House of Wax
Short description
A group of young friends travelling to a college football game camp out for the night when they lose their way in the woods. The next morning their car will not start, and a passing stranger offers them a lift to the small nearby town of Ambrose. There the main local attraction is a wax museum whose figures look startlingly like real people, and the visitors soon learn the horrifying reason for that resemblance. To survive, they must find a way out of the town before they become permanent additions to the collection.
House of Wax was released in 2005 and runs 113 minutes. It was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the first of the thirteen films he has directed in chronological order, ahead of Goal II: Living the Dream in 2007, and was written by Carey Hayes and Chad Hayes. Robert Zemeckis, Joel Silver and Susan Downey produced for Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures and Dark Castle Entertainment. The cast includes Elisha Cuthbert as Carly Jones, Chad Michael Murray as her brother Nick, Brian Van Holt, Paris Hilton, Jon Abrahams and Jared Padalecki. It is a remake of a 1953 film of the same name.
Made for a budget of 40 million dollars, the film took in about 69 million dollars worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds 5.5 out of 10 from roughly 145,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6 out of 10 from far fewer votes, indicating a larger and harsher sample on the former. A critics' rating of 4.6 out of 10 from 161 reviews places professional opinion below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Producer Joel Silver considered the idea of shooting the film in 3D, but decided that such an option would not be in demand at the time of release.
- The main villain of the film is named Vincent – in honor of actor Vincent Price, who played the main role in the original film "House of Wax" (1953).
- Paris Hilton didn't audition; she was the director's only choice for the role of Paige.
- Despite Chad Michael Murray and his sister being credited with the surname 'Jones,' they weren't actually given a last name.
- Elisha Cuthbert attached wooden risers to the soles of her shoes to appear slightly taller in scenes filmed with Jared Padalecki. This trick was only used in shots where the actors were filmed from above the knees.
- It took 10 weeks to build the sets for the abandoned town where the film takes place. The prototype was the real city of Asmara in Eritrea.
- During the filming of the final scenes, Elisha Cuthbert (playing Carly Jones) constantly got stuck in the wax. Peanut butter was used instead of wax during filming.
- When filming the scene where her character's lips are glued together, Elisha Cuthbert insisted on using real glue instead of filming with prosthetic lips.
- Extras played a significant part of the wax figures in the church where Elisha Cuthbert's character hid, and in the movie theater where the characters played by Cuthbert and Chad Michael Murray were hiding.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
