. I want you to feel like you both get to leave the real world in some kind of way so that you can kind of relax and let your hair down.
But then I also want to hit you with something that you take with you and that, you know, kind of feels meaty. It wasn't just a diversion, you know? Uh, and all those classic rides really do that. So it's, it's great to, you know, have an attempt at it for sure.
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