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Panic Room (2002)
Starring Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker, and Dwight Yoakam. Cinematography by Conrad W. Hall and Darius Khondji. Edited by James Haygood and Angus Wall. Produced by Cean Chaffin, Judy Hofflund, David Koepp, and Gavin Polone. Written by David Koepp. Directed by David Fincher.
The recently divorced Meg and her daughter Sarah have just moved into a new house. The eccentric millionaire that lived there previously had a “panic room” installed in the master bedroom. The panic room is built of thick concrete walls, has an independent phone line, and features eight surveillance monitors that can see everything that happens in the house. The room is originally seen as a novelty of sorts, but it soon becomes a necessity when the house is broken into. Watching from the cameras, Sarah tells the three intruders to take what they want and leave. But what they want is inside the panic room.
Panic Room is set in a four story house over the period of one night. David Fincher’s challenge with the film was to keep it interesting despite it’s time and spatial limitations. To do this he gave the viewer an all access pass to the action. While the characters are all crammed into small areas, the audience experiences a sort of omnipresence.
The camera literally has no limitations in the house. It moves as freely across a room as it does through a wall, a keyhole, or a coffee carafe. We can see everything that happens, when it happens. To set these tremendously complicated shots up, Fincher used a technique called previsualization.
Pre-vis (as the kids are calling it these days) is a method of storyboard animation that virtually eliminates the guess work in pre-production. The entire house was recreated inside a computer and the camera movement was plotted down to the inch. An hour and a half’s worth of pre-vis animation was initially created for Fincher’s use in Panic Room.
Similar to when Alfred Hitchcock made To Catch a Thief, and when Steven Spielberg made Catch Me If You Can, David Fincher seems to want to take a break with Panic Room. And after the exaggerated controversy of Se7en and Fight Club, you can’t really blame him. He took on the project intending it to be an easy B-movie type of project, and that’s pretty much what you get. It’s not aggressive or challenging like we’ve come to expect from a Fincher fare. He gets to experiment with his amazing vision and also potentially open himself up to a larger audience. All in all it’s just fun to watch.
Budget: $48,000,000
Total US Gross: $95,308,367
Genre: Thriller
Runtime: 112 Minutes
US Release Date: 3/29/02
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Awards: none
Tagline: It Was Supposed To Be The Safest Room In The House.
Quote: “I spent the last twelve years of my life building rooms like this specifically to keep out people like us.”
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