In November 2019, Isabelle Fuhrman began receiving a barrage of text messages from friends, family members and random acquaintances about an episode of “Dr. Phil.” The episode garnered publicity at the time for its bizarre interview with Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan who was adopted by the Barnett family, before being abandoned by them after they claimed she was an adult sociopath masquerading as a child.
“Anybody that I had ever met, people came out of the woodwork messaging me being like, ‘have you seen this?'” Fuhrman tells Variety.
As the interview itself referenced, the situation bore a close resemblance to the plot of “Orphan,” the 2009 Jaume Collet-Serra thriller that featured an 11-year old Fuhrman as Esther, a 9 year-old Russian girl adopted by Kate and John Coleman (Vera Farmiga and Peter Saarsgard). Initially seeming like a polite, adorable and well-mannered child, Esther quickly begins displaying disturbing and violent behavior, as well as knowledge of culture,...
“Anybody that I had ever met, people came out of the woodwork messaging me being like, ‘have you seen this?'” Fuhrman tells Variety.
As the interview itself referenced, the situation bore a close resemblance to the plot of “Orphan,” the 2009 Jaume Collet-Serra thriller that featured an 11-year old Fuhrman as Esther, a 9 year-old Russian girl adopted by Kate and John Coleman (Vera Farmiga and Peter Saarsgard). Initially seeming like a polite, adorable and well-mannered child, Esther quickly begins displaying disturbing and violent behavior, as well as knowledge of culture,...
- 8/19/2022
- by Wilson Chapman
- Variety Film + TV
The small but effective subgenre of “adoption horror” has a certain formula it follows. The newly adopted gradually dismantles the family unit, whether that means manipulating the systems around them or simply taking matters into their own little hands. Then, once someone gets wise to the evildoing, they either stop the young threat or they die trying. As entertaining as these kinds of movies are, they tread a well-worn path. Orphan upholds many of the same conventions as its ilk, however this 2009 movie also brings something new and exciting to the kids’ table.
When Alex Mace‘s original idea for Orphan first reached David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, the then-unfledged screenwriter was given a big sandbox to play in. After all, Mace’s treatment was only a few pages long, so there were a lot of gaps to fill in. And while domestic disturbers The Bad Seed and The Good Son are obvious influences,...
When Alex Mace‘s original idea for Orphan first reached David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, the then-unfledged screenwriter was given a big sandbox to play in. After all, Mace’s treatment was only a few pages long, so there were a lot of gaps to fill in. And while domestic disturbers The Bad Seed and The Good Son are obvious influences,...
- 8/16/2022
- by Paul Lê
- bloody-disgusting.com
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