Caffeinated Clint
“Rings”, in case the exclusion of any returning members in the trailer didn’t already tip you off, is a restart of the series.
No Gore Verbinski. No ‘all grown up’ Daveigh Chase with horribly unwashed hair. No Aussie blonde shrieking and skirting behind hard objects to hide from wet, crawling fiends.
There was a point when “Rings” director F. Javier Gutierrez and Universal Studios considered bringing Watts back to reprise her role from the first two films but they – surprisingly (c’mon, Watts would’ve added some class to a film that, let’s admit it, looks about as high-brow as a DTV “Critters” sequel) ultimately decided to nix linking this third film to the first.
Says Gutierrez in an interview with CinemaBlend, “It was a couple of moments that we were talking about that for a while. The problem is [that the studio] was concerned. There was concern about tying it too much to the previous one. So, it was not necessary. I mean, it would have been cool for the fans, probably. For the new audiences, they wouldn’t care too much. It was kind of forced. We didn’t want to force it too. Like, ‘OK, they are putting Naomi Watts here too, because of The Ring.'”
The filmmaker felt that a reprise from Watts may take audiences out of the movie – and maybe it would’ve? – so relied on his new cast – including Aimee Teegarden, Johnny Galecki and Vincent D’Onofrio – to introduce Samara to 2017 audiences.
You’ll be able to check out “Rings” for yourself this week when it kicks off in the states. Let us know if it’s one too many trips to the well for Universal, will ya?
