Orphan
All team (154)
Short description
Orphan follows Kate and John, a married couple reeling from the loss of their unborn child. With their relationship strained and Kate still haunted by the trauma, they decide to adopt. At a local orphanage they are drawn to Esther, a nine-year-old girl whose poised, old-fashioned manner sets her apart from the other children. She comes home to a family that also includes the couple's deaf-mute daughter and their son. Before long, unsettling incidents begin to pile up, and Kate becomes convinced that Esther is hiding something, while those around her doubt her account and her judgment. The film is a horror mystery thriller that keeps its central secret out of view.
Jaume Collet-Serra directed the film, the third of the thirteen features he has made, arriving between Goal II: Living the Dream and Unknown. David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick wrote the screenplay, and Joel Silver, Leonardo DiCaprio and David Barrett produced. Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard play Kate and John, with Isabelle Fuhrman as Esther; CCH Pounder, Jimmy Bennett and Margo Martindale are also in the cast, which numbers twenty-four credited performers.
Made for about 20 million dollars, the film took roughly 78 million dollars worldwide, a strong return against its budget. On IMDb it holds 7 out of 10 from around 276,000 votes and on TMDB 7 out of 10 from 5,774 votes. A critics' rating of 5.8 out of 10 from 163 reviews places professional opinion well below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The original title of the film was “Orphan”.
- Filming was originally scheduled to begin as early as December 2007 in Toronto.
- In the script, Esther is a girl with fair skin, delicate features, and platinum blonde hair. Isabelle Fuhrman did not fit this description at all, but the film crew was so impressed with her audition that they decided to cast her in the role.
- Following numerous complaints from adoptive parents and orphanages, Warner Brothers was forced to remove from the film's trailer a scene in which Esther says that it is harder for parents to love adopted children than their own. However, this episode is present in the film itself.
- The photograph of the Saarna Institute in the newspaper is a photograph of Alma College, named after St. Thomas (Ontario, Canada). The building burned down on May 28, 2008.
- Director Jaume Collet-Serra decided to spend only one or two takes on the scene where Esther says an obscenity to Kate, so the girl wouldn't have to swear repeatedly.
- The author of the Kate-related articles on children's mental deviations is Isabelle Côté. She is the film's graphic designer.
- The scene where Kate records and plays music on the piano was actually longer. And when Vera Farmiga, who is herself an experienced pianist, learned that director Jaume Collet-Serra had decided to cut part of it, she was furious. Nevertheless, Vera thought the full version would be released on DVD, but that didn't happen either.
- In an earlier version of the script, Esther sang Doris Day's song "Que Sera, Sera."
- Isabelle Furman auditioned for the role of Lilith Sullivan in the film "Case 39" (2007), which has very similar themes to "Orphan".
- The sign next to the doorway of Esther and Daniel's school reads: "R.J. Gilbert Elementary School" – this is a reference to the film's production manager, Ronald Gilbert.
- Ariana Enginger celebrated her seventh birthday on the set of "Orphan". The entire cast and crew threw her a big party.
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