Saw/Trivia

Billing Displacement: Tobin Bell is always top-billed in the later sequels, despite being dead in the "present" and only appearing in a handful of flashbacks and tapes. The displacement is taken to ridiculous lengths in the final film, where Bell is top-billed in spite of being in the film for TWO MINUTES; Cary Elwes appears in three scenes, has four lines of dialogue, and yet he is billed above Sean Patrick Flanery, who, at fifth billing, has the most screentime of anyone in the film and is essentially the main "hero" character; Chad Donella, who appears throughout the film and is the lead cop in the movie, doesn't even make the top five or the posters; Costas Mandylor and Betsy Russell get second and third billing, respectively, even though the former is barely seen until the end, and the latter, while having more screentime that Mandylor, doesn't do a heck of a lot - their billing can be pinned on their being staples of the series, having appeared in every film since Saw III, rather than their roles in the plot.
Executive Meddling:
- Saw III was intended by the writers to be the swan song for the series. The producers wanted more sequels, and had the writers thus make changes to the film to leave room open for future installments. Many of these were fairly minor, such as a shot of Jigsaw pouring wax over a tape that later played into Saw IV. The biggest change, however, was that of Eric Matthews' death. In the original cut, Amanda was supposed to have stabbed him in the neck with a knife, solidifying her transition to a full-out murderer killing out of malice (she had previously killed Adam as a way of mercy-killing). The producers forced director Darren Lynn Bousman to cut it out to leave room for Matthews' return in a later sequel. Thus, the scene now ends abruptly with Amanda simply walking over towards Matthews, and an ADR line of Jigsaw later saying to Amanda that she had merely left him for dead was added. Keep in mind that Donnie Wahlberg (the actor playing Eric) only showed up for Saw III with the promise that he would be killed off, so he was pretty pissed off when they cut out his scene. Darren had to beg him to come back for Saw IV.
- A massively cunning, yet very dickish move by Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures, happened two weeks before the shooting of Saw VII began - they contractually forced the director of Saw VI, Kevin Greutert, to return and direct Saw VII while having David Hackl, the original director, shifted over to a yet-unconfirmed Lionsgate movie. This was due to the fact that Greutert was originally set to direct the sequel to Paranormal Activity, which is scheduled to be released on the same date as Saw VII in a similar situation to how the original film contended with Saw VI in 2009. Needless to say, both Greutert and Hackl didn't take that move very well.
Hey, It's That Guy!:
- What the hell is Luke doing in Saw IV and V?
- Not to mention Benjamin Linus of Lost in Saw I. Pity he never got to meet up with Miles.
  - Or of Lucy Camden in Saw II.
- The president from 2012 is racing against time to save Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts from the record store owner from Seinfeld.
  - Jigsaw is also the guy who gets his ass kicked Clint Eastwood style in In the Line of Fire.
- The second through fourth films have one of the New Kids on the Block.
- The third has Angus Macfadyen, known for his roles as Robert the Bruce, Vice-Council DuPont, and Komodo.
- Also, Julie Benz in Saw V, making a surprisingly smoking hot brunette.
- How did Morris end up as a journalist?
- When did David become head of an insurance company?
- Eddie... erm, Dave, took the wrong job.
- Aaron was in The Tudors, Shelby in Mutant X and Josh got around.
- I suppose Linda got tired of being a nurse and started taking drugs.
- Looks like Connor retired from being a vigilante saint to become a self-help guru.
- Chester Bennington of Linkin Park seems to have given up music so he could act. But what is he doing in that car?
- Looks like Robbie Mercer can't stop getting into trouble with killers.
- Run! Dr. Gordon's lawyer is a leviathan!
Hey, It's That Voice!:
- Zoey and Louis portray Amanda and Tapp in this game.
- Louis returns to voice the senior Tapp in the sequel.
Name's the Same: Two of the films feature a character named Dan Erickson. Another Dan Erickson was one of the main cast in Land of the Giants.
Promoted Fanboy: Chester Bennington was a huge fan of the series long before he got a role in Saw 3D.
Viral Marketing: With Saw 3D being the last film, they finally used did an ARG of Bobby and his Survivors of Jigsaw, including those whose's fate was left hanging like Dr. Gordon.
What Could Have Been:
- Apparently, the original story in the first Saw game involved a one Dr. Gordon that you would encounter toward the end and get clues about throughout the duration of the game, but upon review by Lionsgate (after the game was nearly complete), they nixed the idea because they had plans for Dr. Gordon in the seventh Saw film. This caused the ending to be retroactively changed to instead involve Melissa, a character encountered earlier in the game, allowing already existing character artwork to be used rather than scrambling to create a brand new character at the last second.
- It's also been revealed recently that the first Saw game had to be resubmitted to ratings boards several times, toning down the gore, until finally passing with an M (Mature) rating. In fact, if you look closely at the PAL version of the game for Europe, you'll notice the gory trap cut scenes are edited differently from the North American version. Europe was apparently a little more lenient with what the developers could get away with, but even that edit of the game was toned way down from the developer's original, much gorier, intentions.
Word of God: According to the writers' commentary track on the Saw: The Final Chapter DVD, the two men with Dr. Gordon when he captures Hoffman at the end of the film are Brad and Ryan, the two surviving parties of the trap that started the film.