ghost house, now in theaters in the States, ends (spoiler-free) with an ending that we could define as optimistic. An ending that leaves room for new stories.
However, director Justin Simien told The Hollywood Reporter that it wasn’t like that in the beginning. The original plans were different, but they changed when Lakeith Stanfield was cast in the lead role. Tells:
The epilogue was definitely added at the last minute. The first version of the movie had a darker ending that I respected and loved, but which I correctly guessed might not have been approved by Disney. But once we got Lakit, what I felt I needed for the film’s ending. To be honest, I didn’t want a black person to have a tragic end in a movie like this. I wanted him to have hope at the end of the movie, and a tragic ending for a black character would be hard to swallow, at least for me now. So we’ve done something more hopeful, but there’s probably something from a different version as well.
ghost house will be released in Italy on August 23. In the cast, in addition to Lakeith Stanfield, we will find Jamie Lee Curtis, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, Winona Ryder, Jared Leto and Danny DeVito.