RE-ENTERING THE RING

In 1998, Japanese director Hideo Nakata's original "Ringu" brought J-horror, or Japanese horror-a distinct style of scary movies that rely more on story and character than on special effects and gore-into the forefront of Asian cinema and pop culture. Based on the Ringu series of novels by Japanese horror writer Koji Suzuki, Nakata's "Ringu" became the highest grossing film in Japanese cinema history and spawned two sequels, one of which, "Ringu 2," was also directed by Nakata.

Following the international success of "Ringu," Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald produced the American version, "The Ring," starring Naomi Watts in the story of a cursed videotape that doomed anyone who watched it to a terrible death in exactly seven days. Opening in fall 2002, the film quickly emerged as a huge sleeper hit, as Americans nationwide discovered the phenomenon that had been sweeping through Asia.

Walter F. Parkes, who again teamed with Laurie MacDonald to produce "The Ring Two," offers, "In recent years, horror has become the domain of slasher movies, but there was a time when horror was really mainstream in Hollywood, when some of the best directors, writers and actors contributed to the genre through movies like 'The Exorcist,' 'The Omen' and 'Rosemary's Baby.' Our intention with 'The Ring' was to try to elevate the genre again. Okay, so fade out-the movie is a bigger hit than even we expected it to be, which gave us the opportunity to continue the myth…to tell the next story. Our main goal with the sequel was to give it the legitimacy that the first movie had."

To achieve that legitimacy, Parkes and MacDonald set out to reassemble the main talent behind "The Ring's" success. Screenwriter Ehren Kruger was brought back to pen the sequel, which also reunited three of the executive producers, Mike Macari, Roy Lee and Michele Weisler. Perhaps most importantly, Naomi Watts, who played Rachel Keller, and young David Dorfman, who had portrayed her son Aidan, were set to reprise their roles.

"I don't think we could have had the first 'Ring' without Naomi, and we certainly couldn't have done the second one," Parkes attests. "After more than two years, she picked up the new script and she was immediately this character-this kind of slightly haunted, at times aggressive, vulnerable and yet strong person, who is Rachel. It's something to see."

Watts acknowledges, "A sequel is a scary thing to enter into because of the comparisons to the first one, which did so well and really resonated within the genre. We want it to deliver and give the audience what they're looking for, but you don't want to repeat the same story. The upside is that you get to carry on with a role that you loved playing the first time around and explore the evolution of the character. So there are a lot of reasons why it's challenging and also quite fun, I think."

Director Gore Verbinski, who had helmed the first film, was unavailable to return for the sequel, but made his own recommendation for its director. "It was a little bit of kismet," says MacDonald. "When Gore was unavailable, we asked him who he thought should direct this film and he suggested Hideo. We all thought it was a great idea, but Hideo was attached to another movie and was also unavailable. We initially went with an extremely talented first-time director, but things ultimately did not work out. Then Hideo's other movie did not come together and he suddenly became available, so I believe it was meant to be somehow."

Parkes notes, "Hideo was someone who could approach this film, not as an assignment or a job, but rather as a continuation of something very real to him. This was the man who literally created the mythology we are trying to explore."

"Clearly Hideo's original movie was so powerful. Although it was made on a small budget, it had a big vision and a specific sensibility and tone that really informed our movie, so it was exciting to have him direct 'The Ring Two,'" MacDonald states, adding, "It was also very reassuring to Naomi Watts, who loved the original 'Ringu.'"

Watts affirms, "Hideo is an incredible director of the genre. I had seen 'Ringu' as well as his film 'Dark Water,' so I had a huge amount of faith in him already. He understands the visual side of storytelling and knows about pacing; he knows how and when to reveal things and when it's better to take your time revealing them. When Hideo came onto the project, it made perfect sense…like it came full circle."

With "Ringu," as well as others of his films, Nakata has established a reputation for his artful ability to subtly conjure up scares, focusing on themes of revenge and evil and overflowing with a sense of dread. In fact, in Time Magazine's special April 26, 2004 issue on the "100 Most Influential People in the World," Nakata was named in the Artists & Entertainers category for his influential body of Asian ghost movies.

In "The Ring Two," the director has incorporated many of the storytelling techniques and recurring themes established in his earlier work: single mothers, orphaned children, vengeful spirits, water, and the effects of technology on society. In Nakata's oeuvre, the banal, routine rituals of daily life-the ringing of a phone, the turning of a faucet-are imbued with spine-chilling suspense and trepidation. Normalcy becomes terror.

Ehren Kruger remarks, "What's interesting about this movie and the first 'Ring' is a lot of our inspirations came from Hideo's inventions in the Japanese films. Now here he is bringing new inventions to a phenomenon he created several years ago. Hideo definitely brought a lot of his own lore and mythology to the supernatural aspects of the story that, in several cases, we hadn't considered. It was a tremendous advantage to work with a director who innately understood the material from having spent so many years thinking about the same themes and issues. Even in the first film, his was really the artistic vision we were trying to honor long before he knew this mythology would come back into his life."

Nakata says that it was Kruger's script that first convinced him to return to the well, so to speak. "When I first read the draft of 'The Ring Two,' I thought it was very interesting and also very different from my 'Ringu 2.' I thought it was powerful and intriguing and would allow me to explore a story that was different from the originals and from the first 'Ring' movie."

"The challenge of any sequel is to find the reason for being…to find a story with its own merits as an interesting tale," Kruger states. "It was a challenge to find an organic way to continue the story of Rachel Keller and her son Aidan and to find a reason for Samara, the villain antagonist of the piece, to seek them out and wreak havoc in their lives one more time."

"There is a primary difference between the two films," says MacDonald. "The first 'Ring' was told in images. The tape was not only the scary thing that threatened to kill you, but also held the visual clues for Rachel to unravel the mystery. It gave us a very obvious map and you literally followed those images through the movie. The story here is more grounded in emotion and has deeper character issues. I think it feels connected to the first, but expands on those aspects."