Lies, thrills and spills have been a huge part of The Woman In The Window. Here, we chart the journey from page to screen.
This May was fertile with premieres and another one of these – The Woman in the Window.
Directed by Joe Wright (The Darkest Hour, Anna Karenina, and many short videos for Chanel), this new film passed to Netflix after several well-known media giants were almost to decline the possible screen chances at all.
In 2016, 20th Century Fox bought the rights for the novel two years before, written by A. J. Finn, had been published. After that, it changed owners, it transferred to Disney, who neglected the perspectives of the thriller for the future.
Moreover, before the film was updated for new editors’ requirements, its previous version was disastrous. Thus, when Netflix set the offer to buy it, Disney sold it without hesitation.
Window Games
The whole plot is summed up by the book’s author, who called it his possession.
And it is no accident you see the samples of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train and Copycat by Jon Amiel in 1995.
It also explains why Fox Studios bought the idea two years before the book appeared on the shelves.
We see the formula of success, with a sure curve for that part of viewers, by the way, who are actually in the non-mass-market model, as who else from the modern youth adore Hitchcock at the same level of Tarantino?
But, the main idea to collect all the prominent accents of a classic thriller with a heart-beating psychological drama must be the way to the top.
And FOX, as an ambitious believer, paid an enormous amount to a young author in A. J. Finn.
Gradually we slide to the next reason why this investment failed.
The New Yorker published a scandalous article, linking A.J. Finn with his chronic lies and manipulations.
It’s not the crime to tell something to catch attention, but it explains well how the formula of Finn’s success does work. However, something went wrong in this regard.
Netflix Takeover
The film’s cast shows how ambitious FOX’s plans for the film were. Netflix saved the previous auditions with Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Jason Lee, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Anthony Mackie – all becoming hostages of failed screenwriting and directing.
They genially act but do not combine into a full-fledged thriller.
Fabricated Finn’s novel revealed false hopes, but the writer knew the thing – it would work. It was a thriller, the main purpose of which was to make the reader turn to the next page.
Joe Wright’s film, in part, balances uncertainty between prestigious drama and psychological horror, abandoning action elements for the sake of beautiful long shots with Amy Adams and others rescuing roles there.
Another mistake in a long chain of wrong intuition passes was to replace composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with Danny Elfman.
In their decision, the avant-garde soundtrack didn’t suit the general concept of the film.
Thus, we hear neither bad, nor excellent vibrant music to wake up the memories and emotions.
It could be a completed story with a genial cast and the same technician crew, but for the one reason for success, if Finn was able to create his own novel with no copied ideas before. Actually, what is known as a trusted way to catch clear attention.
Want more movie articles? How about this all about The Conjuring?
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