The Babadook is returning to theaters for its 10-year anniversary—but really, did Jennifer Kent’s searing tale of a mother grappling with grief so powerful it manifests a monster ever really escape your thoughts? The movie is terrifying on multiple levels, adroitly drawing on elements plucked from the darkest nightmares. io9 was thrilled to talk to the writer-director about her 2014 debut, which for a variety of reasons (some decidedly more lighthearted than others) has only seen its pop culture footprint grow larger since its release.
Cheryl Eddy, io9: When io9 reviewed the movie in 2014, the headline was “The Babadook Is the Best Movie You’ll Only Want to Watch Once.” It’s meant as a compliment to how wrenching the movie is, but is that a reaction you encountered a lot?
Jennifer Kent: I certainly encountered that with my second film. That’s the sort of tagline for that film, The Nightingale. I think as a filmmaker, when your first film [is] released—I was aware of many different responses. But yeah, I mean, certainly people were scared by it, which—fear is something very, very personal. Some people weren’t scared, but a lot of people were. So that was obviously thrilling to me
io9: Of course people have watched the movie more than once, and because of that one of the biggest debates around The Babadook is: is the monster real, or is it a hallucination spawned from this tremendous grief? Is that a question you get a lot?
Kent: Well, I remember someone asking me that exact question, is it real or is it in her mind? And I have to say… yes.
io9: Yes to both? I like that.
Kent: [Laughs]
io9: The Babadook is horror themed around motherhood and grief, and in 2022 you had a segment in Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities Netflix series, “The Murmuring,” that’s also about motherhood and grief and repressed feelings, and also starred The Babadook‘s Essie Davis. Why do you see those themes as such a compelling lens into horror?
Kent: Yeah, I probably wasn’t finished with that sort of subject matter, I guess. In “The Murmuring,” I was really fascinated by ghosts. And I [still] am, I find them very sad. I feel for someone to be stuck in a realm and to not really know that they’re in it, perhaps. To me, it was incredibly tragic and heartbreaking. And so I wanted to explore that alongside a human going through some kind of loss or heartache that they couldn’t resolve, and have them intersect. That was what was interesting to me, was the intersection of both the living and the dead, and to explore how they could cross over and connect.
Originally that that episode came from a story by Guillermo. He had the premise, so he had two ornithologists in the ’50s who went to study birds on a remote island, and I thought, “Sold!” That’s all I needed to know. And he wanted to focus on sort of a ghost, an evil child. And I wasn’t so into that. So the other stuff came from me. Even though they have similar themes, I feel that the focus is different.
io9: What is it about Essie Davis that makes her such a favorite to work with?
Kent: I went through acting school with Ess. She was in the year below me, her and Cate Blanchett. So she was in good company. Ever since her early 20s, I was just blown away by everything she did, and so I want to put her on screen more and more. When we were casting “The Murmuring,” I put her forward and that’s the way we went. And she’s always so thorough and so complex as an actress, and really wants to be directed and wants to go there. It’s just a joy to work with her. So I think I’m lucky to have done it twice. She knows I’ll push her—but, you know, hopefully in a compassionate way. You know, there’s trust there.
io9: Around 2017, the Babadook began to take on a life of his own—there was the widely seen fan art with No-Face from Spirited Awayand the elevation into becoming a gay icon. He even popped up on What We Do in the Shadows. What did you make of that unexpected pop cultural presence?
Kent: I feel very vindicated in some ways because when I made the film, when I was developing the film and came up with the word “Babadook,” many people said, “You can’t call the film that. That’s ridiculous. No one will remember it.” And it just just proved them all wrong—this has just somehow slipped into popular culture in a way that you can only ever dream something will. A highlight for me was, I think there’s a reference on RuPaul’s Drag Racefrom memory, which is one of my favorite shows. I was sitting there and in shock, feeling like, “I’ve made it!”
But all joking aside, I think for something to seep into popular consciousness like that is a real compliment. And yeah, I’ve loved it. I’ve loved watching it happen.
io9: And even with that new identity for the Babadook, he’s still scary in the context of the movie.
Kent: I wanted him, or it, whatever it is, to have its own logic that I knew in detail, but that you didn’t ever really get a handle on—which I think is how fear works. When you know what something is, you’re no longer afraid of it, but when you are not sure, that’s when it’s at its most terrifying.
io9: The “cursed book” is one of horror’s most reliable tropes, but it comes to life here in such a unique way. What were the origins of using the children’s pop-up book as the way for the monster to enter the story?
Kent: I toyed with various things, and I’m glad that we came up with a book because a book uses language rather than a doll or an object of some sort. It just felt, “Babadook, book”—I can’t remember what came when in the process, but I had a few options. I thought the book was the most powerful. Then, as the story progressed, it started sort of—you could burn it, you could tear it up, and then it came back. So it just felt right.
And then the next step was to get the maker of the book. Who’s going to make this book? It felt like if it was a pop-up and it’s three-dimensional, it has a life of its own. And then it can sort of create scenarios and images as it does later in the film that are visceral and frightening. We found Alex [Juhasz]who was the creator of that book and just a genius illustrator, an American guy, and he came over to Australia in the months leading up to production and worked with us. To me, it was very important because the book is the central design piece. The world of the film springs up and around from that book. So he needed to be with us so we could work together. It’s very, very hard to do something like that on Zoom or on the phone.
io9: Do you still have the original props?
Kent: Yes, I do … I’ve found an artisan who can kind of create a protective case for it all. I’ve got most of it.
io9: Have you ever given any thought to a sequel, or continuing the story somehow?
Kent: Never thought about it, and intentionally not thought about it. Kristina [Ceyton, the film’s producer] and I hold the rights—which is incredibly rare now for filmmakers—but Kristina knows I’ll never say yes to a sequel. I think there’s just no need for it. There’s absolutely no need to explore beyond what I already did. The only reason would be to make money. As much as I’d love to pay off my mortgage, I also want to be able to sleep at night. So, yeah, not saying yes to that. We’ve had offers.
io9: I bet you have. “A Babadook TV show!”
Kent: The only thing that I was kind of intrigued by is the idea of a musical, which was which was on the cards. And I was kind of open to it, am kind of open to it. But that’s not really a sequel. That’s more a reprisal of sorts.
io9: I think there’s a potential there! Can you say anything about what you’re working on now, or what might be coming up for you?
Kent: We’re about to announce something that’s going ahead, a film based on a book. A very well-known horror book. But I can’t really say more than that at this point.
Find out how to get tickets for The Babadook‘s 10-year anniversary screenings—which kick off September 19, and will include a specially recorded, in-theaters-only discussion with Jennifer Kent—at the Iconic Events website here.
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