NOT THAT INNOCENT
An even younger Esther inveigles her way into another unsuspecting family.
When the first Orphan film premiered in 2009 it delighted audiences with a fantastically creepy performance from 12-year-old Isabelle Fuhrman and a totally unhinged twist. In the final act it is revealed (spoiler alert) that Esther, the adopted child, is actually a 33-year-old woman with dwarfism and murderous tendencies. Despite its healthy box office, the scope to build a franchise was limited by Esther meeting her demise at the end.
Now, over a decade later, Orphan is back for prequel First Kill, where we see Esther wreaking more havoc, with original star Furhman plus seasoned horror director William Brent Bell. The cat was out of the bag when it came to Esther’s identity, but Bell tells Teasers that another huge twist was essential. “Reading the script I thought it’s gonna be hard to live up to the first one but even knowing something was coming, I was floored,” he smiles. Fans of the original may not just be surprised by the twists but also by the fact that they may find themselves rooting for Esther. “She’s had a tough life!” Bell laughs, “Even if she’s done awful things she becomes the hero of the movie.”
Fuhrman is now in her twenties and initially was not expected to return,
but Bell was pleasantly surprised that “she was really excited about the prospect”. Key was that her face hadn’t changed. “I look totally different when I was 25 to 12, but she looked so similar that it could work,” Bell says.
Despite a youthful face, getting an adult to read on the screen as nine years old involved ingenuity and some old-fashioned movie magic. “We had three body doubles and everything from her wardrobe had to be sized up, but also fit her adult body like a child,” Bell explains. “Anytime adults were around her the camera would be at an angle to force the perspective. Tricks that have been done in Hollywood movies forever. Whether it be the size of her fork or putting her co-stars on a platform – it’s a really fun challenge.”
There’s also the challenge of making such a small figure feel like a legitimate threat. But Bell, who has form with little terrors, including The Boy’s bonechilling doll, finds a particular potency in innocent-seeming objects as sources of evil. “It’s an interesting psychology,” Bell says. “There are children who grow up and are not really scared of dolls and clowns. Then as adults we’re far more scared of them. There’s the unknown of what’s going on in a child’s mind. Like Damien in The Omen – a sweet little child who didn’t really speak the whole movie but he, like Esther, is terrifying.” ORPHAN: FIRST KILL OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 19 AUGUST.
‘There’s the unknown of what’s going on in a child’s mind’ WILLIAM BRENT BELL