Development approached
Lionsgate with his concept for
Spiral as a way to reinvigorate the
Saw franchise and his own career. According to
Chris Rock, the origins of
Spiral came from a chance meeting with the vice chairman of
Lionsgate,
Michael Burns, at a friend's wedding in
Brazil, and he felt doing something in the horror genre would be a new avenue to take in his career, though he planned to include some comedic elements in the film. Rock approached Lionsgate with his ideas of extending the
Saw franchise, who became very interested in the concept. Lionsgate's CEO
Joe Drake said that Rock's idea was "completely reverential to the legacy of the material while reinvigorating the brand with his wit, creative vision and passion for this classic horror franchise". Following the release of
Jigsaw, Stolberg and Goldfinger had been
pitching a new
Saw film focused solely on
John Kramer / Jigsaw rather than on any of his established apprentices to series veterans
Mark Burg and
Oren Koules, but then Burg and Koules called the duo to inform them about Rock's ideas for a new film, with Rock contacting them shortly afterwards to discuss his concept. Prior to that, other writers had pitched their ideas for the next
Saw film to Lionsgate, but none of them had succeeded, while Stolberg and Goldfinger had come up with eight different versions for the film before Rock arrived and merged his idea with that of the duo. The producers had intended to tell another story focused on John Kramer / Jigsaw for the next
Saw film, which would later materialize into
Saw X, so when their plans were put on hold by Burns, they proposed to bring
Spiral closer into the
Saw universe by adding Jigsaw to the story, but Lionsgate convinced them to make
Spiral a stand-alone movie. Burg and Koules instructed the duo to come up with a pitch for Rock. Stolberg and Goldfinger did so, and their pitch was approved by both Lionsgate and Rock, leading them to write their first draft, which was greenlit a week after being turned in. Rock aided Stolberg and Goldfinger during the writing process, rewriting the story when necessary.
Tobin Bell, who played John Kramer / Jigsaw in all previous
Saw films, did not return in the film, making
Spiral the first film in the franchise which does not physically feature Bell or feature the Jigsaw character beyond photographs. Director
Darren Lynn Bousman explained that the film's killer is a "Jigsaw copycat", not the original Jigsaw, stating his intention to not recast Bell in the iconic role. Bell had expressed interest in returning as Jigsaw if the story delved into the origins of
Billy the Puppet. Having Bell appear as Jigsaw in the film was widely discussed by Bousman and the crew until the last day of filming, but they felt that by bringing Bell back, the film would feel like the ninth installment of the
Saw franchise rather than a separate film like it was intended to be. As the Jigsaw character was killed off in the
third film, Bousman felt that previous films did a disservice by using flashbacks to bring Jigsaw into the story and he did not want to repeat the same mistake in
Spiral nor to disrespect Bell's iconic performance. Bousman considered having Bell sing a
Johnny Cash cover during the ending sequence. Bell recorded the cover, but Bousman dropped the idea as too gimmicky.
Pre-production On May 16, 2019, the film entered
pre-production. Stolberg and Goldfinger were confirmed as scriptwriters. Bousman, who refused to direct another entry after
Saw IV, turned down the chance to direct a
Broadway show in
New York City after Rock insisted he direct the film. Burg and Koules said that Rock's treatment of
Saw was comparable to what
Eddie Murphy had done for
buddy cop films in
48 Hrs., giving the
Saw series a "completely fresh perspective". Stolberg also confirmed that the ninth installment would exist in the same canon as the previous eight films, and would not be a reboot or a direct sequel to
Jigsaw.
Casting Rock starred as Detective Zeke Banks. The character was conceived by Rock, Stolberg and Goldfinger from the conversations they had before writing the screenplay, with Rock musing about what he would do if he were the original
Saw protagonist
Dr. Lawrence Gordon and be forced to cut off his own foot, until they decided that it would be interesting if Rock played a cop ostracized by his colleagues.
Marisol Nichols was cast as Captain Angie Garza; the role was originally written for a male actor, but the producers ultimately gave Nichols the role, who despite being a
Saw fan, chose to not see the previous films but
David Fincher's
Seven in preparation for the role. In an attempt to pursue an acting career on film and television after years acting on
stage, coming across with the film, Patrick McManus first auditioned for the role of Detective Marv Bozwick, but was called back to play Peter Dunleavy while
Dan Petronijevic was cast as Bozwick. A fan of both horror and buddy-cop films,
Max Minghella took on the role of William Schenk as he yearned of starring in a movie with simple story-telling like the buddy cops of his youth like
48 Hrs., and when he read the script, he felt it was that along with a
Saw film.
Filming On a production budget of $20 million, Rock provided rewrites while on set, and completely overhauled the introduction scene for his character. On August 28, 2019, filming officially wrapped up. During post-production, editing was completed by Dev Singh. ==Music==