Hey, guys! My name is Dice Rollen. Today we're going to be taking a look at some facts you
didn't know about the psychological/paranormal thriller from the son of Stephen King. The Black
Phone was directed by Scott Derrickson and serves as an adaptation to Joe Hill's short
story. In a town in North Denver during the late 70s a masked kidnapper known as The Grabber is
causing young boys to go missing. When his latest victim begins to receive calls from
The Grabber's past victims he has a chance to escape his fate. So without further ado,
these are some facts you didn't know about The Black Phone. [Music]
"Today's the day mother🦆er!" One of the key pointers that Derrickson gave Mark Korvin for
the score was, "I want the movie to sound like childhood fear." During the breakfast scene with
Finney, Gwen and Terence Terence mentions the noise being made reaching Boulder. This is the
same town where the Torrance family in The Shining live prior to going to the Overlook. The horror
movie that Finney is watching late at night is The Tingler (1959) and is a memory directly from
Derrickson as he remembers being freaked out by it as a kid. He's stated, "That was the beginning
of the horror director in me I suppose." The abuse scene between Gwen and Terence was almost cut out
of the film, but while Derrickson was asked to remove it no one truly pressured him to do so.
So it remained. As Derrickson said, "It's not even illegal what he's doing." The signature
of The Grabber are the black balloons he uses in his abductions. These and The Grabber are
something of a reference to the painting done by the daughter in Sinister. The distinct line
that runs horizontally across the basement wall is a reference to the poster for Sinister. There's a
bit of a link between The Black Phone and Doctor Sleep in that The Grabber frequently wears a
stove pipehat and abducted a child walking home from baseball. Rose the Hat also does this. The
rings and bracelet that we see The Grabber wearing throughout the film are Ethan Hawke's own jewelry
that he wears. The scene in which Finney is talking with the past victims were shot by having
the other actors actually speaking to Mason Thames on the other side of the set with a functional
phone. Halfway through writing the script Cargill and Derrickson realized that they had to give the
audience a bit of a break from all the tension, thus the character of Max was written in. James
Ransone is a frequent familiar face to both King and Derrickson fans as he played the deputy
in Sinister and Eddie Kaspbrak in It Chapter 2. The name above the Grab 'N Go is Ellison,
which is the name of the character in Sinister played by Ethan Hawke. Derrickson's son, Dashiel,
has a cameo as the child in the purple shirt at approximately 1 hour and 12 minutes. According
to Derrickson the most challenging effect to pull off was when the Grabber killed Max with the ax.
He had stated that he "looked at the whole history of cinema and there just aren't any real shots of
an ax going into a head on camera." Using a combination of practical and CGI is how this
effect was ultimately created. There is a sneaky moment where the audience is told very clearly
that the house where Finney is is different than the house with the tree Gwen is shown. During the
dream where Gwen sees Finney banging on a screen door and yelling for help the camera zooms out
showing the address as 7471. This is different from the 7741 that Gwen is later shown, but also
similar in that the numbers are rearranged. During the scene where Gwen is searching for the house
from her dream, she's wearing a yellow raincoat. This is a direct reference to Georgie from It. For
those curious as to whether Samson truly was some hell creature or an actual dog, he is indeed a dog
of the Cane Corso breed. The scene where Finney is fighting The Grabber and removes his mask causing
The Grabber to freak out was Ethan Hawke's idea. It was also his idea for The Grabber to disappear
completely into the hole after Finney kills him. The structure for The Black Phone story came from
A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving. Finney and the main character of the novel go through
what seem to be unrelated beats with a friend that come together at the end of the story.
Derrickson asked one of his favorite bands, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, to write and record a
song for the end credits. He wanted something with a 70s vibe and was quite pleased with the result.
According to Derrickson he perceives The Black Phone as a paranormal thriller rather than just a
horror movie. When asked about this classification he stated, "I think that's subjective, though,
and everybody would have their own answer to that question." In Hill's short story The Grabber is
actually a clown. However Hill suggested that with this being after It they shouldn't keep
this concept and instead have The Grabber be a magician. Derrickson drew from some of his own
childhood experiences for the film. He grew up during the time when Ted Bundy traveled through
Colorado, his neighbor was murdered and he even had a brief conversation with a member of the
Manson family. He has stated, "The primary emotion that I associate with my own childhood is fear."
For the past handful of years Derrickson had been going to therapy for events he dealt with as a
child. This combined with having grown up in North Denver during the 70s made him realize there could
be the potential for a story. So he spoke with C Robert Cargill about making something influenced
by The 400 Blows (1959) from this. However they found that there just wasn't enough there to
make a full story. So Derrickson compromised by combining his own childhood memories with Joe
Hill's The Black Phone. Scott Derrickson has said that aside from The 400 Blows (1959), The Devil's
Backbone (2001) was another big influence for The Black Phone. The script was written in six
weeks and was shot in 33 days. After reading the script Jason Blum sent Derrickson a black phone
in a display case giving him the green light to the film. However Derrickson was unaware of this
gift as he had just moved into a new house after his previous one burned down. Blum had the phone
mounted on a wall in the basement unbeknownst to Derrickson and had it set to speed dial his cell
phone when the receiver was lifted from the cradle. According to Derrickson, "I was just
sitting in my living room and I heard a phone ring in the basement. And I was like oh my God." By now
I think a lot of us can agree that both Hawke and Derrickson work well together. However during the
making of Sinister Derrickson had convinced Hawke to be part of the movie. Hawke didn't watch horror
movies and was concerned that working on the set of one would be a dark experience. Derrickson was
finally able to get him on board by telling him it was actually a lot of fun making horror films. The
Black Phone ended up being a similar experience to getting Hawke involved. Hawke told Derrickson that
in order for him to agree to be part of the movie, much less play the role of the villain, the script
had to be great. After reading the script Hawke called him that night and left a voicemail as
The Grabber. Madeleine McGraw almost wasn't cast as Gwen. This was because the filming schedule
for The Black Phone conflicted with her schedule for Secrets of Sulfur Springs. However Derrickson
was so impressed with her that he pushed the production date back to ensure she could be
part of the movie. While the film takes place in Colorado, it was shot in North Carolina. People
have asked Derrickson if he feels that Terence was redeemed by the end of the film. If this provides
some answer Derrickson told Davies to play the role as a man in pain rather than an outright
antagonist. Originally The Grabber's masks were supposed to be made of leather with just a smile
or a frown. But Derrickson, knowing they would be the focal point for the marketing, had plenty of
time devoted to designing them. The various masks of The Grabber were designed by Tom Savini. These
combined with Ethan Hawke's performance terrified Mason Thames upon first experiencing them. A big
goal for Derrickson was to make a scary film that covered dark subjects, but was still inspiring.
That still had a loving point of view to it. It's pretty obvious that The Grabber was based on a lot
of real-life serial killers. Including John Wayne Gacy, as he would hit his victims with a belt
and buried them in his basement. Ted Bundy, as he would lure victims to his car. And Jeffrey Dahmer,
as he had one victim escape only to be recaptured. Billy Showalter's nickname of Paperboy is a
reference to Johnny Gosch. An Iowa boy who was delivering papers with his dog, Gretchen, when
he disappeared. While Gretchen was later found Gosch's disappearance remains a mystery to this
day. The conclusion of the movie was written and rewritten many times. One of the earlier concepts
for an ending had all the victims' ghosts return as Finney killed The Grabber. However Derrickson
decided that having them be heard over the phone by The Grabber was better. Derrickson
has frequently been asked about the inclusion of children in his horror movies and whether or not
it could be harmful to them psychologically. In response he has stated, "The answer is,
no. It's like Halloween. Halloween is a kid's holiday and it's a holiday they love. Kids love
dressing up and touching on dark things and death and mayhem. There's something tantalizing about
it. And when they know it's pretend they just love it." According to Derrickson he trusts the test
screenings rather than the numbers and scores. As he has said, "The value of a test audience is to
see what confuses them." Apparently what confused half of the audiences tested was The Grabber's two
houses across the street from each other. The Black Phone would have been released in January
of 2022 were it not for surprisingly positive reactions to preview showings. Blumhouse decided
to give the film a summer release after this. So those were some things about The Black Phone you
may not have known. I hope you enjoyed this video, if you did give it a like. See you later! [Music]