James Wan

He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw and creating Billy the puppet.Wan has also directed Dead Silence, Death Sentence and Insidious.

Wan was born in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, to Chinese parents, and was raised in Perth, Western Australia, from a young age. Wan was 11 years of age when he first dreamed of making films and his tertiary studies were undertaken at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), where he completed his Bachelor of Arts degree.

Before his success in the mainstream film industry, he made his first feature length film, Stygian, with Shannon Young, which won "Best Guerrilla Film" at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) in 2000.

Since creating the franchise, Wan and Leigh Whannell have served as executive producers to the sequels Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV,[3] but was not involved with Saw V, Saw VI and Saw 3D: The Final Chapter — Wan had instead moved on to create other film works with partner, Whannel.

The release of Saw 3D, complete with its subtitle, was to signify the completion of the franchise; however, Costas Mandylor, an actor in the seventh instalment, revealed that multiple endings to the film had been shot and the series could continue depending on which was used.

The seventh sequel continued the profit margin performance of the original film and earned USD136 million in the global market, based on a production budget of USD20 million, while all films in the series have grossed over USD100 million in the American market.

In August, 2012, various online horror publications stated that a source at Lionsgate, the franchise's production company, had revealed intentions for an eighth Saw sequel, but it was at a "tinkering" stage at the time of the disclosure

Wan's second directorial effort of 2007 was Death Sentence, a film adapted from the Brian Garfield novel of the same name that was written as the sequel to Death Wish.

The film's protagonist is played by Kevin Bacon and has no connection to the horror genre—instead, Bacon stars as a father who seeks revenge for his murdered son, who is killed by a local gang. Whannell features as a minor character in the film, playing one of the gang members who is eventually killed by Bacon's character.

Wan described the film as "a raw and gritty, 70s styled revenge thriller ... It's my arthouse movie with guns

Next, Wan directed the horror film Insidious, which premiered at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival as part of the "Midnight Madness" programme and was sold to Sony Pictures Worldwide for a seven-figure sum within four hours of the premiere's conclusion. The film began its American theatrical release in the first weekend of April 2011 and achieved third place at the box office, with an estimated USD13.5 million in ticket sales.

The horror film news website, Bloody Disgusting, confirmed Wan's directorial involvement with a film entitled The Warren Files. The film centres on the real life exploits of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a married couple that investigated paranormal events.

Originally titled The Conjuring, the film will reportedly focus on the couple's most famous case, second to the Amityville haunting, in which they investigated a witch's curse on a Rhode Island family farm. In his second collaboration with the pair, Patrick Wilson will feature in the film, and he and actress, Vera Farmiga, will play paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, respectively.

Filming commenced in North Carolina, United States, in late February 2012 and New Line Cinema, together with Warner Bros. Pictures, has slated the film for a release on 25 January 2013.

As of October 2012, it appears that the original title of the film has been restored, with Warner Bros having set a 25 January 2013 release date.

A test screening of the film occurred in October 2012 at the New York Comic Con event, where it screened in the IGN Theater, and the audience feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

At that stage, Wan had several more weeks before the film is complete, and a summer release date was announced, with a planned date in July 2013

Wan has confirmed that, after work on The Conjuring is complete, he will direct a sequel to 2011's Insidious. The film will once again be written by Wan's longtime collaborator and close friend, Whannel, and the cast of the original film will be returning; it was later revealed that the title of the film will be Insidious Chapter 2.

Filming for the sequel commenced in January 2013, with the American release date scheduled for 30 August 2013.

The budget for the film has been described as "shoestring" by one media outlet and Orin Peli, the creator of the Paranormal Activity franchise, will return as an executive producer.

Film District has been identified as the company that will be responsible for distribution of Insidious Chapter 2

On 13 November 2012, news emerged of Wan's ongoing negotiations to direct an adaption of the 1980s television series MacGyver. Wan posted on his Twitter account: “People are surprised?? You guys never saw shades of MacG in Jigsaw??", in response to public comments regarding the news.

The screenplay is complete and the series creator, Lee Zlotof, is also involved.

As of 11 April 2013, Wan entered into negotiations with Universal Pictures to direct the seventh installment of the Fast and Furious action franchise after Justin Lin, who directed the previous four sequels, confirmed that he would not continue as director in January 2013.

Wan was an inclusion on a directorial shortlist alongside Jeff Wadlow, Baltazar Kormakur and Harold Zwart.

A final confirmation of Wan's directorial role was revealed in an article published on 17 April 2013, while Lin was quoted in an article that was published on 10 April 2013: "It’s time for me to move on to other things and I’m thrilled that Universal and Neal have selected James Wan to lead the franchise into its new chapter.”

Shooting for Fast and Furious 7 is scheduled to begin in August 2013, immediately following the completion of publicity for part six, and 11 July 2014 has been announced as the release date.

In an interview with Empire magazine, Wan alluded to a simpler approach to chase sequences for the franchise's next sequel, and identified The French Connection, Duel and Speed as his top three films for chase scenes

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