Why Aussie horror master Leigh Whannell turned to sci-fi for his new movie Upgrade
AUSSIE filmmaker Leigh Whannell has dumped Saw-like horror for his new sci-fi actioned Upgrade, which was filmed in Australia and has the critics raving.
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AUSSIE filmmaker Leigh Wannell has some deep-seated fears about technology but with Upgrade, he has managed to package those in a futuristic kick-arse action film.
Upgrade stars Tom Hardy lookalike Logan Marshall-Green (Spider-Man: Homecoming) as Grey Trace, a mechanic whose life is turned upside down when he and wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo) are ambushed by thugs.
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The attack leaves Asha dead and Trace a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic. As Trace sinks into despair, he is made an offer by tech whiz Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson).
Keen will implant his latest experimental technological innovation, STEM, near Trace’s spine. STEM will let Trace walk again and give him full control of his body.
“I’m always trying to come up with ideas for films,” Whannell says. “I mostly file them away into the drawer labelled; terrible idea” but every now and then, maybe once a year, I have an idea that sticks with me and I can’t stop thinking about.
“This was one of those. I sitting in my backyard one day and I had this image of a quadriplegic who was being controlled by a computer from the neck down — that was allowing the character to walk.
“I couldn’t let go of that image. I started to reverse engineer a story around it and build it out piece by piece.”
Whannell is famous for writing the films directed by friend James Wan — Saw, Dead Silence, Insidious and Insidious: Chapter 2. Insidious: Chapter 3 was Whannell’s first directing stint.
“As soon as I finished Insidious 3 I was suddenly ravenous and wanted to make another film — I really got the bug,” Whannell says.
“I had this script (Upgrade) that I really loved but the problem was that it was attached to someone else — Greg McLean (Wolf Creek). I called Greg and said ‘listen mate, do you mind if I take this script back and try to make it myself’. He was kind enough to let me.”
The kicker with Upgrade is that Trace becomes hellbent on tracking down his attackers and wreaking vengeance. Having STEM in his body turns him into a robot-like fighting machine.
A brutal showdown between Trace and one of the thugs in a kitchen has already been described as an action landmark.
“I had written a line in the script that said “Grey’s fighting style is strange and stilted”,” Whannell says.
“It is one thing to write a line like that in ten seconds but it took months for a film crew to figure out how we would do that.
“Luckily we had an amazing stunt team headed up by Chris Anderson who’s legendary. He worked on the first Mad Max film.
“We used a camera technique where we strapped an iPhone to Logan and the camera would actually lock to the phone so wherever Logan would move the camera would go with him.
“It creates this really off-kilter otherworldly feeling that I thought was perfect for what we were trying to do.”
Marshall-Green also brings soul to the film. Vallejo (Winners and Losers) brings the heart.
“I had seen Logan in an independent film The Invitation, which I loved,” Whannell says. “He played a character who is suffering all this grief so realistically and authentically. He is someone who is on the cusp.
“Melanie is someone I knew from acting in a little horror film Dying Breed (2008). She has this really warm presence which I wanted for Asha. I needed someone the audience would love straight away.”
Beneath all the action are some serious questions about the increasing role that technology plays in our lives.
“Technology is becoming so addictive and we’re giving so much of ourselves over to it,” Whannell says. “Social media has possessed people in such a strong way. They spend more time cultivating their online friends than their actual friends. I think it is something that is unhealthy.
“The giant companies around the world that have invented this tech know how to give us these little dopamine hits. These are the cigarette companies of the modern era. I think that tech will come with a warning label in the future.”
The film, financed by Blumhouse Productions (Get Out) is all the more impressive because it was made on a shoestring $5 million budget.
“What allowed us to make this film was shooting in Australia — your money can go further,” Whannell says.
“I wanted to use Melbourne locations that I hadn’t seen in films before. It was a great full circle. I shot my student film in Melbourne at the Tote (hotel) in Collingwood and I’ll put it on record as the worst student film of all time.
“It was awful. I could barely watch it. I remember thinking at the time “I’m clearly not cut out for this (film directing).
“We shot part of Upgrade next door to the Tote so one day I stopped in and was sitting at the bar having a beer and it was one of those “full circle” moments in life. I couldn’t believe I had gone from this terrible student film to shooting a movie next door with a crew of one hundred.”
Upgrade opens tomorrow.
Originally published as Why Aussie horror master Leigh Whannell turned to sci-fi for his new movie Upgrade
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