‘Malignant’: James Wan Explains Why the Gabriel Police Station Fight Scene Was ‘Really Dangerous’ to Film
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James Wan is one of those extraordinarily rare filmmakers who repeatedly creates horror filmmaking that has staying power in popular culture. He did it once again with Malignant and the introduction of Gabriel. However, Wan explained that the big fight scene at the end of the film was actually “really dangerous” to film.
‘Malignant’ introduces a new horror icon named Gabriel
Madison (Annabelle Wallis) is in a toxic relationship that is about to bring about a whole lot of other issues. She discovers that there are sudden moments where she’s totally paralyzed in what feels like dreams. Madison witnesses horrific murders in these visions that are actually happening in real life. She has to get to the bottom of the mystery before more bodies continue to drop.
Malignant introduces Madison’s parasitic twin named Gabriel, but she has no memory of his existence. A nasty bump to the back of the head awakened him and he doesn’t intend on staying silenced. Gabriel hunts down all those responsible for his entrapment and plans to make them pay. Malignant brings major Giallo vibes to Gabriel that influence his appearance and actions.
Director James Wan talked about the ‘really dangerous’ police station fight scene
The Malignant Blu-ray features a behind-the-scenes featurette called James Wan’s Visions that dives into how the movie was brought to life, including Gabriel. Wan and stunt coordinator Glen Foster talked about the intense police station fight in the film’s climax. However, it wasn’t as effortless to film as it appears in the movie.
“Basically, what that is is a camera that’s attached to a robotic arm that you can pre-program all of its moves,” Wan said. “We kind of create a fight scene with Gabriel in this police station bullpen.”
Foster went a bit deeper into Wan’s initial statement, explaining how Malignant‘s Gabriel fight scene required a sort of “dance.” The robot and the human components had to work together to pull it off.
“It’s a slow process,” Foster said. “It was just sort of painstaking, patience-testing sort of dance between a robot and seven or so stunt people that all had to marry up.”
However, Wan explained that bringing the robot and human components made the set “really dangerous” for the performers.
Wan concluded: “It can be really dangerous if you don’t get to your mark correctly because you’re gonna have this massive heavy piece of equipment that comes like barreling at you and then just stops inches away from your nose.”
‘Malignant’ took over social media with Gabriel
Gabriel’s presence in Malignant quickly took over social media. Many folks crowned him as one of the greatest characters to come from modern horror. Regardless of how audiences felt about Malignant‘s twists and turns, Gabriel makes for an exciting antagonist. He introduces plenty of bloodshed.
Wan once again shows that he’s a genius of the horror movie genre. However, Malignant takes a different approach from his previous movies, such as Saw, The Conjuring, and Insidious. He’s still working on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t ever return to make another fun horror movie in the future.
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