Leigh Whannell
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Leigh Whannell grew up in Melbourne, Australia, where, at the age of
four, he developed an obsession with telling stories. Whether it be
through acting, writing or filmmaking, his primary love was getting a
reaction from an audience. In 1995, at the age of 18, he was accepted
into the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology's prestigious Media
Arts course, where he met fellow filmmaker
James Wan. In his second year of college, he
landed the role of "film guy" on a Saturday morning TV show aimed at
teens called Recovery (1996). Filmed
totally live in the studio and hosted by actual teenagers, the
ground-breaking show was hugely popular down under and was the first to
bring "alternative culture" to Australia's TV screens, featuring live
performances from bands like Sonic Youth,
Weezer, Public Enemy,
Ben Harper,
Pulp and hundreds more. Hosting the film component
of the show, Leigh was lucky enough to interview people like
Tim Burton,
Peter Jackson,
Russell Crowe,
George Clooney, and eventually went on
the host the show in 1999. After graduating from college, Leigh found
himself working more and more as a "host" or "presenter" on Australian
TV - all the while hatching a plan with
James Wan to finally fulfill his dream of
making a film. Small acting roles cropped up from time to time
(including one in
The Matrix Reloaded (2003),
which Leigh has said was "the most fun I've ever had in my life") and,
along with those, some frustrating near-misses (and not so near-misses:
like his cringe-inducing audition for "Lord Of The Rings", in which he
paid $90 to have "hobbit ears" grafted onto his head, turning up at the
casting office dressed as a hobbit - needless to say he didn't get the
role). However, it was missing out on a role in
Alex Proyas Australian film
Garage Days (2002) that finally broke
the camel's back. He called Wan and told him that if they wanted to get
a film made, they would have to pay for it themselves.
Saw (2004) was born. After nine months of
writing, Leigh had written the screenplay for what he thought would be
a self-financed, "Blair Witch"-style feature, with him starring and
James directing. The script gained so much attention that soon enough,
they were shopping it around Hollywood....and the rest is history.
