“SAW was one of those movies where people begged for a sequel because there were so many questions that were left at the end of the film,” explains producer Oren Koules. “We were on the fence about whether or not we wanted to do it,” adds Mark Burg, Koules’ producing partner. “But we got so many e-mails from people wanting to know what happened with Jigsaw that we couldn’t not do it.”
“When I watched the first SAW,” remembers director Bousman, a music video veteran who is making his feature film debut with SAW II, “it grabbed me because it showed real people put in real situations where they’re forced to become monsters. This time, we really focus on Jigsaw, and the fans of the first film are going to get to see the man behind the madness.”
Since Jigsaw’s identity is currently a mystery to audiences, the filmmakers decided that Det. Mathews would discover Jigsaw’s whereabouts early on. It is soon revealed that Jigsaw has much more elaborate plans, plans which involve eight captive strangers and, most importantly, Mathews himself.
Like the original, there are plenty of unexpected twists that will leave even the most savvy fans of the genre shaking their heads (and jumping out of their seats) more than once. “What you think the movie is about is not what it’s about at all,” says Bousman. “It keeps changing directions. There’s a drastic shift in the last couple of scenes where we see what the real game is that is being played, and it’s something much grander and much bigger than we could ever have expected.”
Indeed, the ending is such a surprise that only key cast and crew were given the final pages of the already heavily-guarded script. Additionally, the filmmakers shot “four or five” alternate endings so as not to reveal their ultimate intentions.
Along with SAW director James Wan and writer/co-star Leigh Whannell serving as executive producers, the producers re-assembled the first film’s creative team, with David Armstrong returning as cinematographer, Charlie Clouser reenlisting as composer and Kevin Greutert back on board as editor.
Armed with a bigger budget and a desire to top the first film’s ingenious ways to torment Jigsaw’s prisoners, production designer David Hackl was eager to take full advantage of SAW II’s gruesome potential. “Jigsaw has moved to a new lair, which is essentially a crack house,” says producer Gregg Hoffman. “It’s still incredibly disgusting, with all of these bizarre torture devices.”
Hackl especially enjoyed solving the logistics of how Jigsaw’s nasty traps work. In one scene, a character unknowingly slips her hands into a vessel filled with razor blades. “I had a million questions: ‘Why can’t she pull her hand out? Why can’t she break the vessel? Why can’t she apply a tourniquet to her arm to stop the bleeding?’ Those aren’t the usual kind of questions a production designer asks,” he says, laughing.
“It’s really cool to be part of such a balls-to-the-wall scenario,” says actress Shawnee Smith. “Like the jaw-trap scene in the first film, all of these scenes are really medieval. You don’t see a lot of that in films, and here they’re done hardcore.”
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