Possession Movie is romantic suspense!

ADDICTED TO ROMANCE . . . AND SUSPENSE: You will love Possession

Based upon the Korean classic Jungdok, which translates to "Addicted," Joel Bergvall and Simon Sandquist’s Possession movie is also about a man in love with his brother’s wife. But unlike its chilling predecessor, which focuses on the brother-in-law’s addiction to a love he cannot have, Bergvall and Sandquist’s possession film is told from the woman’s point of view, and focuses on how she wants so very much to possess her husband’s spirit after he has fallen into a coma. Recognizing from the moment they read Michael Petroni’s mesmerizing script that they had a fantastic "romantic supernatural thriller" on their hands, the directing duo of Bergvall and Sandquist were literally possessed with the idea of directing the Possession movie. And, to truly make it their own movie, they didn’t watch Jungdok until a week before they began filming. "It was a very, very good screenplay," recalls Bergvall. "We were delighted with the opportunity to direct it, and we saw immediately that we’d need a strong female lead because it is definitely Jess's predicament that is most compelling." Producer Doug Davison, who had enjoyed great success working with Sarah Michelle Gellar on The Grudge and The Grudge 2, knew that she was a natural choice to play Jess. The other producers Nigel Sinclair and Guy East readily agreed, as did the directorial team of Bergvall and Sandquist. "Sarah was the perfect choice. She really made it her movie and literally became Jess," says Bergvall. "I think she could truly relate to the character’s success and drive, and she did a wonderful job of conveying Jess’s conviction to learn the truth." "Jess definitely experiences a range of emotions – from love to hate and back again," observes Sandquist. " Sarah handles each feeling beautifully and takes the audience right with her." Gellar’s initial reaction to the script was one of surprise. "The one thing about this movie is that it’s exactly what you don’t expect," says the actor known for her Golden Globe nominated performance as the star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "Every time you think you know where it’s going, it goes somewhere else, and the psychological aspect of those twists are what I find most fascinating. The emotional roller coaster Jess goes through is an actor’s dream." Like the directors, Gellar held off on seeing the Korean version, Jungdok. "The last thing I wanted to do was to steal from someone else’s performance," admits Geller. "I didn’t want to be influenced in any way because Possession is such a different movie, especially because it's told from a woman's point of view. It's really cool how her perspective changes from the beginning of the film to the end. For example, everything Jess thought was stable in her life, and everything she thought she knew to be true, is suddenly taken away from her. It’s an incredible rollercoaster ride, both for the actors telling the story and for the people watching it." Gellar adds that she especially likes how the movie explores the concept of passionate, irrepressible love. "Possession is all about how far we’ll go for love. What people are willing to change, what we're willing to become and what we'll adapt to. It's really a fascinating concept if you think about it – the whole idea that if you love someone that much you can actually find a way to come back to them from a coma." "It’s nothing but mind games," says Gellar. "I think as an audience member it’s going to be fascinating because, just when you think you’ve figured out what a character’s intentions are, it completely flips. Every time something happy happens, it’s followed by something tragic. With the role of Jess locked in, the producers turned toward casting the brothers, the most challenging of which was Roman. "It was a critical role to cast and required a very tricky performance because the actor essentially portrays two different people in the same body." remembers Davison, adding that the filmmakers held extensive auditions to find the right actor. "But once we saw Lee Pace, there was no question that he was our guy. He came in and read and just blew everyone away." Finding the actor to play Ryan came next, but it also turned out to be a difficult task. "We had this vision that we would cast both guys and have a full week of rehearsal so they could see each other’s character traits and play off each other," remembers Sandquist. "But as fate would have it in the movie business, that didn’t happen. We found Michael Landes about 48 hours before shooting started, got him on a plane, and had him on the set the day of the read-through. He was just fantastic." Bergvall completely agrees. "Michael has such an innate ability to be absolutely loveable. He’s so charismatic that you just cannot help like being in his presence. And as an added bonus, he actually looks like Lee, so the two could easily play brothers." "Though Michael's character has relatively short screen time, his role is every bit as key to the plot as Lee's," Sandquist points out. "What I mean is that audiences have to fall in love with Ryan quickly so they will root for him to come back to Jess, and Michael pulled it off like no one else could. In fact, when Lee starts taking over the movie, he’s got quite a task on his hands simply because Michael made Ryan so loveable." Pace says that to prepare to play the dual role of the "bad and good" Roman, he tried to develop two different people and worked a lot with Landes on finding a way to emulate his performance. "Being the same person is tricky," admits Pace. "Michael and I had to find similar mannerisms and try to catch the essence of each other. It’s different from just catching a hand movement or a facial gesture. Those are cosmetic things you can copy. We wanted to capture the way each other actually thought." Landes adds that it was definitely a challenge to make the characters distinctly different and yet the same. "We rehearsed a little bit in the beginning to develop certain nuances that I would do and Lee could pick up later," remembers Landes. "For example, there’s a playfulness and an easiness to Ryan which Roman doesn’t have, and Lee tried to tap into that once his character comes out of the coma. As brothers, we’d have similar mannerisms anyway, but Roman’s character is quite different from Ryan’s, and Lee and I wanted to make sure that comes across." The movie Possession does all of that and more is will likely be the romance thriller movie of the year.

If you like a good thriller be certain to see the movie Possession which opens in theaters in March.

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Possession Movie is produced by Yari Film Group



See the official Possession movie trailer at www.possessionmovie.com

Also visit www.theaccidentalhusbandmovie.com for news about The Accidental Husband movie which also opens in theaters in March

Official website for the movie Possession