Insidious 3’s Leigh Whannell rebounds after split with Saw co-creator James Wan

INSIDIOUS 3 director Leigh Whannell is making up for lost time after his traumatic “break-up” with Saw co-creator James Wan.

TWO years after his relationship “break-up” with Sawco-creator James Wan, Leigh Whannell has not only become accustomed to his new life as a sole operator, he’s nailed it.

“It’s an interesting sequel to our last chat,’’ the Melbourne-born actor/writer-turned-director acknowledges on the phone from LA where he has been based since the horror-savvy pair’s low-budget sleeper hit Saw scared the pants off audiences around the globe in 2004.

Leigh Whannell in INSIDIOUS 3. Picture: Universal.

At the time of our last conversation, which roughly coincided with the release of the next instalment in Wan and Whannell’s second, hugely-successful franchise Insidious: Chapter 2, Whannell found himself at a major crossroads.

Wan, his good mate and long-time collaborator, had gone off to direct Fast and Furious 7, fulfilling a life-long dream to helm a major tentpole release.

MOVE OVER, RUSTY: Leigh Whannell makes his directorial debut

“When he got that chance, he snapped it up and that kind of left a void,” Whannell says.

After a decade as one half of a tight-knit creative twosome, Whannell wasn’t entirely sure what his next step should be.

“I was quite melancholy,’’ he recalls, “wondering who I was without James.”

Scene from the film INSIDIOUS 3. Sony Pictures.

More than 18 months later, Whannell has made what he describes as a “complete U-turn”.

“Since then I have directed a film and discovered my love for that, so I guess you could say that the problem I was talking about — what do I do now? — has been solved.”

As it turned out, Whannell wasn’t the only person who needed to fill a vacuum left by Wan’s departure.

Producer Jason Blum, founder of the low and micro-budget production company Blumhouse Productions (Paranormal Activity, Whiplash) suddenly found himself without a director to helm the third instalment in the $US350 million-plus Insidious franchise.

27/10/2004 PIRATE: Undated. Melbourne actor Leigh Whannell in film Saw.

Written by Whannell and directed by Wan, the original film in the M-rated, tween-friendly haunted house trilogy, starring Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson and Barbara Hershey, became the most profitable film of 2011.

The sequel, in which Wilson’s father figure transformed into a brooding, malevolent presence, upset expectations when it topped the US box office in its opening weekend, tripling its predecessor’s $13.3 million haul.

By earning Wan a place in the history books — as only the second director ever to have two films opening over $40 million in the same year (two months earlier, The Conjuring had taken $41.9 million in its opening weekend) — it also secured his departure to the big time.

When Wan upped sticks, Whannell agreed to stay on to write what eventually became an Insidious prequel, starring Stefanie Scott, Dermot Mulroney and Lin Shaye.

And that’s when Blum made him an offer that he simply couldn’t refuse.

Horror movie freaks kids out after expecting to see "Inside Out" http://t.co/SXimH6Onto pic.twitter.com/roGODFyek8

— New York Post (@nypost) June 24, 2015

“Jason turned around and said: ‘Well, James is gone. Do you want to direct Insidious 3?’ And he pretty much put it like that, too. It was very abrupt.”

Whannell says he didn’t accept the job immediately.

“There was a short window where I thought: I don’t think I should do this. I was quite afraid of directing. I just thought it wasn’t my kind of job, that I didn’t have the personality for it.”

Luckily, the former RMIT student eventually found his nerve, only to discover that he was a natural.

On the back of his directorial debut, Whannell has been named by trade industry magazine Variety as one of 10 directors to watch.

“It seems like the job for the guy or the girl with the bullhorn. At least that’s the perception of directing,” says Whannell.

“I was never the star of the football team growing up. I am much better at sharing the credit with other people. I love being part of a team and I felt more confident with other people around so I perceived the job as one where you have to be this person who is willing to stand up there and say, ‘I’m in charge’.

Leigh Whannell directing behind the scenes in INSIDIOUS 3. Picture: Sony Pictures Releasing

“But what I found is that it’s actually more collaborative than writing. Writing is quite lonely and singular — sitting there, just you and the laptop, staring into the screen and wondering what to write.

“With directing, you are constantly surrounded by other people. It’s the most social of all the filmmaking disciplines.

“All those guys who try to perpetuate this theory that the director is the auteur, that they did it all, it’s bulls---. It’s a truly collaborative art form and you are only as good as the people around you.”

Having successfully executed his directorial debut, Whannell can’t wait to helm another.

“I realise that starting with such an established franchise gave me a very cushioned debut as a director and now I’d like to create whole new worlds and move into different genres,” Whannell told Variety.

“I’ve got to make up for lost time.”

INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 3 OPENS JULY 16