Since it’s debut in August, the movie ‘The Possession” has made close to $50 milllion in domestica sales. Stiles White is the co-writer of the horror film, along with his wife, Juliet Snowden. They have co-written other notable movies such as “Knowing” with Nicolas Cage and “Boogeyman.” Together, they pulled inspiration from the Jewish community and historical fact to craft one of their newest works.
Q. “The Possession” is based on a true story. What’s the origin of this movie?
A. This whole project started with a 2004 article in The Los Angeles Times. There was a story about a man who bought an antique wooden box at a yard sale. The woman selling the various items said that the box had belonged to her grandmother, who had dubbed the cabinet a “dibbuk box” (meaning “cleavage of an evil spirit”) and warned her kids “never to open it.” Not only that, the grandmother had instructed the family that when she died, she was to be buried with the box — and for various reasons, that request was not granted.
So, this guy buys the box and immediately weird things start happening in his life. A whole series of unexplained phenomena: disembodied voices in the house, lights smashing and breaking without cause, sudden illnesses, intense nightmares of an ancient hag attacking the man in his sleep.
The man realizes that all these events started as soon as the box came into his life. He sells it on eBay, and now weird phenomena start occurring all over again to the new owner. That person also sells it, a third owner now gets it and guess what? The phenomena keep happening.
Sam Raimi’s company, Ghost House Pictures, got the rights to the story and that’s where we came onto the project.
We wanted to keep as many true elements and aspects of the horrific phenomena from the actual story. The real dibbuk box has Hebrew carvings on the outside and has a Jewish history behind it, and we wanted to stay true to all of that. Inside the box, the new owner found various personal “tokens”: a couple of old coins, a small candleholder, lockets of hair. Furthermore, he found traces of wax drippings on the outside of the box, as if it had been used for some kind of ritual. Was the box built to somehow contain a dibbuk? That’s what we wanted to explore.
Q. Can you describe the writing process?
A. I work with my wife, Juliet Snowden. We co-write everything together. The first step is that we usually go in for a meeting and pitch our story concepts to the producers and executives. On a movie like “The Possession,” they had this article and the idea of a dibbuk box. So they’re looking for a writer to take those basic ideas and flesh it out into a full script with characters and structure — the whole deal. So the first job is to get the job. You’re up against other writers. The producers pick the take they like the best and off you go. You usually have an outline of some kind. Three acts. All the beats and key moments. Juliet and I split up the outline and start writing first drafts of the various scenes. We swap stuff back and forth, make revisions as we go and keep working toward the end of the script until we have a “fade out.” A first draft like that can take anywhere from four to eight weeks. It all depends. As soon as we feel ready with the draft, we submit it to the producers. On “The Possession,” once director Ole Bornedal signed on, we got into a series of rewrites with him.
Q. Were there any specific challenges on “The Possession?”
A. We wanted to get the Jewish research right. We knew at some point in the story, the character Clyde (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) needed to seek the help of an expert. And since there are Hebrew inscriptions on the box, he needed to go in that specific direction. When Juliet and I were first married, we lived in Hancock Park, an area of Los Angeles that has the second largest Hasidic population in the United States. The Hasidic culture and customs were always fascinating to us, and when we were developing “The Possession,” we thought that would be an interesting world for Clyde to enter. He becomes a stranger in a strange land.
Since the story is set in New York State, we had Clyde travel to Borough Park in Brooklyn, which is the largest Hasidic community in the U.S. He seeks out a rabbi who has information about the dibbuk box. Usually in movies of this kind, an elder religious figure helps the person in need. We wanted to change things up a bit. We thought it would be interesting if the older members of the community were fearful of the box and resistant to help, and that it was the younger son of the rabbi who steps up. We started thinking about a character archetype for this guy, and we kept coming back to reggae hip-hop artist Matisyahu as an image in our heads. Someone who stood out and was a little alternative, even within his community. We thought that the very first time you’d meet this character, he’s listening to his iPod, earbuds in. Just a different vibe right away. We wrote the character that way, and then about a week before filming, we asked the producers who they ended up getting to play the character Tzadok, and they said: “We got Matisyahu.” We were blown away. It was like we imagined something and kept focusing on the character in a certain way, and it became real.
Q. Were you involved in the filming process?
A. On this movie, we were involved in rewrites as they were filming. You’re getting glimpses and bits as the process goes along. When they start actually casting a movie, it’s the first real shift in your mind. You finally have a face and voice for this character you’ve been thinking about. And then a funny thing happens: the actors really become the characters and bring them fully to life. Suddenly you can’t remember your image of the character when it was just on paper. That goes for every creative part of filmmaking. The music. Locations. Art direction. It’s collaborative. Everyone gathers to tell this story.
Q. If you could tell aspiring writers one thing, what would you tell them?
A. Find scripts of movies and read them. Really study the way the scenes are put on the page. It’s a different kind of writing. You’re conjuring images, moments — a certain pace and flow that feels “movie-esque” in the mind of the reader. Read the script and then compare it to the finished film. Do that for as many scripts you can get your hands on. You’re going to have some big ah-ha moments when you do that exercise. There are also a lot of really good screenwriter blogs out there. John August (“Go,” “Big Fish,” the upcoming “Frankenweenie” movie from Tim Burton) has a great one (www.johnaugust.com). Finally, I would tell aspiring writers to form a group and stick together. Help out. Go to each other’s plays, events, screenings and parties. Stay connected and don’t fall away. Build out your social network. You will need that when you are ready to get an agent or get your script out.
OK, that’s more like three things. But it’s a good place to start from.
