Director Justin Simien joins the stars of Haunted Mansion Jamie Lee Curtis, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, and Tiffany Haddish to talk their new spooky Disney movie.
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00:00 I did the haunted walking tour.
00:02 I got a-- - Here?
00:03 - Yeah, I got a Groupon.
00:04 None of the cast went with me, but my team,
00:06 my hair and makeup and stuff, we went, my assistants.
00:08 - You did it with a Groupon?
00:09 - Yeah, with a Groupon.
00:10 It was only like 100 bucks.
00:12 - A Groupon?
00:13 - Yeah, you take a Groupon--
00:14 - Tiffany Haddish did a Groupon ghost tour.
00:18 - I am the queen of Groupon.
00:19 (knocking)
00:24 - Wait!
00:27 - I should warn you, before you step inside the house,
00:30 this could change the course of your entire life.
00:32 - I'm not afraid of a couple ghosts.
00:34 - You say that now.
00:37 - I'm a real fan of the ride.
00:48 I probably would be classified as a Disney adult
00:50 if I wasn't making movies for a living.
00:53 How could you not make the movie
00:55 about Hapbot's ghost and Gracie, you know?
00:57 - Those are the faces that you immediately are drawn to.
00:59 First of all, this sort of character
01:01 that fans of the ride kind of co-created with Disney.
01:05 They just started calling one guy Gracie
01:07 and they started calling another one the Hapbot's ghost
01:09 and now these are like canon characters.
01:11 And I just thought that was a perfect way
01:14 to both sort of put the audience
01:16 in the literal seat of the riders,
01:18 where you're not really of the mansion,
01:21 but you're a visiting guest.
01:22 Kind of give you the candy of what those,
01:25 what the actual haunts are up to up in there.
01:28 I just thought it was such a smart way to do that.
01:30 - I immediately got to Googling the ride
01:32 and trying to figure out everything I could about it.
01:35 I'd heard about it, but I hadn't been to Disneyland
01:37 since I was like two.
01:39 So I had to refresh and up and figure everything out.
01:41 I actually came across a video online
01:43 that kind of showed you what the experience
01:45 of the ride was like.
01:47 So I watched that video and then I was able to like,
01:49 kind of remember through soul, spirit, search and reaping
01:53 what my experience was at two years old.
01:55 And so it was like, it was exciting to get on set
01:57 and see that a lot of the things that I saw in the video,
02:00 from the patterns on the wall to the ghosts
02:02 that were on the ride, ended up making it into the film.
02:06 And I was like, wow, this is so true to the source material.
02:09 - I think what's so special about it
02:10 is that it rides the ride of nostalgia,
02:14 that sort of beautiful emotional connection.
02:17 We all have any age to that attraction.
02:21 We've all had an experience
02:23 on the haunted mansion attraction.
02:27 And at the same time, it has, as far as I'm concerned,
02:32 a very modern take on it with an old fashioned idea.
02:36 - This mansion is unhinged.
02:40 - These ghosts definitely don't wanna leave.
02:44 - Death lurks around every corner.
02:51 - God, give us a break.
02:52 There's so many bad people in the world, haunt them.
02:55 - Amen.
02:56 - There's a painting actually on the wall
02:58 of the seance room that people don't really notice.
03:03 It's the painting of the woman who ages slowly
03:07 as you walk by her.
03:09 And if you look at that painting throughout the film,
03:11 she ages as you get closer to the end of the film,
03:14 but we never really like call it out.
03:17 We never really sort of like zoomed in on it.
03:19 Gradually through the film, she gets older
03:21 just as she does on the ride.
03:22 There were so many things that didn't make the cut
03:24 to the point where I don't even remember.
03:27 One of the big ones was wanting to make sure
03:29 that we had enough scenes that rooted the movie
03:32 firmly in New Orleans.
03:33 That was really important.
03:34 And making sure that we understood
03:35 that this mansion sort of exists in a real world
03:39 that people can visit and inquire about.
03:42 There's a reason why the Imagineers decided
03:45 to set this mansion in New Orleans
03:48 and build a whole New Orleans square around it.
03:51 When you visit this place, you can really see why.
03:54 You feel the spiritual essence and energy of the place.
03:57 It's really embedded here.
03:59 There's a rich history and a lot of marriage of cultures.
04:03 It's a perfect backdrop to have those kind of
04:05 philosophical discussions where it's not sort of blown off
04:08 as something that's whimsical or like crazy,
04:11 the idea that there might be entities
04:13 that exist that aren't us.
04:14 So it's a good environment, I think,
04:16 to have a backdrop for a story like this.
04:18 Are ghosts real?
04:20 And in my own personal journey, I feel they're real.
04:23 I feel they're very real.
04:24 - Yeah, I've definitely had some ghost experiences
04:25 over the years, so having that be here
04:28 and having the culture of it here,
04:30 I think was really significant, really special.
04:32 And I loved the details that were in it
04:34 felt really at home in New Orleans.
04:36 And they changed the bust and even some of the dancing
04:39 and the ghosts and the music and the food.
04:41 It just gave it a richness that just felt palpable,
04:45 which is exactly what you feel when you land in New Orleans.
04:47 - This is a story about people
04:50 who normally don't belong together,
04:52 sort of forming a family out of necessity, frankly,
04:55 and really against their will, learning to love each other.
04:58 In a lot of ways, that's the story of New Orleans too.
05:01 This is a place where fear and laughs and joy and sorrow,
05:05 these things really do live side by side in this place.
05:07 You can feel it in the art, in the architecture, in the food.
05:11 And so these things were not mutually exclusive.
05:14 I felt like doing right by New Orleans
05:18 does right by the Haunted Mansion.
05:19 - The cast came, I didn't, 'cause I was stuck in the ball.
05:24 I gotta tell ya, it's a limiting space
05:26 to be stuck in the crystal ball.
05:28 The rest of the cast came to New Orleans
05:31 and clearly New Orleans is filled with ghosts.
05:36 There's no question.
05:37 - I think it's more that I don't know about ghosts.
05:39 I did the haunted walking tour.
05:42 - I got a group.
05:43 I got a group on and me and some of the,
05:46 none of the cast went with me, but my team,
05:48 my hair and makeup and stuff, we went, my assistants.
05:50 - You did it with a group on?
05:51 - Yeah, with a group on.
05:53 Yeah, I do everything on a group on.
05:54 It was, look, all of us, it was five of us,
05:57 we all went for like, it was only like 100 bucks.
06:00 - A group on?
06:01 - Yeah, you take a group of people.
06:02 - Tiffany Haddish did a group on ghost tour in New Orleans.
06:07 - I am the queen of group on.
06:09 - This is a reality show that I would pay good money
06:12 to watch.
06:13 - It was fun.
06:14 - I summon Madam Leona.
06:17 - I can show you what happened, but it will cost you.
06:20 $3.
06:22 - What?
06:24 - Wow.
06:25 - It's a highway robbery.
06:26 - Who said that?
06:27 - There was a part where you say $3 and then he goes,
06:29 "$3, that's a highway robbery.
06:31 That's too much money."
06:32 Like, I was dying when we were filming that.
06:36 - It's a new interpretation because the history,
06:39 the lore of the house, we decided and found out
06:43 that Madam Leona was Russian.
06:45 Look at her costumes.
06:47 Her costumes have this beautiful Russian influence.
06:50 She was a total creation, primarily of Jeffrey Kurland,
06:55 who's our costume designer.
06:57 His interpretation partnered with Justin's,
07:01 allowed me then to just come in and do my thing.
07:04 But I really took my cues from him
07:07 rather than the attraction itself.
07:09 - What kind of medium would be in New Orleans
07:13 at this time in the 1800s?
07:15 Like, where would she have come from
07:17 and how iconic would she have to have been
07:20 to where we are still talking about her to this day?
07:23 Tiffany Haddish's character worships Madam Leona.
07:27 And if you look at Harriet's costume,
07:30 you can see that Harriet is trying to dress
07:32 like Madam Leona.
07:33 We created a bit of a costume story.
07:35 New Orleans at that time was a very global,
07:38 international city.
07:39 There were people from all parts of the world
07:42 that would not have come across each other's paths
07:45 anywhere else.
07:46 And we just kind of, we followed that research
07:49 to some things that we just felt
07:51 like were visually interesting.
07:52 Like one of the things that Jeffrey and I talked about
07:55 was, okay, when she's not in the ball,
07:57 how do we still create that kind of ball shape
08:00 around her head?
08:01 And we just created a backstory for her
08:03 that made sense with what we knew about her
08:06 and that made her still feel lived in.
08:08 There was a ball on set that I think maybe,
08:12 like we had it so that if Jamie wanted to get in this thing
08:16 and suffocate, it was technically possible.
08:18 I don't think that that lasted very long.
08:21 It might've just been for reference, to be honest.
08:23 And there was always a practical, you know,
08:25 Jamie to sort of work with the other actors.
08:28 But I wanted them to be really vibing off of each other
08:31 and have a sense of realism.
08:33 The only direction I ever got from Justin was just,
08:35 Jamie, do it again, but can you be funnier?
08:37 This is a woman, it's a little bit like,
08:40 there was a movie where somebody wakes up 300 years later
08:44 and she thinks it's been, she's been in the ball a day
08:48 and she's been in there hundreds of years.
08:50 So there's that feeling, that there was comedy to be played
08:54 with the funny part of the fact
08:56 that she's been in there a long time
08:58 and she thinks she can bribe them for $3.
09:00 - Yeah, that's my favorite part.
09:01 - $3 is, you know, to her, it's like,
09:05 today would be $3 million.
09:09 - Actually, I got really into the idea of this single mom
09:14 who wanted to have a new start for her and her son
09:19 and just sort of the fun of this person
09:22 having a history in New Orleans from her family
09:25 and getting this mansion sight unseen
09:28 and it being kind of a surprise.
09:29 I've been on the ride a gazillion times.
09:31 I love Disneyland and Disney World.
09:32 So, you know, that lore is already very deeply in my spirit.
09:37 But it was just really fun kind of crafting this character
09:41 that I thought reminded me a lot.
09:43 It was actually when I spoke to Jeffrey
09:44 that it felt like it really kind of synced in
09:46 when we were picking out what I was gonna wear.
09:48 'Cause the idea of wearing these like A-line skirts
09:50 and little heels and being all done up
09:52 in this sort of retro kind of style
09:55 really spoke a lot to the character to me
09:57 of someone who just is just always gonna put
09:59 her best foot forward regardless of the circumstances
10:03 and kind of really informed sort of the comedy
10:05 and the connection with my son.
10:07 And so I feel like that was sort of my end
10:09 was really trying to figure out
10:10 how I was gonna be navigating this space
10:13 and how she was gonna be preparing herself every day.
10:15 And then it kind of just went from there.
10:17 It was just very organic to the present
10:19 and not necessarily so attached to the history of it.
10:21 - Getting into the wardrobe and the costume
10:24 really gave you a sense of these characters,
10:26 this world that we were in,
10:27 which is kind of different than the world we live in,
10:29 but kind of similar.
10:30 There are a lot of things that are similar.
10:32 I grew up in church and so like there was a lot of like
10:35 holy ghost being caught and like a lot of, you know,
10:38 things happening that I kind of remembered
10:41 and kind of channeled that into what it might feel like.
10:43 That's the closest thing I've ever seen
10:45 to people being possessed.
10:47 Being possessed by the music,
10:48 being possessed by the feeling and the energy.
10:51 And so I just kind of took that and put it into that moment,
10:55 ratcheted it up a little bit,
10:56 wanted to make it fun, you know.
10:58 And then sharing these intimate moments with Chase,
11:01 Chase Dillon who's playing the younger man in the movie.
11:03 And it just felt like you don't see very many like,
11:06 you know, black man to young black boy interactions
11:09 that feel healthy and nice and beautiful in that way.
11:13 And real, you know, polarized cinema.
11:17 And so it was beautiful to be a part of that
11:19 kind of relationship dynamic
11:21 and be able to be a father figure for him.
11:24 - That was, I think, one of the things I loved so much
11:26 was to see how fearless Chase was.
11:28 Because I definitely had that coming into this,
11:31 just being with this crew of people
11:33 who I am absolutely in total adoration of,
11:36 who do comedy, which I so rarely get a chance to do.
11:40 So I definitely felt that very fun challenge in that.
11:43 But he just was bold about it.
11:45 Like if he did not have lines in a scene, he was ad-libbing.
11:49 We were making all kinds of,
11:50 and the two of us really played off of each other
11:52 really well with facial expressions
11:54 and a lot of the stuff that we ad-libbed together
11:57 in these scenes, 'cause he was just so fearless.
11:59 Like it really worked, like that dynamic between us
12:02 and like the playfulness there
12:03 and just us feeling that witness kind of thing.
12:07 I think our characters are very much vulnerable
12:10 and needing these folks who are showing up,
12:13 their expertise to help us.
12:15 And so there is the two of us together quite often
12:17 sort of looking at these experts
12:19 and how they're fitting together and commiserating
12:23 for all of our benefit.
12:24 And it was really fun to have us be kind of a twosome.
12:28 - You're like childlike essence
12:31 and Chase's seemingly 30-year-old maturity.
12:36 It just kind of like went together in this really nice way.
12:39 I mean, he's a child, but he just seems like
12:40 he's been here 30 million times.
12:42 And you have this ability to maintain
12:44 this like magical wonder inside of you.
12:47 So I think that, you know, those things being married
12:50 make for a really cool peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
12:52 (Chase laughs)
12:53 (dramatic music)
12:56 - Be careful.
12:56 Death lurks around every corner.
13:00 (dramatic music)
13:03 - Other more powerful entities may come through.
13:06 - Not on our watch.
13:07 - What are you gonna do?
13:09 - Seriously?
13:10 - Yeah.
13:11 - They're already dead.
13:12 - They're gonna be deader.
13:13 - Okay.
13:14 - Directing is communicating.
13:15 It's a lot of communication.
13:17 It's a lot of visualizing.
13:18 It's a lot of Pinterest boards.
13:20 It's a lot of, you know, pictures printed out meticulously
13:24 and pasted all over offices.
13:26 And it also is a lot of picking really great people
13:29 and creating space for them to do what they do
13:33 and to be great.
13:34 And, you know, whether we're talking about Darren Guilford
13:37 or we're talking about Jeffrey Kurland,
13:39 our costume designer,
13:40 or we're talking about Jeffrey Waldron,
13:42 our cinematographer, you know,
13:44 I gave people parameters and touchstones
13:48 and some things that I was ultimately trying to accomplish,
13:51 but I always wanted them to surprise me.
13:53 I always wanted them to outdo whatever my pitch was.
13:57 And I just have to say,
13:59 people really, really did their work out of love
14:02 for the source material, for the script,
14:05 but for the mansion, you know,
14:07 people really brought their very best in their A game.
14:11 And it was then my job to sort of kind of cherry pick
14:14 from all these wonderful things
14:15 that each department head would bring.
14:17 But I encouraged everyone to be, you know,
14:20 really faithful to the time periods
14:22 that we were referencing to the place of New Orleans.
14:25 And then of course, as always, to the ride
14:27 and to the intentions of the rides creators.
14:30 - And at Haunted Mansion too,
14:33 once we get some writers together, you know,
14:35 it'll be some Madam Leota and Harriet
14:40 going on a little adventure or something.
14:42 - Yes, I think it'll be like Thelma and Louise.
14:44 - Yes.
14:46 - But it'll be Madam Leota and Harriet and-
14:49 - In the spirit realm.
14:50 - Because we're already dead.
14:53 - Yup.
14:53 Well, no, I'm not dead.
14:54 - No, but you will be if we're Thelma and Louising,
14:57 you will be completely dead.
14:58 - Okay, well, you know what?
15:00 We gonna figure out how to make it work.
15:01 - No, no, but we'll be dead.
15:02 - Maybe Harriet gets you a body, now you in a body.
15:05 Now we mix Freaky Friday and Haunted Mansion together.
15:10 - Oh.
15:11 (upbeat music)