After writing/directing the short Monster and completing a successful directing attachment with Lars Von Trier, Jennifer Kent’s first foray into feature film making has been an overwhelming success. She’s taken Sundance by storm with directorial debut The Babadook, centered on a grieving widow unable to connect with her son whilst a mysterious presence haunts them, and is fast proving to be one of the most formidable new talents in the ever popular psychological horror genre.
TOM: Where did the idea for The Babadook come from?
Jennifer: I’d made a short film a number of years ago – I was really fascinated by people who suppress grief. So with The Babadook I thought what would happen if a person supressed so much grief, so much of these feelings that the energy just split off from that person and became some kind of entity? That’s where the basics of the film began.
TOM: Can you tell me more about the process of writing the script – I understand you developed it in a place called the Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam.
Jennifer: It was an amazing experience to develop the script at Binger because there was so much freedom for my ideas. Then we had advisors brought on to help shape those ideas. It was one of the best experiences of my adult life. It was very liberating, I got to be crazy with the story.
TOM: It would have been great to have such a level of freedom – sometimes that isn’t always the case with writing scripts.
Jennifer: Yeah, usually there are a lot of cooks early on – so to have the freedom initially to just run with the idea is the most liberating thing.
TOM: I understand that you received funding from some Australian film bodies for The Babadook?
Jennifer: Yeah we got funding from Screen Australia for the production, and also some from the South Australian Film Commission – that’s where we got the bulk of our funding.
TOM: It is quite a unique concept – what excited them about the project?
Jennifer: There are not so many female directors of horror, so they were excited by that. Also I think they responded to the quality of the story, that it wasn’t just a scarefest. That it actually had a story underneath. That’s what has kept me in there for so long, the story that has developed between the mother and her son – that’s the big pull for me when writing and shooting it.
TOM: What is it about The Babadook, the actual manifestation, which sets it apart from other horror movie evil spirits or creatures?
Jennifer: I think it’s pretty hard to separate The Babadook from the lead character. We don’t know if she’s going crazy, whether it’s supernatural, or both. I was very careful when plotting out the film that it could be both. That’s probably a difference in the story.
TOM: When you were writing and developing the script, did you have any other films that you drew upon as inspiration?
Jennifer: There was, but once I really got deep into it I tried not to watch many. I watched a lot of films that I already loved, and then discovered ones I hadn’t seen before just to get inspired. I’d watched a number of films and then focused on its story, style, tones. So initially yes, once I got into writing the script, not so much.
TOM: What is it about horror and psychological thrillers that makes you want to tell stories in this genre?
Jennifer: I think for everyone, we’re all terrified of going crazy. It’s everyone’s secret fear – am I crazy, am I sane. That’s what appeals to me about psychological horror – you can explore the boundaries of the human mind and really investigate things. You can say something about the human condition.
TOM: The Babadook screened at Sundance to an overwhelmingly positive reception – many critics called it the scariest film at the festival – was that an intention you had when you made this film? Did you purposely want to scare the pants off everyone?
Jennifer: I am perplexed by that actually – I’ve had people coming up to me going ‘oh my god that’s the scariest film I’ve ever seen’ and it’s so strange because there’s nothing about it that I find scary. Of course I tried to create a tension and I was very focused on this woman’s mental stage – I really wanted it to have an impact on the audience. I tried to avoid cheap scares as much as possible. They always had to come from the core story.
On having the Australian premiere of The Babadook in her home state of Queensland:
Jennifer: After the warm welcome The Babadook had internationally at Sundance, I am excited for it to have its Australian premiere in my home state of Queensland. I hope the local audiences enjoy it and we’re really looking forward to the national Australian release on 22 May.
The Babadook has its Australian premiere on the closing night of the Gold Coast Film Festival 2014 – screening on the 13th of April, Pacific Fair Cinemas, Broadbeach. Tickets available on the Gold Coast Film Festival website.
