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There's an old adage that says, find a lamp, rub it, and a mystical genie will appear to grant three wishes, ensuring all dreams and desires will be fulfilled.
But, these are the Wishmaster's wishes. Forget Barbara Eden and Robin Williams in Aladdin. There's nothing cute or funny here. This genie has the face of fear itself.
Wes Craven Presents A Pierre David Production of A Robert Kurtzman Film, Wishmaster, starring Tammy Lauren, Andrew Divoff, Tony Todd and Robed Englund as "Raymond Beaumont." Directed by Robert Kurtzman, the film is produced by Pierre David, Clark Peterson and Noel A. Zanitsh, and co--produced by Dave Tripet. Wes Craven is executive producing, from a screenplay by Peter Atkins. LIVE Entertainment will release the film in theatres throughout the U.S. in September.
In order to bring to life the cinema's most terrifying new villain - known as "the Djinn" (pronounced "jin") - Craven and the film makers assembled an all-star horror cast that includes Robert Englund (a.k.a. "Freddy Kreuger"), Tony Todd (the "Candyman") and Kane Hodder (Friday the l3th's "Jason"). "In Wishmaster, we are passing the reigns over to what could very well be one of the greatest horror figures of all time," explains Craven, "and what better way to introduce our creation than with the three actors who portrayed the monsters that set the standards for the horror genre today."
In addition to the on-screen stars, fright fans will certainly recognize the talent behind the camera as well. The recent success of Craven's mega-hit, Scream, starring Courteney Cox and Drew Barrymore, and his immensely popular Nightmare on Elm Street movies have made Craven the undisputed king of the horror genre. His other credits include Vampire in Brooklyn, The Hills Have Eyes, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and many episodes of The Twilight Zone.
Wishmaster director and effects wizard Robert Kurtzman has created special effects and creatures for some of Hollywood's latest big hits, including this summer's Men in Black and Spawn. He also created (with Quentin Tarantino) From Dusk Till Dawn and served as that picture's co-producer.
"With Wishmaster, we're really pushing the envelope," remarks producer Pierre David, "but with a team like this, what else would you expect?" David ought to know, as he has produced such horror classics as David Cronenberg's Scanners, Videodrome, and The Brood.
Writer Peter Atkins is also no newcomer to the horror world. At the age of 19, he created a theatre group with two friends, Olive Barker and Doug ('Pinhead") Bradley to earn extra money. As his career grew, Atkins continued his collaboration with Barker by penning three of the Hellraiser movies, and has also written Fist of the Northstar and for HBO, Perversions of Science.
For Craven, the opportunity to explore a new dimension in horror is what most attracted him to the script of Wishmaster "In the horror genre, the most successful horror monsters are those that take advantage of elements that would not scream horror," he said. "You don't assume a genie at any time would be evil or negative. We all grew up dreaming of finding that stray lamp on the beach and having all of our wishes come true. Not in this movie! The DJINN will no doubt scare the pants off people."
In the film, Alexandra Amberson (Tammy Lauren) stumbles across a gem that imprisons the most malicious of genies, known as the DJINN (Andrew Divoff) and she unwittingly awakens the demon from its thousand year sleep. To her horror, she discovers that her three wishes form the key which will allow the Djinn to destroy mankind and usurp the earth for this race of hideous beings.
But the all powerful DJINN can't kill or use its powers unless someone gets greedy and wishes for something. 'And of course, you expect people to become greedy around a genie," says director Robert Kurtzman. "Everyone wants to have their wishes granted. We all dream of infinite wealth or beauty or sex or what have you, and that's when our DJINN gets you. For instance, in one scene, a young lady wishes to be beautiful for life, so the DJINN turns her into a mannequin. Therefore, she now has perpetual beauty. He's mean, but he's smart."
The more wishes the DJINN can grant for people, the more dominant, manipulative and stronger he becomes. At one point, he becomes so powerful that he is able to metamorphosize into a humanistic alter ego of one of his victims. To bring the character of the DJINN to life, Andrew Divoff actually had the dual challenge of portraying both the evil monster and its alter ego, Nathaniel Demerest, a contrast the actor found quite exciting.
"One of the great advantages about playing the DJINN is that I had the ability to literally hide behind and within this monster," he says. "With his elaborate and deviant-looking make up and costume, I was able to completely immerse myself into the character, saying and doing evil things I could never actually do as myself and I gotta tell you, I had a blast playing this really despicable creature. He really did become my true alter-ego."
The filmmakers were equally as pleased with Divoff playing the DJINN. 'Andrew was the first of many actors to read for the part, but the minute he came into the audition, we knew we found the right guy," says Kurtzman. 'Since the DJINN is really two characters, we knew it was important to find the actor that would best fit our dual needs: one has to be sympathetic, the other menacing. Hands down, Andrew was what we were looking for."
Divoff, who is fluent in more than eleven languages, is used to playing the villain in most of his films. He can be seen in the current Harrison Ford film Air Force One and has appeared in Low Down Dirty Shame, The Hunt for Red October, Another 48 HRS., Deadly Voyage, Toy Soldiers, Back in the USSR, Running Cool and Stephen King's Graveyard Shift. The role of the DJINN was a well-balanced character, according to the actor 'He wasn't just a cartoonish buffoon out to hurt and kill people," he says. "Peter Atkins did an incredible job of making the character justifiably mean."
Atkins started to pen the script after receiving a call from producer Clark Peterson, who had conceived the idea and began developing it with Pierre David. "When Pierre and Clark asked me if I would write a script based on an evil genie, at first I wasn't sure about it," the writer admitted. when you think of a genie, evil is not a trait you automatically think of. But the more I considered the possibilities, the more intrigued I became. It didn't take long for me to come up with the story."
When the script was completed, Atkins was amazed and honoured that so many well-known talents agreed to appear in and work on the film. "Whenever you write a script, you're always fearful and very protective of who the production company will be and perhaps more importantly, who is going to direct it. When they informed me that Wes Craven, Pierre David, and Robert Kurtzman were involved, I was relieved," he said. 'After all, we're talking about masters of their profession here."
For Kurtzman, who is also a partner in KNB, one of Hollywood's top special effects companies, creating the DJINN would be a long and painstaking process. "I knew the most important aspect of the whole creation would be to set this monster apart from other horror creatures," the director noted. "I sat with artist John Bissom and labored feverishly to design a look that eventually would work in terms of originality and design. Even though we had an idea of what we were looking for, we still drew about sixty different designs before we started piecing the creature together Once we came up with a design, we built what I like to call a 'maquette' so we could see what it would look like as a three dimensional form. From there, we added the colors and Poof! there was our DJINN."
After the design was agreed upon by the full production team, the next step in the process was to bring the creature to life. 'Once we cast Andrew, we had to make a few adjustments so that the prosthetics would fit him," said Kurtzman. "Since there were different parts to the costume, we had to make a cast of his head, feet, chest and other body parts to help create the more than fifteen pieces necessary. At that point we built the prosthetics of foam accordingly."
In addition, the DJINN also had battery-operated tentacles that fit under the headpiece. The device was strapped onto the DJINN's back and was maneuvered by a remote control device located off set. "That was a weird feeling," said Divoff, "though I think it will look awesome on the screen."
Divoff also spent three hours every day in make-up as the prosthetics for his face needed to be re-created daily, since those that were applied the previous day were no longer useable. "It was really funny," said Divoff. "When I would get into the make-up trailer, I would be in such a great mood. By the third hour, I was truly in character and in a horror frame of mind."
In the film, the DJINN is initially seen in an embryonic stage, when the character first emerges to renewed life. For this, the production team utilized the talents of one of the smallest men in the world, Verne Troyer, who stands just 28 inches tall.
For her part, Tammy Lauren, who stars as Alexandra Amberson, the woman who unleashes the DJINN, particularly enjoyed the fact that the hero of this film is female. "In most horror films, the woman is either the wilting flower to the man or the one who gets saved," said Lauren. 'In this film, my character is the focal point. The audience will hopefully feel how fearful and intimidated she is and how she overcomes it. What's weird is that I think coming face to face with the monster was much easier than coming face to face with his alter-ego, Nathaniel Demerest. I mean, when I see the monster I know what to expect. But when I see Demerest I don't know what his next move will be. It's like coming face to face with a mass murderer than an alien."
The final obstacle in bringing the film to life was finding the right locations and building the proper sets that would create the ambiance needed for the film. Locations around Los Angeles include Cigna Hospital, San Pedro Pier, Occidental College, Regal Auctioneers and a warehouse-turned-sound stage in Chatsworth, part of the San Fernando Valley. The stage housed the most complex sets, including an anatomy lab which came equipped with life-size and very real looking corpses, a science lab that was blown up during filming and a Persian castle that measured more than 3,200 square feet, based upon actual palaces that dated back thousands of years.
Craven has issued one final word of warning to movie goers planning to experience Wishmaster's terrifying ride this fall. "Just remember," says Craven, "Be careful what you wish for."
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