The following article is part of IGN/Cinefix's coverage of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. For more, check out our interview with Senior Programmer John Nein, as well as our reviews of Freaky Tales, In a Violent Nature, and A Different Man.
Jennifer Kent burst onto the scene 10 years ago with The Babadook, a terrifying horror entry that's now become something of a modern classic. Stopping by digitally to the Sundance Film Festival to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Babadook premiering at the independent film showcase, Kent gave us a tiny hint into what she's working on currently.
Kent, while answering an audience question about how aspiring horror filmmakers can start on their projects, revealed that she's writing "a supernatural horror series set in Ireland in the 1700s at the moment."
Sadly, that's all we know about it currently. Kent last directed 2018's horror film The Nightingale, as well as an episode of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities in 2022.
As for the rest of Kent's answer about where an idea starts, she went back to The Babadook, saying, "I experienced a death of someone close to me and I thought, 'how can I process this and write about it and make something that's meaningful?' So I kind of started from that space."
"Each script that I write, it's hellish - especially at the beginning," she later added. "I'm writing a supernatural horror series set in Ireland in the 1700s at the moment, and when I first started that, I thought 'where do I start?' Everytime I feel that way, I just go back to the central idea. You know, what do I want to say or how does it feel, even? And then ideas come, but I think you have to be persistent to just get up everyday to that blank page on your computer or in your book, and just keep going. Even if you think it's shit, just keep going."
Reflecting on The Babadook
While The Babadook is beloved in horror circles now, there exists a world where it might not have even gotten funded. Kent, responding to fan questions via video call, revealed that "while everyone loves horror now in Australia," the funding bodies were "very snobbish" about the genre at the time.
"They thought the script wasn't good," Kent said. "So they asked me to go away and work on it and I think I changed one or two words."
"I mean, anyone who's made their first film probably has a similar experience," she went on. "It's difficult. It's just a dogged determination that keeps you going. So there was certainly plenty of knockbacks. Even during the making, people who weren't happy with the final cut, the edit, etc. But I'm pretty stubborn so I just protected the film like a mama bear and protected it with my life and was quite stubborn in terms of changing things."
Along with the making of the movie, Kent answered a few questions about its legacy - including The Babadook's unexpected second life as a queer icon. For those unfamiliar, around 2016-17, Tumblr posts insisting that The Babadook is gay (in addition to a particularly hilarious Netflix clerical error), went viral, leading to cosplays at Pride parades, LGBTQ charity screenings, and thinkpieces galore.
"I think it's wonderful," Kent laughed when asked about the phenomenon. "In terms of The Babadook becoming a gay icon, I think it's the best compliment ever."
She had a similar reaction when she asked what she thought of The Simpsons' version of The Babadook: "I was so blown away by that and so chuffed to see that. My nephew actually sent it to me and I just thought 'wow, that's a real honor.' I loved it. How could you not? It was fantastic."
For more on Sundance's 10th anniversary celebration of The Babadook, check out our Cinefix Top 100 episode on it below:
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
