Blumhouse’s Imaginary takes audiences into a nightmare scenario where a family is haunted by an imaginary friend teddy bear who is not only very much real, but has rather dark intentions for all who come into contact with its fuzzy self. One of 2024’s latest movies gave Jurassic World actress DeWanda Wise a chance to lead a horror film, as well as bring her producing talents to the table. When we spoke to Wise, she shared how producing Imaginary had her contemplating two wild questions about the movie’s plot.
When I spoke to the Imaginary actress about her time producing the Blumhouse movie, DeWanda Wise shared that she’s very big on “specificity” when it comes to the projects she takes part in. She shared that filmmakers should expect a “50-page character biography” from her and she got to expand how she approaches roles tenfold as a producer. Here’s one thing she especially felt like she needed to contemplate behind the scenes in her words:
There were a couple of things that we were super mindful of and troubleshooting when it came to the setup in the world. It's like, why does anyone move back into their childhood home? Do you know what I mean? So Jeff and I spent a lot of time making sure that it was abundantly clear that there were good memories, and that there was just this slither of time, this one incident that she could not recall. You know what I mean? Like, we were going through the script and making sure that everything added up to the best of our ability.
A classic question we often ask horror heroes is why they decide to run toward the danger. Why do they decide to go down the dark basement or toward the creepy noises? This was apparently something Wise was very much mindful when helping develop Imaginary. She worked with the filmmakers to figure out a legitimate reason why Jessica would go back to her childhood home after the trauma associated with it.
The answer was simple: she doesn’t remember what happened there. And throughout Imaginary, she begins to realize why she didn’t spend her whole childhood there. Here’s another question Wise (more recently) contemplated:
Somebody just told me that we didn't wash the bear, and it just, I was like, man, we ain't washed that bear. We should have washed that bear. What kind of stepmom is she? You know? Amazing. So yeah, all those details, I really relished it.
This is a funny question, but it goes to show that DeWanda Wise really did start thinking about everything about Chauncey and the journey of this film. It would have been pretty amazing if there was a bear-washing scene in Imaginary, but that ended up being an afterthought for the actor/producer.
During CinemaBlend’s interviews with the Imaginary filmmakers, Jason Blum and director Jeff Wadlow shared their thoughts on IF also coming out this year, and Wadlow talked about casting 10-year-old Pyper Braun in her especially chilling role.
After hitting theaters early this month, Imaginary has just become available to rent and buy on digital platforms. The movie suffered negative reviews from critics overall (check out CinemaBlend’s Imaginary review) and has made $30.5 million worldwide at the box office.
Check out what other upcoming horror movies are on the way next here on CinemaBlend! Sydney Sweeney’s Immaculate just hit theaters this past weekend, and The First Omen will scare up theaters on April 5.
