Just to let you know that I am back after an immensely absorbing few weeks of editing, mixing and grading the film.

I have read that Silent Hill fans are worried that I have not been able to make the film that I wanted to make due to restrictions imposed by MPAA and the studio. Just to clarify that the film you will see is the Directors cut and has not been compromised in length or content. Throughout the entire process of making Silent Hill, I have been overwhelmed by the generosity and trust extended to me by the team at TriStar Pictures. It is very exciting to work with people who are as concerned and respectful about successfully depicting the world of Silent Hill as I am.

The only person who is disappointed that it is my cut is the guy doing the DVD.

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What made you choose West Virginia as the backdrop to the movie?
- Lee S

Roger Avary was doing some research on abandoned towns, and discovered the story of Centralia, in Pennsylvania, where an underground coal deposit had caught fire and is now slowly burning out of control, filling the town with noxious gasses and causing havoc and destruction.

Centralia seemed like the perfect real-world version of Silent Hill. While we had no intention of keeping the "Centralia" name, we used the town and its history as the basis for our 'real world' Silent Hill, changing the state to West Virginia for legal reasons.

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The trivia on IMDb.com says that little computer animation was used for this movie, and many of the monsters are people in latex costumes. I appreciate your deviation from the common way of making movies, but what would make the costume usage better or scarier than computer animation?
- Vince G

In a complex movie like Silent Hill, where you deal with different dimensions, rules and realities, I think it is too much to ask an actor to imagine an encounter with such strange monsters. As in the game, we were constantly putting the characters into confined and intimate situations with the creatures and needed their reactions and interactions to be real. If we just used CG, I think we would have lost that feeling of promiscuity that comes from the direct physical relationship between the characters and the monsters. From the very beginning, Patrick Tatopoulos and I loved the idea of putting the actor and creature in the same shot.

I come from the action film genre where I am used to working with choreographers, acrobats and dancers so I am very comfortable collaborating with these physical artists. Each individual performer offered a unique interpretation of the creatures' physical world. In Silent Hill the creatures are living sculptures - bizarre, grotesque components of humanity. Having real people as the monsters enabled us to breathe life into them. Of course I refined certain movements and their look with CG. It was a perfect blend of techniques.

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