Sony Canceled INSIDIOUS: OUT OF THE FURTHER Until Lin Shaye Fought Back and Saved It
Sony nearly sent Insidious: Out of the Further straight into the Further before cameras ever had a chance to roll.
The sixth film in the long-running horror franchise was canceled and pulled from the release schedule during development, but Lin Shaye wasn’t interested in watching the series disappear without putting up a fight.
Her reaction to the cancellation was wonderfully direct: “F*ck this.”
Shaye has been a crucial part of the Insidious franchise since the beginning, playing psychic Elise Rainier and becoming one of its most beloved characters.
Elise may spend her time confronting ghosts, demons, and whatever other nightmare fuel happens to be lurking beyond our world, but Shaye found herself fighting a very different battle when Sony decided not to move forward with the sixth movie.
Rather than accept the decision, Shaye wrote directly to Tom Rothman, CEO of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, asking him to reconsider and it worked.
Sony reversed course, Insidious: Out of the Further moved forward, and the movie ultimately made it into theaters. Shaye doesn’t take sole credit for saving the sequel, but she knows that speaking up mattered.
“It gives me chills because I don’t consider myself a mover and a shaker,” she said. “It’s not like I single-handedly got this movie made, but I spoke up. I think speaking up must never, ever stop. Don’t ever stop.”
It’s pretty awesome knowing that Shaye helped give the movie another shot at life, especially because Out of the Further ended up being one of the better sequels in the Insidious franchise.
I’m genuinely happy Sony changed its mind. The movie found a cool way to approach the mythology from a different angle instead of simply recycling what audiences had already seen in the previous films.
It brought some fresh ideas to the story while still feeling like Insidious, and it delivered some great scares along the way. After five previous movies, finding a way to make another trip into this supernatural world feel worthwhile isn’t exactly easy.
For Shaye, however, fighting for Out of the Further wasn’t simply about keeping herself employed or getting another opportunity to play Elise. She was thinking about the horror fans who have supported these movies for the past 15 years.
That connection with the audience seems to have given her plenty in return. “I’m going to live until I’m 250, because I’m taking all this gorgeous energy that’s being delivered to me in such a graceful way,” Shaye said. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”
Shaye has earned her place as the heart of Insidious, so it feels fitting that when the franchise itself needed someone in its corner, she stepped up.
Studios cancel movies all the time, and plenty of those decisions never get reversed. In this case, one of the franchise’s most important stars refused to simply watch it happen.
Fans got another Insidious movie because Shaye was willing to make her case, and considering how Insidious: Out of the Further turned out, horror fans should be glad she did.
Source; Variety