James Wang is a Hollywood director who has directed such acclaimed films as Aquaman for the DCEU, The Conjuring, Astral, Saw. He has amazing taste and special look, his films are always recognizable and have high box office receipts. It is James Wang who is now recognized as the king of horror in Hollywood.
At the end of winter - February 27 - 1977 in the Malaysian city of Kuching, James Wang was born. James's parents were Chinese by nationality, therefore Wang has a corresponding characteristic appearance. The childhood and adolescence of the future Hollywood director did not pass in Malaysia. In 1984, the whole family moved to Australia, because James Wang has Australian citizenship.
Biography of James Wan: childhood and adolescence of the future director
From early childhood, Wang was interested in creativity, he was greatly attracted by cinema. At every opportunity, the boy went to the cinema to watch new films that were being released at that time. He was greatly fascinated by fairy-tale and fantasy plots in films and in literature too. Also, James was interested in such a genre of cinema as comedy. However, since childhood, James Wang had his greatest love for scary, frightening, dark films. One of his favorite films is the classic Poltergeist. Perhaps it was this passion that came from childhood that ultimately influenced the fact that James Wang, in the first place, chose a horror theme for himself in cinema. However, his enthusiasm for fairy tales and fantasy is also reflected in his films, which have a special - author's - handwriting of the filmmaker. As James Wang himself says, he made the final decision that he would become part of the global film industry at the age of 11.
James Wang was educated at St. Thomas's School. It should be noted that the boy's academic performance was good and Wang did not bring much trouble to his parents. Due to the fact that many subjects were given to him very easily, and the desire to finish school as soon as possible was strong, James Wang graduated from the walls of the educational institution at the age of 16, passing exams as an external student and passing the school curriculum in an accelerated form.
James Wang continued his further studies in Melbourne, where he moved after graduation. There he entered the Royal Institution and then the Graduate School of Film and Television, one step closer to fulfilling his cherished dream of being a famous film director.
While pursuing higher education, James Wang met Lee Wannell, with whom they formed an ideal creative union a little later. It was together that they wrote the script for the first film in the Saw franchise. The plot was not left without implementation: during the completion of their studies at the film school, Wannell and Wang shot a short, slightly amateur film based on this scenario. It lasted only 10 minutes. Having demonstrated it to their teachers, the comrades did not even suspect that their work would like it so much. In the end, it was decided to send the short film to Hollywood. Oddly enough, but there they were extremely interested in the plot and shooting. As a result of this, a few months later, James Wang received an invitation to go to America and become a director of a full-length horror film. From that moment on, Wang's career began.
Before moving to Hollywood, James Wang worked in television in Australia. There he held two positions: editor and assistant director, filming television shows for evening entertainment on TV.
In 2000, James Wang also directed another short film called Infernal, which again fell into the horror genre. For this "tryout" Wang was awarded the Honorary Prize of the Australian Informal Film Festival.
James Wang and the Saw franchise
The debut in Hollywood took place at the turn of 2003-2004. It was at this time that the full-length horror film "Saw" was filmed.
James Wang, having signed the contract, turned down the director's award, choosing for himself the fee from the film distribution in the cinema. And this despite the fact that at that moment there was no guarantee that the film would fall in love with ordinary viewers. However, the film studio and producers working with Wang gave the young ambitious director complete freedom of action, not limiting him to any plot lines.
An interesting fact: the actors who took part in the filming of the film were deprived of the opportunity to rehearse the scenes, they had to act immediately and do it exceptionally well. The preparation time for the pavilions, scenery, venues and props for the film took only 5 days. And the budget for the movie "Saw" by James Wang was $ 1 million.
When Wang's film debut went on the screens of cinemas, fame and success literally fell on the young director. The film has paid off many times in terms of the budget, collecting more than $ 55 million worldwide.
After such success, it was decided that the second part would be. It was released a year later. Wang followed her with Saw 3, which was presented in 2006. And this was not the end of Wang's work on the MCU "Saw", there were also other pure stories of this story. For example, the fourth film, released in 2007, came as a surprise to many. Ultimately, however, Wang split from this project.
Development of the directorial career of James Wang
James Wang has established himself as a director and director of creepy, but memorable and grossing films.
It was he who directed Dead Silence, a film that many critics consider to be insanely frightening. In addition, this story to some extent violates the usual canons of the genre, which is why it stands out favorably against the background of other similar films.
Van's projects "Astral" and "The Conjuring" have become very successful. Thanks to the interest these first films generated, the decision was made to film sequels, creating separate universes for each story. Despite the fact that "Astral" is currently a completed project, work on the cinematic universe "The Conjuring" is in full swing and is in full swing. In 2018, the movie "The Curse of the Nun" was released, which also entered this universe. In the very near future, new films should be released, for example, "The Conjuring 3", which will further expand and diversify the cinematic universe.
Thanks to his active work in the horror genre and the success of James Wan's upcoming films, Hollywood has begun to be called the modern king of horror.
However, the famous director is not only busy working on horror films. James Wang filmed one of the parts of "Fast and the Furious", which was released in 2015. He worked on the DC comics' Aquaman, which hit screens in late 2018. It should be noted that at the moment "Aquaman" from the director of "The Conjuring" is the most successful and grossing film of the DCEU, at the box office he was able to beat "The Dark Knight", which for a long time was considered the most successful film based on DC comics. At the moment, negotiations are underway for James Wang to take the director's chair again and direct the second part about Arthur Curry (Aquaman) and his adventures in water and on land.
The personal life of a Hollywood director
James Wang is one of those people who are very zealous in guarding their personal space. At the beginning of his career, Wang insisted that the names of his parents, relatives and friends be removed from all open sources, so that any personal information was destroyed. In interviews, he also does not cover private topics.
It is not known whether Wang is currently in a relationship with anyone. The director stubbornly emphasizes that the main thing in life for him is career and cinema.
