Summary

• The Autopsy of Jane Doe director André Øvredal's first American movie premiered to critical acclaim, paving the way for future successes.
• Actress Olwen Kelly's performance brought realism to the role of Jane Doe, portraying the corpse through yoga knowledge and skillful stillness.
• The film's chronological shoot order, real coroner interactions, and Black List script accolades contributed to its authentic and chilling impact.

The Autopsy Of Jane Doe is the first American-made movie by Norwegian filmmaker André Øvredal, following his breakout with the found-footage horror movie Trollhunter. The Autopsy Of Jane Doe tells the story of two coroners, a father and son (Brian Cox & Emile Hirsch), called in to examine the body of an unidentified woman (called Jane Doe) to determine the cause of death as well as her history. However, when they begin the autopsy, they start experiencing supernatural phenomena that lead to a night of terror.

The film premiered in September 2016 at the Toronto International Film Festival to critical acclaim. Even though it didn't win major awards, The Autopsy Of Jane Doe ended up being released to glowing reviews and critical praise. The movie's success brought Øvredal to the attention of Guillermo del Toro, as the award-winning filmmaker chose him to direct the adaptation of the supernatural anthology series Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. While The Autopsy of Jane Doe made the director a star, behind-the-scenes stories explain why it was such a success.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe is available to stream on Netflix and Hulu.

10 A Real Person Plays The Role Of The Corpse

Actress Olwen Kelly Plays Jane Doe

Generally, movies use practical effects and prosthetics for scenes that call for the display of dead bodies, but The Autopsy Of Jane Doe did things differently.

Generally, movies use practical effects and prosthetics for scenes that call for the display of dead bodies, but The Autopsy Of Jane Doe did things differently. Actress Olwen Kelly plays the dead body in the movie to make it look as real as possible. André Øvredal selected Kelly out of the many actors who auditioned because of her yoga knowledge. This enabled her to control her body movements as well as her breathing. In the film, the body appears dead, but she is simply lying still with shallow breathing techniques.

Director Øvredal spoke highly of Olwen Kelly's performance as the dead body of Jane Doe (via Entertainment Weekly):

"It was the most grueling role to play, actually, she had to lie there on a slab for maybe eight, 10 hours a day for weeks on end. And it was a cold marble table."

The director said that Kelly never said a word and was completely calm and relaxed throughout the shooting. He also said that there was never a thought of using a fake body because audiences today won't accept that anymore and the body on display "needs to be dead."

9 It Was Director André Øvredal's First English-Language Film

He Previously Directed The Found Footage Horror Movie Trollhunter

André Øvredal is a Norwegian film director. Before The Autopsy Of Jane Doe, he had only made foreign language films in his home country. He is also known for directing commercials. After Øvredal co-directed his first movie in 1997 called Future Murder, he didn't direct another movie until 2010, when he made the found-footage horror movie Trollhunter. The movie was shot in Norway and followed a team of student filmmakers following a man they soon learn hunts actual trolls for the Norwegian government.

This led to André Øvredal directing Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark thanks to Guillermo del Toro

That movie was a festival success story in the United States, playing across the country to critical acclaim. It also earned him the attention of Hollywood, and he got the chance to make The Autopsy of Jane Doe, showing he had a lot to offer outside of Norway. This led to André Øvredal directing Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark thanks to Guillermo del Toro, and he followed that up with the Norse fantasy movie Mortal and the 2023 Dracula movie, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, based on a chapter from Bram Stoker's novel.

8 The Team Worked With Real Coroners

Emile Hirsch Got First-Hand Training

Emile Hirsch and Brian Cox portray the father-son coroners in The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Tommy and Austin Tilden. However, in preparation for the role, at least one of the actors spent time in a morgue and worked with real coroners to learn the trade. Emile Hirsch went to autopsies so he could observe the disposition of the real coroners, including the things they talked about and their views toward life. These experiences prepared him for the roles and enabled him to mimic the mannerisms of real coroners.

As a result, the actor's performance came off as authentic and believable. However, Brian Cox said he couldn't do this and passed on seeing any real bodies being cut open and examined:

"Emile is so much braver than I am. He attended autopsies in Los Angeles. I prefer to imagine. I have a great streak of squeamishness at cutting up bodies. I don’t know that I would last very long" (via Salon).

Cox said that he asked Hirsch what it was like while on the set of The Autopsy of Jane Doe, and he said there were 50 bodies in the room when he attended the autopsies.

7 The Autopsy Of Jane Doe Was Shot In A Chronological Order

Brian Cox Revealed The Movie Was Shot Scene-By-Scene In Line With The Story

On plenty of sets, the filming process doesn't follow the script in its exact order, as there is never really a logical reason to do so. Several different scenes are filmed at different periods during the production run, as this allows for more flexibility. They are eventually patched together in chronological order during the editing process. But for The Autopsy Of Jane Doe, events were shot in chronological order to maintain continuity. It also took plenty of time and effort to set up everything at the autopsy tables, so going back and forth would have messed everything up.

According to actor Brian Cox, shooting in chronological order made the entire process easier for the actors, which he credits to André Øvredal and his skills as a director:

"It was just me and Emile, and we shot it chronologically, as it happened. Each incident we dealt with as it came. I think it would’ve been a monstrously difficult thing to do, shooting out of order" (via Observer).

Cox went on to say that Øvredal trusted his actors, and together they made the script work, while the director created the visuals from that reality.

6 The Autopsy Of Jane Doe Script Appeared On A Black List

The Movie Was A Hihgly Sought-After Story

Examples of past screenplays from The Black List that were made are Slumdog Millionaire and The Revenant.

The Black List is an annual list that reveals the top screenplays that are Hollywood's most liked but have not yet been produced or optioned for an actual movie. The list has been published since 2005 by former Universal Pictures executive Franklin Leonard in conjunction with Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment. Thanks to appearing in this list, the scripts garner more notice from directors, producers, and studio executives. Examples of past screenplays from The Black List that were made are Slumdog Millionaire and The Revenant.

The Autopsy Of Jane Doe's screenplay was part of the 2013 version of The Black List. In 2013, over 250 film executives offered up their favorite unproduced scripts, and a script had to have a minimum of six executives to be included, and the scripts had to have been written in 2013. It took only three years after appearing on the list for The Autopsy Of Jane Doe to get made and released. Other movies from that list that got made include A Monster Calls, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Spotlight, American Sniper, and Pan.

5 Martin Sheen Was Originally In The Autopsy Of Jane Doe Cast

Brian Cox Was Not The First Choice For Tommy

Martin Sheen is an actor that almost any director would love to cast. Less than a decade after he finished his successful television series The West Wing, Sheen signed on to join the cast of The Autopsy of Jane Doe as Tommy Tilden. This had director André Øvredal very excited, saying:

"Being a lifelong fan of Martin Sheen, I am honored and thrilled to get the opportunity to work with him. He also perfectly embodies everything I want his character in the movie to be, so this is a dream come true for me" (via Empire)

Sadly, it was not meant to be. Scheduling difficulties reportedly got in the way, and Sheen couldn't continue with the project. Consequently, the role was given to the equally talented Brian Cox, who, himself, was part of a very successful TV show a few years later in Succession. Based on the timing, it is likely the movie The Vessel that Sheen ended up shooting instead, a movie produced by Terrence Malick that ended up released straight to video. Sheen was also starring in the Netflix comedy series Grace and Frankie at the time as well.

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4 Stephen King Was Impressed By The Autopsy Of Jane Doe

The Legendary Horror Author Compared It To Alien

When Stephen King, an undisputed master of horror, likes something in the genre, there is usually no doubt that it's good. King has written some of the scariest horror novels in history. The movies that have been made from his novels include some of the most memorable and beloved in horror, from Misery and The Shining to Salem's Lot, It, and The Mist. King also wrote a book about the horror genre called Danse Macabre, where he listed his favorite horror movies of all time, an exemplary list of scare flicks.

This meant it was high praise when Stephen King said The Autopsy Of Jane Doe was: "Visceral horror to rival ALIEN and early Cronenberg. Watch it, but not alone." (via Twitter). Director André Øvredal was pleased by King's endorsement, stating:

“Having grown up reading all of King’s classics, admiring his unbelievable imagination and taste in character-based horror, it’s almost otherworldly to read his tweet about Jane Doe” (via Entertainment Weekly).

3 The Autopsy Of Jane Doe Director Drew Inspiration From The Conjuring

André Øvredal Reveals His Inspirations

After watching The Conjuring, Director André Øvredal felt he needed to make something as unique as the now iconic horror film. He said:

"It was such a classic horror movie that came at a time where all these movies had tried to do all kinds of different stuff and then suddenly it was like getting back to basics" (via AV Club).

He then began hunting for the perfect script and, luckily, he found one on The Black List. The eventual result was as brilliant as movies in the horror genre can be. Øvredal's breakout movie was Trollhunter, a found-footage horror movie. While it is not easy to make a good found-footage movie, it does not require the camerawork of a regular horror movie.

Øvredal used found footage because that gave him the popular format to get his movie released. However, he said that style of filmmaking was not natural to him:

"I grew up with filmmakers who are very controlled with storytelling, and that’s why I wanted to do something that was confined, and was just about the acting and the mood that I can create with the camera."

2 Critic Reviews Were Overwhelmingly Positive

The Autopsy Of Jane Doe Has The Same Rotten Tomatoes Score As The Conjuring

The Autopsy Of Jane Doe might not have been as big a film as The Conjuring, but it had extremely great reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a weighted average score of 86%, which is the same as The Conjuring. Many critics praised the film for its suspense, intense scares, and overall creativity. The fact that a huge amount of time is spent giving viewers hints of what could happen instead of going directly to it stood out. While critics loved the movie, the audience score was a bit lower and the box office take was minimal.

The Autopsy Of Jane Doe only made $6.1 million at the box office and only $10,474 of that came from the United States

Movies with great reviews and low box office totals don't usually get sequels. The Autopsy Of Jane Doe only made $6.1 million at the box office and only $10,474 of that came from the United States (via Box Office Mojo). This meant that the movie would not see a continuation of its story. The Conjuring not only has sequels, but it also has two different spinoffs and exists in what is known as The Conjurverse, a horror version of something like the MCU. The Autopsy of Janer Doe was a one-and-done, but that might be for the better.

1 The Direct-To-Streaming Release Killed Its Box Office

The Autopsy Of Jane Doe Had A Video-On-Demand Release First

While The Autopsy Of Jane Doe failed at the box office, that was mostly the studio's fault, as it released the movie in a backward manner. The Autopsy of Jane Doe premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2016. Soon after this, IFC Midnight picked it up and first distributed it to the public via Video-On-Demand. It later went on to be released theatrically. Given that most people had already watched it by the time it hit theaters, it only managed to gross $6 million worldwide.

In today's world, a film being released direct to steaming isn't unusual — but it still hurts a movie's box office. Wonder Woman 1984 was released on Max the same day it hit theaters and it failed to make back its budget, making over $600 million less than the first movie. The Autopsy of Jane Doe release ensured the movie wouldn't make back its budget other than the rental numbers. While the movie is one of the top critically acclaimed horror movies of the last decade, it took DVD and later streaming services like Netflix for people to discover its brilliance.