“Not all imaginary friends are friendly,” says co-writer/ director Jeff Wadlow about Chauncey, the cutest teddy bear you never want to befriend. Imaginary friends have formed part of children’s folklore since time immemorial. They bring comfort, joy, understanding and protection – but not Chauncey.
Wadlow purposely doesn’t limit the concept of imaginary friends to the fertile imagination of a child’s mind. “I think the greatest scary movies are often about things that permeate all of the human experience. So, when you can latch on to one of those, and twist and turn it, and offer something unique, it still feels familiar to the audience’s experience.”
“An imaginary friend keeps you company. They’re always by your side and believe in you. They give you this emotional strength. And that’s what the movie is about. I think Imaginary is about an imaginary friend coming into our kid’s life when our kid needs a friend. It just ends up being the wrong friend,” continues co-writer Greg Erb.
“The term imaginary friend implies something nice, but also there’s something a little bit creepy about it. They’re also the friend that you always distrust because they always call you their ‘friend,’” says Jason Oremland.
Jeff Wadlow. Photo by on Kopaloff/ Getty Images for Lionsgate
“Taking a common childhood experience and cranking up the fear factor is all about tapping into something relatable and then twisting it in a way that unsettles viewers. We start with the familiarity of that innocent memory and gradually introduce elements that make it eerie or disturbing. The goal is to create a sense of unease and make the audience question something they once considered safe, turning it into a source of fear and suspense,” continues Jeff.
Jessica – New Marriage. New Step Parent. Old Friend
Jessica (DeWanda Wise) and her new family move into her childhood home. At first her stepdaughter Alice (Pyper Braun) develops a bond with Chauncey, which later becomes something more sinister as he puts her in harm’s way.
Imaginary is ostensibly Jessica’s story and her journey in overcoming her childhood trauma, issues with her father and navigating the minefield of being a stepmom. Much of the story revolves around building out her world and her backstory. Chauncey (which can only be seen by Alice) was once Jessica’s imaginary friend when she needed comfort until she moved and abandoned him.
“What was important to us with Jessica was to give her a backstory that was both unique, but also dovetail to some degree with what our current Alice is going through.” adds Greg.
“We had to explain why Jessica as a kid would have needed an imaginary friend and have needed that emotional support. Her mom was dying and her father lost his mind,” he continues.
“Being a parent is a scary thing. You’re never quite sure that you’re doing the right thing. So, to throw her in this world where she’s automatically a parent to two kids and she didn’t have the best upbringing, has created all sorts of interesting conflicts. Then you throw in Chauncey throwing a huge wrench into the works made for conflict all around,” says Jason.
Staging The Scares – Rise And Fall
Imaginary delivers its horror through dread and measured anticipation more than explicit jump scares.
Says Jeff, “The intention always is to build, whether you’re making a scary movie, an action film or comedy. You want the energy, the intensity of the scares, and the action to build. Not relentlessly build, but you want a rise, a drop, and then the next rise has to be bigger than the rise before.”
“It’s very important to modulate these things and be aware of how they’re affecting the audience. That largely comes from, both instinct, but also kind of stepping out of the story.”
Jeff Wadlow often reads through scripts and gives certain sequences a score do determine how many scares there are as part of his creative process. “It’s critical to keep the audience’s experience in mind. You don’t want your biggest scare in the middle of the film.”
Jessica (DeWanda Wise) & Alice (Pyper Braun) Photo by Parrish Lewis
“You also want to layer in a foundation of these fun characters that you care about, so that once the real scares start popping, it hits you much more. It makes much more of an emotional response,” states Jason.
It comes down to tracking the emotions of the characters.
“There are moments when Jessica is feeling unnerved and anxious and those are great opportunities then to amp that up. Also, there are moments when she’s feeling good. Chauncey is kind of a good thing that’s coming to her life and taking care of her.” These scenes help the audience relax a bit until the next scare,” notes Greg.
Meet Chauncey
The filmmakers don’t simply portray Chauncey as the evil bear. He too, has emotional stakes and deals with issues of abandonment and loneliness.
“One of the things we all decided together was that you have Jessica and Chauncey on opposite sides, but they both really want the same thing. They’re both people that want to be loved, they want this family, and they’re afraid of things falling apart. Jessica’s really trying to be the best mom she can be, and Chauncey thinks he’s being the best friend he can be. He doesn’t want them to leave,” says Jason. Alice is caught in the middle.
Both Jessica and Chauncey have similar needs, but go about very drastically different ways to get what they want
“You always want to understand the point of view of the bad guy. They’re the hero of their own story. You always think about that when you’re writing one of these characters. Chauncey was a great friend to Jessica. He was there when she needed him, and then she left. And from that point of view, you could do the opposite movie and make Chauncey the hero,” adds Greg.
Greg Erb
Jeff Wadlow also explains that writers shouldn’t judge their villains. “There are two kinds of monsters. There’s the monster that is the enigma. That’s the shark in Jaws. You never know the evil that the shark represents. But then, there’s another kind of villain with a point of view and you can see where they’re coming from. You don’t agree with them, but you follow their logic.”
Into The Never Ever
During act three, the tenor of Imaginary seismically shifts into the fantastical world of the Never Ever that Jessica, Alice, her older sister Taylor (Taegen Burns) and their neighbor Gloria (Betty Buckley) must navigate. The filmmakers just “had to go there.” It provides a stark contrast between the real and the fantasy worlds and a distinct change of gear.
This was all done in service to escalate the stakes. It was arguably one of the more contentious parts of the film with tremendous discussions about whether to keep or remove it. Some version of the Never Ever was present in every draft of Imaginary. The filmmakers contend that this underwent the most changes during the development process.
The main considerations for crafting the Never Ever were defining the rules of the world and what they wanted to say about it. Despite its frightening elements, it represents their neighbor Gloria’s sentiment of the Never Ever being a magical happy place where all your dreams can come true.
Greg Erb notes, “It also has that break out feeling that you’re in a place, you don’t know the rules and anything can happen. And that’s the scariest of all.” The style of horror changes from a more grounded creepiness in the real world to a moving hallway of doors and levels.
Jason Oremland
Writing Process
Writing a story like Imaginary begins with countless possibilities. The filmmakers began the outlining process with a bunch of note cards in a specific order to signal the acts – 1A, 2A, 2B and 3. This process took about two weeks.
Team Wadlow, Erb and Oremland sat in an office at Blumhouse and began the process of elimination, rearranging and sharpening the story to a defined structure. Although Imaginary was in development for around four years, the basic structure remained intact for the entire time. It had the dynamic of a TV writers’ room rather than solitary writers taking successive passes of the script. Jeff Wadlow acted as the “showrunner” since he also directed. When Jeff went into pre-production, Greg and Jason took the lead.
The key changes were the addition of certain plot points such as the blended family and amplifying the friction between Taylor and Jessica. This was essential to the story because eventually they would need to unite to save Alice.
Once Imaginary was in production, the trio became more cognizant that the actors were people and had their own interpretations of their characters. This led to more rewriting during production.
Following their ordeal, the family emerges stronger and more unified.
“I think that all the women are definitely in a stronger place together. Taylor and Jessica have gotten much closer and Alice is much closer with Taylor and Jessica as well,” says Jason.
“They are a family forged in fire,” concludes Jeff.
