Yahoo Movies Dakota Fanning explains why The Watched was like "solving a puzzle"
The Watched star Dakota Fanning has likened unpicking the film’s narrative to “solving a puzzle.”
The supernatural horror film, titled The Watchers in the US, follows artist Mina (Fanning) as “she is stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland.
“Upon finding shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers (Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, Olwen Fouéré) who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.”
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With the film being directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, the daughter of horror legend M Night, many fans have wondered if she will follow in her father’s footsteps by deploying a cryptic narrative, with most of the action being set in a large mirrored room as the mystery unfolds.
In an exclusive interview with Digital Spy, Fanning and Shyamalan spoke about the film’s central coop room, which leaves Mina and co unable to view the outside as they are preyed upon by the watchers.
“As an actor you're always trying to lose yourself, things you're self-conscious about or your vanity,” said Fanning. “You don't want to be thinking about what your hair looks like or how these pants look or those things, you have to forget that.
“So then you're working in front of a big mirror and you're being confronted with how your face looks one day. There was definitely a little bit of a learning curve for all of us getting used to it, but people are adaptable so after a day or two we got used to it.
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“It was a bit of a theatrical experience - you feel like you're on the stage but performing for ourselves. It was interesting because the cinematography had to be creative and inventive to film in the environment on that set, so it felt like we were solving a puzzle every day with how to figure it out.”
“It was totally an enjoyable thing for me,” added Shyamalan, who is making her directorial debut with the film. “I love shooting in mirrors [and] going into a space [to] find an unconventional thing to look at and convey the story through.
“It just felt like a little cheeky thing where we were doing that very classic cinema thing of using a mirror but doing it on a grand scale. Knowing that going in, we were able to have a lot of conversations and strategise about how to accomplish our shots - there's lots of little tricks and techniques in there.”
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Fanning, who has recently starred in The Equalizer 3 and Ripley, also recalled her experience of filming in remote parts of Ireland, saying: “Even after several weeks, I would get a general idea of the different zones where we would film,
“But there would certainly be times where I would be like: ' [assistant director] Annabel [Cleary], where is that chair?' You would have the moments of, 'Where was I two seconds ago?'. I knew it would be great for the film and so that's really all that matters.”
The Watched is released in cinemas on June 7.
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