Dream House
In 2009, production partners Daniel Bobker and Ehren Kruger brought Morgan Creek CEO James G. Robinson and vice president David Robinson the script for Dream House.
Bobker and Kruger, who had previously collaborated on the supernatural thriller The Skeleton Key and the action-adventure The Brothers Grimm, were intrigued by the themes that screenwriter David Loucka explored in his psychological thriller and were convinced that Morgan Creek was the right production partner to develop and finance the project.
Loucka wove the fascinating tale of Will Atenton, an accomplished publisher who leaves a hectic job in New York City to spend time with his wife and two young girls in their New England home.
Just as he settles in to begin his new career as a writer, Will’s family is plagued by a series of disturbing occurrences in their house. Now, he is forced to confront the fact that nothing is as it seems.
James G. Robinson explains his decision to develop and produce the material: 'With so many thrillers, it becomes painfully obvious early on what the twist is, and the director spends the majority of the time trying to cover his or her tracks. What set Dream House apart is that it explores the mystery as it happens from one person’s perspective.
'As Will tries to figure out who killed the family, or if anyone actually did, there is self-doubt and self-accusation.
'We loved that you can project your own thoughts onto the material. As it unfolds, the audience will question their own assumptions about what is happening.'
To bring life to the multilayered story, the producers recruited Oscar®-nominated director Jim Sheridan.
The Irish filmmaker, known for an impressive body of work that spans collaborations with Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father and The Boxer to the deeply personal In America and war drama Brothers, never expected that his next film would be a psychological thriller.
Still, he was drawn to the taut material and was impressed by the author’s ability to deftly traverse genres and to keep the reader guessing.
Sheridan acknowledges that he relished the opportunity of helming Dream House. He says: 'I read the script, and I quite liked the compelling idea of a guy living in two realities at the same time.'
The director was keen to shepherd this 'psychological thriller where you don’t know where you are at any point. You don’t know what’s real or who did the murder. In fact, you don’t know if there was a murder at all.'
The filmmaker appreciated that Loucka’s story allowed the reader to intimately enter Will’s mind and to explore our deepest fears of losing our family.
He notes, 'I think a lot of the time people react to tragedy by inventing fantasy worlds. I suppose, at its basis, drama is a kind of belief system invented by human beings to counter the overwhelming reality of death.'
When considering what would become his approach to the material, Sheridan explains: 'You’re trying to capture emotions.
'You’re trying to capture the invisible: a world that you don’t quite see, but rather feel. I wasn’t that interested in just doing a visual change.
'I wanted to get an emotional change that’s at the core of Will a change that comes from the inside out, rather than the outside in.'
As preproduction began, Sheridan began to assemble his top-notch behind-the-scenes team to create Dream House.
As well, he cast the actors to play the characters who lived in and around Will’s dream house.
In doing so, he looked to a man known for his work in the action and dramatic worlds, as well as a veteran of thrillers and an accomplished Academy Award® winner.
Dream House is out now.
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