DVDFILE: How involved where you in the creation of the ‘Final Destination' DVD?

James Wong: Well, as far as the video transfer, I did supervise that. I also gave the audio a final listening too and they allowed me to view the majority of the extra features. As far as coming up with what to include as extra features though, I did not have much to do with that.

DF: Because ‘Final Destination' was the first full-length feature that you directed, what were some of the challenges that you met?

JW: I actually found it easier than shooting a TV show because of the length of time you are allowed to shoot. Shooting a TV show is a much bigger deal because you have less time to get things done the way you want them to be done.

DF: Speaking of TV shows you were involved in ‘The X-Files' (directed episode "The Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man") and ‘The Others'. With ‘The Others' you played a much bigger role because you were actually the creator of the show right?

JW: Yeah I was writer and producer. Glen and I were executive producers until the show wrapped.

DF: I was very disappointed when ‘The Others' was cancelled.

JW: So were we, we thought we were doing well. NBC changed us to Saturday at 10 o'clock. The weird thing was that we thought we were doing well, then they said this change would be even better...

DF: I thought it was strange that the last episode of the season featured the entire cast being killed off...

JW: The funny thing is, now that its canceled, it's like it worked out better that we killed everybody in that episode.

DF: Yeah, it gave the whole thing a sense of finality...

JW: But in reality, there was a hint in the whole thing that those killings might not have been real. In the last episode the character Elmer , basically says "it could all be their imagination.".. we actually had a whole thing worked out for the next season.

DF: Are there any other plans to develop television shows?

JW: We've actually developed some shows with NBC already and we have a couple writers working on them now.

DF: I assume that you are a big science fiction fan?

JW: I am but those TV shows that we are doing now, are not Sci-Fi. However, the movie I am prepping now is a Sci-Fi action piece. I'm currently working on it with Columbia. Its called ‘The One' and we're in the process of prepping it and getting actors together for it. In fact the studio is currently trying to entice Jet Li to star in it.

DF: Very cool! Well, I sort of got off track, but back to the ‘Final Destination' DVD. I was listening to your commentary and I noticed that you pointed out a lot of hidden details, for instance, Gate 46 (equates to the number of passengers to die in the plane crash), and the 666 (sign of the devil) on the luggage card, were those details all planned out or something that you spontaneously added during production?

JW: While we were in prep, we started thinking of those little details. In fact all of the hundreds of people that were working on the movie began thinking of those types of things. It's one of many fun processes about making a movie. It's really neat to think of things like the gate number being the same as the 46 people that were supposed to die in the crash.

DF: As a viewer those details make it more interesting because it entices you to watch the movie more than once...

JW: When we had just released the movie, there was this web site that had literally picked out all of those details. Not only did they do that, and I don't know how they did this because the movie wasn't even released on video yet, but they had freeze frames that showed those details like the 666 on the cart in the picture and all of that kind of stuff. I don't know how they did it. I had a feeling they went to the theatre and recorded it.

DF: That's probably true... I was impressed with your ability to build suspense in the movie, especially the scenes where the student dies in the bathroom and the elaborate scene where one of the teachers dies in her house. Was there a particular director that inspired you while you were directing those particular scenes and scenes like them?

JW: Well, I think Hitchcock did it the best. It wasn't a conscious effort, but all of the films I watched of course come out. For me, the perfect example would be like in the movie ‘Psycho' where just turning on the water was just as important as the actual stabbing. Its those little details that can be just as terrifying to the audience when they are all put together in a scene.

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