Development of Toronto in April 2010
Variety reported in July 2009 that
Lionsgate greenlit Saw VII and announced
David Hackl would return to direct, his last film being
Saw V. Producers
Mark Burg and
Oren Koules, and writers
Patrick Melton and
Marcus Dunstan also returned. Brian Gedge replaced series'
cinematographer David A. Armstrong.
Pre-production began on September 14, 2009. According to Melton, there were plans to title the film
Saw: Endgame. Originally two sequels were planned after the sixth, but in December 2009, Melton stated in a
podcast interview with the UK radio station
Demon FM that
Saw VII was the final installment and would address unanswered questions from previous
Saw films, such as the fate of the first film's protagonist
Dr. Lawrence Gordon and other
John Kramer / Jigsaw survivors from previous films, while bringing a final resolution to the series. The storyline for a
Saw VIII was combined into
Saw VII; this decision was primarily due to
Saw VI below average box office performance. On July 22, 2010, in an interview with
USA Today the producers confirmed that
Saw VII would officially end the film series. Burg told
Reuters that, "In every
Saw movie, we left questions open and in
Saw VII we answer every question the audience has ever had". He added that, "even new viewers will be able to follow and get caught up to speed".
Saw 3D was originally intended to be two separate films. According to Melton and Dunstan, "It was our original intention to make the final
Saw in two parts, but when
[Saw] VI didn't do so well, the studio got nervous and we were only allowed to make one more". In January 2010,
Kevin Greutert, who made his directorial debut with the sixth film, was about to begin work on
Paramount's
Paranormal Activity 2 when
Twisted Pictures suddenly dismissed Hackl and forced Greutert on the project by exercising a "
contractual clause" in his contract, much to Greutert's dismay. When Greutert arrived on set two weeks before filming began, he performed a "compressive re-write" of the script. Melton explained that, "He has a lot of ideas, but it's a bit hard and extreme to implement all of these ideas because sets have been built, people have been cast, props have been bought or created, and with the
Saw films they are so specific in set design because of the traps. It becomes very problematic and difficult to change things a whole bunch right in the middle of it".
Casting Casting began in mid-December 2009.
Cary Elwes reprised of the role of Dr. Lawrence Gordon, last seen in the first film. The filmmakers wanted to bring Elwes back earlier, but Elwes wanted to wait until the last film. His character was planned to return by Greutert in
Saw VI, but Elwes was unavailable. Elwes described his character as having
Stockholm syndrome.
Tobin Bell returned once more to reprise his role as John Kramer / Jigsaw, even though he had originally signed on to appear in five
Saw sequels as he previously stated prior to the release of
Saw III.
Chad Donella appeared in the film as Internal Affairs detective Gibson, who was also Detective Hoffman's former partner.
Gabby West was cast as Kara after winning the second season of
Scream Queens.
Tanedra Howard, the previous winner of
Scream Queens, who appeared as Simone in
Saw VI, reprised her role in the film.
Chester Bennington, the lead vocalist of the
rock band
Linkin Park, has a role in the film playing Evan, a
white power skinhead. Bennington met with an acting coach to prepare for his role. He said, "It was actually a little more difficult than I expected because it took a lot for me to figure out how to portray this guy and what exactly his motives were going to be throughout. I thought maybe I was overthinking it, and I met with this really great acting coach who helped me walk through and make sense of the, 'Motivation.
Devon Bostick was offered to reprise his role as Brent Abbott from
Saw VI, but turned the offer down due to scheduling conflicts with
Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Filming in 3D Saw 3D was shot entirely in
RealD 3D, using the SI-3D digital camera system, rather than filming on set traditionally and later transferring the footage to 3D. Before choosing 3D, Burg and others viewed a minute of the original
Saw film rendered in 3D and were pleased, which led to them choosing 3D for the seventh film. The sets and traps were designed to take advantage of 3D. To continue the fast pace of the previous films, the SI-3D cameras' light weight allowed three-quarters of film to be shot
handheld.
Saw 3D was Greutert's first time directing a 3D film. He said in an interview with
Popular Mechanics that composing a shot in 3D was tricky compared to 2D; he explained, "If you've got both cameras looking at a subject and there's a very bright sheen on the side of the person's arm that only one camera can see, there's a good chance that when you look at a composite of the two images that sheen will not register in 3D space. It looks like a mistake. These things aren't an issue at all in 2D but in 3D are obsessively problematic". Given the cost of filming in 3D, Greutert said the budget was $17 million, the most expensive of the series up to that point.
Principal photography began on February 8, 2010, in
Toronto,
Ontario, and wrapped on April 12, 2010. Filming took place mostly at Toronto's
Cinespace Film Studios. . Rowin had a small role in the film. When determining the style of 3D shooting they wanted to use, Burg felt that the audience would want several moments where objects move into the audience, comparing this to
My Bloody Valentine 3D. He acknowledged that this method would be used, but expressed an interest in shooting from the victim's perspective, similar to that of
first-person shooter video games being rendered in 3D. Dunstan added that "It adds a whole new layer of discipline and criteria to creating these moments. We've had a very flat surface to try to get a reaction out of you. Now, we get to push out a bit and envelop the viewer, still maintaining the patterns that have worked and been successful, but also to raise it up a notch." Commenting on the change to filming in 3D, Bell stated it would not affect his performance or methods of acting, noting that it would be an "interesting experience". Mandylor called the 3D shoot "more tedious and longer". Flannery described (inaccurately, as the final production includes many to-viewer shock shots) the 3D aspect as being "[not] shot in 3D so that you can, per se, see blood coming directly at you. It's in 3D for the texture and the depth, for the architecture, to get a sense that you're in the scene but there's no 'we want to see blood coming at the lens' it's nothing like that. But I think we made a good movie."
Post-production services were provided by
Deluxe Media.
Traps design Filming of the trap scenes, which was done last, began in March. The film's opening trap scene was filmed at
Metro Hall in Toronto, Ontario, just outside
Roy Thomson Hall, and included 400
extras. In the trap, the circular saw blades were actually real and functional, but safety precautions were taken for the actors.
Jon Cor, one of the actors who was in the trap, told Demon FM that he had scars on his hands from the shackles, and said the other actors,
Sebastian Pigott chipped his tooth and Anne Lee Greene lost the feeling in her feet and had to receive medical attention. Producer Oren Koules told horror news website
ShockTilYouDrop.com that there are eleven traps in the film, the most ever in the franchise at that point. There is one "trap" scene in the film that producers would not allow in previous
Saw films that they described as "too violent", "too disgusting", and "just wrong". Melton later confirmed that was the "Garage Trap", which involved a car and sets off a "chain reaction" with other characters. Gabby West was part of the trap. She told
VH1, "They molded my entire face, and basically my entire upper body after my belly button. They put layers and layers of different materials on you and you have two straws in your nose so you can breathe. It was so scary! They put so much of it on, you can't see and they put it in your ears so you can barely hear anything. That was part of the prep for the film, which was really cool, to have a dummy made of yourself. But scary." Over 25 gallons of
fake blood was used in the film, which was two and half times more than
Saw II. ==Release==