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Terrifying Orphan on Blu-ray

The Orphan

LOS ANGELES (RPRN) 11/02/09 — Warner Home Video releases The Orphan on Blu-ray and DVD for Halloween
By Nina Riley

"This story puts a new spin on the genre,” says The Orphan star Vera Farmiga. “It’s not just bloodletting. It’s horrifying events happening to real people with real problems. Events that make you shudder and say, ‘Thank God that’s not happening to me!’”

Farmiga’s character is a wife, mother and recovering alcoholic who recently lost her baby in her third trimester. “She trying to persevere and to heal her marriage and her family,” says Farmiga, “Her choice to adopt is an act of kindness. Adoption is a way to heal and draw her family closer together again.”

Farmiga says she researched her part by spending time on grief websites, reading stories about women coping after the loss of a baby. “These testimonies were eye-opening.”

“I think the best horror movies highlight the human condition and play on the fears and problems so many of us are faced with in our own lives,” says The Orphan star Peter Sarsgaard. “At its core, this is a family that was broken. Kate has extreme guilt over Max’s accident, the drinking, and even the stillbirth. Esther comes in and shines a light on these things, and uses them to her advantage..”

“They called and asked if I was willing to jump out of a tree house that’s twenty feet in the air,” says The Orphan star Jimmy Bennett. “Of course, when we shot it, I had a wire on and I jumped into people’s arms. But it was a lot of fun. I love doing stunts like that.”

“I grew up in a convent,” says The Orphan star CCH Pounder who has the role of Sister Abigal. “I was taught by nuns for about 14 years. I’ve seen the whole transformation, women becoming a novice and then a full-fledged nun. I think the sisters thought I was a wicked little child, but nothing like Esther!”

“I read the script and it was so thrilling, it made me sit on the edge of my seat, thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, what happens next?’,” says The Orphan star Isabelle Fuhrman who plays the role of Esther. “I knew I wanted to play Esther because she would be such a challenge and a lot of fun. I dressed up in an old-fashioned dress, put ribbons around my neck and wrists, and went to the audition trying to make myself feel what Esther was feeling like.”

“I’m proud of the film and everyone who helped bring it to the screen,” says The Orphan producer Leonardo DiCaprio. “The Orphan is a complex psychological drama playing itself out alongside the typical genre scares. It’s a movie you want to see multiple times because there is so much you could have missed the first time.”

“We were definitely trying to tap into a primal fear that people have about what they allow into their homes, or into their lives,” says The Orphan producer Susan Downey. “I think with the best intentions Kate and John open their home to Esther. They get completely undermined by this girl. That’s something that I think will get to people, that hopefully will create fear in viewers. The mistakes these characters have made in their past come back to haunt them. They allow this girl to get in there and find out their darkest secrets. And, everybody has a secret.”

The Orphan

Distributor: Warner Home Video

Release date: October 27, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand

Running time: 123 minutes

Rating: R (for disturbing violent content, some sexuality and language)

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