Surprise horror prequel Orphan: First Kill hasn’t locked down a release date as of yet despite shooting calling it a wrap this past January, but audiences are going to be in for something special if they share the same sentiments as star Julia Stiles, who’s been praising William Brent Bell’s follow up every chance she gets.
The Bourne actress admitted she doesn’t have any interest in the genre whatsoever, but was won over by the concept and strength of the script, as well as teasing another major twist for a series that pulled off one hell of a rug-pull in its first installment by revealing that young Esther was actually a 33 year-old with a penchant for bloody murder.
In a very confusing turn of events, Isabelle Fuhrman is back as Esther, which sees the 24 year-old playing a 30-something that’s passing herself off as being just ten, with First Kill utilizing good old fashioned forced perspective, practical effects and camera trickery to pull it off. In a new interview, Stiles was once again effusive in her praise, saying she was floored the first time she saw footage from the film.
“The working title was Esther, which I really liked, which is the name of the girl. What’s remarkable is that Isabelle Fuhrman, who played the little girl in the original Orphan, now reprises her role as the same girl, same age, even though Isabelle’s older now. But I just went and did ADR, and I was floored. Because they didn’t use CGI. The tricks that they did with the camera and different perspective tricks that they had, plus her costume and prosthetics and all that, she looks like a child. And her performance is stunning, because she embodies a child too in the way that she talks and the way she walks.”
Fuhrman previously claimed her return as the diminutive but deadly Esther could go down in cinematic history, which is big talk indeed for a relatively low budget chiller that’s coming eleven years after the first installment. Orphan: First Kill is expected to arrive long before the end of 2021, with the lucrative Halloween season surely under consideration to generate the maximum amount of revenue, but it’ll be very interesting to see if the movie manages to live up to the hype and expectations being placed on it by the cast.
