How Chris Rock convinced Lionsgate to reinvent the Saw franchise with a buddy-cop twist
In short: When Chris Rock pitched a horror concept at a wedding, he inadvertently steered the Saw franchise into uncharted territory. Spiral: From the Book of Saw attempted to blend the series' signature traps with a gritty police procedural, but the result left both critics and producers questioning the future of the brand.
The origins of Spiral trace back to a chance encounter between Chris Rock and Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns at a wedding in Brazil. Rock, a long-time fan of the franchise, wanted to pivot into horror while injecting his own creative vision. Producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules, who were initially developing a project focused on the original Jigsaw killer, were convinced to merge their plans with Rock's concept. The resulting film, released in May 2021, served as a standalone spin-off rather than a direct sequel to 2017's Jigsaw.
To differentiate the film from its predecessors, the production team made deliberate choices to break with tradition. Director Darren Lynn Bousman, returning to the series, opted not to bring back Tobin Bell, the actor behind the iconic Jigsaw character. Instead, the film introduced a copycat killer and a new puppet named Mr. Snuggles. The production was marked by intense creative hurdles, including the need to cut scenes to avoid an NC-17 rating and a last-minute scramble to finalize the killer's computer-generated voice just two days before the sound mix was completed.
Despite a $20 million budget and a star-studded cast including Samuel L. Jackson, the film struggled to find its footing. It grossed $40.6 million worldwide, making it the lowest-grossing installment in the franchise. Critical reception was largely mixed, with reviewers noting that while the film attempted to address themes of police corruption, it often felt generic or disconnected from the series' core identity. Producer Mark Burg later acknowledged that the lukewarm reception influenced the decision to return to the original Jigsaw-focused narrative for the 2023 follow-up, Saw X.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Spiral (2021 film)
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