The “Five Nights at Freddy’s” diehard fanbase has already made the sequel, which was released Friday via Universal Pictures, a box office champ. That seems largely due to a creative team that knows the IP and caters to the fans first.
“Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” was scripted by Scott Cawthon, who created the video game series the films are based on. Emma Tammi returns to direct the second installment, and she revealed to Variety not only how she collaborated with Cawthon to bring his world to the big screen, but also how fan feedback helps to shape the films.
“It was definitely something we took into consideration and listened to a lot,” she said. “Scott, for sure, in terms of incorporating certain things in the script, and me as well, in tonally making sure we were sticking the landing in terms of what it sounded like audiences really wanted out of a sequel. So it was something we internalized. I think this is kind of a uniquely collaborative exercise, making these ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ films with the fan base. We’re really listening to them hard. And even in the first film, I think Scott spent years and years thinking about it, and also listening to fans in terms of what their favorite parts of the lore were.”
That feedback included amping up the horror elements, which Tammi and Cawthon focused on directly with the sequel.
“We were always toeing the line between trying to make it a satisfying horror experience and also make it a PG-13 accessible experience for a younger audience,” Tammi said. “I think we were able to push things even further this time tonally and in terms of the scares, both the amount of them and just the overall impact. I also think one of the cool things about the sequel is that Scott’s vision was always that each film, should we be able to make more than one, would correlate with the games. So the first film correlated with the first game, and the second one now with ‘FNAF 2.’ Just knowing how many more animatronics we were going to be incorporating into this film, because of how many more animatronics are in the second game, was a great jumping-off point that set the tone for the scale in an organic way. You can’t add a bunch more animatronics without adding a bunch more scares.”
Tammi also discussed how she collaborates with Cawthon to make sure their shared vision successfully makes it onto the big screen.
“We’re definitely talking about the story all the way through the script writing process, but throughout prep and production, things are still changing,” she said. “Working with the actors on their character arcs also has been a really collaborative process, and I think it has helped flesh out some of the human characters that we’re tracking — not just from a lore perspective, but from our own canon within the films. So we’re in super close discussion about all of those things. In terms of the way things are shot, there are certain sequences where our communication gets super meticulous, and then other things where Scott’s watching, and if he has any thoughts, I’ll hear from him, but we’re on our road to making the movie as best we can, and he appreciates that. It’s a very collaborative process throughout, including post-production, marketing and all the things. He’s very involved.”
By having the game’s mastermind so involved, the team is able to fill the films with easter eggs while also keeping it accessible enough for audiences unfamiliar with the dense backstory to understand.
“Some of the feedback from the first one — obviously this is coming from the fan base and less so from a general audience — was that they did want a little bit more service to the gameplay, which we definitely have in this movie,” Tammi said. “The whole film is loaded with easter eggs and moments that I think are super exciting for the fans to see, especially together. We just had a premiere screening on Tuesday, and getting to hear people clapping at certain moments and respond to easter eggs that we’ve not yet heard reactions of was so satisfying and exciting. Even the people in the audience who didn’t know anything about the lore or the game got such a kick out of those moments because they knew they were special for some reason, and they didn’t know exactly why. But it was still a fun ride to be on with them.”
Watch the “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2” trailer below.
