As you say you have read the blogs and forums of Silent Hill fans, and I'm sure you've seen the fans going over screen captures with a magnifying glass comparing every available pixel of the film to the original games, having heart attacks over every detail that hasn't been duplicated exactly to their expectations. How do you feel about the expectations inherent to the adaptation of material with such a devoted and established fan base?
- Bogart S

Bogart, as I have mentioned before adapting a game is not like adapting a book. It is like a trip to a foreign country. We all have different memories of our travels but there will be common perceptions that we will all identify. We can all talk about having been to the same place referencing details even though we had completely different experiences.

Roger, Nicolas Boukhrief and I constantly compared our memories and impressions of the game and tried to identify the common perceptions that we shared. A corridor, a street, a line of dialogue - what are those qualities that make us know we are in Silent Hill?

As a fan I knew I had to be respectful of the original material but at the same time I knew I had to focus on the arch of the characters and the narrative from a filmmakers perspective. For both the fans of the games and non-gamers this was the only way to do a successful adaptation. You must also remember that my adaptation was done through the eyes of a Westerner not through the eyes of someone from the East. This movie just had to be different even though I hope I have successfully captured the essence of the Silent Hill experience.

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The Silent Hill series has been known for the subtle symbolism in the creatures and the environments that pertains to the protagonist. Will this symbolism carry over to the movie?
- Vince G

Absolutely, yes. The creators of Silent Hill the game are so highly intelligent and used so many abstract and interesting references to create the creatures that of course it was such challenge for us to replicate this. Silent Hill the game heavily borrows from Modern Art especially the paintings of Francis Bacon. As in Bacon's art we see the monstrosity of his figures is actually a reflection of their souls. They are the embodiment of anxiety, fear and self-destruction and exist in world where cruelty is absolutely accepted. Hence the fact the creatures of Silent Hill are so absolutely unique. They are not your typical wait around a corner and jump out to scare you type. They are promiscuous pathetic and disturbing... standing naked in the middle of a room or alone on a street. Every fan of Silent Hill knows the creatures have been conceived by a child at least in the first game. They are the creation of Alessa's mind. They embody a strange, naïve, candid sense of cruelty that only a child can have. They are more like broken dolls than horrible creatures. As in the great classical text Dante's Inferno. Dante goes to hell and watches the dammed people and realizes the human condition. That is how we must perceive the monsters in Silent Hill. The real monsters are human.

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